Friends that Make You Feel Like Family

The beauty of meeting Mr. Casa was his friends.  We sat at the Coffee shop and he introduced me to his five friends.  They were full of smiles and very welcoming.  As time went by, one friend came and another came and another came.  By the end of time it was 10+ friends all sitting and drinking coffee. Immediately, we were laughing and joking and things felt so easy.  Mr. Casa sat back and kept to himself.  In comparison to his friends, he is more quiet and reserved and does not talk as much. 

Omar, specifically, made me feel very welcome telling me about some Moroccan traditions and saying that we would all go together and do things in Morocco, like go to Marrakech, eat some traditional food, and explore nightlife. He spoke of his love for Ray Charles and jazz music.   It felt so genuine-his interest in us all spending time together…

 

Some Moroccans will spend hours selling you a sheep.  It is the best sheep in Morocco, it has the warmest fur, the best meat, and you will love it…. They get you so excited about the sheep and then it turns out that they just went off and sold it to someone else PRIS

We went out to a local live music place in Ain Dieb.  It was pretty chilled out and I was eager to dance, but it was really nice spending time with his friends.  They were all checking on me and making sure I was “okay” and I enjoyed the place.  They were so happy and their happiness was spread right to me and I guess to my heart. I felt a sense of belonging like I had found a local place, new friends, and a great guy.  It reminded me of my close connections with friends in Turkey. I guess it reminded me of my time with Mr. Bigg and his friends in Istanbul-not too far off. In general, there were a lot of great friends besides Mr. Bigg’s that I met in the great city of Istanbul. We went off to the next place Armstrong, which is famous in Casablanca. They have a live music band with some classic hit songs and new ones. We sat and danced together and Mr. Casa was sitting back and observing. All four of us got into a circle holding each other's shoulders and jumping up and down. Mr. Casa and I danced together and I was not sure what was happening, but it felt really good. It was a feeling I did not expect to feel, but I guess I did. 

 

 

 

 

                                                Happy, Happy, Happy Days