Moroccan Sushi and Generic Update, Cross Posted to 33 Eats

Months ago, I promised pictures of Moroccan sushi (it gave me a legitimate excuse to go back and spend tons of money on happy happy fish!).  The only problem is that they still did not have tuna: "Tomorrow, in sha Allah."  Well, as a result I had to try the King Crab Roll, which consisted of oodles of crab.  That's it.  Crab.  

Crab and me, we go way back, but this was a bit too much crab for Miriam.  I've finally found a point where I had enough crab.  The salad was interesting, and it was certainly a relief to have a dressing that wasn't just watered-down mayonnaise.  It was a wasabi vinaigrette and there wasn't any lettuce, instead shredded carrots and cabbage, but they were in strips that were so long that they wrapped around the bowl and were difficult to navigate into our mouth's without flinging dressing on our shirts.  The ambiance was unparalleled modern chic in Fes, where most expensive restaurants emphasized the Moroccaness of their features as opposed to contrasting it.  

I have since moved to Oman and live an hour and a half away from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  The culinary opportunities are much greater there, but most of the fine restaurants are at hotels and are beyond the reach of a student's budget.  We did have amazing catered Chinese appetizers at a US Dept of Commerce function, though.  Can't remember the restaurant, but ... I thought I saved a cocktail napkin.  Most restaurants in town are very inexpensive Lebanese, Syrian, or Indian places.  I have been meaning to do a couple write-ups on them.  First, I had to put my house in order!  The most recent food events have been the weekly dinners hosted by one of our group of students.  We have had Nepalese food, Philipino and Thai food (that was me, of course), Chicken Alfredo, Breakfast-for-Dinner, Variations on Chicken with Bros. Special Sauce, Biryani, and tonight Aaron whipped up some amazing vegetable lasagna which is a departure on his vegan-matzoh lasagna.  We will be going to Jordan, and possibly Kenya and Tanzania, where I will most definitely have things to report!  Food!  Happy feasting!

Moving from Morocco to Oman

This is a long post, written in Word two weeks ago.  I have not updated because I have been without internet for a month (except when I'm able to check e-mail at cafes).

So many things have happened in the past two weeks.  I can’t even believe it’s only been two weeks…

On February 16^th, we left Morocco for the UAE.  I had made a hotel reservation in Al Ain the night before we left because I was terrified that we were going to show up without accommodation.  We left Fes early in the morning, just made our connection, and landed in Abu Dhabi at approximately 8:00 p.m.  I think the plane landed earlier.  Etihad Airlines is very swank and I enjoyed the plane ride for a couple reasons: I was able to have two seats by the window, with Aaron taking the row in front and Leigh taking the row behind.  They had a gajillion on demand movies and TV shows, allowing me to watch Ever After, which I had been thinking and talking about with Laura while in Morocco, and watch 3 or 4 episodes of Bones.  A successful flight!

We changed our Moroccan D’s for AED’s, used the un-swank Customs bathrooms (as is the case in every country… should have used the ones in the terminal).  Oh, the terminal was some bizarre green and purple inside of a mushroom/alien hive building.  Very odd.  There was a sign saying no pictures, but nobody could help themselves.  (Which I'll put on Picasa soon enough.)

After making it through Passport Control and Customs with Aaron having to show his DVD collection to the guy (I don’t know what he was looking for… missionary stuff?  Porn?  Anti-Islamic materials?), Matt’s friends Dave and Ty met us at the terminal.  They looked kinda sad when they realized that only Matt was getting the star treatment and his friends were schlepping it to Al Ain on public buses.  But, c’est la vie.  So we did schlep, paying a ridiculous 70AED for the taxi driver to take us into Abu Dhabi just to the bus station.  He wanted to take us to Al Ain, but we were too cheap for that.  Plus, we’d already taken two taxis and two airplanes; time to add something else to the list.  He did not seem very familiar with the bus station and was 100% confused that we were actually asking to be dropped off there.  He was under the assumption that we’d give him directions to something else, like the mall next to the bus station, Incorrect, sir! 

He let us off in the middle of the station, but really far from where we needed to be.  We schlepped with all (ALL) of our luggage (save small suitcase we sent on with UPS) through the terminal, asking the guy where the Al Ain buses were, and then wandered over to the full size bus.  Only 10AED per person, totaling less than ½ of what we paid to just get from the airport to the bus station in the same city! 

The ride was mostly uneventful, except that a man sat across from Leigh, even when other men on the bus chastised him and told him that was for women, and then starting watching pornography on his phone.  The loud music made both Leigh and I look, and then we got the gist of it and looked back at each other, trying desperately not to laugh while being a hundred percent scandalized.

I promise, I looked around and got the cheapest accommodation in Al Ain!  Lonely Planet said there’s nothing below 5 stars!  So we trundled out of the bus, after it started making stops all the way into town, and had to pull our own luggage from underneath.  I think the bus driver forgot.  There were plenty of taxis, though, and we quickly got a ride to the Hilton, even though we were struggling to cram all of our luggage (and ourselves) into one cab.

The hotel was nice, very nice.  Classy, elegant, had no problem throwing in a cot for Leigh and didn’t charge us any more.  Aaron was gentlemanly and took the cot, although not much of a sacrifice because it was all nice.  We hadn’t eaten since the plane, so we ordered room service—it wasn’t expensive at all!  I had an attempt at a quesadilla, which I think caused me to be sick all the next day, while Aaron had amazing tortellini and Leigh had a big ole American burger.

The next day was a tad bit confusing.  We thought that we had it to ourselves, but Mike had expected to help us move our stuff across the border.  Not knowing that, I booked another night at the Hilton.  Leigh did need to get over to Oman to stay with a friend of a friend: Ellen.  So Mike picked us up at the hotel, and I made a snap decision to join them even though I was wary because I had been so sick.  Anyway, we had our first experience of the border, which was ridiculously simple because Mike has a fancy border crossing ID and we were in a car.  He gave us a quick tour, dropped Leigh off, stopped at the Buraimi Hotel so that we could make a reservation, and then took us all the way back to the hotel.  He was very accommodating, setting up an appointment to look at apartments the next day.

We had forgotten to include Matt in that outing, not on purpose, not maliciously, but just because it all happened to quickly between me making the room reservation, Leigh calling Ellen, getting the message from Mike via Ellen, me calling Mike, and him coming.  It never occurred to me to call Matt, which I felt guilty about.

He was worried about us because we hadn’t been in contact, but as it was to be the pattern of the next couple weeks for us, internet was not in the cards.  We did buy it for a day in the hotel, but Buraimi did not have it in their hotel.  Internet cafes were generally not air conditioned and somewhat hard to find.  We kept missing out on communications because of this, and I was slightly irritated when people felt the need to text me constantly.  Matt’s friends, Dave and Ty, graciously took us to the border and Mike picked us up once again, hauling our luggage in his van.  We had Leigh and we started looking with the only realtor in town with furnished apartments. 

We saw one place with much potential, but needing a lot of work.  I knew what would have to be done before people moved in in AMERICA, but I had no idea what to expect in OMAN.  Regardless, we decided to take one of the apartments because it was convenient, within budget limitations, and we’re intrepid (and wanted to move in ASAP).  Unfortunately, none of them were going to be available until March 1, but knowing that we couldn’t get anything else sooner just heightened our resolve. 

Miraculously, everything came together the next day.  Clinton, Jacob, and Anne received my instructional e-mail on how to get to Buraimi.  Dave did not, but communicated through texts.  By 4 p.m., everyone was checked into Buraimi Hotel, save Leigh and Matt.  Matt was a bit late, but near 5 p.m. we all headed out to see the realtor and this apartment building, as well as one other furnished 1 bedroom.  We had successfully put 7 of us in one building, slightly to Mike’s chagrin because he feared we would not meet our neighbors.  I would very much like to meet them (in the surrounding villas, because the apartment building is near empty), but I am not nearly settled enough to do that.

Anyway, we spent 5 nights in the Buraimi Hotel, making good use of their hotel restaurant and hanging out with Leigh most of the time.  After that, we somewhat reluctantly moved into a villa in Al Ain for 5 nights.  Four people were already over there, having found the place through Matt’s church connections.  I didn’t like the idea of less privacy, nor trucking back over the border.  I really wanted to stay in Buraimi, but something else clenched it: we needed to do laundry.  There are a number of places that say laundry in Buraimi, but they mean dry clean.  We couldn’t figure where to go to do the unmentionables, so we decided to move into the villa for a couple days.

We convinced a friendly pair of Canadians to take us across the border with the promise of a meal out, but we didn’t realize how much of a chore it would be.  The border going back into the UAE has been terrible since we got here, nearly coinciding with our arrival.  It took an hour and a half to go through it, because every car was now being searched.

It seemed as though every day when we got home from school, I was in a terrible mood because I just craved alone time, I was tired of using taxis, and I was usually hungry.  Blurgh.  The big perks were internet, malls on the same side of the border, doing laundry (slowly) and spending some fun times with the other people living there.  The downs were the lack of privacy, the lack of comfort I felt in their kitchen, the general state of disrepair and filth and junk in the house, and of course, the terrible time getting taxis.

But soon enough, the time came to move into our apartment.  Unfortunately, that coincided with buying a van.  Could been seen as a good thing, except that meant we were pulling at thousands of dollars from ATM’s.  It took some coordination and many trips to the malls to pull out enough money, but we had 3 months’ rent + an extra month’s rent for deposit, as well as 2/5^th’s of the car down payment.  Not only that, but two other people just didn’t get their act together and took over a thousand of our AED’s to cover expenses.  That was frustrating. 

As was the state of our apartments.  One word: filthy.  Filthy filthy filthy.  Admittedly, there was a sand storm, but that shouldn’t have allowed that much crap to get in.  And they really didn’t feel the need to clean.  At least it means we can turn it over as filthy as we got it.  The big problem is the mattress.  It is like concrete.  We’re just going to have to get a new one.  Another unexpected cost.  The bathroom plumbing is not up to snuff, either, so we’re waiting for that to be fixed, as well getting a new lock because they only have 1 key for us.  I guess they don’t make duplicate keys around here.

But we’re alive.  With an apartment, finally able to start furnishing.  We’re on our second week of classes and we’re planning to go to Dubai on Wednesday to pick up our shipped luggage that UPS erroneously refuses to send to us in Al Ain.  But that means Taco Bell and Johnny Rockets, so I’m ok with that. 

We did go to Dubai, it was a complete and total headache to get our things, and we did get to Johnny Rockets, but not Taco Bell.  At least not this time.  I'll post about going to the opera (including Mozart sung in Arabic), camel race track, Sohar, and the general going's on.  Still waiting on internet, apparently this is endemic to OmanTel, not the exception.  Also taking some interesting networking trips to Abu Dhabi and Dubai next week.  Did I mention we bought a car?  Yeah, 5 of us bought a car, making life so much better.

Sushi and Camel Burgers (also on 33eats.posterous.com)

This weekend's culinary adventures can be united by one thing (other than price): no mayonnaise on salad!  Hooray!  We went to a sushi restaurant on Saturday night.  We had heard nothing but praise for this restaurant with people saying that it was even better than Nobu and all the best and favorite sushi places in America.  Braced for the high prices, we took a petit taxi to Kiotori, a chain of Japanese restaurants in Morocco.  The decor was sumptuous with the chefs working on the floor above us, showcased in glass.  I bet you've never seen a sushi waitress wearing a headscarf before.  The first disappointment of the night came with the announcement that they had no tuna.  NO TUNA?!  TUNA IS SUSHI!  We had to rethink our entire order when we realized that we had planned to eat tuna in nearly every dish.  Instead, we had a nice unagi/roe/avocado/crab roll, a crunchy roll with tempura shrimp and some heavenly sauce (maybe the best eel sauce ever), and then some kappamaki, tekkamaki with salmon instead of tuna, and california rolls with and without cream cheese.  This came with a salad and miso soup.  The salad was comprised of long strips of finely shredded cabbage and carrots with this horseradish vinaigrette.  It was a bit difficult to eat with chopsticks.  The miso soup had tofu (!!!!!!!), our first since coming here.  They served it in a cute bowl with a lid, but it wasn't piping hot and the spoon was stoneware, which was remarkably heavy!  The second disappointment was at dessert, when they had neither the passion fruit nor lychee ice cream listed on the menu.  I was even going to just order a handroll: it was mango, avocado, and tempura shrimp with other yummy things, but they couldn't do that either!!  Probably a good thing we left it at that, because we spent nearly $50.  For Morocco, that is LUDICROUS.  For sushi, that is about par for the course.  We thought we'd splurge anyway, since we missed the trip to Marrakesh.  As an added bonus, they took MasterCard, so we didn't have to pay out all our cash.

 

Today, we went back to Cafe Clock.  It's run by a Brit in the Medina Qadima and is incredibly popular with tourists.  It is a very nice cafe, but the prices are most certainly tourist prices.  I was hell-bent on going to the Medina today, even though it was raining.  I didn't realize that the streets would be rivers of mud, but we got to the cafe without getting too filthy and then I ordered their famous camel burger, which came with fries and salad.  The fries were light, not drowned in oil like most fries in Morocco.  Unfortunately, without a dip, I think I would have preferred oily fries!  Back to the sandwich: it was AMAZING.  It was my first time having camel, but it was out of this world tasty.  They dressed it up with "taza ketchup."  I have no idea what that means, but it was just like haroset, which is a Jewish dish served at Passover and is lightly sweet.  We make it with fresh apples, dried dates, raisins, apricots, figs, walnuts, and wine.  We like to eat it with raw horseradish on matzoh.  Digression aside, it was an interesting and complimentary addition to the meat, which also had an onion slice, lettuce, and tomato.  As per my usual, the onion went to Aaron and I enjoyed the burger slowly.  The salad that came with the meal had a horseradishy vinaigrette!  Hence, the connection between sushi and camel burger.  I also had a mocha and then a hot chocolate (it's rainy, forgive my drink choices), but this is the only place I've ever had unsweetened mocha and hot chocolate.  This is especially surprising since most Moroccan drinks are comprised of sugar with some liquid on the side.  It wouldn't have been Morocco if they hadn't offered us sugar, so we sweetened it up just enough.

 

Palais Jamai, Cafe Clock, and Taxi Adventures

I feel as though I haven't made good use of the past three weeks.  We were settling in, that's for sure, but perhaps didn't realize how short our time here really is.  Today is our half-way point in Morocco before moving to Oman, and I had only been in the Medina yesterday and today (and am apparently going back tomorrow).

Let's start with yesterday.  Louis, a representative from our school, came to town to discuss options for Oman and Dubai.  He treated us to a dinner at the most posh hotel in town--the one the Saudi princes stay at when they visit Fes.  Cost is not the end all and be all of an experience; we all like to be spoiled at times and we all like to get a good bargain.  This was a bit of the spoiling experience... our dinner (not included wine) was 400 dirhams each.  

To put this in perspective, my typical lunch is a plate of b'sarra, addis, or hummus that costs approximately 8 dh.  Yikes!  It's nice to be treated, especially when you're on a student budget with a spouse.

I finally had pastille, which I’ve been itching to try.  It’s a phyllo dough creation, filled with chicken and chickpeas, dusted with confectioner’s sugar and cinnamon.  It’s a sweet meat pastry from heaven.  It was rather large and, portion-wise, would have been a full meal on any other evening, but it was the night to be spoiled so it was just the appetizer.

 Afterwards, a tajine of lamb and quince filled us up.  During the main course, a belly dancer accompanied by musicians danced for us, showing us the most skin (and cleavage) that we’ve seen in a while.  Not even in Southern California over the holidays had I seen that much, and this is home of the cami, mini, and bikini.  For dessert, we were a might bit disappointed by three slices of orange and half a date.  But we drank well, topped it off with Moroccan tea and caught petit taxis home.

Today, Aaron and I are both sick, but he definitely takes the cake.  His ear is hurting (possibly infected) and has a terrible sinus cold.  I'm on the mend, but developed a serious headache this afternoon.  Regardless, we needed dinner and don't have enough on hand to cook something, nor wanted the standard fare (which is either sandwich or beans).  We decided to go to Café Clock.

First, the taxi system is cockamamie.  Petit taxis hold three people and, if a current passenger is willing, you can get one that already holds somebody else.  When we were going to the fancy hotel, we had nine people, which would be 3 empty cabs, but we were going at rush hour.  If we were able to get a cab to stop, it already had a person in it.  Mind you, there is a large round-about a couple blocks away where four boulevards meet.  There is a taxi stand at the McDonald’s, but it’s ludicrous to try to get a cab there most of the day.  As a result, we would plant ourselves on various streets and flag down taxis and hope that they would be somewhat empty, that they would actually stop, and finally that they would take us where we wanted to go.  The most infuriating thing is to get a cab to stop and refuse to take you somewhere!  

On our posh hotel night, we managed to get 4 cabs with Matt illegally hiding in the backseat between Jacob and Anne.  I was the only one who knew what to say to the drivers, so I kept getting cabs and giving them to other people—it seemed like the most logical thing to do.  The exception was that we went before Jacob, Anne, and Matt got one.  The following night to Café Clock, we easily got the first cab and Hannah and Matt took off.  But getting another taxi, for three people, was impossible.  We were able to get a couple to stop and refuse to take us, we had one stop that only had room for two, and while it made sense to me that Aaron travel by himself and the remaining women to go together, he was not down for that.  Walking back the way we came, where I was convinced we would find a cab, a man ran across the street from a café (the more common Moroccan-French-style café) and spoke to us in perfect English asking if we wanted a cab ride.  Suspicious, I asked if he had a petit taxi and he said he had a tourist taxi.  We “negotiated” a price (he said one—10 dirhams—and I took it because it was great) and we piled into his very comfortable van, replete with pillows and small kilims on the floor.  I was willing to see what this guy was going to do and while it was clear that Aaron and Leigh both did not know what to make of this stranger’s proposition, I thought, “What the hell, let’s just adventurize.”  Turns out, the guy has his own service driving and doing tours.  He has a binder full of recommendations from past clients and was eager for us to contact him if we wanted to go to Chefchaouen, the Middle Atlas, or the Sahara.  We didn’t get a good look at his prices, but he mentioned that we should split them between six people, so he might be a bit pricey.  But the guy was great, it was a clever way for him to help us, advertise himself, and a comfortable way for us to get down to the Medina.  I will definitely consider using him if we set-up a trip.

We finally arrived to Bab Bou Jeloud, and proceeded to wander into the Medina.  We were arguing about how to go, between Aaron who had been there, and myself who was following Laura’s directions.  As we were battling it out, some local teens said in perfect English, “Café Clock is that way.”  Ha!  We passed another place where we heard someone guess we were American, and twice Aaron heard, “Hello, Ali Baba, hello!”  We’re not sure if that has something to do with his luxuriant beard, or is just something commonly said to Americans.  The café is behind a twelfth century water clock, the oldest existing one in the world.  It is at the house of Jewish philosopher Maimonedes, but I cannot confirm that he actually invented the clock.  The legend goes that he created the clock, because philosophers back in the day were Renaissance men, and the constant sound of water caused his wife to miscarry.  The grief drove him slightly mad so he disabled the clock and no one has yet figured out how to make it work.  A guide for the restaurant was standing in the alley to give us the history lesson and show us back to the restaurant.  He was rather good looking and charming, so I may try to live vicariously through some of the single ladies here.

Café Clock was created by a Brit or American, and it’s a very hip place in the Medina, but let’s just say it’s not exactly immersing yourself in a local café.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time and want to go back, but I feel it’s important to explain the difference between this café and most.  

Most cafes are run by Moroccans and cater to Moroccans.  There’s a lovely place a block away called Jawhara Café that has sumptuous décor and is a place for middle/upper-middle class Moroccans to enjoy with a group of men or go on dates too.  I don’t know if they are courting or if it’s a “married date,” but it is nice to see couples get-together.  Broadway Café, which is also a block away, serves crepes and has co-ed pool tables in a very upscale atmosphere.  These cafes are classier than most I’ve seen in the Ville Nouvelle.  Cafes are mostly French-influenced, with acres of chairs and tables outside, serving coffee and espresso with the occasional pastry.  All these cafes are very inexpensive, about $1 for a drink, maybe $4 for a panini.  My favorite place on Hassanthani has a coffee and a pastry for $1.

To contrast, we spent about $20 at Café Clock yesterday for two meals and two drinks.  The café itself is quite beautiful and atmospheric, but I think it caters to tourists because Fassis are not going to pay $10 for a meal at a café.  I did see a couple Moroccans, but most everyone was a foreigner and the Moroccans were just using the wi-fi.  There was intricate woodworking, calligraphy on the walls, lovely handicrafts and evocative music.  It is the number-one-rated restaurant on tripadvisor.com in Fes, which once again plays to the tourist and not the resident/expat.  

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and want to try their famous camel burger, but I cannot afford to jaunt down there every night (especially because we have to pay cab fare there and back).  The café has loads of live music; cooking, calligraphy, culture, and music classes; and will show American movies or big events such as the Inauguration.  I can see how Fes can appear strange, dirty, unhospitable, dangerous, and confusing, but I really like it here.  Those are all things I’ve heard from tourists, but it may just require time or perhaps removing expectations about Morocco.  It is very vibrant and you have to go without fear while putting trust that strangers will help you if you need it, and then you’ll see what a nice place it is.  But what can I say, I'm biased.  Check out the café’s website if you’d like:  http://cafeclock.com/  

Casa and the Guys

I feel as though living in Morocco is a blast from my past: the main entry point into the country is Casablanca, which everybody calls Casa.  The apartment Aaron lived in when I first met him was called Casa de Guy.  It was filled with an ever-rotating cast of roommates, hangers-on (me included), and shady characters.  So, talking about "Casa" inevitably brings back some fond memories and a bit of a smirk.

What about "de Guy"?  Well, thanks to Marcus, we called everyone "Guy" or everything a "Guy."  For example, going to Souplantation was a "Soupie Guy."  Apparently, everyone here calls people and places "Guy" instead of the actual name of the place or the street it's on (with the exception of Fassi Food).  There's: 

Sandwich Guy - thus named because of the large, cheap sandwiches he sells;

Donut/Fancy Bread Guy - because he sells donuts and fancy cheese-onion nummy flat bread;

Cheese Guy - has a stand at the Central Market and sells the hard-to-find cheeses, American products like peanut butter, and let's not forget wine and beer!

Water Guy - has the best rates for bottled water and soda

Good B'sarra Guy - distinguishes our favorite b'sarra stall from the rest.

That's it for "guys" I can think of... maybe I'll remember more later.  It's funny, the streets here are named and pretty easy to get around on, but we decide to give crazy ass directions--rephrase that--pedestrian directions.  For example: Keep going until you hit djallaba guy, continue on when you hit the big parking lot and then walk across it to the sandwich guy and the Central Market is right past that.  

Went to Volubilis, drove through Moulay Idriss, and shopped at Meknes yesterday... but I'll save that post for when I have pictures.

Moroccan Street Food (xposted to 33eats)

We've been sampling Moroccan street food, usually our lunch fare after class.  No pics yet, but I'm working on it.  So far we've had b'sarra, which is a Fassi specialty (from Fes).  It's a white bean soup with olive oil and garlic and served with fresh, hardy bread.  It's about 6 Dh which is less than a dollar.  And includes wormwood tea - yes, the same stuff absinthe is made out of.  Addis is currently Aaron's favorite: it's a bowl of lentils with bread and tea and goes for 8 Dh ($1).  We've also tried their version of hummus, which is really just unmashed chickpeas that have been cooked with spices (served with bread and tea).  That's also 8 Dh.  The other day I splurged and ordered tajine.  Tajines are ceramic conical dishes that you bake meat, couscous, whatever in.  At restaurants (even side cafes), they usually just use a big pot and ladle it into a tajine for serving.  Tajines are really single or double serving and used at home.  Anyway, I had chicken tajine which was chicken so moist and seasoned... with carrots and potatoes cooked in the chicken juices.  Mmmmm.  The first day we went, a large group of us ate so they brought out free sides like Moroccan salad, fried eggplant, and an eggplant tomato mash-up.  I really wish that they brought that to us all the time.  It makes them look good to have a table of foreigners sitting in front of their stall, so they keep plying you with treats to get you to stay.  And I don't think we were charged for any of it other than the main dish, which usually comes out to a dollar.  I think the tajines are a whopping 13 Dh, but a nice change (especially because they have meat).  It's always fun trying to talk to the people their in a mix of Fusha, Dareeja, French, and English.  I think I might put my old pocket Minolta in my purse so that I can more surreptitiously take photos rather than using my big new Nikon SLR.

Our 2-Week Anniversary

Today marks Aaron and my second week out of the country.  So far we have moved into a room in the basement dungeon of the student villa, completed nearly two weeks of classes a piece, and sampled a generous amount of local delights.  

I feel as though I haven't been as proactive with getting to know Fes as I would like.  We live in the Ville Nouvelle, which is the newest, French-built part of the city.  Fes' medina is a World Heritage Site and is the largest pedestrian (i.e. no car) area in a city in the world.  And I have yet to go!  

Aaron went last weekend, but I was concerned about my asthma acting up because it has been SUPER cold.  I've been getting asthma attacks just walking outside, and I'm happy that I brought my inhaler although I should have probably brought a back-up.  Regardless, it has been ridiculously cold.  We had been warned of 60 degree weather - not a problem.  That's like the persistent San Diego winter that no one puts heat on for.  But this has been in the 30's with below freezing temperatures at night and snow in the mountains.  Brrrr.  As a result, I don't stray far from the villa or the school because I like to be able to dive under blankets when it gets unbearable.  As I am writing, the radiator is on next to me and is a welcome relief, especially since I had to take a cold shower today (and I even waited until 5 p.m. to guarantee hotness!).

School has been good.  I tried to jump into MSA 200, but (as I experienced at Palomar) the lessons taught in الكتاب are just too different from اهلا و سهلا .  At least with this one, we're really working on conversation skills, which is nice because the last time I took Arabic it was just memorizing vocab (such as animals, body parts, household things) and learning conjugation.  Important?  Yes.  But conversational?  No.  

Tomorrow is the first quiz and I have to learn some new vocab tonight that we never really used, like clock or paper.  Funny thing, the teachers here have no problem just cancelling class, moving it around, etc. to fit their needs.  Just a little bit different.

We've also all become addicted to Matt's game: Dutch Blitz.  And by all, I mean everyone.  People who live here, people who don't, anyone who's been in the villa.  There is almost always a game going on, and if there isn't, you can usually find 3 people who want to play.

We had a free couscous meal last Friday as a welcome gesture.  And last Sunday, we were all present save Leigh for Jacob's birthday, catered by his wife Anne.  And on that note, some pictures: