Is there "beera" in your water bottle?

So one of my most prized possesions in Morocco is my lime green Nalgene bottle I have had as my friend and companion for many years now. It is so hot all of the time and life is just much better knowing I will not get dehydrated as long as I have my trusty green Nalgene. I carry this bottle with me everywhere I go and generally try and drink out of it instead of the water pitchers given to me at other people's houses because I know the water in my bottle wont make me sick (my body has gotten used to the well water in my house).

As it turns out this is a somewhat rare occurance in Morocco. I feel like lots of people carry water bottles or cups of something in America, this is just not common practice around here. Turns out that my entire village thinks I am drinking "beeara" or beer/ alcohol out of my bottle. I can understand why they think this weird American that they dont know much about only drinks out of her own special bottle. After all, all of the American movies they watch have people drinking in them, so why wouldnt this American drink too? The problem is that it is very "hshumma" or shameful to be drinking in Morocco, so this is not good PR for me.

I learned about this today when my 87 year old host grandmother asked me why I was drinking beer at lunch time. I was a little confused and laughed it off, but she was serious. I had to explain to her that its just water. (On a side note, it is common practice for everyone to drink out of one cup at the table and frankly I never end up getting my thirst quenched when everyone is drinking all the water out of the cup and I would just rather drink from my own bottle). She still didnt understand. My host sister then went into a whole long story about how I drink lots of water and its just easier if I have my own bottle to drink from. Thats when my host sister told me that lots of people in the village have been asking about what is in my water bottle. I am glad I have her there to stick up for me.

The greatest part of this story is not that my entire village thinks I drink alcohol out of my waterbottle (this is NOT college anymore afterall) but that my grandma thinks I am drinking green water. She kept asking where I was getting green water and why I wanted green water. I even did a little demonstration to show her that the water wasnt green by pouring it into a clear glass, but she didnt understand.

Needless to say this 87 year old woman thinks I am drinking beer and green water. What a crazy day.