Culture Clashes

So you've all read my blogs about all the weird and strange things Moroccans do, surely things that would at least qualify them for residency on another planet right? I mean, how many shirts can one person wear in 90-degree heat and a blazing sun? Three apparantly.

But I digress. I thought it would be interesting for you guys to hear what they think is weird about me, and yes they've told me. For one they can't believe I don't speak French. In Morocco the second language is French so that naturally draws many French-speaking people here on vaca which leads them to assume that all white folks speak the language. Not this white girl! When I inform them of my unfortunate unilingual language skills (that would mean virtually zero) they take a second look as if they've never seen such a thing before. A white girl in Morocco who doesn't speak French?! Doesn't her tongue work? They don't know what to make of it.

I've also been told my parenting skills differ from theirs. A week ago we spent a great several days with relatives in Rabat. I was treated to fab cooking, great pastries and breads and housekeeping services! However, one evening over coffee while I was admiring how my kids had taken to a pretend game where they imagined themselves as cartoon characters and were playing quietly but creatively all over the house, bothering noone I assure you, one of the younger English-speaking girls (of course she speaks a third language, she's Moroccan!) told me that I allow my children lots of "freedom" to play in the house and it's not something Moroccan mothers would tolerate. I quickly asked her to explain what she meant-after they all assured me my the kids were not being bad or troublesome-and said that in Morocco mothers want their children to sit when indoors. I can't imagine how this would be accomplished, especially when you've got an active boy like Eli. She said it's just the culture. She said children should play outside and sit inside. Well, show me some playgrounds and I'll be happy to have my kids run themselves silly outdoors but, as I've mentioned before, those are in short supply. So after they assured my once again that my kids were fine and I made some crack about how we Americans love our "freedom" we all laughed and went back to our regular coffee conversation, i.e. not talking about me and my non-indoor-sitting children. But they might have been thinking about it.

I've also been told I don't worry enough about my kids. Like I don't have a freak out if Eli lets go of my hand for one second to run into a hanoot (tiny store) selling suckers. I mean come on, where do you think he's going? He's running in the opposite direction of traffic and heading straight for the sweets. I got this. My mother-in-law is notorious for this. She wants me to have Eli and Drea in vice grips as I drag them along the street all the while yelling "Anduk shanty!" which means "Watch out, the street!"

So there are a few things in a nutshell. I'm sure there are more that maybe they haven't decided to mention to me. But, all in all they respect my wishes and my ways and I do the same for them. After all, you never know what you can learn from other people, even if they are from a different planet.