Buying Gifts!

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.