Homestay
Staying in a Moroccan family’s home for a few days last week was a great opportunity to brush up on the ‘ol Derija and be part of normal family life. Moroccans are very sociable and so there was a constant flow of friends and family visiting. You can’t have visitors without a spot of super-sweet mint tea (which I can now make by myself, oh yes) and a snackeroo of some kind – often one of the many types of bread that taste delish.
Father and Son
I spent a lot of time listening to conversations, stuttering my way through simple phrases, and hanging out with the family’s two year old son who was a lot of fun and made lots of noise.
He didn’t seem too unnerved by the fact that when he chatted to me I just looked at him blankly. He was a bit of a genius… speaking Derija, French, some Korean and able to name the countries of about 40 flags pictured on his football. Insane. His Dad is quite involved in bringing him up and it was great to watch them playing together.
Playing on the roof
He also gets to play with other children from the apartment block up on the roof alongside drying washing and satellite dishes.
One of the ‘highlights’ (I think) of the week was accompanying my host and her son to the local hamam. Once a week, Moroccan’s visit a hamam for a thorough wash and scrub down. Some people don’t have showers in their homes so it is their chance to clean off a week’s worth of sweat and grime.
Spot the Satellite Dish
For the women, it involves at least a couple of cycles of sloshing hot water over themselves, coating themselves in special soap made from olives and then exfoliating (sometimes helping each other with exfoliating their backs). All this whilst being starkers in a room full of ladies. I think it will take some getting used to.
