As we leave Morocco and head to Thailand, it's time to reflect on the cultural observations we've had over the past month. As a reminder, none of these observations are meant to be critical - although some of them do make us appreciate what we have in the US - but just observations from travelers comparing life at home to life in other countries that we visit and acknowleding and celebrating our differences.
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NO LEFT HANDED PEOPLE! (DAN)
Traditionally Moroccans eat their food (like couscous and tagine) only with their right hand (no utensils) and they keep their left hand clean. Even people who are natural lefties (like me!) switch to right handed eating. Thankfully they did not hold me to that.
RESPECT FOR THEIR ELDERS (FRANCESCA)
There are no (or very few) "Old Folks Homes" in Morocco as their Muslim faith compels them to care of their parents in their old age just as their parents cared for them as children. We observed this ourselves on several occasions - from farmer Taha building a house for his parents on his farm and caring for them, to the way the average Moroccan showed deference to even strangers who were elderly, to something we saw at passport control in the Tetouen Airport where security guided an elederly solo traveler from the back of the line to the front of the line. Francesca remarked how quickly we in the US toss our parents into senior homes so we don't have to deal with them on a day to day basis as they age.
DIFFERENT TOILETS! (FINLEY)
At restaurants in big cities and in our AirBnB's the toilets have seats and are referred to as "Western Toilets", but for most of the cities and for the majority of Moroccans the toilets consist of a porcelin rectangle in the stall with a hole in it and two raised places on their side to put your feet. One is supposed to squat to do one's business (#s 1 & 2). There is often no toilet paper either, but instead a bucket that can be filled up with water to wash your hand after you use it instead of toilet paper. We definitely appreciate the wonders of modern plumbing, but this way definitely saves water and paper!
MUSLIM / BERBER CULTURE (RYAN)
While we spent a month in majority muslim Bosnia, Morocco was the first country we'd been to that was pretty much entirely muslim (99.9%) so the Moroccan culture is somewhat synonomous with Muslim culture. There are many tenets of Islam that we see playing out in society, like people generally being kind to one another and helping each other out. Hitchiking is a common occurance in Morocco where drivers are constantly picking up strangers on the side of the road and offering them rides - even if it is out of their way. There is much less crime so there is no fear in picking someone up. Berber culture is influenced by Islam as well, as they are all basically required to be muslim (not their original belief system which was more in line with Japan's Shinto religion that diefies things in nature (such as the 4 elements)). The Berber culture continues this kindness to strangers and ups the ante by having a custom where Berbers will invite strangers (Berber and non Berber alike) into their house to share tea and talk. When we checked into our guest house near Ouarzazate, our Berber host, Brahim, insisted that we join him and his young family (wife, 3 kids, plus his mother and brother and several nieces and nephews) in their living room for tea. While we were all tired from a long day of driving we accpeted his offer out of respect for the Berber culture and it actually turned out to be very informative as the Brahim told us a lot about Berber history and culture.
POLICE STATE (AUSTEN)
The police presence in Morocco is stunning. They are EVERYWHERE! They are on pretty much every roundabout in major cities AND they are also on random lonely highways even out in the desert! And they appear to be there not just to keep the roadways safe, but also, perhaps primarily, to collect revenue as they set up little sting operations to catch drivers. I got plulled over twice at these police "checkpoints", once where they told me I had passed a truck illegally severeal miles previously and another when I failed to stop at a stop sign before a roundabout. But the checkpoints were miles after the infraction so I couldn't even verify if their was a stop sign or not. That said, it should be noted that many roundabouts in Moroccan cities have either a stop sign or a traffic light, which would seem to me to obviate the need for a roundabout in the first place. That one's a bit of a head scratcher.
Anyway, I attributed this one to Austen because she seemed tickled that I got pulled over and how the young cop was excited to speak English with me and he wanted to let me off the hook with a warning, but didn't have the authority. So instead he tried to get me to admit to a lesser charge, by hinting to me that I had also not used my turn signal. At first, not catching on, I adamatly insisted that I did, in fact, use my turn signal (which I did), but then it became clear that this was a lesser fine than the stop sign violation so I changed my plea to guilty and paid the lesser fine. The young cop was so apologetic to have caused us any inconvenience while his bosses looked on disaprovingly.
Morocco was a place that was so different cultureally than the US and it really made an impact on the kids.
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