Moroccan "Rules"...

In our off time here in Tinghir, my training group and I enjoy spending our evenings amongst the local community. I thought this was a particularly good opportunity, as well as a photographic representation, to share with you the typical culture clashing we have witnessed thus far. In this particular scene, you will first notice that we are playing a simple game of pool at a local cafe'. What's different about this situation is the apparent confusion displayed by the pointing of fingers and gaping mouths on the part of both my team-mate and myself. Basically, we were one shot away from sinking the 8-ball in the corner pocket, when conveniently the Moroccan (pictured in the red shirt) implores the Moroccan "Rules" on us. So, in an effort to spread cultural studies to those back home, here's the short story...

Okay... so although there's quite a bit of felt between our Cue-ball and the 8-ball, it's a fairly easy shot that my partner (Motism) would easily finish off. But just as we're getting ready to sink the 8-ball, this Moroccan Johnny Cocrane played the Moroccan "Rules" card and goes on to inform us that we not only have to sink the 8-ball, but we have to do it while banking it. And here's the best part....... we have to bank it off the wall of HIS choice. Now what kind of janky-ass shit was that???? The first thing that popped into my mind was, "I've come over 6000 miles for this, when I could have gone down to 7th street and Market St. to get the same treatment."

Obviously, this isn't the easiest of shots, and so we spent the next 10-15 mins practicing our newly obtained skills of international diplomacy. And although there was only 20Dh ($2US) on the game, we felt as if he was trying to bury us in the sand here (sort of speak). Yielding to home-court rules, we calmly spent the next............... 40+ mins trying to sink that damned 8-ball in the hole!! We finally prevailed and pulled out a "W" in the end, representing all the shit-hole pubs we learned the game from back home in the states.

Now un-balanced by the event, we proceeded to spend a few minutes de-briefing over some mint tea. As we began breaking down this experience, we came (to what we thought) was a simple explaination...

1. 19% un-employment rate
2. Wage earners work less than five months per year, so there's plenty of time.
3. The typical wage earner among the poor earns one third of the average wage and about half the legislated minimum wage.
4. The understood practice of incest amonst some rural Berber communities, and not ruling out that this guy might just be a product of that.
5. Realizing that it's the month of Ramadan and fasting without water (which practically makes up about 70% of someone's body weight), and the lack of food, lead to dehydration, which can leave you feeling tired, making it hard to concentrate.

...and many, many other educated guesses.

In the end, not only did we walk away a bit more confused, 20Dh richer, a much better understanding of Moroccan "Rules" pool, but we also realized that our cultures are not as differant as we may have thought...and that even the men here in Morocco, will make up any off-the-wall excuse not to go home to their wives right after work.