11 pm, Fes

It's been a very interesting day in Fes! And quite a tiring one, at that. Lunch at Abdelhak's house was DELICIOUS, if I didn't already love Moroccan food that would have sealed the deal. There was a beef and prune tagine, a bastilla (Nicki - it was even better than in Clarendon!) olives, a green pepper condiment, a tomato/cucumber salad,kebabs,and fruit for dessert. They kept offering me more and more food and I read that it's rude to refuse, so I ate so much I wasn't even hungry for dinner.

I pretty much spent my entire shopping budget today, which is fine by me because I have a bad habit of saying I'm going to buy all these things I see, then I never seize the moment and actually do it. So I wind up with nothing. Well that was most certainly NOT the case today! I bought a handmade leather jacket, an ottoman, some handmade pottery and two handmade rugs. God I sound like a Rockefeller or something. I'll make up for it later somewhere. Plus other than shopping I'm really not going to spend much here, a damn cross country train is like $20. Seriously, it is. And a taxi cross town was two bucks. But enough about shopping already.

I have found Moroccans incredibly outgoing and friendly so far. They all seem to be studying English in school and oddly enough they all love America. It's a hoot to hear them pronounce Obama , like it's three separate words. Or baby talk or something. I should say, the MEN are very outgoing...the women seem to be mostly very traditional, "seen not heard" kind of thing. I haven't seen many women without the headscarf on. Not the case for little girls, the rules seem to be for grown women only. Can't say I understand it all but it's certainly interesting! The downside of having an outgoing people who largely speak English is that EVERYONE wants to talk to you and I don't want to be impolite in a foreign country. And the children are quite persistent. The neighborhood kids know me now but maybe in Marrakech I'll pretend I speak only Esperanto so they'll leave me alone. Of course then I'll have to learn how to say "I don't speak X" in Esperanto. Hmm.

Well I'm positively beat, and tomorrow is a day trip to the Middle Atlas (countryside) which ought to be a nice "off day" from the chaos of the city. This part of Morocco is actually quite green, and now that I know that I'm looking forward to the trip even more!

Bye for now!