yesterday I attended a book club meeting named "Seed". My partner is
not here and so I was invited to join the club. In my honor we saw a
Moroccan film. the meeting lasted three hours. Just as we started, the
members had to check in and tell what they had been doing during the
previous month bacause they meet to discuss a book each month. they
went on talking about their problems or joys and the atmosphere was
very relaxed. I had to introduce myself as the members of the club are
both on compus and off compus, so some of them did not know me.
The second step was to watch a Moroccan film and have a Moroccan
dinner. They ordered the dinner from a resaurant called Fez, after the
name of one of the most traditional and beautiful Moroccan cities. In
fact the food was not all Moroccan but it was inspired from different
Arab countries, which made of it such a tasty mix. Every body liked it.
The film was done by a Moroccan, and he did it as a project while he
was studying at one of the colleges in California. It was about a
marriage fair that is celebrated in Morocco in one of the remotest
Berber areas in Morocco. In that festival, in fact, young men and
women go there to meet and eventually choose each other for marriage.
But as the film was just a student project, it was not very good
quality. The maker of the film was very kind to upload it for us from
Saudi Arabia where he lives for the time being. He was worried that I
would not like his view of an area in Morocco. I liked the film and
just explained to the club members that it does not reflect Morocco
but a very small part of it. Every body was aware of that and one of
the teachers said that it would be just like saying that "American
Beauty" reflects America, while it does not, it might reflect one very
small portion of it.
So we watched the film, ate our food and laughed a lot because the
film was funny.
At the end of the film, the club members started asking me very
different questions about Morocco and also about my experience in
America. we chatted for 45 minutes and we checked out. every body had
to say what they learned and what they liked. Apparently, they learned
a lot about Morocco and they all said they were glad I was there.
I really enjoyed the meeting and I talked to everybody as if I was
myself a member of the club. Later, a teacher drove me back home, I
was so tired that I slept at 9:00pm. But because of going to bed too
early (for me at least), I woke up at 4:00 am and could not go back to
sleep.
The experience was just amazing, and this is one of the things that I
will propose to do with my colleagues. In this way, at the same time
we can meet, talk and enjoy some meal and we will be able to stay in
touch with reading, a habit that tends to be disappearing.