I think all Moroccans must be born with a gene for doing crazy ridiculous things with their hips

Yesterday, my host sis went to get her friend who lives next door was home and when they (there were two older girls) saw me with her, they invited us in. After talking for a while and playing with my camera (and looking at ALL my facebook pics) I left for dinner, but it hadn’t been three minutes when one of the sisters showed up at our door inviting me over for couscous. We all ate from a big plate with spoons and our fingers (except for an old man who made balls by rolling the couscous between his palms and eating it like that). Like any good Moroccans, they constantly told me to kooli (eat) even as I was chewing. Later, the girls all tried to teach me to belly dance. (And even the ten year old totally showed me up.)

Today, I saw the old man in the street, and I think he tried to invite me over for lunch and I tried to say that I could come but I had to be home at four, but we were speaking in Darija, so I don’t really know what was going on. All I know is that he shook my hand for a while and asked me a lot of questions and then started leading me somewhere, and then turned around, bought me a candy bar, and brought me back to where he found me.

One grows accustomed to wondering. There are some things I will eventually understand and some questions that won’t get answered. In addition to what people are talking about on a regular basis, I’ve been wondering: Who actually lives in the neighbors’ house, who was just visiting, and how are they all related? Why can my host sister GET money from one of the shops? How do I get into my alleyway from the other side?