Dating is a team sport in Morocco

No, Mom and Dad, I'm not talking about ME dating but it sure has been interesting to watch my friends navigate dating here. One of my roommates (the reverted Muslim from Canada) has expressed interest in dating someone in Morocco. Needless to say, there's no shortage of women who have a cousin, brother, uncle, etc that they would like to set her up with. Here is where things get a bit more complicated, and for me, very amusing. Technically, Muslims are not allowed to date. You can "get to know someone", but under certain circumstances. You can't meet alone (as in someone's house or the movies); you should be in a public place. Basically, you should never be in a situation where something could happen with a member of the opposite sex. Many times this means two people end up dating in a group at first and then meet in public afterward. Or they lie and say they are going to a friend's house and really go meet their boyfriend.

Back to my friend. She works at the orphanage and one of the nurses there wanted her to meet her cousin. They set up a date and I was going to be my friend's chaperon. This was by far the most awkward date I have ever been on and it wasn't even my date! Some highlights of the evening:
The guy: I looked up your town in Canada on Google Earth, maybe I saw your house! Maybe I saw your mom!
Then after the date, my friend and I wanted to walk around for a bit but the guy INSISTED he take us home. We really aren't supposed to have people drop us off at home (safety reasons) so we told him he could just drop us off at the grocery store that's about a 2 minute walk from the house. Then he wanted to go IN the grocery store with us. We said, no that's OK, we'll just go alone. So he said he would wait for us... After about five minutes we finally convinced him to let us go alone. Then he got out of the car to say good-bye to us and he asked her, "So, do you like me?" My friend slyly tried to avoid the question by saying she would email him, to which he responded, "When? Tonight?"

I really had to try hard to keep it together and not burst out laughing the entire time. The second date went much better. I set her up with a guy from my class who works in the same field as she does. We had a group date with him and another person from my class last night. I was the matchmaker so I hope it turns out OK!

That's all for now, I will try to write more later. Miss you all!