Week 2: My first host family

I started off this week moving in with the first of many host families during my IFYE experience. I was nervous when leaving the hotel on Monday because I had no idea what to expect. What languages do they speak? What am I going to do all day if everyone works? What am I going to be eating? And while all of these are valid concerns, I soon found out that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone in this family has been very welcoming and eager to help me with anything I could ever want or need. I am living with the parents of the family, their three sons who are all older than me, (one of which is just back visiting from Paris where he lives with his girlfriend) and one of the son's wife. And of course I can not forget the most important member of the family, the dog Chico. We have all spent time together over the past week chatting, playing card games, watching tennis, and more. I have tried to have different one on one conversations with each family member to learn more about them as an individual and see their unique perspectives and experiences. I have honestly learned a lot during these chats about the family, the city of Meknes, and Morocco as a whole.

In this family, they all work during the day, except for Anis, the son visiting from Paris, so I spend a lot of my days with him. The family owns a car dealership, a private school, and a farm. I got a tour of the farm this week and learned about their production. They are focused on fruit tree crops, specifically peaches (which I can confirm are very good) and pears. The father explained to me that their goal in farming is to have fruit all year long, giving a little to the market each week instead of only one large crops at once. That means planting different varieties of each fruit that are ready to harvest at different times. Along with the fruit, the family also has a large olive crop where they make some of the best olive oil in Morocco. They also have a few animals (one of the cows just had a baby) and a small garden for food for the family.

Along with relaxing and getting to know the family, we also did a little sightseeing around Meknes. The mom, son, and I went to visit Volubilis, which is the ruins of an ancient Roman City just outside of Meknes that is classified as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. This city was built here and succeeded because of olives trees. They would grow olives, press them, and make oil. While walking around the ruins, we saw mosaics from old houses, an arch that is like the Arc de Triomphe that Romans are famous for, the basilica, and more. Currently about 1/3rd of the ruins have not been discovered yet. Afterwards we visited a small town in the mountains, Moulay Idriss, which has religious significance due to it being the final resting place of the first Islamic ruler of Morocco.

After my first week living in a host family in Morocco, I wanted to note a few culture differences that I have noticed. First, the meals. Breakfast we all eat on our own whenever we want/wake up, I usually eat around 10 a.m. For lunch, all of the family leaves work and comes home to eat, usually around 2:30 p.m. We do not eat dinner until 10 p.m. at the earliest. One night this week they had some family over for dinner and I finally left the gathering and went to bed at 1:30 a.m. For lunch and dinner, they always start off with vegetables or different types of salads. After that comes the main entrée and for dessert we have fruit. Another difference is the importance of family. Two of the three sons still live at home even though they are adults and one is even married. For Morocco, this is completely normal. A final difference I wanted to mention was greetings. Whenever you see a family member for the first time in the day or the first time in a couple of hours you must greet them with a high five, fist bump or bisous (the french greeting of kissing on the cheek) and say hi, how are you.