Glad to Be Home

I have returned to Fes from my week out of the country. My passport is stamped and so the Moroccan government will allow me to stay for another 3 months. While out of the country, I had a great time being able to talk to people without worrying. However, I was unable to talk with many people because of the language barrier, so returning to Fes was a nice change. My French and Arabic may be poor, but they are miles ahead of my Slovene.

Slovenia was beautiful, with tiny steep hills everywhere, covered in green, and a house or two perched at the top of each hill. It looked like a cartoon illustration from a Dr. Seuss book.

Back in my city, I immediately set out to explore. Well, ok, I took a nap first. I spent the night before in the airport. When I finally did set out to explore, the beautiful blue sky let through enough sunshine to make me think spring was here. Everywhere, people who have been huddled in their houses returned to walk the streets in the Medina. Women donned their fashionable satin djellabahs instead of the bulky fleece winter ones, and the street vendors seemed to double by the hour.

I went to the Medina with the intention of getting a birthday present for a Moroccan friend, who is celebrating her first birthday this year! She is my age, but has never had a birthday party or anything to celebrate this date. In the Medina, I was immediately invited to sit and have tea with one of the elderly shopkeepers, who then walked me to another store to show his new set of paintings, and then wanted to introduce me to his daughter, who is learning English. She works at a preschool across town, so he called his son or nephew to watch his shop and took me across town to meet his daughter. She was not working at the time, so I saw the school, and we returned to the Medina, found her and the rest of his family, and ate tagine together. One of the younger relations and I discussed common messages in the Bible and the Qu'aran, and one of the boys taught me a lesson in Berber drumming. Insha'allah Hannan and I will meet up this weekend to practice our various languages together.

I love this city.