Where did Time Go?

Today my uncle arrived in Isfahan. Although he has been absent in much of my life I still couldn’t wait to see him and hear all things he remembers about me from when I was a little girl. He reminisces about the times when me and my cousins were young and we all loved to play with him as he was our favorite uncle then. Needless to say he has been through many different phases in his life and that has been the reason for the distance between us. The beauty of life is that things change and so has he.

Today is a holiday in Iran so everyone came to my aunt’s house for lunch and we spent the day together. It has actually been one of my favorite days so far; we ate lunch, played cards and hung out. In the afternoon we went to my cousins house and prepared for dinner. We decided to get a bit dressed up and take some family photos. We laughed and joked around until we couldn’t breath, it was a wonderful night. At some point my parents called and we put them on speaker so they could talk to everyone, I wish they were here and I know they do as well.

I only have one more full day in Isfahan, I can’t believe how fast time goes. I was happy to have 10 days here and now I only have one day left. I feel like I am just getting comfortable here, my cousins and I are constantly laughing and joking with each other. We are just getting to that point where we are enjoying each other and now I have to go. This is the part of traveling I hate; leaving.

Traveling has two extremes, you have the joy of arriving and seeing everyone, on the other side once the end of your trip is near you have the fear of saying goodbye and leaving. It is hard for those of us that live so far apart, who knows when we will see each other again and if we will see each other again. You get to an age where you realize that time is limited and goodbye’s become harder and harder. I don’t want to say bye to my aunt, I don’t feel like my time with her was enough. Oddly enough I feel like I could stay here for another month. I can only hope that I will be back sooner than later!

Pics of Isfahan

Me!!

Madoon Shah

Poleh Khajoo

Good Times

Isfahan has been wonderful so far. I have been staying with my aunt and everyday my cousin and her sons come over and we go out. It's been relaxing being here, a bit on a slower pace than Tehran. I have already seen so much of the city when I was little that there isn't a particular place I want to go or see. I just want to spend time with my family and hear all about their lives.
My aunt and I decided to go to Yazd, a city in the desert, for a 2 day visit. This was part of the original plan when my mom was coming but I figured I would stick with it and go. After all it's time to be with my aunt and see another city. Yazd is beautiful, it's close to the desert and the buildings are all build out of a special mud that resembles the desert. We went all over and saw all the major sites. In the evening we went to my cousins house for a quick visit and got to see more family. If you haven't guessed I have a huge family :) This is my first cousin on my mom's side and since we were there we got to see them as well. It was a nice visit and I am happy I got to see everyone.
Today my cousin and I went for some shopping in the large square's bazaar. If weight was not a problem I would have bought the entire place. Either way I will have to come back for a shopping trip with an extra suitcase! After our shopping we went for lunch at a great restaurant and of course, we pigged out.
Tomorrow my Uncle comes to see me and we will be together for a few days before I return to Tehran.

Memories of a Wonderful Time

People in Iran find it interesting that I love it here. They wonder why seeing that I am coming from America and my response has been that this is where my family is and it is where my family is from. Although now most of my family has left Iran, I still have enough to visit. I think I love it here because it really reminds me of so much of my childhood. When we were kids we would visit Iran every 2 to 3 years, but we would spend 2 months here. Some of my fondest memories have been with my cousins during those summers being crazy and playing all day.

Within the last week, my uncle and cousins and I have talked about so many memories and all of us have different ones. It’s actually interesting to see what each of us remember about the same time. One thing we all have in common is that it was a great time!

On Friday we all went to my uncle’s villa about an hour outside of Tehran. We spent the day there. We walked through his garden which is full of every kind of tree and plant you can think of, we visited all the chickens and helped one that was sick, he ended up dying the next day :( For lunch we cooked kabob’s outside on the grill. It was such a fun and relaxing day. Once we ate we all sat around, talked and played cards. Once again we reminisced about the time we spent at my great uncle’s villa in my dad’s home town.

That was a time to remember, there were about 20 of us there, his garden was huge or at least it was to me being a small kid. At the very end of his garden there was a river that we spent hours playing in and along the edge. I remember the river having a very fast current, every once in a while one of us would lose a sandal and watch it go down stream. The rest of the time we were catching crabs and filling buckets full of them. We would then go back into my uncle’s garden and race our crabs seeing who’s would win. This took up hours of our days and while the kids were having fun all the adults were sitting drinking tea and playing cards or backgammon and talking. There was a beautiful sitting area hidden in the far back right corner of my uncle’s garden, this is were all the parents would sit and have fun.

I remember all the ladies in the kitchen preparing lunch and then we would set a huge cloth down (called a sofreh) on the floor and all 20 of us would sit around and eat a huge feast. In the evenings there was a ritual. After dinner my uncle, being the comedian that he is would go put on his “special” dancing pants and the fun would begin. He would dance and joke around getting everyone hyper. I even remember all the songs that he wold play. By the end of the night after the dancing was done we would sit around while one person played the Tar and another would sing. I loved this time. It is probably one of the best childhood memories that I have.

Off to Isfahan!

Today I left Tehran to come to Isfahan. I haven’t seem my aunt and cousin, from my mom’s side yet so I am super excited. My Aunt was suppose to come to my brother’s wedding 2 years ago but due to health reasons she was not able to make it. Needless to say I couldn’t wait to give her the biggest hug.

My cousin’s son meet me in Tehran and we rode the bus together to Isfahan. We had a great ride and got to catch up. I was actually really surprised with the transportation, the buses are super nice, it is like flying in first class. The seats all recline into a bed, you have a foot rest and they play movies the entire way. The drive went by fast and before I knew it I was at my aunt’s door.

I was fine at first when I saw everyone and we started hugging and kissing, but when I got to my aunt I couldn’t help but burst out in tears. I don’t know if I was just so excited to see her, if it had been too long or if some of the emotions of hugging her reminded me of my mom’s absence. It was probably the combination of it all, either way we were both hugging, crying and smiling all at the same time.

I will stay with my aunt for 10 days and the last few days my mom’s brother will come and we will all be together. Being here is nice, our days have been filled with talking about every detail of our lives and looking at photo’s. Today we will go shopping in the largest square in Iran, which is the 2ND largest square in the world! It is great fun as you can see the workers hammering designs into iron pieces that they will soon sell, there are, of course, tons of jewelry stores and beautiful buildings to see! Isfahan is a beautiful city, they have beautiful palaces and two famous bridges that are gorgeous to walk across and light up in the evenings.

That's life!

Sadly I found out yesterday that my mom is unable to join me in Iran. I kept thinking that she would be okay and would be able to fly but she went to the doctor and since she is still having lots of pain he advised her not to fly. I guess I was just hoping so hard that everything would work out. Me being in Iran for one month is really a rare occasion and who knows when I can come back and for how long. I keep wishing that we could change the way things are or a miracle will happen and she will be here tomorrow. What a great surprise that would be!

At the same time, her health is most important and I really want her to heal and be back on her feet. I think the pressure of it all was the worst part for her. She has been having pain but wanting to get better in order to come. At the same time she has anxiety that if she flies, she may have pain or something may happen. On top of all this, I know that she really didn’t want to let me down, after all this part of my trip was planned especially for us to be together and travel. I feel so bad for her and hope that she isn’t upset about this turn of events.

We of all people know that life is unexpected and you may plan something for months and then when the time comes something happens and changes everything. This is life, I have to believe that everything happens for a reason and this did as well. Nothing good comes out of looking back and wishing things were different. She is unable to come so we can only say that sometime in the future we will make this trip happen!

As sad as I am, I am here in Iran after so long and I am going to enjoy every second of it!

I have been looking forward to this trip and to seeing my family. To be honest this is a great learning experience for me, because I have never been here alone so I am learning how to be independent here and connecting with my family even more.

Anyway it is what it is and I have to remember when obstacles like this happen, life could be worse. I am thankful to be here and that super thankful that my mom is going to get better!

So much to do, So much to see and So much to eat!

So far my week in Iran has been amazing! Since my mom is not here yet my schedule got changed around a bit. For now I am staying with my uncle and cousins in Tehran until she arrives. It has actually worked out because I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my dad’s side of the family since they can’t come visit us, so this week has been great.

Every morning I wake up to the sound of my uncle making breakfast and music. He puts the TV station on MTV for me and they play everything from Persian dance to Usher. My uncle is very cute, he sets the table everyday and if I get up to help he looks at me like I am crazy. He bought about 5 different kinds of cheese for me and sets each one out. I have lots of choices as to what to eat and of course I want to try a bit of each. We eat breakfast together and talk about all sorts of things. He keeps telling that if I want something to tell him and they will get it. When I arrived the frig was stocked with all sorts of goodies, from Twix and candies to every kind of drink I could ever want.

My days have been filled with different places to see, hiking and shopping. My cousin and his wife have so many places they want to take me and show me. Two days we went hiking for a few hours, another day my cousin’s wife and I went to one of the biggest bazar’s in Tehran. We spent about 6 hours there getting lost. It truly is a place to see. Once you have entered the bazar it is nearly impossible to know where you are going. There are alleys upon alleys of shops. They sell everything from toys, to make-up to Persian rugs. Each good has there own section and the stores are next to one another sharing a wall.

The Bazar has it’s own culture. There are people everywhere, they push and rush past you if you are to slow. There are workers coming through with large dolly’s carrying goods from one location to another. If you don’t move they will hit you and keep going, it is up to you to know that you should get out of the way, after all they are working and have to keep going. Every so often you will see a motorcycle come through in the middle of all the people and try to find a way out.

The people are all shopping and looking for good deals. It is very common for you to be asking a store owner for a price and another person just walks up and starts asking them to look at something. This is all part of the package, there is no use in getting upset or wondering why the person just interrupted you, you just have to ask you question louder and be persistent. Once you decide on something you ask the price and then the fun starts. The owner will tell you one price and you tell your price. This usually goes on for a few minutes and in the end you agree on something that hopefully both people are happy with. No one ever says ok to the original price and pays it, there is always a better deal. This is part of the culture, people are trying to make deals and sell you all they can. The bazar was great fun and I got a few pieces I liked.

In Iran lunch is the biggest meal. Usually around 1 or 2pm everyone shuts down what they are doing and heads home. Feasts are cooked and everyone is at home with their families. If you go on the streets around that time you will usually see very few people out. Because people eat such big lunches they have siesta afterwards until about 5pm and then head back to work for a few more hours. It used to be that everyone did this but now I am seeing some places are still active during the lunch hours and people go out. Either way it has been an easy tradition to get used to :)

I have had some amazing food! My first day we had a huge feast for lunch which was a few different kinds of kabob and rice. I ate until I couldn’t move. Because I am with all my cousins in the evenings, we usually get together and go out for some walking or shopping then we go out for dinner. Usually dinners are small and at home but the restaurants here are so amazing we have been going to at a different one every night. Some nights we had pasta, another pizza and another steak and seafood.

As you can tell my days are full of seeing sights and eating the most delicious foods. I love it here and I am having an amazing time so far. My cousins are great, we are the same age which is nice. They have been wonderful hosts and of course they don’t even let me get my wallet out. Even if I want to buy a ring or clothes they are paying for it all. It doesn’t help that I am not super aware of all the currency so they quickly pay and we are gone.

Tomorrow we are going to my uncle’s villa about an hour outside of Tehran and we will spend the day there. I find out wether or not my mom can come tomorrow after her doctors appointment so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will make it and be ok.