The Return to Fes

I just returned from a 4-day trip to Agadir. I went as part of an annual ESL teacher’s conference which was organized by my employer, The American Language Association. So, it was 3 full-days’ worth of workshops and lectures with a sprinkling of brain-storming sessions. All-in-all, it was a great experience.

My teaching today was inspired. I used a lot of approaches and activities that I learned at the conference and even created an activity of my own which was a big success in the classroom.

I have some great memories of funny and unexpected moments with my colleagues, too. I’ll refrain from recounting any of them here!

And last to mention -- but certainly not the least of the experience -- was some great food with flavors I hadn’t had for a long, long time.

The whole trip was perfect.

But I much prefer Fes. For me, Fes is a difficult place to live. And I will choose open, airy, water-filled, ‘green’ spaces over the closed-in, dry, brown Medina I currently live in any time. But just because living here is hard for me and seemingly such an unlikely place for me to have chosen to live, I increasingly realize that striving to meet its challenges has been good for me. It seems I enjoy meeting challenges.

Agadir had more of the physical components I like in a place to live. But my experience as a tourist in the tourist section (surrounded by Europeans) made me miss my oh-so Moroccan life in Fes.

So it was with great to get away and breathe some fresh air. It was gratifying to have the chance to learn ways to improve my teaching, and oh-so satisfying to eat and drink like a gourmand.

And in the end, it’s been surprising as well as gratifying to learn just how at home I feel in Fes.