It's been very busy trying to get ready for Iran. There are so many things to take care of before leaving for 6 weeks: setting up all the bills online; getting things ready at work for the summer term; and the most difficult and time-consuming of all, buying gifts for family and relatives.
Buying gifts for Iranians is completely different from buying souvenirs for Americans. You can go to Paris and bring a key chain or a pen back for your brother or friend in the US. That would not work for an Iranian. Here in the US, you bring back a gift from a trip to show people that you were thinking of them when you were away. In Iran, and I think in most of the world, gifts serve a more practical purpose. You buy gifts not to show that you were thinking about the receiver of the gift, but to satisfy a practical need. Another thing to remember is that the gifts you give should be more or less the same. You can't give someone a nice watch and another person a t-shirt. With these in mind, I went out and bought lots of face cream, Band-Aid, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, vitamins, and the like. Then I put one of each in a Ziplog bag and wrote the name of the family who receives the gifts on the bag. Each family gets one of these bags. In addition, I bought some pants and shirts for my close friend and my brothers. The hardest gifts to buy are clothes because it's difficult to know the receiver's right size and preferred color. Clothes and shoes also take a lot of space in the luggage.
A few weeks ago, I e-mailed my brothers, and nieces and nephews and told them about our plans to visit Iran and asked them if there were anything they needed. I got two requests: One of my nieces requested a digital camera, and one of my nephews asked for a computer board. Of course they both said that they'd pay for them when I get there, and of course I'm not going to take their money. So I bought my nephew the computer part, and I'm taking my old digital camera for my niece.
Then, yesterday I called my cousin to finalize our plans for staying in his vacant apartment during our visit to Iran. I asked him if there was anything he would like me to bring for him. He first said nothing, but then the orders started coming: pants for himself, a backpack for his daughter, shoes for his wife, and khakis for his son. I bought them all last night.
And my aunt asked for 4 kilograms of whey protein for her grandson and glocosamine for herself. I bought the former but not the latter.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Rick Steves' Trip to Iran
Rick Steves, the famous world traveler, traveled to Iran in spring 2008 and made a one-hour documentary about Iran, which was broadcast on PBS in February. You can visit his website and buy his DVD on his web page about Iran at http://www.ricksteves.com/iran/. Below are some quotes from his website about Iran:
Even early in the trip, it's clear that the people of Iran are the biggest joy of our visit—everyone's mellow, quick to smile, and very courteous.
Routinely, I'll look up from my note-taking or memorizing my lines to see curious locals gathered, greeting me with smiles, and wanting to talk. When I explain where I'm from, the smiles get bigger. I have never traveled to a place where I had such an easy and enjoyable time connecting with people. Locals are as confused and fascinated by me as I am by them. Young, educated people speak English.
I can't help but think how tourism could boom here if they just opened this place up. There are a few Western tourists (mostly Germans, French, Brits, and Dutch), but they all seem to be on a tour, with a private guide, or visiting relatives. Control gets tighter and looser depending on the political climate, but basically American tourists can visit only with a guided tour. I've met no one just exploring on their own. The Lonely Planet guidebook dominates—it seems every Westerner here has one. Fortunately, it's good. Tourists are so rare, and major tourist sights are so few and obvious, that you bump into the same people day after day. Browsing through picture books and calendars showing the same 15 or 20 images of the top sights in Iran, I'm impressed by how our short trip will manage to include most of them.
While in Tehran, we're being zipped smoothly around by Majid, our driver. Majid navigates our eight-seater bus like a motor scooter, weaving in and out of traffic that flows down the street and between lanes like rocks in a landslide. To illustrate how clueless I am here, for three days I've been calling him "Najaf." And whenever a bit of filming goes well and we triumphantly return to the car, I give him an enthusiastic thumbs-up. But today, Majid patiently explained that I've been confusing his name with a city in Iraq...and that giving someone a thumbs-up in Iran is like giving them the finger.
"Death to traffic!"
While traffic is enough to make you scream, people are incredibly good-humored on the road. I never heard angry horns honking. While stalled in a Tehran jam, people in the neighboring car see me sitting patiently in the back of our van: a foreigner stuck in their traffic. They roll down their window and hand Majid a bouquet of flowers with instructions to give it to the visitor. When the traffic jam breaks up, we move on—with a bouquet from strangers on my lap.
Even early in the trip, it's clear that the people of Iran are the biggest joy of our visit—everyone's mellow, quick to smile, and very courteous.
Routinely, I'll look up from my note-taking or memorizing my lines to see curious locals gathered, greeting me with smiles, and wanting to talk. When I explain where I'm from, the smiles get bigger. I have never traveled to a place where I had such an easy and enjoyable time connecting with people. Locals are as confused and fascinated by me as I am by them. Young, educated people speak English.
I can't help but think how tourism could boom here if they just opened this place up. There are a few Western tourists (mostly Germans, French, Brits, and Dutch), but they all seem to be on a tour, with a private guide, or visiting relatives. Control gets tighter and looser depending on the political climate, but basically American tourists can visit only with a guided tour. I've met no one just exploring on their own. The Lonely Planet guidebook dominates—it seems every Westerner here has one. Fortunately, it's good. Tourists are so rare, and major tourist sights are so few and obvious, that you bump into the same people day after day. Browsing through picture books and calendars showing the same 15 or 20 images of the top sights in Iran, I'm impressed by how our short trip will manage to include most of them.
While in Tehran, we're being zipped smoothly around by Majid, our driver. Majid navigates our eight-seater bus like a motor scooter, weaving in and out of traffic that flows down the street and between lanes like rocks in a landslide. To illustrate how clueless I am here, for three days I've been calling him "Najaf." And whenever a bit of filming goes well and we triumphantly return to the car, I give him an enthusiastic thumbs-up. But today, Majid patiently explained that I've been confusing his name with a city in Iraq...and that giving someone a thumbs-up in Iran is like giving them the finger.
"Death to traffic!"
While traffic is enough to make you scream, people are incredibly good-humored on the road. I never heard angry horns honking. While stalled in a Tehran jam, people in the neighboring car see me sitting patiently in the back of our van: a foreigner stuck in their traffic. They roll down their window and hand Majid a bouquet of flowers with instructions to give it to the visitor. When the traffic jam breaks up, we move on—with a bouquet from strangers on my lap.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A Positive View of Iran
Having lived in the US for the past 18 years, and having read postings on the Internet, I realized that almost everything about Iran is either completely or mostly negative. So I decided to start this blog to focus on the positive. I should say from the outset that this blog is not a political blog and is not affiliated with any government or private agencies or organizations. It's just a venue to share stories about Iran and post information that may be of interest to people who want to someday visit Iran. By being positive, I am not denying the negative. I just think that the negative stories and news have enough venues already.
"The Other Iran" will contain travel logs, cultural information, and people stories that reflect the beautiful culture of Iran. If you'd like to share your stories, or you know of links to useful information about Iran, please e-mail them to me at sararood@gmail.com, and I will post them here.
"The Other Iran" will contain travel logs, cultural information, and people stories that reflect the beautiful culture of Iran. If you'd like to share your stories, or you know of links to useful information about Iran, please e-mail them to me at sararood@gmail.com, and I will post them here.
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