Welcome to Fes. Make yourself at home. Part II: Fes Jdid and Moroccan Jewry

For a couple days I was really excited at the idea of living in Fes Jdid, the "New Fes" -- new in this case meaning that its construction began in the late 1200s. It lies geographically between the medina and the Ville Nouvelle, and I thought that it would be a nice balance between the two, combining the winding alleys and medieval architecture of the former with some degree of the latter's mellowness (i.e. less "bonjour"s and "ca va?"s from the menfolk). My evaluation of this second characteristic, however, turned out to have been skewed by the nature of my first walk-through of the area, which was under the guidance of a young Fassi student named Mohammed. A friend of a friend of a friend (of a friend?) of my current roommate, Alma (another Fulbrighter), he was kind enough to tour us around one afternoon two or three weeks ago. His presence was like a protective shield; when I returned to the neighborhood last week with two other girls, the pestering comments, they were a'flyin'. And so Fes Jdid got the boot.