Fes - trois ... Again

I am so happy that I came back to fes!!

I was a little worried that it was foolish for me to backtrack, but once I arrived, I knew there was a reason why I had such strong feelings about returning. Amidst all the chaos of the medina, fes gives me this really great sense of calm. I just think it's the best city that ive been to in morocco. The people are very friendly, and it's small enough that there is a real sense of community here, but big enough to give you plenty of opportunities to spend your time. The food is excellent, and everything, for the most part, is within walking distance of the medina so no need for taxis to get around.

Everyone remembers me and has been greeting me warmly. I even came right to cafe clock, and they were like,"Sabeel is back!!!" the chef from my class and the guy who translated came over and chatted for a bit... so it feels really good to be here.

What's more wonderful is seeing mr. Y. I called him once I got to the medina and he met me right away. I ended up just staying at the same riad- I know where it is and I know he's there.

We went over to meet his friends who were really cool and were making fun of his newfound giddiness. It was cute to watch Y squirm. They kept making comments to make him blush. His best friend is actually engaged to a girl from NYC and she's moving here to help him run his riads together. He buys fixer-uppers as investments and is in the process of renovating one of them, so naturally, he and I had lots to gab about. I told him that what he does is my dream. So i got invited to stay and buy some riads with them and help fix them up. Tempting. :-)

Then to pick on Y a little more, they told me that apparently there's a saying in Arabic that, "A man never truly marries, until he marries an Egyptian woman". Duh, cuz we're awesome! Egyptian women are known to be powerful, bossy, and passionate. I could see Y getting so embarrassed and mouthing to his friends to shut up out of the corner of my eye. So we left.

For the next two days, we were inseparable. We ate all our meals and spent all of our time together.

Still tired from my travels, that night he had a pizza delivered for me and we sat up on the roof chatting.

On my last day, we wandered in and out of the medina. For lunch he invited me to have "BBQ". This consisted of us buying 1/2 kg of beef, having it ground by the butcher, then walking it over to the grill where someone made us grilled kofta sandwiches. It was incredibly fresh and delicious. And finally, finally, finally, we bought ceramics. The fes designs and colors are especially fantastic (dark blue and white) and I couldn't find them in Marrakech. They are much more expensive, but worth it, so I'm glad I held out until I came back to fes, and it all worked out.

We decided to go out into the ville nouvelle for dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant. I couldn't believe this trip was ending on such a high note. I met him 2 weeks ago, I came back, and there we were talking like we've known each other for years. I don't know what it is, but I feel like the best version of myself with him.

I had to make the 4:50am train to Casablanca and he not only took me to the station, but helped me load my bags in the cabin. We totally cried and hugged and had a weepy train scene like they do in the movies.

I will definitely be back.