Lair, Lair

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Lair, Lair

Lying is, aparently, a deeply cultural thing. As my bespeckled literature-guru Muhammed told me yesterday, "In muslim culture deviousness is considered fine, almost commendable" and this has been the most glaring item of culture shock that i have experienced. An example:

Abdel my new 26 year old Maghrebi friend who has spent the last eight years working and living in America was kind enough to show me around his old neigbourhood today, a very ritzy area of Rabat full of yuppy, converse wearing, mercedes driving Maghrab twentysomethings. Abdel speaks perfect Darija (as well as five other languages, as proven by his ability to strike up at lleast basic conversation with everyone in the hostel). And yet even he gets lyed to in this country. When we arrived back at the youth hostel from his parents house after taking a petit (mini) taxi, the driver, when he thought noone was looking, flicked a few buttons and added 10 Dihram (1.50 AUD) to the trip. Abdel didnt see but assumed and yet still paid the extra money. When i asked him why he told me "That is how it is here". It is part of the reason he dislikes being back, and part of the reason he will leave in a few weeks

The trust we have in our country is perhaps the thing i miss the most. In Australia any shopkeeper would give you change from a $50 if your purchase was $43. Here it is entirely possible that you will recieve no change and a 'what money?' look from your shopkeeper. Perfectly fine really because the expectation is that most french speaking tourists or locals will say "give me my seven dollars you Berber scum and be auick about it!!" However as a monolinguistic traveller, sexual juganaught thought i am, this is ver difficult and time consuming and you probably won't win because, well, what am i going to do? Cry at him? I am learning fast that is better to have the shopkeeper repeat the number several times and give them the exact change then trust them with a large note.

I have been told that this is one of the characteristics that people acutally like about here, that it helps give Morocco its exotic, dangerous, anything-goes feel. For me it is a little shocking to have one of the basic characteristics of Human decency be ablt to be broken without condemnation.

I think, if aything, this trip will turn my political philosophy from Cultural Relativism fair square onto Uniiversalism...

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Photos

P1000057
Abdel, who, though Moroccan, does look decidedly Hispanic here. Ese! Ese!