Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Laughing Cow, laugh no more.

Here's a side story, venturing back before 'Eid:

At the midnight stop on our bus ride from Risani to Meknes, I believe I managed to find the singular hanut in Morocco that doesn't sell Laughing Cow cheese. On the way across the street to another hanut, I managed to forget how to say cheese in both French and Arabic, so when I got to the two men loading sodas into drink fridges in their hanut, our conversation went something along the lines of:

Me: "Uhh.... Salaam..."

Hanut Man 1: "Salaam."

Hanut Man 2: "Salaam"

Me: "Salaam...uhh... uh... cheese?"

Hanut Man 1: "...Chips?"

Me: "Laa (no), urmm..."

Hanut Man 2: "Urhh..." (gestures for me to look into the shop)

Me: "Ah!" (pointing at the cheese I see on a shelf) "Hadtha!" (this!)

Hanut Man 1: (points at the tuna next to the cheese) "Hadtha?"

Me: "Laa..." (pointing more to the right of the tuna)

Hanut Man 1: "Hadtha?" (pointing at the can opener next to the tuna)

Me: "Ah... laa..."

Hanut Man 2: (gestures for me to come behind the counter)

Me: (Picking up cheese, but only wanting one wedge, not the whole package) "Ahh... Wehd?" (one?)

Hanut Man 1: "Tetakelem al Aarabiyya?" (You speak Arabic?)

Me: (thinking he was trying to teach me how to say cheese in Arabic) "Bil Aarabiyya?" (In Arabic?)

Hanut Man 2: "Tetakelem al Aarabiyya?"

Me: "Ah! Shweeya!" (A little)

Me: (seeing the entire clear plastic container of singular Laughing Cow cheese wedges sitting right in front of me on the counter) "Ah. Hadtha."

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