I have been known to be a bit of a germaphobe. So when we first got to Africa I was sanitizing every 5 min. and offering sanitizer to the people at the restaurant that were cooking my food…lol.. Well we have been here a little over 4months and I am calming down. All over Essaouira, they have men who grill meat outside on the street. The meat hangs out in a unrefrigerated case, the same guy who is handing the meat in handling the vegetables and the money. Yeah, that has sickness written all over it. So today I wanted to be a little Adventurous, so I ordered a chicken sandwich from one of the sidewalk meat guys. It was really good!!! It has been 2hours and I can still feel my fingers, so maybe I have built up an African immunity…. We will see??  To be continued…..

Also today Wednesday (mercredi in French) is my busiest day; I teach 3 classes and getting ready to add a 4^th. So I was in desperate need of a bath. But I have not seen a bath tub since I’ve been here. So I took something like a bath in the wash pan. Yes the wash pan….lol…. You know on those old movies where people light their homes with candles, well in those movies the woman have these big wash tubs, you only can get your butt in it..lol.. The top part of my body was out and my legs and I kept pour water on myself to keep from being cold. I kept laughing when I was in there thinking if people could see me now. But I can’t front it was great!!! I felt so relaxed and clean. Then Maheeyah came into the bathroom and said “what are you going mommy?? You are too big to be in there??”… Then she starting laughing and pointing with the door open, letting all the cold air in…. you can always count on a little kid to burst your bubble. My life has changed so much since I’ve been here….I even learned how to wash my own clothes in that funny little machine. I love my life here is Essaouira!!!!

I'm going to cook my way into your heart!!

So if you have been wondering what happen after Mr. Morocco Cooked me dinner that night? Well let me just say it included a whole lot more tea drinking……lol….. Yes! More drinking tea! So after about 30 more cups I thought maybe I should try to move this along by inviting him to dinner; at this point I felt that if he says “No” then we are done drinking tea, but if he says “Yes” then maybe we can start drinking tea at the house instead of the shop in Medina. Here is a little informational note about me: I have always loved the idea of being barefoot in the kitchen, naked and pregnant. The whole concept of wives do wife stuff at home and men do man stuff at work, is one that sat very comfortable in my mind. The only problem is I was not born in the born in the 1800’s.  Being the oldest daughter in a traditional Choctaw/Muslim family, I was trained very early on how to run a house hold, in case something happened to my mom and I had to take care of my siblings. By the time I was 13 I was working 2 jobs, paying bill, budget shopping, washing, cleaning, and cooking 5 course dinners. When I was about 14 I had this crazy crush on this guy who would come over twice a week to catch a ride to theater practice with us. I was so head over heels for him; I overheard the older woman talking about a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so I thought I have this in the bag because I am a wonderful cook. So twice a week when I knew he was going to come over I would cook the most elaborate meals. He barely noticed it; the only people that got all excited were my older brothers and their friends. I remember they would be eating and laughing saying “this is not going to work; he is not going to marry you because you are a great cook… But we will!!..lol”  I remember thinking ‘I would not marry yall stinky butts’…lol…And they were right he did not marry me. Those women forgot to mention that the idea of cook your way into a man’s heart is so old school; new school could care less, they are just as happy eating McDonald's and living in a funk dungeon. So for a woman like me with a boat load of domestic skills would either have to marry a man in his 60’s or a man from another country? Well lucky for me I am in another country!!!
 
So I asked Mr. Morocco if I could cook him dinner, and he said “yes”.  So I prepared a Sautéed fish dish, with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers and yellow peppers, on a bed of Basmati rice. I can’t even front, I out did myself. When he saw the food he was like “wow, this is beautiful” but when he started eating his face got a bit red and he guzzled down a few glasses of water, when he came up for air he asked me is my food always this spicy….. “What!! Really dude!” I was thinking. I had to add hot chili peppers to my plate….lol… But he was sweet and finished the food and a ½ gallon of water….After a super spicy dinner I invited him into the living room for some coffee and dessert. He sat on one end of the couch and I sat on the other end, we talked, laughed and eat. An hour or so later I let out a yawn,( mostly because dinners start at about 9pm here) then he hopped up and  said “ I can see that you are tired, I will go” just like that. I walked him to the door thinking that maybe we might have our first kiss, but no, a hand shake and a smile is all he had offered me…. But later that night I did receive another text stating that he and a wonderful time, and he hoped that we could do it again sometime.  The real funny thing is if this was in America this situation would have had its introduction, it’s high, it’s low, and it’s finish by now.  This is the cutest thing I have experienced since I was a kid, I am really enjoying that feeling of innocence again…… To be continued….

Something is brewing in the African air…….

So to answer my first question I posted a couple blogs ago. How many cups of tea must one drink before it’s appropriate to say “hey I’m feeling you?” ; about 200 gallons, now keep in mind the tea cups are about 4oz…. One beautiful day over a cup of tea Mr. Morocco asked if he could cook me dinner. In my mind I was “HELL YEAH!! FINALLY!!!” but in real life I just smiled and said “that would be nice, thank you”. Okay so let’s pause for a second, to my ladies: What is sexier than a man asking if he can cook for you??? A hard working man asking if he can cook you dinner!!!...lol

When we arrived at his house he was still preparing the meal. (And when I say we… the girls and I) We were greeted with a smile, the traditional greeting, and a ton of fruit and snacks for the girls. Two seconds after we stepped in the house they grabbed their snacks and ran to the TV. I stood in the kitchen watching him chop, mince, dice, and stir. He looked so good with that dish towel thrown over his shoulder. I could not help think, wow he really knows his way around a kitchen…lol About 20 min later dinner was ready, he made a traditional Chicken Tajine, and it was wonderful. I did not want to seem to hungry, but dinner does not start in this country until 9pm, by that time I was famished. As soon as dinner was over the girls grabbed what was left of the fruit and ran back to the TV. He and I sat there talking while we finished the Tajine. After everything was cleaned up he offered me give me a nice, hot, steamy, cup of tea….lol….we sat in the par lour drinking tea and working on my Arabic and his English. Being as how this dinner party did not start until 8:30, we headed out about midnight. I was not sure what to expect when we were leaving but because he is very traditional and the girls were there we said good night with traditional greeting.  But before I went to sleep he sent me a text expressing that he had a lovely time.

Now for woman of my generation we do not have a clue about being courted apart from what we see on old movies and what stories we can gather from our grandmothers. But I have to admit, I am totally digging this. Someone asked me do I think that he is THE ONE or JUST ANOTHER ONE, well only the creator knows the answer to that. I mean I have felt that the men I loved previously in my life were  THE ONE’S I needed at that point in my life. I got two amazingly phenomenal l girls, so I would not have changed a thing. But loving when you are broke is very different than loving when you are fixed.  Cooking food in the microwave is different than cooking over a stove.  And drinking a wine that is 20 years old is much better than the one that was bottled a year ago. So if you put it all together I would say that the ingredients for this meal are already starting out better. So stay tuned….