The Priviledge of Living Here..

1/9/2006 8:52 PM

I am currently reading Hussain of Jordan: A Search for Just and Lasting Peace, a Political Biography by James Lunt. The History, starting back in the 1920’s with the western-originated division of Arabic states and Jordan’s history of establishing itself in a progressively modern era. The stories are fascinating, much of the background new to me; making me fall in love with history and all the untold stories that I have yet to discover.

At any rate, I feel fortunate to be living here in Morocco, living with a Muslim family, getting used to their particular customs, foods, and culture. On the personal level I have some hard days, some days I’m sick of tagines and couscous and the demand to eat. Some days I grow weary of gossip and the need to stop to talk to everyone on the streets, but taking a step back, I am privileged with a very unique position. As the book pointed out, far more Arabs speak English and wear jeans than do Americans speak Arabic and wear Jalabas. Maybe I don’t wear a Jalabba, but just the chance to learn how to eat with my hands, or observing them pulling out their carpet to pray wherever they might find themselves, benefiting from the long-held value of hospitality and the many warm gestures of these peoples, I am privileged. I am able to witness what few Americans have the chance to do. Even those who travel to Cairo for camel ride or study in Jordan don’t really experience live like an Arab, living at their economic level, carrying on in their daily activities, sharing their dinner with your fingers. I am privileged to witness all of this.