HI! there

We are back to winter today!!? What a cold day after

all that warn sushine we have had for the past two weeks.

Well,  as we say in English or as the proverb goes,

" All good things must come to an end"!

 

But right now on this blog, the good things

are still happening in the form of great texts and stories

that you wrote during the winter session.

 

So here is another one!

It is quite amusing if you look at the context.

I was written by Marielle Jobin and

it is a great little story (anecdote) that she tells

about what happened to her

 on a 'business' trip tp Morocco a few years ago...

 

MY FAVOURITE ACTIVITY and also a PASSION.

by Marielle Jobin

One day, if I ever win the lottery,

I would like to go on a long, long trip!

I like travelling and the preparation is just as good. I consult the Internet, travel books and magazines; I read all that I can get my hands on. Over the years, I have visited many European countries; China, Vietnam and Thailand in Asia; Peru, Costa Rica and Cuba in the Americas; and Morocco in Africa. I also like adventure, surprises and unusual situations.

Let me tell you a story that happened while in Morocco. Some years ago, I was invited by the O.B.I. to give a three-day workshop in Casablanca. After the classes were over, a gym teacher, Mr. Belkoubbi invited me to visit Marrakesh and its ‘souk’. He would be my guide for the tour.

That day we had been walking for a while in the narrow streets of the market when I noticed a man in his fifties, dressed in an old worn-out jhellabah. He was looking at me with a bizarre smile on his face. We then visited the leather shops; there he was again standing on a porch step. We went on to a carpet store and he was parked near the door, still smiling… I had never been observed in that way before by a man… It was weird!

 Why was this happening? Was it my gray hair? Or the way I was dressed? My God! What was I thinking to have dressed in jeans and a T-shirt when almost all the women were wearing jhellabahs and scarves? I took Mr. Belkoubbi aside and said:

-” Did you see that man wearing a brown jhellabah? He has been following us for a while.”

My guide decided to go after the man to ask him what it was exactly that he wanted. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but they were speaking very loudly in Arabic and were gesturing a lot. I then realized and couldn’t believe that I was standing there in the middle of the place, surrounded by curious observers. I was sweating like I had never done before. At that moment, I just wanted to disappear! 

After a few minutes, my guide came back and he was laughing and laughing.

- “This man thought that you were my wife. He said that he wanted to exchange you for two camels.”

I grinned and just for fun added:

-” I’m insulted! Really! Two camels … that’s not enough.”

-“Don’t worry, Marielle, in Morocco that is a good price and

  It’s better than being traded for two goats!”

Well, thinking back, it was rather comical!

 

If you haven’t seen Marrakesh and its souk you are missing something. They sell everything in the market and the shops: leather, jewellery, silk, babouches, silver, spices, snakes and … even maybe their wives! To add, here’s some good advice: have a Moroccan guide with you; it will be safer and not any less AMAZING!!!