A Turn of Events

Now I am wondering if this night sounds as weird as I can explain it to be. Just picture this setting first: Moroccan mud house, living room, sitting on rugs, sharing couscous in one big bowl, drinking fresh buttermilk, a clock chimes the hour but the music is broken and it’s an eerie twine (that bothers no one else but me!) and talking across the small table.
One of those more interesting days. I went to eat dinner with one family I have affectionately nicknamed them, “fun” family because it is always a good time there. Tonight they had another guest, a teacher who had learned English back in the 80s from a Peace Corps volunteer. We dominated the conversation over dinner in his broken but not bad English. We discussed his family, job, and he told me about his experience learning English from the volunteer. Somehow the conversation slowly turned from his wife and kids to his youth when he was in college bachelor days. He talked about his affairs he has had with co-workers. I felt an awkwardness and tried to turn this current slightly awkward conversation into a health lesson. I told him that I hope he had used protection because of the diseases than you can get from risky behavior, (in simple and less forward English). He told me that he was careful when seeking out women, if they had been around, he would not sleep with them. He was currently on a new schedule where he has stayed faithful to his wife for the past year. Incredible. Then he warned me of men and how they would want to sleep with me because I am, “very beautiful!” At this point I feel that the family picked up on enough key English words that they felt this was a weird or a very interesting conversation. After dinner we drank some more tea and then he excused himself to smoke, at this point the two girls tell me we need to go. We slip out another door and walk quickly, bursting out in giggles because they asked me what he was telling me and scolding him, “Hshumya!,” (Shame on him!, Reference previous blog, 10/5/2009) I felt that I couldn’t be completely honest as not to ruin this man’s reputation. I turned it into a new health conversation on my work with HIV/AIDS and STIs in Morocco and how this man and I talked about it. I think they were afraid that this man would ask me for my phone number and wanted to avoid this, especially in front of the parents.
What a fucking weird night.