A thank you and a fond farewell

Dear all,

Thanks for following my blog this summer. Its really been a summer for the books, and I'm glad I had a chance to share bits and pieces of it with you. I'm sorry I didn't update super often, but I have no patience with slow internet. I hope you have all had a chance to learn a little about Iran and maybe even learn a little about me. I know I sure did.

All the best & hugs,
Mona

In all likelihood, my last post before returning to the U.S.

Whew friends, time has really flown by. In some ways, I can't believe that two months has gone by, and at the same time I can believe it. There are about 2,000 pictures to prove it has been two months, but when I think about events and stuff, it doesn't add up. I'm tearing up just thinking about leaving. I totally love this place.

I couldn't have asked for a better summer. Excitement, learning, adventures...

Speaking of adventures, two nights ago, we decided to go to Esfahan (a twelve hour bus ride round-trip), leaving at 1am on Friday and coming back Saturday at midnight. It was quite possibly one of the best adventures ever. Beautiful sights from the Safavid period AND I met this really cute PhD student from Princeton who was doing his doctorate in Middle Eastern studies. Totally gorgeous, smart, AND I have his phone number. It's a real shame I'm headed back to the states. Real shame. Mmm.DAMN.

Our flight leaves on Tuesday at 3:20am. Back to the U.S. *sigh* (both of relief and sadness)

This trip, I've really realized how much I straddle the line of my two cultures, and the more I understand the depths of both, the more I feel like I don't fit in either, but you know what I've realized?

No one said I have to fit in either. I always assumed that I had to choose.

Highlights from the last week or so.

Cool things that I've done this week:

-Gone to the National Museum of Iran (Museh Iran Bastan) and The Golestan Castle (Kaakh-e-Golestan). The National Museum had relics from prehistory all the way to the Selucids (right before the Islamic period). I only wish I had taken an archeology class before I went. My cousin wants to get her masters in archaelogy so she explained everything to me, but I wish I would have known more about archaelogy in general. Oh well. It was absolutely gorgeous and I loved every minute of it. It was just freaking CRAZY hot. It's been like 42 degrees C the entire week.

Kaakh-e-Golestan was really beautiful. It was built during the Qajar period (This trip to Iran has been very Qajar focused) by a couple different Shahanshahs of Iran (Fath'Ali, Nassereddin, Mozza'fareddin, AhmadShah). Their architecture is really interesting. They have western influences but within an Iranian tapestry. They have the mosaics displaying the Haft-Khan-e-Rostam and at the same time have marble busts that were gifts. The Qajars got a TON of gifts from outside countries--especially Russia. They mirrored a ton of stuff they got. The first clock ever in Iran is housed in the Kaakh-e-Golestan. It was brought to Iran after Mozza'fareddin took a trip to Europe. All of the Qajar built bulidings have gorgeous gatch-kari, (see Kashan entry) and ayeneh-kari, which is tiny pieces of mirror cut to decorate walls and ceilings. Speaking of ceilings, there was a room that had a ceiling decorated with gatch and ayeneh kari that was created especially to mirror the Persian carpet that was on the floor. SO PRETTY. The Qajars were totally super rich. Like OBSCENE. So many pretty things.

-Gone to the Baazar. Each city center has a Baazar, mosque, and houses. The center of Tehran is home to a huge Baazar. It is unlike anything else I've ever seen and p.s. is totally awesome and Ibought a ton of stuff. Everything there is like half the price of outdoor stores (and then think of how cheap that is in US dollars) and you haggle and it's unlike anything I've ever seen. I paid the equvalent of $1.25 for a round trip ticket with the metro, which everyone says if there is ever an earthquake in Tehran, everyone who rides the train (TONS) will be totally screwed and be crushed underneath the city. Anyways, they have special cars for ladies. They call them "Special Train Ladies Car" and it's nice because men aren't staring at you, but its terrible because there are tons of ladies hawking crap like hair clips, nail files, scarves, and skin cream that don't let you sit in peace. Nice, huh? Anyways, we got there and hit the ground running, buying all kinds of stuff. You can buy anything from foodstuffs, to fancy china, to jewelry, to a roll of designer labels and buttons for real cheap. Just a roll of labels that says Versace or D&G or Gucci for the equivalent of less than 5 dollars. So funny.

Anyways, there were about a floppity jillion people in the Baazaar, smells of spices all around, and all kinds of people hawking random merchandise, inspecting goods, and haggling anywhere there was room to stand. Oh, and it was more confusing to find your way around than the hardest corn maze I've ever been in. All the passages have names, but none of them are posted. You just have to learn by doing. All the ceilings are in the tradition muslim arch, but the passageways are quite narrow. Luckily, my aunt was there to guide us around. My anthropologists sense was tingling the whole time. What better place to get a real taste of Iran than the Baazar? You're practically bathing in culture! Any time you want to buy something, the salesperson ALWAYS says ghabel-e-shoma-nadareh, which means something to the effect of "for you, it's free", which they don't actually mean and you do have to pay, but they always pay respect, even to gharibeh, which means strangers. You also cannot ever speak on the phone with someone without first taking a few minutes to ask how the person is doing, what they are up to, and how their family is doing before getting down to business.

Speaking of strangers, I went jewelry shopping with my aunt (no, I didn't buy anything). While we were there, there was a woman who was trying to get taghfif, which means discount, on a coin called a sekkeh which is pure gold that is worth about $250 because supposedly one of the salesmen at the jewelry store broke her chain. My aunt told her about this place that fixes jewelry that we were going to visit after the jewelry store to pick up my ring that needed a new stone. Anyways, my aunt said to this stranger lady, come along with me. I'm going there anyways, so this strange woman just came in our car and we drove her over to the jewlery fixer guy. In the middle of Tehran! It was so strange for me to watch. I told Sara about it later and she was totally shocked. When I asked my aunt why she told that stranger to come with us in our car, she started talking about how God says we all must be teachers, and that by helping that woman, we were doing our part to help that woman in her life. Interesting philosophy.

-Went to Kaahk-e-Niavaran, which is another castle complex built by the Qajars and then later modified by the Pahlavis. The Pahlavis, I have decided, were total idiots. Spent too much money. Especially Reza Shah, who was totally whipped by his third wife, Farah Diba, who I think secretly wanted to be French.

Besides that, I love baby animals. Actually baby anything. Today with my cousins kid, we played a game called "Jumping". You'll never guess what it entails. Perhaps you might. It involves jumping up and down until someone gets tired. Sometimes we listen to this song she really likes called "Dasta Bala", which means "hands in the air". This is literally her favorite game. Either that, or "Lets push buttons on Mona's computer until she lets me play that Cake game on Vista"

Time is Winding Down

In Iran, anything you can buy has a hub where all the stores for any given ware exists. We were at the one for books and stuff cause I was getting books for my research, and I found Barack Obama's books translated to Farsi!

Well friends, I'm at less than 2 weeks left in Iran. I can't believe time has gone by so quickly! I've become obsessed with this Iranian painter, Farshchian, who paints these beautiful paintings called miniatures, but they aren't actually miniatures and I don't know why they call them that. Anyways, they are gorgeous and I've gone crazy for the posters.

Also started buying DVDS (at a dollar a piece). I also got a DVD copy of Up, which I have to say was a very cute movie. I liked it a lot. I only bought like 6 the last time I was out, but I have plans to go out again sometime in the near future as soon as this damn dust storm gets out of Iran.

&hugs,

Mona

A fun few days

Hi all,

I'm working on the last of the postcards, so if you ordered one, they'll be in the mail by Saturday. Other than that, we spent a wonderful last couple of days doing things college kids do here in Iran. Turns out that means basically the same stuff as home--movies, restaurants, museums, and random outings. It's been really great. We went to an Americanish coffeeshop that ended up being more French than American. It was nice, though. The guy gave me the weirdest look when I asked for a coffee latte with a shot of espresso. What things I take for granted in the U.S... We then got in a bit of a fender bender that was more exciting to see how the system works there than anything else. The police that came to check out the situation had a cracked windshield. Then the guy who hit us was all like, give me your drivers license--to which we were like, aw-hell-nah. Anyways, no one was hurt, but the police were sketch.

The day after, we bummed. The day after that, we went to the national jewelry museum. It was legit baller. I don't know if there are pics on the internet of the swag in there, but it's worth an internet search. 96% of the jewels there are precious stones = diamonds, rubies, and emerald. I didn't know that things that aren't those three things are not considered precious stones. I guess it makes sense. I just never thought about that.

Yesterday, we (my cousins, sisters and I) went to see my first Iranian movies in Farsi. The movie was really depressing, but I was proud of myself for understanding it. The movie theater was also super chic and had the equivalent of $2 a ticket (expensive by their standards). The movie, Dahr Bareye Ellie, (About Ellie) had some actress who was also in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio or something and everyone I guess made a big deal about it. They also have popcorn at movie theaters, according to my cousin. We got there late (those who are familiar with the Ghadiri family know this is usual) so we didn't have a chance to get snacks, but you can also get things like fries and hamburgers there. We did get dinner at this delicious restaurant that was really classy.

Back in Tehran

Hi all,

I know it's been a while since I've updated, but things have been blocked/internet was horrid slow & not worth updating. I'm back in Tehran now, after 2 weeks in Kelardasht. It's nice to be back.

More later, but just wanted to let you all know things are semi-calm here and people are getting on with their lives. Not happy, but moving on.

&hugs,
Mona

Safe.

Safe at my family's house in Kelardasht near the Caspian Sea. Just in time, it seems, as 7 people were killed today in Tehran.

I don't know how long we'll be here, but I'm safe.

It's a bit crazy over here.

Hi all,

don't have time for a long post, but thought i'd update you on the situation in Iran. Yes, there are riots, no, I didn't participate, or even see one live. The only ones I saw were on BBCFarsi, which cut out at around 9:00pm--whether that was due to the government or a big cloud, no one can be sure. What I do know is that all SMS text messaging, DSL, and mobile phone service has been completely shut off by the government.

People here are not happy, that's for sure, and tampering is indeed suspected by many parties.

Also, for some reason, I couldn't get Grinnell's homepage or email to load. Can you all get into yours? I can't tell if the government blocked it, or if the system's down.

I'm hoping for a decrease in protests, as many have been bloody, but something makes me think people are super not happy about the goings on and won't cease anytime soon.

Also, check out sara-ghadiri.blogspot.com for another perspective. C, that one's for you. She can't get on FB these days, love.
&hugs,
Mona

Azadishooneh.

Wednesday, we went out to see what was going on outside on the streets on the last day of campaigning before the election Friday. Thursday, the day before the election, all campaigning must cease, with fines for violators incredibly steep for the average income. This was our last chance.
At this location the night before, the two sides (Mir Hussein Mousavi and Ahmadinejad (incumbent)) clashed, throwing stones at each other, and setting two motorcycles on fire. Today, not quite that extreme. As a precaution, we were back in the house by 8, one for our safety, and two a storm was coming (foreshadow?). Anyways, there were people everywhere. One side of the square was lined with Mousavi supporters, all decked in green (his color)—the other side for Ahmadinejad, who has adopted the flag of Iran as his color. Each side was chanting clever slogans, with men and women standing next to each other (this is not common), working up to a noisy crescendo with people jumping up and down and motorcyles zipping in and out of the crowd. At first, I was a bit annoyed at all the yelling and craziness. I was talking to one of my cousins (in farsi, since it could be dangerous to speak english), saying something to the effect of, “wow, they are sure making their presence known” and a woman overheard me. She made eye contact with me, smiled, and said, “Azadishooneh”, which translates to “It’s their freedom.” At first I was puzzled, confused as to why she would make that comment. How can this be their freedom? This was not at all what I consider to be freedom. All of a sudden, it dawned on me.
At any other point in time, young men and women intermingling like this would be severely punishable by law and would get someone sent to prison. With the election present, young men and women have a guise to intermingle under the umbrella of political activism. They go out at night, some out till 5am handing out pamphlets and posters, arguing with car drivers about who should be president, and being very brazen in public. This behavior is unheard of and considered reckless at any other time. Respectable girls have to be home by the time the sun goes down.
The election gives boys and girls who are strangers an excuse to talk to each other. For women to have discussions with strange men or men to have discussions with strange women is completely impossible at any other time. The election is a skeleton key. It opens doors for communication that would certainly be locked otherwise.
Free speech during the election is also more lax, as the government doesn’t want to crack down on people since they want people to vote and the incumbent to win. During the election, people can shout from the rooftops who they want to have as their president and go around town beeping their horns for a candidate, exalting their glories without getting sent to prison. I've heard them yelling myself. That kind of noise any other time of the year (minus weddings) is drawing attention to oneself, which is looked down upon in Islam, and thus Iran.
The older people have begun making analogies between the times leading up to the Iranian Revolution and this election. Tehran, and indeed Iran as a whole has not seen people spilling into the streets like they have for the leadup to the election since the Iranian Revolution. What’s even more interesting, the individuals who are mostly behind all the hullabaloo are the children of the 1979 revolutionaries. The ones making the racket now were not around during the 1979 revolution, and indeed don’t really have ties to the 1979 revolution themselves. They are making their own footprint on the Iranian government much like their parents did, albeit in a seemingly different direction.
Our generation has been making their own “revolutions”. They’re occurring all around the world. We had ours in America with the election of Obama, and now Iran is seeing theirs. They’re getting a moderate candidate who is willing to speak to the world instead of an isolationist egomaniac who says he personally is responsible for the switch in American foreign policy with regards to Iran, which is clearly false.
That woman was completely right. This election is a chance for them to be free. I mean, I guess as free as Iran currently will allow, and while quite exciting for them, it’s also sad. Once the election is over, things will go back to “normal” for here. The barrier between the sexes will go back up, the muzzles go back on the newspapers and people, and people will lose faith in their government.
Something makes me think, however, that the young people might like their taste of freedom. Why should it be limited the way it is? I’ve heard talk along these lines walking down the street. I could not be more excited to see what happens with this election. It’s going to be an exciting next couple of days.

Not a whole lot happening over here. I think I'm getting to that homesicky stage.

We went to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and they had an international exhibit with Picassos and Manets and Gaugins and stuff and it made me miss the art institute, which made me miss the people I've taken to said Art Institute. Then general missage.

Being away is hard.

&hugs,
Mona

Trip Deetz (EDITED WITH PICTURES!)

We left Tehran at the buttcrack of dawn to head towards Kashan. We met up with the other two cars that made up our caravan and began our journey after filling our gas tank. NOTE: natural gas, not petroleum gas, which btw is like dirt ass cheap (70 cents to fill up the whole tank). A ton of cars in Iran, including ours, are hybrid petroleum-CNG cars. We got about 120 km on the natural gas and the rest of the 300 km trip it we used regular petroleum gas.

The first thing I noticed were people walking on the side of the highway towards Tehran. I asked my dad what their flags said (it was in fancy cursive that I can't read quickly) and he responded that they were people who were WALKING from their home village (which was 3 hours by CAR) to pay a visit to the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, as it is the anniversary of his death on the 4th of June, or 14 of Khordad. We later saw people riding bikes on the highway with the same type of flag but from somewhere else, all headed to the Haram-e-Motahar, or shrine of Imam Khomeini. I later found out the Haram is like a small city--equipped with a hospital, hotel (free on 14 Khordad), university, school, and even a bakery.

We arrived in Kashan around 11ish and first went to a place called Baqh-e-Fin (baaq-eh-feen), which is an ancient caravanserai created for Shah Abbas who was a king of the Safavid Dyansty. What was most incredible about this place was how the water circulated. Under the water table, the engineers who created the Baqh (trans. = garden) created a series of undground aqueducts that connect to an underground spring. The water system then moved around the entire area, creating little fountains, watering the plants, and cooling the surrounding area. The same water system provided all the water for local baths as well. The baths themselves had these beautiful carvings that were done out of what I think translates to calcium oxide or something like that. They said in chemistry language CaO2, so I don't know what that translates to. Anyways, they carved beautiful calligraphy stuff and squiggles (not unlike my own doodles) into the walls of the bath (and indeed they're EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING that we saw in this entire region). The Baqh is also situated in an old castle that was constructed out of adobe and is STILL STANDING in it's (mostly) original form. The weather is hot and dry most of the time, so there isn't much erosion. It's unlike anything else I've ever seen.

We then went to see three mansions left from the Qajar period that used to belong to what I believe were lords in Iran that were important in trade and stuff like that. Anyways, same gatch-kaari, or the carvings in the chalk that they used for the walls were everywhere. Each house was broken into 4 sections by cardinal direction with mutliple inner courtyards, and outer courtyards and all with huge kitchens and tons of open space. Also, entering each room, the doors never met at the floor. Each door frame had a lip that was about 2 1/2 inches high that was from the ground to where the door started. After nearly tripping over one, I asked why they were this way. My cousin who I mentioned in my previous post said it was to keep out scorpions because scorpions can't jump. Who knew? Anyways, TOTALLY GORGEOUS. I want a house like that when I'm old.

We then traveled to Garmsar (Gahrm-sahr) which is where our hotel was/is the most famous place for golab, or rosewater. We went to a ?farm? that was just bursting with rosebushes. We then saw how they get rosewater (it's a really old school way of doing things, involving a 40 liter giant copper pot, a ton of water and rose petals, and then fractionally distilling the rosewater out. Also quite a delicate process. If you screw up, you're out TONS of money. Anyways, we bought rosewater, something called atr-e-chai, (a liquid which you add to tea after it brews that enhances the flavor), and another liquid called bahar narenj, which translates to summer orange and is basically the essence of this fruit and smells just wonderful, and can also be added to tea. Note: I will be bringing these things back to Grinnell and am willing to share a cup of tea with you. We were then caught in a horrible rainstorm and spent the rest of the night playing cards in the hotel.

Then next morning, we left for Abiyaneh (Ahb-ee-ahn-eh). Abiyaneh is a town that basically hasn't changed since the Safavid era--all of the people still wear the same clothing and build using the same building styles from hundreds of years ago. All the women wear these very wide big scarves that are white with little red roses embroidered on them and the men wear these huge wide satin-y black pants, left over from times when men rode horses everywhere and needed the wide pants to have enough room to straddle a horse. Super pretty, but the people don't like to have their pictures taken, so I have no pictures of the people. I mean these people aren't Amish old school. They have electricity and such, but everything else is still done old fashioned by hand. I saw a guy molding silver and forming each link by hand and placing stones, another woman weaving something that looked like the fabric they use for scarves. Very cool to watch.

What was really sad about the place is that I didn't see a single person between the ages of 18-30 who wasn't a tourist. I asked one of the old women about it, and they said they are all kharej az keshvar, or out of the country. She then said they all went to Turkey to find work. I completely understand the need to find a job, but I honestly think it is one of the saddest things to hear in the world. Here is a hugely special place with a unique culture. It deserves to be preserved and it should have individuals who are of that culture living there and keeping the culture alive. Not re-enactors, real people who were born there and will die there. Abiyaneh is kind of a tourist trap, but it's not a business run by someone, nor do the people solely make money by selling crap to tourists. Iranians (and non-Iranians, suprisingly we saw a lot of Germans there) both can benefit from going and seeing such a vibrant part of Iranian culture. I really hope it continues to exist and preserve parts of Iranian culture that for the rest of the country has been lost.

This is one of the times I severely curse the fact that I straddle two cultures. I don't really feel like I can really work to preserve either culture that I consider myself to be a part of. All I can preserve is my own blend, which I mean is important in it's own right, but I feel like it's a new culture. It's not one that has been established for thousands of years, with rites of passage dating back to the times of Cyrus the Great. I honestly think that if I lived in a place like Abiyaneh, I would never leave it. Culture is too precious. Though, who knows if this is something I learned in the course of my schooling, which I wouldn't have had to the degree that I am pursuing if I lived and stayed in Abiyaneh, or if it is something my parents instilled in me, or came from someone else. Point is, I really think people should do what they can to preserve what they have. I appreciate what I am and where my so much more by having seen Abiyaneh.

Another thing I noticed in touring these old places is the massive amounts of graffitti that are present. Why would anyone possibly think it would be a good idea to carve ones own name into a wall that has beautiful calligraphy hailing the greatness of the prophet Mohammad? Why do they need to steal tiles from a famous prayer house of the Whirling Dervishes? People can't just appreciate the beauty for what it is and preserve it in their minds? Why do people have to leave their mark on these things? Do they have, as my aunt says, no culture/civilized-ness? I just get so frustrated and furious that people would deface such beautiful masterpieces just because they want to have their name on it.

Back to the travels. After Abiyaneh, we went to Natanz, home of one of the nuclear facilities (couldn't seem much, just anti-aircraft shooty things and barbed wire), to one of the famous houses of the Whirling Dervishes, to which a mosque was attached. Everything was painted this beautiful lapis-lazuli color and there were engravings in script from the Koran lining the entire wall all the way around. Just gorgeous.

From Natanz, we had lunch and then traveled back to Tehran. On our way back, we saw this random old building on the top of a mountain. I asked my cousin what it was and she said one of the Shahs had an eagle. He was using it to hunt when it fell in the water somehow and because it was winter, the eagle died. He then instructed that a mausoleum be constructed on the top of this mountain for his eagle. This building we saw is nothing small, either. It was the same size as one of the mausoleums for an Imam Zadeh, or child of an Imam, which btw, is the size of a regular mosque with a silver, gold, or lapis lazuli dome. When telling my grandma about our trip, she happened to also mention that I am an Imam Zadeh from both sides of my dad's family, and then she went on a sidetrack to tell me that the cousin of her father was the wife of Nassereddin Shah, the most famous of the Qajar kings, and that all of our family used to be part of his court. HISTORY IS SO COOL.

Anyways, back to the story. The ride back was mostly uneventful, minus the blown out tire of my aunts car, which took a while to fix. Mostly just talked to my cousins more about questions I had and told them more about my friends and America. My cousins also got their first look at my cartilage piercing, which they were surprised I had. Most people women only have their ears pierced at the lobe, if that, and it is completely unheard of for men to have any type of piercing anywhere. Not surprising given the religon. Also turns out Islam, like Judaism, says you can't be buried in one of their cemeteries if you have tattoos.

CULTURE CULTURE CULTURE IS SO COOL.


&hugs,
Mona

Travels!

We've finally set our schedule for our first trip outside Tehran. We're going to take a 2 day trip to Kashan (Kaa-shaan), which is south of Tehran. We leave the day after tomorrow. There are a TON of ancient ruins there from the Sassanid period, and my cousin, who has her masters degree in restoration of ancient structures and ancient history is going to be our tour guide! I'm so stoked. She has totally become my new best friend and all I do is sit around and pick her brain. I'm going to take my camera and hopefully will be able to put up pictures since my cousin (not the one who's going to take us around Kashan) has DSL at her house.

Today, as we were out driving, I kept seeing green banners and people with green tied around their wrists and necks. After a while, I decided to ask about them. It turns out the leading leftist candidate (Mousavi) has adopted this color as his own and his supporters wear it around to show support. One of my other cousins says the price of green fabric has gone up because of it! Isn't that funny? It's also peculiar that for the other candidates, I've maybe seen one or two posters, but Mousavi is EVERYWHERE.

&hugs,
Mona

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. The past few days haven't really been particularly fascinating. I went out rug shopping with my cousin, which was entertaining if nothing else for the loud discussion/haggling that went on after we selected which one to purchase. I was discussing with my cousin on the way back and she flat out laughed at me when she asked me if they haggle in America and I told her that for day to day things we don't.

That got me thinking about America so I had a poptart to feel better.

Besides that, we mostly stay at home and people come for didani, or visiting. Last night, when my dad's cousin came to see us, his son mentioned an ice cream place by the name of Coldstone. Naturally, Sara and I (Misha was sleeping) freaked out and decided the next day we HAD to go. Today, after dinner, which by the way was served at 10pm, we went out to find Coldstones. We found it, and from the outside, it looked like a Coldstone, it smelled like a Coldstone, the cups were the same as a Coldstone, but much to our dismay, it was not a real Coldstones. The ice cream was weird (more like a gelato) and they didn't have cookie dough, which was a total downer.

Iranians, I have decided, are really good at copying things. I shouldn't say good. They try really hard, but then they have things like disco balls outside a kabob stand, or a t-shirt says "Valea Girl", which I think should say "Valley Girl" which I don't even think they would wear if they understood what it said or what it meant. Everyone here takes English in high school, but it doesn't really seem to have done much good. Nobody understands us when we speak English.

A lot of people here are also preoccupied with appearance. A lot of women wear makeup and have very poofy bangs under their loosely tied scarves and a lot of guys wax their chests and put a lot of gel in their hair. Very euro and metro looking. Men and women only see each other on the street or outside somewhere else. I mean, base on this, I guess they only have appearance to judge others on. A faulty system if you ask me, but given the way things work here where people of opposite genders can't even touch each other, go figure.

Phil and anyone else who is politic-y, you'd be excited to know that even here they have Gallup polls that are published. As the election is coming up in about 15-6 days, they've started releasing them every couple days or so. It's so similar to America the way things are going with the election. The villages and less educated people want four more years of the same crap, while those who are educated want the other candidate. The only difference here is the opponent to Ahmadinejad is a socialist. All the young people and college age people LOVE MirHossein Moussavi, who is the socialist. He, much like Obama, has really mobilized the young people base. He's got people wearing his color (green) on armbands and people have stickers and placards and pictures on their cars . It made me reminisce. I was telling some people about how I worked for Obama and they said, "Why aren't you out on the street right now campaigning?" I said, "Because I tried really hard to get into college and I'm not about to throw that away and possibly get thrown in prison."

I also got some books for my project that I want to do. Unfortunately, they aren't books written by Iranians. They are all books that were translated from other languages into Farsi, which throws my plan through a loop. No problems, though. I talked to one of my cousins and she's going to help me track down the books that I actually want. We shall see what happens. I'm here for another 54 days or so. I have high hopes.

&hugs,
Mona

The longest day...ever.

Ah, safely in Iran. All ten fingers, all ten toes. Yay!

My travels up to this point have been quite exciting, actually. We almost missed the cutoff for checking our ten suitcases at O'Hare because we were packing suitcases till literally 5 minutes before we left, but we made it just fine. Flight went off without any problems, (Lufthansa is great, I highly recommend), but when we landed, again the Ghadiri procrastination gene reared it's ugly head. As we left so close to school ending, none of us had a chance to really do good research about Germany and Frankfurt and the surrounding area. We always schedule an 8-12 hour layover in whatever country we travel through to get to Iran so we can go wander around and have some fun. My mom had a student this past semester from Germany, and her student recommended that instead of staying in Frankfurt, we should travel to Heidelberg, which is an hour and a half train ride south of Frankfurt. It was a good recommendation, but we had some issues with figuring out tickets and such. This is where Sara saved the day. Her four years of German were basically the only reason we didn't end up getting stuck in the airport. Yes, people in Germany can speak English, but not all of them, and not all of them very well. It wasn't like in Holland or Switzerland where everyone we talked to basically spoke English. Anyways, we got on the train to Heidelberg at around 7:50am to begin our ziptour of Heidelberg.
I really loved the architecture of the houses we passed as we were on the train. There were TONS of solar panels on a good number of houses as we were passing them in the countryside. I also did not expect most of the houses to have terracotta shingles—I have no idea why I expected them to have roofs more similar to ones in the US. Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked. We arrived in Heidelberg around 9:30. I should point out at this time, none of us had really slept on the 8 hour plane ride from Chicago, and it was the wee hours of the morning at this point in our journey. We realized on the train that we were pulling our first family all-nighter. Made me miss Grinnell. What this family all-nighter meant was a grumpy family for part of the morning, but in the long run, it paid off because my sleep schedule now that I'm in Iran is all fixed already. Internet here is dialup for now so I am not going to even try to upload pictures. Heidelberg, however, is beautiful. The castle is really awesome and old and ruin-y and has a BILLION stairs to get up to it because we didn't want to pay the 5 euro for a round trip ride up, and the Alstadt (old city) is quite picturesque. Sara had a ball in Bismarkplatz because all the parties had fliers out so of course she had to go and talk to each one and get all their pamphlets. She then proceeded to geek out over everyone. I have no recollection regarding our return train to Frankfurt because I passed out for most of the ride. What I do remember was people watching on the train. I was watching this mother and three children, and I was listening to the language they were speak and they were speaking Kurdish! It was really cool.

Now to the Iran part. I zonked out on the plane there to Tehran and we flew into the new airport, surprisingly named Imam Khomeini International Airport, arriving at 1:30am. It was really nice. A significant contingent of our family met us at the airport and the second we walked out of customs I was swathed in hugs and kisses and flowers. Everyone was so excited to see me, so my ego is currently nicely fluffed. I promptly fell asleep when I crawled into bed around 3:30ish. My first full day in Iran, I had fresh Iranian bread with cream and peanut butter and I never want to eat American food that's not peanutbutter ever again. Misha and I went out with my uncle and cousin shopping to their sort of equivalent of a Dominicks but is everywhere like walmart and bought the ugliest trash can ever it has what we have dubbed "the Snamster" because its like this ugly squirrel thing that looks more like a hamster and with a snail shell behind it. By the time we were back a small army of people had congregated here to say hello. I love it here. It's just amazing. I had a conversation with my cousin about ancient cultures and anthropology and totally geeked out. All the worry I had about my Farsi skills horribly lacking, and here I am talking about anthropological theory with my cousin. It was just stellar. I love Iran. The food, the people, the traffic and pollution not so much, but I am so happy I'm here.

I'll attempt to update about things sometime in the next couple days. Love you all dearly.
&hugs,
Mona

Today's the Day

*deep breaths*

It's semi-aggravating explaining every single time that I'm going to Iran that no, I will not get murdered or thrown in prison. No, no one will beat me. No, there won't be bombs going off when I get there.

People have such strange misconceptions about places they don't know.

On a slightly happier note,
I'm ready for adventure. I'm ready to see my extended family. I'm ready for something (semi)fresh.

I'll miss you all! Here's hoping for a blog update by Sunday or Monday at the latest. Hopefully I'll have internet access set up by then and can alert you all to my survival.

Goodbye American TV, pop culture, music, facebook, TFLN, FML, and last but not least, [plans].

&hugs,
Mona

My first post

I've decided that I'm going to be keeping a blog while I'm abroad in Iran this summer. I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but I'm going to do my darndest to keep you all in the loop as I make my way around Iran, spending time with family, and collecting data for my research. My flight is on Friday the 22nd of May, so from now until then I will be frantically doing laundry and scrambling to get everything I need that I can't get in Iran (i.e. pants that fit and peanut butter) and attempting to see all my home friends before I go.

&hugs,
Mona