Tuesday, October 23, 2007

sugar




After telling people about my sugar dream, I thought to myself, why not share it with everyone?
And so, it all started the day my host-mother Fadma ran out of sugar from the bucket and had to literally, crack open another cone of hard sugar with a rock the size of a softball. That night, I dreamt about sugar.
“I was in bed, woken up by officials in uniform, knocking at my door. Soon after, I was standing in line with every person from my village. When I reached the front of the line, the man alerted me that I had consumed so much sugar that I had to pay so many dirhams to cover the sugar-consumption tax. I asked them how they could possibly know how much sugar I had consumed. With a look of more disappointment than sympathy, this man, told me that they had been watching me for quite some time, with endless footage of tea, cake, and cookies. This followed with a whisper to my ear, from the woman standing behind me, telling me that sugar indeed, was responsible for not only feeding this country, but also funding the government.”
If this dream was real, I’d be financially ruined. With all the readily available sweet confections, I’ve already caught myself making references to sugar tax. Especially during this particular and very important lEid, which marked the end of Ramadan, I’ve had numerous opportunities to indulge myself with mint tea and cookies. Christmas memories crossed my mind as my host-family cleaned the house and put on their new garb. What surprised me was that, my host-sister, whom always covers her head, had me curl her hair! It was really interesting to wear a traditional jellaba and walk around our community. I went from house to house with my CBT group visiting families in the morning and then later, with my host-mother, visiting more family and friends. It was funny seeing the looks on tourists’ faces when they see Americans in Moroccan attire. What’s even more interesting is seeing the look on Moroccans’ faces when they see Americans in Moroccan attire. I must have gone to 12 houses that weekend. That weekend was great but exhausting! Oh so back to sugar right? You can just do the math and imagine how many cups of sweet tea and cookies I had.

1 comment:

chrissy-poo said...

I'm soooo glad to see your face!! I'm glad things are going well, and I look foward to more reading material soon!! Your family is GREAT!!!
we all miss you in the nail dept. and talk about you all the time. Everyone says hi, and we all love you!!

Chrissy-poo