Thursday, March 19, 2009

Going Native in Tinghir

Moha and Mamass have a full house. Two teen daughters from Moha's first wife, plus 2 daughters and a son from his marriage to Mamass. They have also taken in an orphan girl, Hajar, who cleans the house and cooks for the children. Inass, the daughter for whom their restaurant is named, is 15. Hajar is also 15. Maria is 14. Najua is 10, Mona is 8 and Amin is 5.

They have a fairly new 3-story home in a newer part of town. The downstairs has the formal (raised) sitting room, small Western parlor, small atrium, small kitchen, full bathroom and bedroom. I'm staying here.
The second floor has a large kitchen, small atrium, family salon, full bathroom and two bedrooms. The atrium and salon are the nexus of the home. The atrium has a skylight and some meals are served here at a table and chairs. The salon has the traditional banquets, on the floor, with pillows and two low tables for serving meals. Moha, Mamass, Najua, Mona and Amin sleep on this level.

The upper floor has a large outdoor patio, 2 bedrooms and a wet room with 3 sinks, showerhead and footpads for the toilet. Inass, Maria and Hajar share one of the bedrooms. The other room has bunkbeds and mattresses.
Moha used to run a youth hostel here, on the upper floor. During the summer, the family sleeps outside on the patio. The laundry dries out here.

Breakfast consists of sweet mint tea, hot milk (often with sugar for the children), whole grain bread, white bread and olive oil. Sometimes there is a one-egg omlet, jam, honey, cheese or homemade cookies (yes, at breakfast).
For restaurant owners, their pantry and fridge are pretty bare, so trips to the village center or the nearby market are frequent throughout the day.

It's hard to get people to sit still for photos!

0 comments:

Post a Comment