![\"Tanger,](\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/languageandculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/485\/2022\/09\/IMG_3509-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Up the stairs we go, and there was the \u2018team\u2019. Sheila decided that she might actually buy a rug, and I\u2019m sure the \u2018team\u2019 picked up on it. Do carpet purchasers give off pheromones? \u201dSit down, please.\u201d Out they came, the Garden of Paradise, the other paradise, the kilims, the blue men carpets (\u201cthey\u2019re not really blue\u201d, and points to his arm and I wanted to show I\u2019m not stupid, so I made a turban swirl around my head \u2013 impressed them, I\u2019m sure), all rolled out on the floor and then came the young woman with the tea, just as we\u2019d been told. Mint tea, colored glasses. The certificates of authenticity and the hard work, tying all those knots. Sheila drove a hard bargain (2,800 down to 2,000). In the meantime, I said I wanted a smaller one (what does 3×5 even look like\u2026?). They bring out a few and I think I want more burgundy. Off they take me to the corner to flip through, 20? 30? And here comes Mohamed. All smiles and not a little flirtatious, despite the raisin on his forehead. I go back to the first one they showed me, over in the pile. Yep. Especially since it can be cleaned, even wine or coffee, \u201cwith just a little shampoo, you know like for hair.\u201d 800 for my carpet? No can do. 400? Oh no, really. I mean we\u2019re including shipping and insurance. Door to door. But I\u2019m a teacher. 500 dollars. \u201cReally?\u201d Mohamed laughs. OK. 550$. \u201cYour bargain like a Berber\u201d. \u201cBut my husband will kill me if I spend more.\u201d So you leave him and come live in Morocco. You join my harem, you and her\u201d. 600.00. OK. Done.<\/p>\n
He hands me off to the money guy and the \u201cbig boss\u201d comes over. \u201cOh, I somehow lost my tea in all this.\u201d. More tea arrives. Magic. And low and behold the boss spent time in the US, New Jersey? New York? They will send my carpet with Photos of us (with Mohamed of course) and our carpets. Carpets initialed, ready to go, 20$ for the helpers? At this point, all I can do is slip Mohamed the two 100dh bills (why the secret?) Sheila gives him the same, while I\u2019m across the room. Boss is back, laughing as I look at a 500-pound decorative tea table. \u201cDo you want to buy that table?\u201d Can I fit it in my suitcase? Out the door, handshakes all around (oops?) and we\u2019re out into the Petit Socco, Mohamed leading the way. Winding around, Sheila and I can\u2019t quite keep up and I think we\u2019re a bit dazed, but very happy. Mohamed knows everybody. Stop here, buy this caftan. No, I want pants, and they have to be long. Sheila likes the caftan, and then so do I. I put it on and it\u2019s too big \u2013 like a pretty blue sack. OK \u2013 the little owner finds her the green top and, still dazed, I want the same (in a different color, quand m\u00eame!) I was giving up on the pants \u2013 they were a pretty grey but no high-water for me. But that\u2019s how they wear them. Not me.\u00a0 OK, we have long ones in white and black. If I buy one more pair of black pants, my husband will kill me. Ok, buy them and come live in my harem. Your harem might object. You don\u2019t know my harem. White pants and a size 1 of the shirt. Done. 350 each. I have 400, Sheila has 300. She can owe you 50. At that point we couldn\u2019t even figure that out. But the clothes were in the bags.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I take you to buy some jewelry.\u201d No thank you Mohamed. It\u2019s not far. In the jewelers\u2026Here\u2019s a photo of me with a famous movie star. What\u2019s his name again? Harry Conick Junior, says Sheila. Yes, here with me and his daughter. He was buying her a present, right here. Nope \u2013 we\u2019re done. We want to get some tea. I\u2019ll take you there. OK. Here\u2019s where you can rest up. We like that place over there \u2013 we were there yesterday. No problem. He shakes hands with the owner of the caf\u00e9 he\u2019s suggested. OUF. Off he goes, smiles all around. Tony shows up as we\u2019re trying to process this, and we show him the photos of our carpets and Mohamed and we are proud. What a great experience. Just great. Sheila says \u201cyou can put this in your hospitality research\u201d. YES. It might have been a commercial transaction but it was very, very human \u2013 very real. It was worth the 600.00 + 35 dh to have that experience alone. We pay after the tea, start to leave, and who is there? Mohamed. We introduce him to Tony as though he were a friend. In a way, he is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By this time, I realized that the ethnographer in me had long since been replaced by the traveler, the adventurer, the curious, rather silly woman who wanted to have a real experience.\u00a0 And so it was. This is the story of Sheila and Ann and Mohamed and the Petit Succo in Tanger. June 6, 2015. I can\u2019t wait to tell it again.<\/p>\n June 7, 2015.<\/p>\n Yes, it was fun to tell the story. I began to wonder if maybe I\u2019d imagined the friendliness of Mr. Mohamed. Nope \u2013 the next day, when we got back to the little passageway, there was the man who sold us our clothes. \u201cWe\u2019re back.\u201d Welcome back. Where\u2019s Mohamed? He\u2019ll be around. And then there he was. Chatted a bit, he made a half-hearted effort to get us back to the jewelry shop and then said maybe we should have tea. To visit “our” caf\u00e9:\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Tingis, Petit Souk, Tanger, Maroc, 360<\/a><\/p>\n June 8<\/p>\n Email exchanges with Mohamed. In French. “Merci pour toute votre aide ces deux derniers jours. \u00a0Accepteriez-vous qu’un coll\u00e8gue photographe prenne\u00a0votre photo cet apr\u00e8s midi.\u00a0 Et merci encore! Ann”<\/p>\n “Oui Ann avec grand plaisire,je vous attend cette apres midi . Mohamed We w <\/p>\n And so we left Tanger.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are a few emails to show how things are going (Click on them to read).\u00a0 The story won’t end here, I’m sure. Ann, Sheila, Mohamed and the carpet adventure We had a mission. Shopping. So we walked into a shop in the Petit Succo. No clue. A nice guy came up to us and offered to show us some djellabas and caftans. OK. Maybe a \u2018pouf\u2019. The little one is 180dh and rolls up real small, like … Continue reading From “Come in and buy” to “You have a friend in Morocco”<\/span> <\/a>Sheila\u2019s, so put the same address. Done. My credit card? 600 euros? Uh NO. Dollars. Yes. US Dollars. No problem. Mohamed is working on Sheila to get her to buy a runner. \u201cShe\u2019s a teacher, too.\u201d Then, I think maybe he can find me some pants. Pants? After all that? Yes. \u201cI know where we can go\u201d But they\u2019ve got to be cheap. I just bought a carpet and I\u2019m a teacher. Teachers don\u2019t make any money. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>He walks us out to the exit of the Petit Succo, where, it’s true, the sellers were pushy when we came in, hours and hours before (or so it seems – how much can you live in one afternoon?!)).\u00a0 More good-byes all around. As I turn to take a photo of him leaving (he didn\u2019t have to escort us to the gates of the medina \u2013 but he did), I saw him hop on the back of a motorcycle with somebody he happened to see and head through the gate and back up the hill.\u00a0 You can’t\u00a0 see him well in this photo; just our side of the arch\/entrance).<\/p>\n<\/a>No, not today, and then we saw that Ali and Robert were still at the Tingis. We introduced Mohamed to them and sat down. Mohamed and Robert could be cousins \u2013 same energy. We learned that Mohamed is from the Rif, as is his wife, we learned that, concerning hospitality: \u201cIt\u2019s inside us.\u201d Yes. It is. He sat with us for a good while, conversations ranging from his daughter in Abu Dhabi to the Barcelona win last night to what American students could do here on a study abroad, from bookstores to the fact that he thinks he remembers Ali from all those years ago. He gave Ali his e-mail card \u2013 and one to me, too. \u201cIf you need anything\u2026\u201d Sounds good to me. Tomorrow afternoon, inchala.<\/p>\n
\nEnvoy\u00e9 de mon iPhone”<\/p>\n<\/a>ere hours late.\u00a0 Almost dinnertime, but he’d waited for us. The pictures are stunning.\u00a0 (Thank you Lincoln Philips). And the fact that Mohamed waited is now a part of this story.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"