"Gaouri" is a slang term for "foreigner" here in Morocco. The other day a fellow taxi-passenger used it while discussing me with the driver. For some reason, I felt a bit less offended when I read that Catalonians use nearly the same term.
Two years ago, I purchased an instrument from a man named Mohsin. Mohsin had a shop on Talaa Kbira in Fez, and I had been looking for it ever since my return. After a month and a half of fruitless searching, I had given up on him and found another instrument shop with friendly owners who seemed capable of doing some basic repairs on my "hajhouj," as it is called.
Today, I tried to find their shop again, made a wrong turn and ran straight into Younis, the translator who was working for Mohsin back in 2005 when I bought the instrument. After a friendly chat, he took me to Mohsin's workshop, unchanged since I last ate couscous there two summers ago. Mohsin offered to give me lessons and reattach the attractive (if musically unnecessary) parts of the hajhouj that had fallen off since our last encounter. Verily, Allah works in mysterious ways.
I am off to Barcelona for a few days. When I am back, my hajhouj will have its head reattached, In Sha' Allah.
