(This picture is not great. Perhaps I should listen to my own blog and take more pictures along the way. But it was taken at about the same time and place as the story, and it shows exactly the type of place where, if you paused for a moment, the chances are very high that you would get invited over to someone's house.)
One day as I was walking back from language class in Meknes, Morocco, a woman caught up with me and began chatting. We attempted to talk in Arabic/French and quickly ran out of vocabulary. To make conversation, I decided to dig out the only words I had remaining - the ingredients for the Moroccan soup "harrira" that I had just learned in language class.
"Matisha...bsla...qasbor....madnoos..." I listed, hoping she would help me take my "conversation" about tomatoes, onions, parsley, and cilantro to a whole new level.
But before I finished, she had invited me over for soup! Now that I think about it, I wonder if she was just trying to get me to stop reciting my fascinating list. Whatever the case, she would accept no excuses and asked repeatedly, informing me that our little family should arrive at 8:00 the next night. I later remembered that saying "inshallah" (God willing) can delay aggressive hospitality, but I'm glad I didn't think of that then. So off we went the following evening, armed with only a few words of Arabic and our language books (which our hosts found very amusing), and had a lovely night of soup and bread in her tiny house.
The same day, Gerald had been discussing that we didn't know how to cook couscous (a three-hour process if done correctly) with a friend and promptly got invited that night for couscous.
My hospitality was challenged that day. I am often my own worst enemy, not inviting people over until the house is perfect, the meal has approximately 100 trimmings, and my family is cowering in the corners of the house, wondering what the next assigned job will be. Relax, Julie. Sometimes all the traveler in life needs is a welcoming home and a little soup.
Oh, and perhaps the most important lesson of all: Do not discuss food with Moroccans unless you have the evening free for a meal!