These fried treats immersed in honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds are a Ramadan staple in Btown.
I went to Fatima's house to ask a simple question; instead, I sat for 4 hours making hundreds of these little cookies. Now that I know how much time, energy, and oil is involved in each cookie, I won't gobble them down as quickly.
*Family, we used a pasta maker to roll out the dough, but I have a "cookie cutter" as well. It only takes a couple hours of practice to form the perfect shebakia.
Yesterday, I visited 7 banks that had electronic exchange rate placards. None had euros for my dirhams. Today, I visited the place Fatima recommended, and here's where the ethical dilemma portion of my blog starts. Usually, when dirhams are converted into euros, the foreigner's passport gets stamped to record the transaction because King Mhd put a cap on the amount of dirhams each person can convert each year. My mul bazaar tells me that only his son can stamp my passport, and he's not here, so forget about the stamp. Mashi mushkil. We can still do the transaction. Because I head to Italy soon, I needed euros, and 7 other banks in Btown didn't have euros, the transaction must go on.
Word Problem:
I have 1700 dirhams.
11.627 dirhams = 1 euro.
Mul bazaar gave me a 11.25dh/euro rate.
How many euros should I receive?
Answer: 300 euros, plus 12.5dh in change.
Incorrect, right? I tried telling the mul bazaar it was way too much money at least 5 times. I told him I was a thief if I took the money. He kept punching numbers into his calculator and talked to me like I was just learning math. We counted the money out over and over. Each time, I counted out 150 euros, and he kept adding more bills to the stack. I'm sure he thought this silly foreigner knew nothing about math. He offered to go over the calculations again, so I left the shop. Then, I returned. A few more times, I tried to show him how I'm actually ripping him off. As (most/some/a few) Moroccan men in positions of power are to me, he didn't listen and kept reiterating his side. FINE! I left.
Would you keep the money? Would you go back to the shop for a 3rd time? Would you check to make sure the money wasn't counterfeit (thanks, Carl)? I'm wondering if the man will hunt me down next month when/if he realizes his mistake. Or am I mistaken? There were no receipts or documentation of this transaction. Half of me is so gleeful; the other half is ashamed. What to do?
is there a safe place to store the overage, while you are away? perhaps later when the son is back, you can ask him a what if question to see if the calculation was correct and what would happen to them if it was not...if like done here, there is account balancing done, then this error might hurt them later - but if in Morocco...inshallah, what will be, will be.
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