When you greet somebody in Morocco, you kiss them on each side of their face. That is, if you are a girl and they are a girl. It is still a bit awkward for me because different women kiss different amounts of times on each side, depending on how close your relationships are with them. But, because I love a good embarrassment, I have now kissed two men in Morocco, one as old as my Grandpa, and one a young University student. Oops. I guess you don't always learn your lesson the first time.
There is this little old man who is quite old and quite cute, and I swear to you that he looks exactly like my Grandpa Hays. When Corey and I were walking to language class every morning for the first six months, this cute little man came up to us and greeted us. We passed him 2-3 times a week and it became something we looked forward to. We can never really understand him much though, because he speaks a lot of French to us, and also he has very few teeth. He noticed Corey's sack and asked him if he had any Bon Bon. He laughed and said no. Corey bought him a chocolate Bon Bon the next week and gave it to him. Every time he sees Corey he asks if he has "beaucoup d' monet" in his sack (lots of money). Corey just smiles and says no. At some point the old man gave me the little cheek to cheek kiss. I guessed it was okay, seeing as how the man was in his 90s. But our tutor said it wasn't really cultural so after the second time I politely offered him my hand to shake.
Then tonight we ate dinner at a friend's house. He is a newer friend and it was the first time I had met his family. As we were leaving, I went around either shaking hands (with guys) or kissing girls/women on the cheeks. When I got to one of the sons (in university studying to be a doctor) I accidentally leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. After the first cheek I realized my mistake and then tried to stop the second cheek but it was too late. We sort of awkwardly laughed but who knows what he thought about me! Later in the car, Corey said "what were you doing kissing that young, handsome boy on the cheeks?".
Hopefully now I have learned my lesson.
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