Ibn Ibn Battuta

Sefrou's Second Generation

Morocco map

On Sunday, Jacqueline and I, along with Elena, another Fulbrighter, visited the little village of Sefrou (صفرو), a 30 minute drive from Fes along a highway flanked by rows of olive trees. There is little to do in Sefrou, we found, particularly during Ramadan, when the town's cafes are closed during the day. We walked a mile or so up the road to a series of small waterfalls, then spent an hour or two exploring the small walled village. About 8,000 members of Morocco's once sizable Jewish population built and inhabited the town, straddling a small river in the hills south of Fes.

Today, however, there are no Jews in the village and the synagogue is shuttered and abandoned.  Its small Hebrew plaque was the only indication I saw of the town's original heritage.

A Walk in the Medina: Bab Bou Jeloud to Bab Jdid

Fes map west / Fes map east

Jacqueline and I recently bought Fez from Bab to Bab: Walks in the Medina, a renowned guidebook available for sale locally. The guide offers ten walking tours throughout Fes’ old city, one of which Jacqueline and I walked on Saturday, with some of our own modifications and on our own schedule.

Our exploration began at Bab Bou Jeloud (باب بو جلود), among the most ornately decorated of the medina’s dozen or so gates, which allow passage through the ancient city walls.

After walking a few hundred meters through a bustling market, we arrived at the Bou Inania madrasa, named for one of Fes’ greatest sultans, Abou ‘Inan,

Some Tough Love from our 'New' Home

Fes map west / Fes map east

The ville nouvelle of Fes, constructed by the French in the early 1900s, was designed with typically French flair. A few blocks from ALIF, where Jacqueline and I are studying, wide, palm-lined boulevards intersect around fountains and flower beds. The French built their city beside the old medina, with a comfortable buffer separating the two starkly contrasting towns, not that they could ever be confused anyway.

Maps of the Fes medina give the impression that the street layout was carefully modeled after a plate of spaghetti. The circuitous zigzags and meandering dead-end lanes that once might have foiled foreign invaders are today equally effective in foiling my attempts to get to class, meet friends, or find groceries. As I

Let Nothing Surprise You: First Impressions from Fes

Morocco map

I sat quietly in a second-class compartment on the train ride from the airport at Casablanca to Fes, our home for the next six months. As we chugged from station to station, a constantly rotating array of Moroccans, mostly men reading local Arabic language newspapers, filled the seats around me. They talked amongst themselves sometimes, but I caught only a few familiar words in their rapid, guttural speech.

Leaving the flat coastal plain and entering the Middle Atlas mountains, we passed irrigated fields of vegetables, poppies, and row after row of orange trees, sagging with the weight of their fruit. The village mosques along the way carried distinctively boxy North African minarets.

Thinking Globally, Adventuring Locally: Washington, DC

For all my stories on the far-flung destinations I've visited in recent years, I have yet to write about the city that has been my home all this time. But Washington, DC bears recognition as a distinct and enjoyable place to live and - though few realize it - as one with great access to worthy adventures all around the city:

• I just began to get into DC's outdoors scene at the end of my Georgetown days in 2006, when Jacqueline and I spent several weekend afternoons kayaking up the Potomac from Jack's Boathouse. Our favorite destination early on was a rope swing anchored high in a tree on the Virginia side of the river. The rush of that initial plummet, pendulum arc, and final leap into the river below were well worth the long paddle against the current.

Au Maroc!

Morocco Map

Jacqueline and I are moving to Morocco, the homeland of Ibn Battuta! It's been official for several months already, but is sinking in fast now that I'm back from Denver and have just a few more days to prepare to leave the country.

A few months ago, Jacqueline received a grant from the Fulbright Commission to spend an academic year studying in Morocco. Her proposal revolves around some major legal reforms undertaken several years ago in the country, and the impact those reforms will have on Moroccan women.

On top of that, Jacqueline received a Critical Language Enhancement Award to study Arabic for up to six months, prior to the main grant. Altogether, we expect to be in the country about 15 months.

Democratic Convention in Denver

Wow, what a week. The Democratic National Convention in Denver was a wild blur of famous people, parties, and events at all times and in all places throughout the city. (And what a city! I was very impressed with Denver – downtown is all murals, funky bars and restaurants, museums, and cultural sites.)

The excitement peaked each evening at the convention, which I was lucky to attend all four nights for work.

My organization’s focus is exclusively international, with one exception. Every four years the group invites hundreds of distinguished political leaders from around the globe to the DNC to give them an opportunity to observe the American democratic process firsthand. Thanks to the remarkable worldwide interest in this year’s US presidential campaign, turnout was high.