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Sunday, February 26, 2012

And his name is...(well now you have to read to find out!)


            As per usual, it’s been quite awhile since my last post.  Lots of exciting things have happened since I’ve last written.  Pea season (my town is apparently known far and wide for their excellent peas) is in full swing, I went on vacation to Portugal (see facebook for pictures), warm weather has returned (Hamduallah!) and last but certainly not least, my host my gave birth to a little boy!
            I left on vacation knowing my host mom might very well have the baby while I was gone, though I came back to find her still pregnant (very, very pregnant).  Coming back to town was wonderful after being gone for a couple of weeks-everyone greeted me, asked how my trip was and said how much they had missed me.  It was even better knowing I could experience all the things that would come with the birth of the new baby.
            Of course, when I stopped by to say hi to the family, I completely misunderstood and thought my host mom was still at the hospital when in fact she had come home the night before with the baby (I proceeded to go to the hammam and said I was come later for tea, refusing an invitation for lunch and probably offending everyone a ton…good thing they like me a lot, I can usually get away with almost anything). 
            I finally did come and talked with my host sisters before going up to see my host mom and the baby.  Everyone was in a great mood and excited about the baby (all the girls had wanted it to be a boy); after inquiring about the sex, I asked for the name, a question whose answer was a bit of a blank stare followed by “we don’t know yet.”  Don’t know yet…I thought to myself…and then a faint memory of going to a baby-naming party last March came to me.  I hadn’t really thought about it much at the time but the baby at that party, although new, had been born about a week before.  Another faint memory of a culture lesson during training came to me…people here wait a week or so to announce the new baby’s name to everyone and of course, a slaughter and big feast is involved. The ram I had seen running around the yard suddenly made a lot more sense. 
            Thankfully I didn’t make the same mistake of asking my host mom for the name.  I did get the privilege of seeing the baby the day after his birth (something reserved for family as far as I could tell).  Although I won’t include any pictures of him in this post, you can take my word for it that he is just precious!  Dark eyes and a head full of dark hair.
            I went and saw mom and baby a few more times during the week and got the info for the baby-naming party (to be held on Sunday).  About half way through the week the younger kids started calling the baby Ali…I thought this was just a nickname but was actually his real name…another privilege of hanging out with the family a lot, you get to know the name before lots of other people.
            I knew the party was on Sunday, but I wasn’t really sure what time to show up.  I called my host dad this morning to check.  He told me he was just about to slaughter the ram and that I should come over but that the lunch started at 12.  I declined the invite to see the slaughter (see my post from L’Eid) but headed over at noon with my gift, pictures of the new baby and some money for the parents.  To my surprise, little Ali was hairless…all his beautiful dark hair had been shaved off!  I was going to ask why and then I figured the explanation would be very complicated and I probably wouldn’t understand so I just decided to go with it.  It was hard enough to try to gather who Ali was (a  prophet from the Kor’an, though I have no idea what he did, etc).
There was most definitely a lot of sitting around at this party.  A lot of women showed up about 1 and we drank some tea and ate cookies.  Women and children kept filtering in for the next few hours.  I think there were between 75 and 100 women and children by the end.  Small groups would come in and look at the new baby, talk with his mom and bit, drink some tea and then filter back out to sit in the salon, or formal sitting room.  Three cups of tea and about ten cookies later, lunch was finally served.  It didn’t come out until about 4:30…I wasn’t really sure if this was normal and/or expected or if most people thought they’d be eating at 2.  Regardless, no one seemed too worried about it as we started with a chicken duwaz (meat cooked in tagine with sauce and olives but no other vegetables).  This was followed by mutton with prunes and almonds.  I ate it all like a champ and no one even scolded me to eat more (a very common occurrence at Moroccan meals, no matter how much food you’ve eaten and regardless if you are mid-chew).
During the whole affair the women in my host family (namely my host aunt and oldest host sisters) were busy cooking, cleaning, serving tea and washing dishes.  None of them ate with the guests and I’m not sure my host aunt even got any food!  As I was talking with them, I realized this was not the only part of the party.  There was going to be a men’s party in the evening with just as many people and as much food.  So they would have to do it all over again…and the party would probably last for many hours and late into the night.  A joyous day but also a very busy one.  Little Ali has come into the world and was happily received and welcomed by one of the best and most loving family that I have ever met.  I’m very excited to get to see him grow up for the next 15 months…he’s got a good start already!