Well, ok, Fes!

I apparently failed to tell you about the city that I spent 9 weeks in. I suppose it's rather good that I have an extra week here without all of the distractions at home to take the time to tell you about such things. Because I will definitely be busy when I get back home. Finally. In 5 days. You can't blame me for counting, I'm in a silly HOTEL for heaven's sake, and it's Ramadan, so I can't even get a cup of tea in the middle of the day because I can't make it myself and there's none being sold. Mmm, tea.... iced tea... at home......

But Fes. Fes is a very interesting city. Fairly large. It's called one of the Imperial Cities, though honestly I never paid too much attention to why. It's something that the region is called. One of its biggest claims to fame is the medina - the English and French word for the old city. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site, which means it's protected and isn't allowed to change (in theory except to restore, but one person's 'restoration' is another's 'bullllloney.') It is, in theory, the largest pedestrian-only urban space in the world. Don't tell those people about the motorcycles, k? Or the little 3-wheeled guys that carry in building materials. The 3-wheelers stay to the outside edges from what I've seen, but the motorcycles may be anywhere. Don't think Harley, though, no way. These are very cute little motorcycles that maybe should be called mopeds. And definitely some scooters in there, too.

I guess it was the capital for a long time, too. Like 600 years. Now it's considered the capital of culture and handicrafts, at least by the people there. They consider the area generally well-educated, and very traditional. It's kind of funny, because the medina in Rabat has a lot of really neat stuff that kind of blends the traditional with the modern (like the leather bags and some of the shirts that look almost traditional, but have plunging necklines), while the Fes does mostly the traditional. And a whole lot of it. They say that most of the hand-made stuff comes from Fes, I suppose it's possible. But I can't believe it's ALL from there, I mean transportation here still takes effort and having a weaving loom in another city would make a lot of sense.

Walking around in the medina is pretty amazing. You can find probably everything you'd want. Ok, close to it at least. There are so many tourists and others coming through, though, that the shop owners can get kind of pushy and less friendly. They seem to get told by everyone that they're 'just looking' but of course some people end up buying stuff after this phrase, so they really don't understanding what 'just looking' means. And when you ask a price, some places will assume that you really want the thing and have whatever it takes to buy it.

Like I saw this GORGEOUS yellow amber bracelet in a store, made with sterling silver, and asked how much it was. The starting price was around 400Dh, I think, or $50. Now, had I wanted it, I probably could have had it for $25-30, but I didn't want it THAT much. I wanted it like $10 much. I honestly don't know how much real jewelry should cost, having only purchased one necklace that wasn't from Clare's or of similar quality. Oh, and one for my mom from France. The lady working was very nice, and was actually the host mom of one of my classmates who had just left, and was trying to get me to bargain, but I realized with that starting price, there was no way. I tried to tell her that I really hadn't known and really didn't have the money, and she was just like "tell me what you would pay" and I tried to protest and say I didn't want to offend her, I know it's nice, but she made me say, so I did (and I was honest, as I didn't want to get stuck buying it for $25 or more) and she was like "oh, no, this is original and quality" and seemed slightly offended, and in my head I was just like "which is exactly why I was just trying to walk away from it."

The guys in the medina aren't always friendly and can even be rude (sorry, "F* you" and "go home" are rude in any country as far as I know, it's not just a cultural difference) so you get used to just ignoring their constant calls and carry on your way. But it does get tiring to have to ignore nearly everyone who speaks to you. I've mentioned that before, that I know they're not all jerks, but there are just too many jerks to risk being nice to all of them. And that sort of attitude is also found in the new part of the city, though to a somewhat lesser extent. I thought that maybe it was all over Morocco, but Rabat is proving otherwise, luckily. There are still plenty of undesired comments and invitations, just a whole lot less. And more of them are from a distance, which I am finding makes a huge difference to me.

There are also plenty of historic sites in the medina, including the world's first university (according to UNESCO, and I guess they should know!) It's an old Mosque/University. From what I understand, there are 3 main ones - one in Cairo, one in Tunis and one in Fez. Maybe that means I am gonna go live in Cairo some day? Seems unlikely. Maybe just visit. I have loads of pictures of old buildings and stuff, but few of the streets of the medina. Partly because I am concerned for my camera, but more because it seems like people don't like it. My guess is that they feel like animals in a zoo when people come through and take pictures of them at their jobs like that. Well, ok, that's how I would feel. And you can definitely see they aren't happy with being part of the pictures many times.

The new part of Fes - actually, back up. There's an area called "Fes Jdid," or "new Fes" in Moroccan, that is from the 13th century. It's much more relaxed than the medina, and next to it. We used to walk home through there on a regular basis. We never decided if it's actually longer (I think it is) or if it just takes longer due to the need to weave through the crowds (does slow you down even more) but it's prettier than the 'shorter' way, which is along the road that runs around the outside of the medina walls. I bought a pair of sandals there that I wore to the wedding. So I now have a pair of heels that I will have to try out at an appropriate time. Like dancing.

Ok, on to the "ville nouvelle" or new city. As you might guess, it was the part started by the French, so you'll find more restaurants, more stores, and things like the train and bus stations in this area. I guess 20 or 30 years ago, people with money still lived in the medina, but apparently they have all left for the ville and left a good bit of poverty in the medina (which I'm sure contributes to it being less comfortable.) This area reminds me of Tunis a good bit, or at least Tunis other than the medina, which I really don't remember too well because I didn't go in there much. Now it seems SOOO silly that I was concerned about venturing in, now that I've gone into the medina on a near-daily basis for 9 weeks. Ah, hindsight and all that. People use a lot of French in the ville on signs and in restaurants, etc, etc, etc. It's not all terribly safe, because it still is a sizable city, and I guess because of the number of tourists in the area in general - I'm not quite sure why, really.

Overall, the city was really cool, and I'm glad that I was there, but even more I'm glad that I had people to share it with. Because I couldn't have done it on my own because one girl alone gets just as much harassment without anyone to ignore the guys with, or to laugh at the guys or to make comments after like, "did he just say 'look with your eyes'? What else do you look with??" or "dates are aphrodisiacs? since when?" I don't think I could live there for a year, on my own or with support. Which is part of the reason Rabat was such a pleasant surprise.

Who knows, though, I may end up with a topic that will be mostly completed from an apartment in Austin and not make it back at all. Seems super unlikely, but that's what I would have told you just 6 months ago about me spending the summer here at all.

Did I miss any details you're curious about?