Discovering the North

The north part of Iran near the Caspian Sea has a magnificent nature: mountains, valleys, rivers, forest.
With my brother and sister a friend and a guide we visited many villages near by Chalooss road. This was our Itinerary through some pictures:

Dizin
Dizin is a ski resort near Tehran.

Chad-e Chalooss
Kamarbon
Kamarbon is a small village inhabitant just in summer time. A cool breeze braze and a hot sun with a breakfast made of home made cheese, butter, and bread.

Breakfast at a resident of village of Kamarbon


Yoush
Yoush: The house of the great poet Nima Yushij

Bari Abeh
Bari Abe is a road mainly covered with fog crisscrossing the mountains

Kop
When we were passing Kop , a small village on the road, a group of boys saw us taking pictures. They were all excited about it and I took some pictures, they were so happy to see they own picture.

Baladeh
Balade and Kajoor are another villages on the Bari Abe road

Kajour

Dasht-e nazir
Dasht-e Nazir looks like how Kelardash was 10 years ago, still little untouched by the real estate agency

Valasht
Valasht is a lake on the bottom of the mountains close to Marzan Abad. . People can swim, camp boat and fish

Dasht-e Kelardasht
Kelardasht is a vast plain with a cool weather. It has become the country side of Tehran. Many people take refuge to Kelardasht escape the hot summer of Tehran and enjoy the fresh and cool weather in a nearby province. Due to the high flow of tourism, Kelardasht has lost his beauty and his untouched nature.

Tajrish

Tajrish bazar has all sort of different stores.
In Iran we eat lots of fruits. The fruits of so well put next to each other, they look like a picturesque painting.
Nuts also are very popular in summer, preserved in water and sold in 10 pieces called "fal". The nuts are pilled and eaten with some salt.

Rosaries

Being a Muslim country, we can see many merchant of rosary on the street. The colorful of the different stones adds a beauty to the streets.

Belts

In the hot summer, taking a nap is essentiel even for the one who works on the street!

Matches

People are trying to earn your living in different ways. Here is an old man on the street selling boxes of matches.

Fruit juices

Since the summer is really hot in Tehran, on the street we can found many little store where they sell fresh fruit juices. The most common one are cantaloupe, carrot, blackberry etc…

Khouch-e Belan

Khouch-e Belan is a large area where you can find clothes, bridal clothes and accesories, and all sort of merchants.

Lalehzar

With my brother and my mom we went to a neighborhood called Lalehzar , a center of electrical stores and where we can find all sort of lights and electrical items.

07/14/06: At my sister's

We spent the day at my sister’s house with my parents and my aunt. It was nice to be around the love one. She leaves in a nice apartment decorated tastefully with Iranian touch.

I had a wonderful time and eat very delicious food. We had Tahchin, chicken with rice and some Kebab. In Iran, we eat lots of fresh vegetables like basil, parsely with the meals.

July 13: In the theatre

With my niece and nephew we went to Golriz Theatre in Yousef Abad. More than a comedy it was a show of music and dance. The two main characters were making fun of the different popular singers it was hilarious. My nephew and niece had introduced me little bit to the teen world, language and music which made the comedy more meaningful. I was surprise to see how Iran has changed. In my period we were not allowed to listen to music nore to clapp! During the show it was lots of dancing, the audience were participating and singing. The majority were young boys and girls. The girls were wearing lots of make-ups and colorful, tight and short clothes. I was very impressed with the change.

Vanak

Here are the buildings close to Vanak and Shiraz square, located in north west of Tehran.

Tehran

Tehran has a very mixed architecture: Single house, next to a 3 stories apartments, and high-rises. The two high-rises are called Eskan, located at Mirdamad street.


Since the climate is very hot and dry the air conditioning system is a cooler, water runner to a sort of straw cooling down the temperature. These coolers are place on the roof of the houses.

July 7th

Today was Friday last day of the week in Iran. Most of the offices are off just on Friday. Here the week-end is just one day. Most of the store are closed which means much less traffic in the morning.

I spent the day at my aunt with my mom’s family. In Iran, when someone feels very comfortable at someone’s house, we said “ Are you at your aunt’s house!”, meaning the person is very at ease. The aunt, khaleh is referred to the sister of your mother who is usually closer that the sister of your dad, called ameh.

We had baghali polo, rice with dill, and lima bean, with chicken for lunch. For drink we usually have soda, water and doogh, a mixure of sparkling water and yogurt. Of course some tea and then it is the nap time. Since, it was my aunt’s house we will able to take a nap, if not it is not a custom to have lunch at someone’s house and take a nap!

While the older were sleeping we watch TV. Most of the house that I have been to have access to satellite dishes and have many channels in many languages. They are very up to date, with the news, music, and movies, vogue.
After the nap, comes the tea, sweet, and fruit. My aunts told us many different funny story and joke that cracked me up. Most of the joke are about either the Turk symbolizing people with not very intelligence, and the Rashti, a provence in north of Iran close to the Caspian sea, famous for being very tolerate about the infidelity of their wives.

We spend the evening; there also, it was nice to be my grandmother my aunts and the cousins. My aunt make a ghaliyoun, smoking pipe with water on the bottom and tobacco on the top.

It was interesting also because there were 4 generation here, my grandmother, my mother, my sister and my niece. I have very fortunate to able to be with all them and spent some time with them.

July 6th

I spent the day at home helping Mom with organized and redecorating the house. I am worry about Mom, she works constantly even with someone working all day for her, and she exhausts herself and has started to have a backache. Everything has to be perfect!

July 5th

I was not able to sleep well because of the jet lag and the mosquito: it was a night mare. There is lots of mosquitos in Tehran, so it is a must to put anti mosquito, but since my parents just moved, we could not find them. So I had a miserable night with mosquito flying in the room and make vzzzzzzzzz sounds!
I woke up around 8:00am still exhausted from the trip. After having breakfast, Mom gave me a treasure: a box full of old letters and many pictures from when I was in elementary school and college. I was very pleased to discover them. I didn’t have a chance to go through the entire box yet, but what I saw was very amazing.

From the kitchen’s window I heard some music coming out from the street. There were a man was playing and singing and a boy was playing the percussion. They just go from street to street in quest of some money. I found very interesting and he had a lovely voice.


Dad had some errands to run , I accompanied him to see what is going on. We took a cab. The traffic terrifies me in Tehran, I am afraid of driving here plus It is much easier and inexpensive to take a cab.

At lunch, we had a take out Kebab, it was really good with sabzi khordan( fresh vegetables) and Mast-o khiar (yogurt with cucumbers) . The food taste different and has more flavor. The yogurt has a sour taste. I love it!

In the afternoon, I took a long nap to rest….

At the evening we received my two aunts with my uncles and my cousin. After having dinner we watch the match France Portugal. Most of them were pro Portugal , my dad, my cousin and I were for France. We had lot of fun and lot to eat! When, France got the first goal I was making a BIG deal out, screaming and teasing the opposite group. I spend joyous evening with my family; it was lots of fun and a deep pleasure to be among them.

July 4th

It is a long trip from Washington DC to Tehran. I flew fromWashington Dulles airport at 10:10 pm to Paris . When we land to Charles de Gaule airport, it was a long wait until I will able to take the bus to the terminal C. Then we have to wait another long line to get to the shuttle that drives us to terminal A. Once arrived at my gate, I went through security. The terminal was extremely hot. Many people were using their boarding pass to vent themselves, one complained about how unequipped this international airport was, other about how stingy French are because they don’t want to spent money to have air conditioning in such place where there are lots of people. The real reason about the poor climatization was not clear. As a result the few hours that I have spent there was very uncomfortable, plus the space dedicated to the transit was very limited.

Then we have to wait a long line to get to the plane. I preferred to sit down and wait I thought anyway the plane is not going to leave without me. So while I was waiting, I saw a familiar face: Ali. He was our neighbors for many years before I left Iran. I thought how the coincidences of life are, seeing him in Paris after 12 years. He was taking the same plane and was getting back to Iran. Life is full of surprises!
The flight had some delays, and we finally took off 30 minutes after the scheduled time.

Next to me was a young man, it looked a little strange, and I felt not at ease. I initiate the conversation with him. He was newly graduate mechanical engineer student who came to Paris for business. He was interesting talk to because I was getting another perspective of how life it is in Iran for an educated person who has a good job. His concerns were about difficulty of saving money, the impossibility to leave independently from the parents, and most of all to reach an upper level of carrier ladder. He was saying that at certain point the job becomes a repetition and there is no room for progress. Apparently, he was very pleased with the life that couples of his friends were able to have in France, they live in a slower pace, he said.

I believe the young generation has a "trompe oeil image" of the West. They see it as a “perfect world” where everything is being take care of. Indeed there are many opportunities for every single individual, but they don’t realize that the responsibility that comes with it and that you have to work hard for it. As the motto is “ nothing is free.”
I think the best part of the living in the State is that you can have everything according to the income that you have. You can have a house, a car, going out or any “object” that you want. For instance, there is disposable digital camera. I think it is a good idea for the people who cannot afford a Digital Camera and want to capture some special moments. In Iran, either you have a good digital camera or you don’t have it, you have enough cash to purchase a house or to don’t have a house. It is in fact a binary system: have or don't have.


I arrived at 9:00 pm at Mehrabad. We have to put the islamic hejab, a long shirt with a veil. The airport was cool.With 2500 tomas someone will help you to carry your suitcases. At the custom, there were two lines, red and green. Most of the people were going through the green one . They don’t open up the luggage they just pass them under the scanning machine.

My sister and aunt were waiting for me. Mom, Dad and my nephew were home. When we arrived home the semi final of the world cup soccer Germany against Italy had just started.
I was very happy to see them, Mom was a little sick and exhausted from all the work of moving to the new house, Dad looks older and smaller that last year.

We watched the match and we were for the Italian team except for my aunt. Italy won the last 3 minutes of the game 2 to O. We were happy and clapping and screaming. My aunt was the sad one!

My parent apartment is really beautiful, very spacious and lots of lights from the large windows, and huge balconies. Mom is content to have the terrace and a patio for her plants. The house looks gorgeous, well decorated. I really like it. One side is a large bookshelf and the other side has the view of the patio.

It is 7:37 Washington’s time 3: 30 am local time, and I cannot sleep. It always takes me a week to get over the jet lag!. I better try to sleep now.