The Grouchy Strawberry Guy Part II

A picture of the souk taken by a friend

Some of you may recall that last year at this time, I had gone to the souk where I first met "The Grouchy Strawberry Guy." I had spoken to him in Arabic and he had responded with a long sentence which I had to admit I did not understand. "THIS WOMAN KNOWS NOTHING!" he announced to all within earshot.



So of course I avoided this insulting man and went to other stalls. But there was one problem. He always has the best in-season fruit. With great humility and annoyance I was forced to go back to him. After a while I decided that I needed to move beyond humility and annoyance so that by next strawberry season, we could actually be friends. So I tried being nice. And guess what? It worked! I have to admit, it's kind of fun - almost like a game - working on grouchy people to see if you can get them to be nice :)



And so it was that yesterday, after one year of my tactics, I bought the first strawberries of the season from "The Friendly Strawberry Guy" who now refers to me as "my sister" - what a triumphant moment!



As I was waiting my turn, TFSG started yelling something to advertize his fruit. Usually the guys holler something like "Mine is the cheapest! And the best! Vitamin C!" I was dismayed, however, because once again, I did not understand one word he said. But some Moroccan friends of ours who were also waiting burst out laughing when he was done. "No matter how long you study Arabic, you will never understand what he just said!" Apparently it was a funny perfectly rhyming poem & play on words about how his fruit was the best and how you would never have to throw away any of it when you got home.



And he was right.