Hospitality

Moroccan's have a wonderful sense of hospitality. I think if I wanted to, I could stop cooking for the next two years and just rotate through my community. It seems like everyone I meet wants me to come to their house to eat lunch or dinner and spend the night. That old saying of “What is mine is yours,” really applies in Morocco.

One family invited me for tea and then insisted on watching what I wanted to watch on TV. Most families have satellite, so the channels are endless and I really don't know what is available in English. They flipped through the English channels and we settled on the news. I was somewhat enthralled and after we exhausted our conversation in my limited Tamazight, I happily learned what was happening in the world. This was one of the wealthier families in town, so they insisted on me using their computer to check my email. WOW, I thought, this is not the Peace Corps I pictured. The family insisted that I stay for dinner and then asked if I wanted to take a shower! My protestations of no clean clothes were met with offers to loan me clothes and no worries about shampoo, soap or a towel, either. As I was leaving, the family invited me to come back whenever I wanted to watch English TV, use their internet or take a shower. They even told me they have multiple TV's so I could watch in English by myself while they watch their shows!

I joined another family for tea and over the course of conversation, my habit of not eating meat surfaced. They invited me to lunch the following week and planned it so that it would be the day after souk, so they could buy lots of fresh vegetables. The meal was huge! Lots of vegetables for me, 3 hard-boiled eggs they expected me to eat by myself, a tagine, and salads. This was topped off with honeydew and watermelon and more tea. We rested for a while after lunch and they showed me some of their handicrafts. When I tried to leave, they insisted I stay for evening coffee. After coffee, I was leaving and they invited me to stay for dinner! I declined because I needed to get home, but they invited me back the following week for lunch and a bath (more on that later).

I simply have to walk out my door and down my street to receive an invitation for tea. If it is evening, tea usually turns into an invitation to stay and eat dinner and then spend the night. The sleeping over thing still confounds me, but I guess it is standard procedure.