My Moroccan Home

At 4pm on Friday, I was picked up by my host mother and aunt at the CCCL and brought to my new home in the medina kadima (old city). I live in an neighborhood called suiqa (souk) (street market), the location of one of Rabat’s major markets, full of fruits and vegetables, spices, meat, fish, and traditional Moroccan textiles. I live with the Ghazali family, and upon arrival, they made me feel right at home. 

I am especially excited to live with the Ghazali family because they have never hosted an American student before, so this will be a new experience for all of us. My host mama is named Bouchra and baba is named Abdelilah (not the same one from yesterday), and although baba does not speak anything but darija, he is warm, friendly, and very excited that I am here. Mama speaks fantastic French, so my 6 years of study in middle and high school will finally be put to use, although I will certainly use and learn a tremendous amount of arabic during my 2 month stay with them. 

In my house, there are three boys, Omar (17), Ayoub (16) and Nissim (9). Omar and Ayoub speak french and bits of english, so we talk mainly in french. However, everything we say in french is repeated to me in darija to from me to them in english. So far, it has been an absolutely fantastic experience for all. Additionally, Couta is staying at the Ghazali house as well, although she is the cousin of the boys. Her parents live in another mintaqua (neighborhood) of Rabat, however she loves the medina kadima so she stays in our house. She is 27 and her two sisters live abroad in Montreal. 

My Moroccan home, or ba’yeet Maghribi is beautiful or zween. It is an old riyadh with two levels and a rooftop tsah (terrace) overlooking the souk in the heart of the medina. It is traditional home, so the brothers share a room and the parents have a room as well where the television is located. In Moroccan families, the television is like another family member and families sometimes sit watching Turkish or Egyptian soap operas for hours at a time. My brothers love American music, film, and of course, my iPad games.

The Ghazali family is traditional and somewhat conservative, although the parents give the boys significant freedoms in the house. Baba is religious and the boys pray once per day during adhan (call to prayer). Similar to my family in New York, the parents are, of course, working hard to make their sons’ lives as perfect as possible, providing everything for them. In return, the children are incredibly respectful, helpful and happy to be part of this amazing household. There are also tons of neighbors that come in and out during the day, and they also are part of the family as well. We call the older man and women j’dee and j’datee (Grandpa & Grandma), although they are only neighbors. 

Our Riyad

Bayetee (My Room)

Most importantly, the food Mama cooks is b’neen k’theera or very delicious. For dinner, we had choutz (fried fish) and potatoes, breakfast is usually chubz (bread), asl (honey) and bayetoun (olives). And of course on Friday, we had couscous for lunch, the obligatory meal for all Moroccans. It was unblieveable, and very quickly I was full or sh’baat and said “Sa’afi” (“Enough”), however Mama keeps the food coming until I literally have to stop eating!

Friday Couscous

I feel so lucky to have this family and feel even more blessed that they have welcome me into their home. Like Mama says, tu es ma grande bebe! (I’m her big baby). It’s going to be a fantastic two months. 

View of the Souk from our Stah (Terrance)