Chistmas

So my first (last?) Christmas away from home is already over. There was so much anticipation, and now it's gone.

I spent Christmas Eve-day feeling fairly miserable for myself. I moped around the dorm, trying to keep myself occupied. I looked in vain for a live stream of Carols by Candlelight. One thought crossed my mind, "I really wish mum would call, just as the Hallelujah Chorus comes on".

As a background, our family always gathers around the TV on Christmas Eve to pig out on lollies and pretzels while singing along to the carols. We light candles, get crumbs and wax on the carpet, and have a lovely time.

So I was sitting there, watching the clock ticking toward Christmas Day on the website of "The Age" newspaper.

Suddendly my phone rang! It was mum! "Hello darling! Listen to this"... It was the Hallelujah Chorus! I couldn't believe it. I sat there and developed an allergy to the airconditioning.

I was just so amazed that mum had granted my one Christmas wish! It really was magical. So after a lot of nose wiping, we had a chat for 20 minutes, it was just wonderful.

The AIESECers took pity on me and so I ended up at an Armenian cafe, complete with Christmas tree.

Christmas Day was excellent - I couldn't have asked for a better expat Chrissy. I had breakfast in the backyard with Tabiri, my Ghanian teammate, then I headed up to an Aussie Christmas Day with some of the diplomatic community.

We sat around all day being as Aussie as we could, the talk revolving around familiar bars, beers, and anything else that we can't access here! After 8 solid hours of drinking grape juice, I was a little worse for wear, but managed to grab a taxi up to Karaj to see Floor, Sepehr and Bastian for the evening.

So that was it. All over in the blink of an eye. But it was a lot of fun, that's for sure.

Missing you all back home. I'm exactly half way through my term. I know that the next half will fly, but still. xoxoxo

Have a wonderful New Years Eve everyone! See you in 2010!

Safe!

Hi everyone. I know you would have seen the new images of riots happening here over the weekend. It's a sad state of affairs, that's for sure.

Everyone I know is safe and well.

I've never seen people so passionate, so angry before. These people, (my friends, people my age, older people - everyone) care so much about their country, about their rights and the future. I think they have every right to march against this system.

I spoke to a friend today, she told me that she is happy to be Muslim, that Islam is ok with her, but the way this government does things, controls people with religion, is not ok. That it gives Islam and Iran a terrible name.

And it's true.

Happy Holidays!

Sending lots of love to family and friends. It feels so weird to be sitting here in my room, in the middle of the day, when I know my family is settled in with candles and more pretzels than you can poke a stick at, watching the Carols by Candlelight.

Iran-Turkey-Iran

I'm home from an epic trans-continental journey to Turkey and back.

The trip to Istanbul was great - really easy. It took two days, and I passed through some great scenery, including a crazy amount of snow covered mountains etc. The border crossing was a little scary, it took 2 (3?) hours, and it was so freakin' cold, but it was pretty straightforward.

I finally arrived in Istanbul, Turkey about 9am. I wandered around for a bit, went to see the famous Blue Mosque, and I saw the Pudding Shop (the place where the hippies used to meet before heading overland to India). I asked directions to a department store so I could pick up a dress for the Gala Dinner that would be coming up at the conference.

I met Miha from Romania (who is doing the same job as me, but in Macedonia), we caught the same flight down to Antalya - the playground of the Russian rich and lazy, it seems (at least in summer).

The hotel we stayed in was amazing - the full 5 stars - blatant luxury :) We had two days of pre-meetings, where we got to meet our other facilitators, and prepare our sessions. I worked with some lovely girls;

Miha (Romania/Macedonia)

Dagmar (Czech Republic/Germany)

Iwona (Poland)

Hana (Czech Republic)

I also met up with Spence, an AIESECer from the UK. Even though everyone I work with speaks excellent English, it was so nice to go 'totally native' with this beautiful Brit.

Suddenly, on the first day of conference(our third day there), we started hearing a roar coming from the other side of the door. A big roar, like a freight train coming at you. Imagine 700 people screaming, singing, yelling and beating drums....

We opened the doors and they flooded in, each group singing their LC songs as loud as they could. The music was pumping, the people were dancing, it was manic - the perfect way to start ATEMCO 2009.

We started the conference by facilitating a session to 400+ people. It was insane. Try covering History, Current State and Indirect Impact in one hour, for 400 delegates who's english level is 'basic. I hope we got enough of the content through for it to be beneficial!

The second day was the hardest by far - we divided all these newies into homegroups, and then conducted a simulation all day with them, taking them through the AIESEC Experience. It was intense, and it lasted I can't remember how many hours, but it started just after breakfast and ended after dinner.

The third day of conference was recovery day for the international facis. All the sessions for the day were to be in Turkish, so we had the day off. We went down to the beach, took a look in the sauna, and generally buggerised around for the day. As the day drew to a close, we started preparing for the Gala Dinner.

The Gala was wonderful. Everyone was suited and booted, the boys in sharp suits and the girls in so many different dresses and gowns. It was wonderful. We ate, we danced, we had a wonderful time. I'll try and find a photo of me all done up ;)

All too soon it was over. We woke up or staggered home or stopped drinking and took a shower - either way, all 700 delegates crawled out of their various hungover holes and headed to morning plenary (not surprisingly, it was a few hours late in starting). Unfortuntately, we faci's had to jet, so we had just enough time to show our goodbye video, a few quick hugs to the folks that mattered, and we were gone.

We couldn't believe it. Over. Just like that..

We found ourselves again in Istanbul, this time with a very generous AIESECer allowing us to stay at her apartment, very close to the city centre. We spent the day sightseeing again with the help of yet another AIESECer :) I took my backpack, intending to catch the 2pm bus back to Tehran.... it was not to be.

I ended up heading to the bus station (Logic's on my side here, surely?). But alas, my bus company departs from the tour agency, on the main street, not at the bus station. In any case, after much frantic calling etc, I found myself miles from the city, with 4Lira in my pocket, no bus for 24 hours and no phone to call my friends... Holy Shit was an understatement.

I borrowed a phone from a stranger, and spent 3 of those 4 lira on public transport back to meet the girls. I became a charity case - you can't do much with 1 lira! So they fed me, watered me and helped me all around until the next day, when I ended up at the right place, at the right time, on the right bus!!

Trip home was reasonably uneventful. My passport was checked on the Turkish side, then at the border, then on the Iranian side. As I crossed the border I was fingerprinted, but that at least saved me from standing in the queue. As always, the trip home feels quicker. I got into Azadi station early this morning, shhowered and got into work.

I thought I was doing fine, but I soon realised I wasn't going to be good for much today, so I'm writing this from my bed! Getting some rest and I'll try life again tomorrow ;)

snow!

This was taken from the balconey in my dorm building. Those silly little white blobs are snow flakes. No, I didn't think to actually take a photo of me with said snow.

I'm sure there will be more snow after this lot. Just wanted to show you some proof :P

Adventure time!

It's a lovely Wednesday morning here in Tehran. After being obscured by cloud for the last few days, the mountains showed themselves this morning. The sunlight gleams off the snow, which creeps lower and lower down the peaks every day.

enough of that :)

Today is Wednesday. There will be a Thursday, a Friday, a Saturday and a Sunday in pretty quick succession. Then, after all of those days, Monday will come. And Monday is the day that I'm jumping on a bus for a 48 hour journey to Istanbul, Turkey.

I will have a wonderful 6 hours or so in Istanbul (any recommendations for a walking tour starting at the bus-station and ending at the airport?), then a quick one hour flight to Antalya, on the coast. Gosh gosh gosh. Here, let me show you the place I'll be staying:

www.prestigehotel.com.tr

Ok, so I'm really excited. And nervous. But mostly excited.

Things that I predict will be weird:

• Not wearing a headscarf in public after 6 months of doing so
• Being allowed to drink alcohol in public (it'll probably even have brandnames!)
• Being in a room with 700 other people
• Wandering around a foreign city, knowing no-one, not speaking the language. Who 'drops in' to Istanbul exactly?!
• Being able to dance roll calls and hug a man in public
• Seeing the sea after 6 months
• Walking into a room where I know, literally, no-one

Things that I predict will be awesome:

• see above.

Woo hoo! Bring on an in-time visa, snacks, and patience. Let's go!

Busy Bee

Buzz.

I'm on eight straight working days and counting!

On Thursday and Friday LC Tehran ran it's Induction Session for our 27 new members. It was a blast - we have some fantastic new members - really high quality. It was full on, lots of faci'ing, lots of organising etc - just the usual running around, but it felt great.

Yesterday was a public holiday for Eid al-Adha, or Eid e Gorban as they call it here. Iran really does Eids differently to other muslim countries. It's just not something that's really celebrated, as far as I can see. Persians call the New Year (March 21) Eid.

I think there's still a lot of bitterness about the Arab influence on Iran, everything from the alphabet, to some words, to Islam - all of it was brought (or imposed?) on the Persians, and they haven't forgotten.

/tangent.

Yes, so I spent yesterday at the boss' place, having a 'team day'. We did a good lot of work, mostly sharing our plans for the coming months, identifying our strengths and weaknesses, and reflecting on the past 5 months of our term. It was really good for us, we needed it.

So I'm back in the office today, then another weekend (which I also plan to work), then zoom off to Turkey for ATEMCO. Re-entry visa is in process, cheap bus tickets are being investigated, all in all we're looking good :)

ATEMCO

Ok - great news.

I applied to facilitate at a conference next month, and I was accepted!

I will be going to Turkey (Biggest Smile Ever) for ATEMCO - a conference with 700 delegates, running from 12-15 December.

I the re-entry visa is in the works, I will be able to get back :)

The conference is being held in Antalya, this massive tourist spot on the Mediterranean Sea.

I really can't wait - I'm so excited. I will be travelling by bus, because a. it's cheap, and b. I get to see parts of Iran and Turkey that I just wouldn't see by plane.

oh wow, oh yay! I really can't wait. I haven't been to a conference in sooo long, I can't wait to get my faci skills back in practice, and can you imagine being in a room with 700 passionate, excited, driven young people? What an adventure.

Wow, so life has been tearing along at an insane pace in the last few days. Ok, weeks.

I have been so busy at work, I'm losing my hair. (no, not really). We are currently mid-way through the "Recruitment - Selection - Allocation - Induction process. This means we are finding new members to join AIESEC, selecting the ones that are the best fit for the organisation, training them and putting them into teams.

It's been crazy. This week is selection interview week, so we have people coming and going all day, having hour-long interviews. I've done some as well, and the people are very promising.

I'm also still trying to keep fit. I'm certainly a lot healthier than when I left Australia. I'm feeling and looking good (if I do say so myself). Having two very fashionable friends is also helping my wardrobe!

The mountains are covered in snow - it's my mission every morning to check them out, to see how covered they are, if there are clouds obscuring them etc. Some days it's so cloudy, it's as if the mountains were never there in the first place.

The air is getting colder and we breathe out fog in the mornings. It won't be long until the snow starts falling in the city, I'm sure. The air at night is so cold, I know it's going to creep into my bones very soon. Time to start layering under those coats!

My team has been in Oman this week at a conference, so I have been the only MC member here. It's been fun though - nice not to have those stinky boys cluttering up the place :P

well, I think that's it for the minute. Nothing of consequence has really been happening (except adventures to different coffee shops). I'll write again when this madness of recruitment is over.

Birthday

Last Wednesday was my birthday. I turned 22. It was a very strange day here in Tehran, and it was certainly the most unique birthday I've had so far.

I got up as usual, getting ready for the day. My roomate made me tasty chocolate biscuits to go with breakfast.

Work was strange. I spent almost the entire day alone in the office.
Why?

On 4 November 1979, Iranian students stormed the American Embassy and took the people inside hostage for 444 days. This year marked the 30th anniversary of that, and the young people this time were out, protesting the current government again. They haven't had a proper chance to do this in months.

So I was alone in the office because one of my collegues lives near a main trouble spot, so he had to stay at home. It was just far too risky to be out on the street. My other collegue didn't come in at all, and it wasn't til that night that he called me to say he'd been at another trouble spot, and had been affected by tear gas.

Finally 5pm rolled around and I headed home. I was under guidance to pack for a normal weekend, and to wear something nice.

The first thing that happened was that I was taken to get my ears pierced. It's been years since I've worn earrings, so it was nice to see them with little stones in there again.

We drove around for an hour, often passing the same places more than once, but no-one would say a word about what we were doing.

Finally we arrived at our regular awesome restaurant, Hafeziere. We headed upstairs, where I was greeted with a bunch of my friends singing 'Happy Birthday'! Complete with a coffee-flavoured cake, candles ablaze.

We had a wonderful dinner, laughing and enjoying ourselves. When it came to cut the cake, my friends did a traditional 'knife dance'... it's Persian dancing, but with the cake knife. Every time I tried to take it, it was danced away again. It was good fun. Finally, I had the knife, and made the cut. Suddenly, I watched my friend dig his hand into my cake. I had just enough time to think, "What the hell is he doing?" before I found cake all over my face! Another Iranian birthday tradition!

We shared the giant cake with some other folk who were having dinner on the other side of the restaurant. We were being pretty loud, and by that stage I'd also heard the Persian Version of the Happy Birthday song.

Well, the people to whom we gave the cake came over and wished me well. A large, well dressed man (complete with red bow tie, no less) said that he couldn't let the birthday girl go without having Happy Birthday sung in Italian! The man, Aldo, had a wonderful voice, and it was such a quirky surprise.

I received some wonderful gifts from my new friends too, I'm very lucky.

The evening ended soon enough. If we'd been at home of course, we would have headed out to while away the night somewhere dark and loud. But, alas, there's nothing like that to be found in Tehran, so instead we headed home.

I spent the rest of the weekend doing not a great deal, just relaxing. I don't think I'll see another birthday like that! (photos to come)

Weekend of Adventure

Last weekend was amazing.

On Friday I jumped into a minibus with a big bunch of people I'd never met (and three I had met, to be fair), and drove off into the Iranian morning.

We drove for hours, climbing higher and higher mountain roads that seemed to get windier the higher we got. We stopped halfway for breakfast, overlooking a plain, complete with a lake and the most incredible snow-capped mountains in the background.



The drove some more and ended up in this little village. This village and it's inhabitants are the custodians of the most magnificent waterfall I have ever seen. Surrounded by apple orchards, giant cliffs rose up out of the earth, providing the melting snow an avenue to race down and fall from.

We drove some more, heading to another wee village on another mountain side. We unpacked the bus and headed for a little clearing, where we built a fire to cook our chicken on.

After a great hot meal, and some well-timed rain, we piled back into the bus, full fat and happy (and damp) to tackle the mountain roads home again.

We piled out of the bus in a mad rush, because by that time we were terribly late for our next adventure - an Iranian wedding.

We raced home, and I found myself squeezing into a red dress, my hair was primped, my face was painted, and suddenly we were racing to the other side of town. Finally, painfully, we arrived, 20 minutes away from the end of the proceedings.

It was a segregated wedding, so all the women-folk could dress in their finest clothes without the men ogling them. We walked in to see a hall filled with literally hundreds of women - a living, breathing rainbow of colours. There was more make up in that room than the storeroom of Myer, I swear.

They saved us some food, so we ate, and a bottle of the hardest liquor on offer: orange soft-drink, did the rounds of meeting family, and then all of a sudden it was over.

It was an incredibly intense day, but every minute was amazing.

Sorry I haven't written in so long!

It's Saturday yet again, so I find myself in the office, getting on top of things before the guys come in. This weekend was lovely, a really good recharge.

We played games (if you were a garden gnome, what would your name be and what colour would your hat be?), chilled out and watched Twilight, again.

Yesterday everyone headed up to hike Tochal, the 'Roof of Tehran'. I stayed at home, because I had a different appointment. A meeting at the Australian Embassy!!

I headed up to the fanciest area of Tehran, mansions everywhere, to find the official Australian Residence. A portion of the expat community gathered to discuss what to do in the event of an earthquake (we are sitting on a fault line, and there was a quake in the south last week). But that took about 15 minutes - the other 2 hours were spent socialising, listening to folks with the same accent as you, talking about where they were from and what on earth they were doing here.

I hadn't spoken to any Aussies in 5 months, and I'd forgotten how much I missed them. I'd also forgotten how to network! I spend most of my days using pidgin- or moderated English, so I found myself a bit rusty speaking in a completely natural, polite way to people.

This week should be a busy one, we are about to come into the busiest period for my area of responsibility.

Lots of love xo

Thursday was a good relaxing day. I tidied up in the morning, swapping emails with mum (hi mum!).

Then I dropped into the Faculty to pick up my salary (No kidding, I got two 1,000,000 Rial notes)

I jumped into a taxi (observation: they are so easy to use, really. I don't know why I was so frazzled before) to Enghelab Sq, on the advice that the place is full of bookshops. I wandered around for ages, questioning my eyesight, before I finally found them all, on the other side of the Square.

I wandered through, 10, 15, 20 shops? all of them full to the brim with books. Most storefronts were displaying how-to-speak-english resources, TEOFL prep packs etc. Dictionaries abounded. I was looking for something to help with my Farsi study, but to no avail. I finally picked up a Farsi-English dictionary, so now I can start to decode the children's book I'm reading...

I inherited 3 novels from my predecessor, and I've read them all twice. I was looking for some fresh material, but no matter how hard I looked, I could not find a single English novel anywhere. It's disorienting to notice that my usual love of bookstores was a little dimmed in this case.

Finally (finally!) I found an english language book, "Great Expectations" by Dickins. I've never really been inspired to read the classics, but I was desperate, so I grabbed it.

More wandering, I came to my favourite coffee place in the whole world (excepting Cibo Rundle St). Translated to "Civilisation Cafe" this place is the bomb. The walls are covered with images of various revolutions (the fall of the Berlin Wall and Tehran 1979 are notable). The vibe is chilled, sometimes there's live music, the hippy guys and gals hang out there, smoke haze wafts around, and the coffee is decent. It's the coolest little place, I could imagine finding it down a Melbournian alley.

I saw out the sunset there, and wandered home.

Last night was grand! Mojdeh gave me a call, so I headed up to Darband with her, Mohammad and some non AIESEC friends of theirs (gasp!). Smoking shisha, drinking coffee and eating cheesecake, followed by dinner in the park. It was just so chilled out, and it's so nice to meet new people. I practice my farsi, and they practice their english, good times. In two weekend's time, I'll be heading to Shomal (the North) for a chillout session with them all, I'm really looking forward to it.

Work is going well, it's challenging to focus on it with all the dorm/visa dramas that have been going on lately. But we're getting there.

A comparative analysis on Tehran and Australian traffic etiquette will follow soon, hopefully :P

taxi fun

Quick story from today:

I had to go down to the Ministry of Alien Affairs again today for visa stuff. (woo).

I got myself down to the junction, and jumped into a taxi ("Tacht Tavos? Merci"). We were cruising along, and suddenly my favourite Iranian song, "Jigili" comes on. So I try to restrain myself from rocking out in the backseat, but it doesn't quite work.

The next track rolls on, "Pure Love", a neat little mix of english and persian lyrics, of which I can sing exactly half. (Guess which half). *continues rocking out as discreetly as possible*

We arrived at Tacht Tevos with no worries. Anyway, I think the driver thought it was a hoot, or he'd just won the lottery or something. Taxi drivers will sometimes refuse to take the payment, because it's polite. Then you have to politely insist they take it, and then they do. Well, this fellow was particularly insistent, "gharbel nadare" over and over. I looked at him, like "are you serious fella?" but he was. I got out, looked at him again, to be sure, but he just smiled and drove off.

I have no idea what that was, but I'm pretty sure it's not a common occurance here!

Family

Another week passed under the bridge.

This weekend was strange, but a lot of fun all the same. I spent Thursday morning trying (unsuccessfully) to get myself organised with work and washing. In the end, I threw it in, jumped into a taxi and headed to Sepehrs.

We ended up going to Halle (Auntie) Zhila's place for a girls night. Sepehr came too, he seems to have a free pass to these sorts of things. So of course I was surrounded by women, doing what women all over the world do best - talk.

All night long, gab gab gab, it was a lot of fun. I met more Aunties, Beji was there, cousins - it was all happening! I can follow the conversation sometimes, but for the most part it turns into white noise, so I sit staring at the telly or mindlessly eating the fruit :P

The cousins took me under their wing eventually, and with Sepehr's help, we ended up having a good old chinwag. We stayed the night there.

Next day we headed to Beji's for breakfast. We had that glorious tribute to Iranian cooking, Kalle Pache (boiled sheeps head). After my attempt at eating that in Shiraz, I baulked at doing it again. I was begged to 'just try' the intestine, but I decided not to! I even got a 'but you're an AIESECer, you should be open to new things' guilttrip, but I stood firm. The smell was soooo bad! I stuck to a more traditional breakkie of bread eggs cheese etc.

Another day spent doing not much. We chilled out for a while, smoking shisha in the backyard. Finaly heading home, we did officially not much until I grabbed a taxi back to Tehran this morning.

Now I'm home, even though it's 1.30pm, because the Faculty internet is being disagreeable, and most of my work needs email today.

I'm missing home a lot lately. I keep closing my eyes and wishing as hard as I can that when I open them, I'll be sitting at Cibo Rundle St with a Grande skinny Latte and Lauryn.

My adventure to Karaj on Sunday was quite eventful, by the way. Once I made it to Engelab Sq, I jumped on the rapid transport bus, then promptly missed my stop. It's so strange lining up at the women's gate to catch the bus, but it's nice to be seperated, as will become evident shortly.

I got to the metro station, found out my card had run out of charge, had a helpful old man assist me to recharge it, had a helpful young man direct me to the right platform, then jumped in the (optional) women's carriage to Sadigieh station.

Once I was there, I had to change to another train, which was fine. I jumped through the nearest doors at sat down. The man opposite me kept looking, looking, looking at me. Finally, he worked up the courage to talk to me. In very stilted english, he kept asking about where I come from, (it's easier to say Sydney in these cases), why was I going to Karaj, what did I do, do we use bicyles in Australia, do I like soccer etc etc. I think any sentence that he knew, he just threw it out there.

I answered in short sentences, careful not to make too much eye contact (if you do, it means, yes, I want you, you big hunk). The other guys in the carriage were rolling their eyes and feeling a bit sorry for me I think.

Finally I arrived at the station, and my new friend followed me. i got on the escalator, only to find his arm around my waist! I took a step up, but he followed. Another step up, but the arm didn't move! Finally I got up to the top and did the bolt. He followed me out to the carpark, where thankfully Sepehr was waiting for me! As soon as the guy saw Sepehr, he did the bolt himself!

Lesson: ride in the women's carriage!!

Rad o Bargh

Thunder and lightening!

Autumn has arrived a week early. I wish you could be here with me right now - I've never heard thunder so loud in my life! It rattles windows and teeth, it makes you feel like you're 5 years old, making a 'nest' out of every doona and blanket from the linen cupboard.

My totally unscientific theory is that the sound echoes off the MASSIVE Alborz mountains, making it doubly loud, but I'm probably wrong.

Two weeks since my last post. I'd say life is going on as usual, but that's not quite right. I spent a great deal of time thinking about how my work is going, how I'm going here in Iran. After some harsh words to myself, I'm doubling my efforts in every area. Near enough isn't good enough here, no Sir.

So work is a lot more intense now, I'm spending a lot more time in the office, and I'm pleased to notice that my output has skyrocketed. Something about elbow grease...?

My personal life is still great fun. I'm (BOOM!!) (Oh gosh it's pouring now!!) I spent the weekend just gone with Maryam and Bahar on Wednesday night, and Mojdeh and Mohammad on Thursday night/Friday. I went to two different parties, chilled out, watched two awesome movies (Go rent 'Before Sunrise' then get 'Before Sunset' - amazing.) All too soon it's Saturday again and I'm back in the office. Tomorrow is Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Well, actually today is the end of Ramadan, but you get what I mean. It's a public holiday, so I'm off to Sepehr's tonight. His whole family is getting together at Beji's place (Beji is the coolest, most young-at-heart grandma I know). So much Iranian food and fun to be had, I'm sure.

(hehe, I can hear all the Professor's kids downstairs screaming and laughing at all this noise).

My Farsi is coming along, it seems to go in fits and spurts. Some days I trip over how to say 'good thanks' when someone says 'Khoobi?' (Should I say 'khoobam' or 'chetori'?). Other days (and more now than ever) I can sit in someone's kitchen and almost follow the conversation, even if I can't contribute past 'bale' (yes) or 'kheili khoshmarzast' (it's delicious).

hmmm.

Well I just got off the phone to Sepehr-jan, and because it is far too dangerous to be driving in this weather, I am going on a public transport adventure after work. I have to drop in on a girl who lives in the dorm to help with some english stuff, then away I go.

Taxi to Engelab Sq, then BRT bus west toward Azadi. Then Metro to Sadigieh (?) until the last stop, where Sepehr will be there waiting.

(sorry for all the detail - that is mostly there for Bastian and David ;) )

Well, the day's got away from me now, it's 4pm. Just an hour of work left then high-ho Silver...Away!

Well that's another weekend over. They seem to go so quickly!

It's 8.30am, I should start getting ready for work, but I'll get to that in a minute.

This last week has been quite uneventful. After Floor's departure, we settled into a new routine, where the awesome foursome spent the whole time looking around for the missing wheel.

Sadly, Renee goes home tomorrow, leaving the awesome threesome (yeah, it doesn't rhyme) to become the terrible two.

We spent the weekend at Sepehr's place again (I think this is well and truly my second home, and my second family). Our plan was to see the museums etc in Tehran before Renee left, but unfortunately she became quite ill, so we headed to Sepehr's instead.

We became couch potatoes - watching movies allllll day and doing nothing. Was good for the soul :) Iftar was the best thing about the whole day though - I hadn't eaten/had water in about 18 hours (I couldn't sleep the night before, so I had breakfast at 2.30am...don't ask).

I don't know what's going on, but my body-clock is definitely out of whack. We got into Tehran at about 8.30 yesterday morning, which was fine, but I was exhausted because I'd barely slept the night before. So I lie down for a 20 minute power nap before getting ready for work and guess what? I woke up at 1.30 this morning.

That's 17 hours of straight sleep. (And a missed day of work grrr). It was so stupid. So there I am, at 1.30am, wondering what the hell to do! I tried going back to sleep, but it didn't work, funnily enough. So I've been up since then, doing not much.

It's Renee's going away party tonight, so that should be good fun. Then HOPEFULLY I'll be able to get a decent night's sleep.

any tips for getting good sleep is well appreciated.

xoxo Khodafez

Ramadan and goodbye

Ramadan Mubarak!

It's the beginning of the lunar month of Ramadan, the month where Muslims around the world fast between dawn and dusk.

I'm doing it too :) It involves waking up at 4am to eat a good breakfast (called Suhoor), and finishing off a litre of water or so. If you like, you can go back to bed - the more industrial folks start their day from there.

Then it's no food, water, smokes, sex or anything else until after sunset. Then it's time for Iftar - the breaking of the fast. Traditionally begun with three dates and a glass of water, the practice has evolved into big family gatherings with crazy amounts of delicious food.

So what's my experience so far?

This is only the second day, but I'm enjoying it so far. There was a fair sense of community in the dorms yesterday morning, there were a lot of girls all up together cooking breakfasts. The day went well, I didn't do too much, so I didn't notice anything really different. As it got closer and closer to 8.30pm, when I knew I could break the fast, I got hungrier and hungrier!

I bought some dates from a street seller, in preparation. I was still out in the main street of Karaj looking at perfume (of all things, and not for me!) with Sepehr, Floor and Renee. Sepehr asked the fellow if the time was over, and he said it was. Then he called his friend over and asked him to get me some tea!

So I found myself standing in the street, being given tea, croissant, chocolate cream (yum!), bread and dates. It really was lovely, and very unexpected!

This morning's Suhoor was eaten in the car on the way to the airport. We had to drop Floor there so she could catch a 7am flight home to the Netherlands. Floor's an amazing girl, she really had an impact on all of us. Thankfully, she is returning to Iran in about 3 weeks, to continue working with AIESEC, mainly focusing on External Relations. With luck, I'll be sharing a dorm with her, and that will be perfect.

Dear Renee goes home next Monday also. This is the true peril of AIESEC - we send people all over the world in order for them to get to know each other, and then the internship ends and we send them home!! It's a heartbreaker every time, but knowing I'll see most of them again next year in Germany (woot) makes a massive difference.

Well, I'd better drag my thirsty butt back to work.

xoxo

Office Party (we wish)

Saman (my boss) left to Malaysia for International Congress, AIESEC's largest conference of the year. So while he is meeting all these wonderful new people, (including my friends!), experiencing new cultures, and learning a whole bunch of cool stuff (nah, it's cool, I'm not jealous), we are left behind in the office.

Last weekend was spent at Sepehr's place, doing approximately bugger all. It was so good to just chill out. We watched movies, ate food, all that normal weekend stuff. It felt great! I met his parents, his sister and brother in law, his grandmothers and his auntie. Massive weekend of family time, which was really good, because I'm starting to miss my family a lot.

My language skills are improving slowly. I know more words than I can count on two hands, and can put little things together. It's mostly just words though, little snippets. Sara (Sepehr's sister) was telling a story, and I was so surprised to realise that I could understand it! My reading skills are still pretty crap, I just need a lot more practise. It's not at all helped by the fact that the vowels are invisible in Farsi. They don't write them, so you just have to 'know' if it's an 'ah' 'eh' or 'oh' vowel between the consonants.

The daily life stuff is pretty standard. Wake up, go to work, do stuff, go to bed. The evenings usually are filled with coffee shops (yay!) or visits to the park.

This weekend I am planning to lock myself in my room (did I mention my banshee-roomate has gone on holiday for 3 weeks?!) and work on my Training and Assessment qualification. If I don't have it done soon 'bad things will happen'.

That's enough for now. much love.

Another mad weekend

If you had visitors staying with you, and they wanted to see a bit more of the country, would you jump on a bus and go to Melbourne for the weekend??

We did.

Well, the equivalent in distance, anyway. On Wednesday evening we packed our sandwiches and spare undies then jumped on a bus to go to Shiraz, 13 hours away, way down in the south of Iran.

We had a great weekend, the five of us. Saman (Iranian), Sepehr (Iranian), Floor (Dutch), Renee (Dutch) and I.

Shiraz is an awesome little city. It's got the same laid back feel as Adelaide. It made me realise that there is a lot of indirect pressure in Tehran. You feel obliged to have the best clothes and the nicest hair. There are people always yelling, (taxi! taxi! Vanak! Vanak!), trying to stuff flyers in your hands, and you've all heard about the traffic. (I love Tehran and all it's craziness, trust me - I just didn't realise that Iran could be different until now).

So yes. We visited a massive garrison-like castle-looking thing (where's my history book?) of the Zand period.

I think the highlight of the trip was visiting Persepolis. It's the ruins of this kingdom, almost 2500 years old. It really is epic, and the history behind it is amazing. The whole kingdom was built by workers, not slaves. Everyone was paid. The kingdom united 23 different nations. The first Charter of Human Rights was written by the guy that built the place.

Alexander the Great had issues with the Persians, so he came and burnt the whole place down. So all that remains are these giant stone pillars - will upload pictures to FB soon if I have the chance.

The rest of the trip was pretty laid back. Other highlights include:

Eating sheep brain and eye for breakfast. Yep - they have these places called 'head cookers' where they boil sheep heads, and then you get to eat everything. I nearly vomited. The brain had the texture of cream cheese. Sepehr lied to me about what I was eating until after I'd eaten the eye. Bleuch.

Sneaking out to buy breakfast. We missed breakkie at the hotel, so we girls decided to get it for ourselves. (Normally we have our very well intentioned caretakers with us at all times). We found ourselves a bakery and bought fresh sangek (stone bread), then made friends with a shopkeeper and grabbed the rest (fetta, sour-cherry jam, mango juice etc etc).

Changing hotel rooms because there was something seriously wrong with the sewage, which made our entire room stink to high heaven... ugh.

Yes, must history annd hilarity to be had. The only downer the whole trip was on the last day, when Floor and I became terribly sick. We were both just so ill, and the bus trip did not facilitate any kind of recovery at all. But after sleeping it off for most of today, I think I'm good to go.

until next time, Khodafez

Synopsis of a weekend in Yazd

Here's a quick one just to let you know I'm still alive.

I spent the most amazing weekend in a town called Yazd, about 10 hours away by bus. (Would you go to Melbourne by bus for the weekend?)

The list of things we did is incredible - we slept for about 6 hours the entire weekend.

The briefest of highlights include:

-Wandering through a city, thousands of years old, mansions made of mud bricks

-Climbing a mountain with a Zoroastrian Towers of Silence atop them - where the Zoroasters used to leave their dead to be eaten by vultures

-Watching the sunrise over a desert, seeing camels in the distance, climbing and falling up sandhills, meeting my first Scarab (dung beetle)

-climbing the Shaking Minaret of another ancient mud brick city and getting stuck

-visiting the Zoroastrian equivalent of Mecca and being questioned by Muslims to ensure we weren't there to convert

-seeing carpets that are older than Australia as we know it

~~

As I said - I'll give you the run down properly soon. Now, it's 2.45am and I am catching up on all the work that I should have done on the weekend.

Thanks to the dear Dutchies Floor and Renee, and dear Sepehr for the wonderful weekend.

Please make sure you are sitting down.

I've decided to become one of those awkward people at the pub who say 'I'll just have a coke' when everyone else is sinking jugs of Pale.

Yeah, I've decided to formally, totally and irreversibly stop drinking.

It's a mixture of things that's led me to this, but that's the way it is.

Iran is already teaching me things not related to work. One thing I've found is that life continues without booze.

So there you go.

Women's Rights in Iran

*Disclaimer: Pardon the tone, everyone, but this really gets me worked up.

Ok. Before I left, everyone asked me 'aren't you worried about women's rights over there?'. Even the many travellers I meet talk about 'repression' and the fact that women have no rights here.

Bullshit.

Through and through.

I know I am a foreigner here, and I don't see what happens in individual people's homes, but honestly? I have never felt safer or more respected.

Yes, I wear hijab. No, it's not a problem - in fact I like it.

There are women's carriages at the beginning and end of every train, so we can sit seperately from men if we want to. I never have - I ride in the regular carriages, because (so far), I travel with men. If the train is crowded, one of the guys I'm with will block my body with his so I don't get pushed up against by strangers.

There is taxi etiquette that basically ensures a woman won't be squished between two men in the back seat. I sit in the passenger side or by a door, always. Even the buses have a separate space for women to travel. Again, this prevents contact with strange men.

The men are respectful, polite, and offer help when I'm lost. Otherwise, they leave me alone. There's no leering, there's no drunken 'hello beautiful', no staring at my chest. Men respect women here.

Women can work, study, drive - anything they want.

I've never had a problem.

So you can stick your stereotypes whereever you like, because they don't work here.

I just spoke to my mum for the first time since I arrived here!!

I was sitting at lunch, and my phone rang. I grabbed it and someone asked in english (!) for me. That was surprising enough!

We just chatted about the simple things - weather, am I eating, what are the people like etc. But it was like having chicken soup when you're sick, or getting into a warm bed in the middle of a rainy night. It was SO good just to hear her voice.

I love you mum!

I always wondered why blogs I loved to read tended to 'fade to black' just as it was about to get interesting. Now I know why! There's just no gosh-darn time in the day anymore :)

On July 1, I officially became Member Committee Vice President Talent Management, LC Expansion and Communications/IS, for AIESEC in Iran.

Yep - this is our baby now. There are three people in our team, doing the work of 5. But we are ready. There is going to be an horrendous amount of work to do this year, but I can already imagine the benefits that the work will bring, for the members of AIESEC Iran and for us.

In other news, three of my newest friends are leaving Iran this weekend. Martijn from Holland and David and Bastian from Germany have completed their internships here and are heading home. These guys have been invaluable to me - every tip, trick and direction has helped so much. It's like that saying about how you never ask a local for directions - they'll always miss something. These guys have taken in everything, wrapped it up and presented it to me. I'm going to miss them a lot.

Social life has been interesting too. House parties are quite common here. Everyone just gathers together and chills out. A weekend ago (two?) we headed up to Sepehr's place to celebrate his birthday. We had a crazy-massive lunch, then sat in the shady yard, smoking a water-pipe and playing charades. It was the most relaxed day, and the total opposite of how we'd celebrate a birthday back home.

Today I did a meet 'n' greet with one of our new interns, Jerry from the USA. David, Tabiri (my team mate responsible for Exchange) and I wandered around, tried to get money exchanged (today's Friday, so everything's closed), and ended up having lunch at a TERRIBLE fast food joint in Vanak Square. Then we walked up to Mellat Park, chilled out there on the grass for a while before heading home.

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, but a crappy update is better than none at all, yes? I'll try to organise my thoughts and write some more soon.

Love and miss you all. xoxo

Still fine

Hi everyone,

Just another quick one to keep you in the loop.

Yes, there were mass demonstrations yesterday, but of course I was no-where near them.

Honestly, I am fine, everyone I know is also fine, and I will continue to update you all as things move along.

If only we could get some work done! :)

Hi everyone

Just a quick one to let you know I am fine, safe and happy here.

Noone I know is involved with any of the protests or anything like that.

Facebook is still blocked, I keep trying but we'll see - it might be for some time yet.

Take care everyone, lots of love.

Holy crap I’m living in a movie set.

I woke up this morning to find piles of burning rubbish spaced out between the dormitory buildings. I thought “woah, the girls must have been angry last night”. Then I walked through the guard room and onto the street.

There is the smell of burning still hanging in the air. There are giant, dumpster-sized piles of rubbish now smouldering in the street. There is broken glass everywhere, probably from the smashed in bus stop. There are gates lying all over the road. I start to walk to work.

I walk past a charity box standing on it’s head. I wonder if the money is still inside. What’s that over there? Oh, a public telephone box on the street. How they ripped that up is beyond me.

I prepare to cross the street. More debris, cars trying to negotiate a T junction with junk in the middle of it, traffic lights shattered and lying in the gutter. It’s surprisingly easy to cross this morning. I get over, to see the ATM completely ruined. I’ve never seen the inside of an ATM before.

I get inside the university and everything is quiet. Turns out all the universities are closed today. Exams have been cancelled or delayed.

Should I call someone? Turns out I cannot – not only are SMS blocked, but calls now too. TV? Don’t bother. All satellites are off. We are lucky that we have access to internet, if you can call it access. The speeds have been slowed to a crawl, to prevent people uploading video and pictures to the outside world (I’m trying to download a 9.4mb file, at 650b/second). Facebook has again joined BBC on the ‘blocked’ list.

Thank God for gmail. It seems innocuous enough to be let through by the sensors.

The first questions everyone asks are ‘are you ok? Were you involved? Are X and Y ok? Have you heard from anyone?’. Of course, no one has, because the phones are down. We just have to hope that sanity has prevailed in some cases at least.

Now there’s a strange feeling over the place. Tehranis appear to be taking in their stride. Myself and the Dutch intern (I haven’t seen the Germans yet) are wandering around, wondering what the hell must have happened.

This is what happens when you don’t play fair with 30 million young people. They get mad. Really mad.

And rightly so.

If you read anything interesting or relevant in the news today about Tehran, Iran or the elections, can you please copy the text of the article into an email and send it to me? Please don’t put it in a word file, it’ll never download.

Much love, from your SAFE but sooty friend.

Elections

It’s difficult to explain what’s been going on the last few days. But suffice to say that yesterday was voting day for the Presidential elections here.

The popular Reformist candidate, Mousavi was tipped to win, as he had a groundswell of support from youth, particularly in Tehran.

The current President, Ahmedinejad also ran. He’s the guy that you see on TV, ranting about Israel and causing people at the UN to walk out on his speeches.

Ahmedinejad won. Supposedly.

There are widespread rumours of vote rigging. Polls being closed early in the cities (where Mousavi’s voter base is) and kept open in the villages (where Ahmedinejad’s voter base is). Crates of votes being ‘lost’.

SMS services were down all day yesterday (not surprising – again, a service used widely by Mousavi organisers).

Certain sites on the internet have been blocked (e.g. BBC etc)

And I’m not even going to begin about Amedinejad’s terrible economic policy, and subsidising (read: bribing) rural people.

In short, it appears to be complete bullshit. Now, if the election process had been completely transparent, and he won fair and square, then fine. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I’d know that it was the will of the people that got him into Government.

But it’s not transparent, at all. And no one is happy about it.

The mood when I got into the office this morning was grim. Everyone was very upset indeed. They still are. Some of the boys went to a protest earlier. It’s not safe for them to go, but they want their voices heard.

Either way, the election is the topic of discussion for today, period. Don’t even bother asking about the weather.

Frustrating days and redemption

Yesterday was one of the out-of-the-ordinary days I’ve had here.

Rainbow, the current Extension Coordinator and MCVPTM went to MENAXPROS in Egypt in March.

Translation: (Rainbow, the girl that is currently doing the job I moved to Iran for, went to an international conference in March).

Unfortunately, she needed to apply for another visa to re-enter Iran when she wanted to come home. It was rejected, twice, causing her to spend nearly 3 months in Egypt. It’s understandably difficult to be a VP-anything (national director) remotely, even with the blessing of the internet.
Rainbow eventually decided to fly to Iran anyway, and apply for a visa-on-arrival. It’s not uncommon, and from what I can tell, the success rate of entry is usually pretty high.

Well, there was no success for Rainbow. Alireza, Neda, Saman and I spent almost 8 hours at the airport, trying to negotiate with airport people, Ministry of that-and-that people, anyone really, all to no avail. We ended up having to send for a taxi to pick up all Rainbow’s things from Neda’s place and bring it to the airport. (Imam Khomeini International Airport is about an hour from anywhere, and Neda lives on the other side of town).

We were unable to spend any time with Rain, except a few stolen minutes through an open security door. It was gut-wrenching to see her. I’ve never met Rainbow before now, and I felt so bad for her. I also felt terrible for her team. An MC team spends a year living in each other’s pockets, and the current team did not get to have the proper closure that a team like that should have.

Not only is this a totally crap situation for the current team, I have to say it’s also a crap situation for me and my team. Rainbow is current VPTM (doing my job), and so the month of May was meant to be spent with her, learning every aspect of my new role. Transition is such a vital part of a new leadership role, and we’d even discussed the fact that virtual transition online would be crap.

What’s done is done. I believe firmly in two things. 1. The world is as small as you make it. 2. Everything happens for a reason. I know they sound quite trite, but I have to keep repeating those clichés (Especially no. 2) whenever anything shitty happens like this.

We will make the best of the situation. We will overcome these new challenges. I will be successful in my new role. This challenge is only asking me to step up even further.

In other news, I came home today feeling entirely like crap again. Ghazal took me shopping for shoes. I have clown feet, and no matter which store we went to, we couldn’t find any in my size. Shopping is a nightmare in Australia, and it’s no freaking different here. Anyway. We did get some things I’d needed, and all of a sudden I was in a taxi by myself, with bags of crap, my handbag and my laptop bag.

I knew where I was heading, but I was so scared. I hate catching taxis by myself, because I can barely tell the driver to stop, and I never know how much they ask for (They don’t use meters here). I just chuck them a mid-sized note and hope for change.

After making it to my room I had a good sulk for a while. (The whole, ‘God, you’re useless! Can’t even catch a taxi’ kind of sulk.) I know it’s completely unreasonable, but I’m getting used to feeling the feeling, then getting the hell over it.

It’s amazing what a little autonomy and control will do to a soul. I washed my own damn clothes today. I did my own dishes with my own washing up liquid. Those two things are possibly the most routine things a person could do, and I know plenty of people who resent having to do it. But bloody hell – it felt so good just to be able to do something successfully, completely on my own.

So now I’m kicking back, reflecting on the new plans that are sure to lie ahead, and I’m feeling good about it all.

It’s all good :)

New home

Huzzah! I’m going to move into my new home tomorrow! I’ve been staying with Hojat, who is one of the loveliest people I know. (But he’s a lawyer? I don’t get it either haha). Living with someone has been great, because I’ve been able to find my feet a bit, but with a safety net.

All the same, I’ve been looking forward to setting up camp. I am so looking forward to unpacking my suitcase and settling in. Tonight, I’m staying in the ‘guest house’, usually reserved for visiting lecturers, because my room is being vacated tonight. I’ll be sharing with three other women.

The dorm set-up is a little like a small community. It’s gated (complete with security). Men are not allowed past said gate. (If it’s necessary for a bloke to come in, ‘Ya’Allah’ (attention/look out) is broadcast across the place, so we know to put hijab on). There are a few little shops, from seamstresses to supermarkets, with laundry and kitchen facilities. There’s also a gym! (Hmm ... now there’s an internal debate). Now, don’t get me wrong – this is not the Hyatt, or Wisteria Lane. It’s kind-of old school, like someone fenced off a few blocks of Elizabeth or something.

Last night was probably the best night I’ve had in Iran so far. Ten of us piled into two cars and went for a massive drive (car party, sans booze). We ended up in this crazy little maze of streets, filled with stalls and shops. The vendors were selling everything from fresh berries to used cars. It was really lovely, but the best was yet to come! We got through the very narrow streets and parked the car. Then we headed into what could be described as a grotto. It was this oasis, built down the side of a hill. Fruit trees, fountains, and daybeds were everywhere. It was just magical. We all sat on one of these daybed-things, all covered in beautiful red Persian rugs. Next thing I know, out comes the tea and SHISHA! There were two pipes, in Sib (apple) and Portogahl (orange) flavours. It was fantastic! We were all chilled out on this red big rug, surrounded by greens and blues, smoking great big water-pipes. It was just fantastic. We kicked back, chilled out and took heaps of photos (of course).

When the coals died down, we headed off, back into the city for dinner. We had Italian (!), sharing pizza and garlic bread. Too soon it was time to head home to sleep.

Of course I’m in the office again now, half working on this update, half proof-reading a document, half Facebooking...

Once I’ve taken some photos of the scenery etc, I will have to put up some posts about Tehran and the upcoming presidential elections.

Until next time,

Khodafez (seeya)

Traffic Again.

The other day we were driving along in the taxi and a driver tried to nudge into the lane. Our driver didn’t see, so it resulted in a little bump to the back left side of the taxi. Woo – my first accident in Iran! (the noted difference between Australia and Iran is that no-one seems to care, actually. A ding is just a ding – the car still drives, right?)

Then yesterday I had my second and third mishaps. I got hit by a car! I was standing by our car after getting icecream. All of a sudden, my handbag went ‘boof’ and I looked around to see a car driving by. My handbag was hit by the wing-mirror, haha! Stupid traffic. I’ll learn.

The third time was a sudden stop into the back of yet another taxi. The AIESECer I was with lost his headlight and indicator, but really, all was well. I did get acquainted with the headrest though. (I was in the back.) We were only going about 20 k’s onto a ramp, so we were ok, but I’m beginning to be a bit more stringent about those seatbelts, particularly when you’ve got a young girl behind the wheel of a new Camry going 120 screaming ‘wheeeeeeeeee’.

Hmmm.. If you want me to start sugar coating my posts, I’m sure I can do that.
... Iran is fun. The weather is nice, and I love the food. The people are friendly and I think tomorrow I shall go to the beach... Better?

Wonderland

I remember when I was telling people I was headed to Iran. There was usually a particular kind of shock displayed on people’s faces. Sort of, “I’m too polite to say anything but are you freaking insane?”

Well, I brushed them off, extolled the virtues of Iranian hospitality and sent them on their way.

Sorry, you were right.

I’ve been trying to keep up with the news here, which is hard, because I can’t read the newspapers (duh) and most of my favourite news sites are blocked. (But they leave news.com.au? The sensor has a sense of humour I see). So I jumped onto abc.net.au, and I’m busy reading about a SUICIDE BOMBING of a Shi’a mosque that occurred last Thursday, followed by the swift EXECUTION of three people responsible.

Ok, I’m cool. That’s fine. The thing that is freaking me out more is that no-one seemed to give a shit. It’s all happening down in the very opposite end of the country, at the junction between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But I don’t think that’s the point. Can you imagine if the Baptist Church out in the middle of the Pilbarra blew up? Just because it’s remote doesn’t preclude us from caring.

I won’t mention that there was a home made bomb found and diffused on a domestic flight today, either.

(Sorry if this is busting your bubble of ‘of course she’ll be fine’).

So yesterday, i went to ‘Wonderland’, basically a mini-Marion shopping centre, with the entire top floor being devoted to an arcade similar to Intencity or whatever. I met some new AIESECers, they were all crazy-fun. I also got to know the German interns a bit better too, and that’s great, because they tell you the things the locals take for granted.

I was dropped off to Saman and Hojat in one of the squares. There happened to be a political rally going on. I thought it was pretty exciting. There were people everywhere, even an impromptu street march. The traffic was chaotic, and there was a definite ‘mood for change’ vibe going on. I took some photos, and then we all jumped into a taxi to head home.

We didn’t get far when a car pulled up beside ours. A man stuck something black out the window and indicated for us to pull over. (Yes, my first thought was a gun. It was a walkie-talkie). We were all asked to get out of the taxi. These two burly men in casual clothes started to have a rapid discussion in Farsi with Saman. Then Saman translated to ask if I had taken any photos of the rally, and that I was required to delete them. I did so, very quickly. Once that was done we were sent on our way.
Later, I asked ‘um, were they good people or bad people?’.

*pause*

Apparently they are some kind of politically affiliated, security and intelligence police. Or something. Unmarked car, no uniform, no ID. *insert frustrated swear-words*

I think the thing that is doing my head in the most is that everything seems to be taken in their stride. I, on the other hand, have never been pulled over for taking photos. I’ve never had a suicide bomber in my country. So I just have to play it cool, like it was no worries. Actually, in my head I’m a little...shocked.

BUT (and here’s the obligatory ‘I’m fine’ part)

I’m fine.

Really.

Tehran is still safe, there’s nothing deadly going on here. I should be more worried about crossing the street than an extremist. I’ve decided that I’ve just got to take every day and enjoy it. If something crazy happens, well, there’s really not much to do, is there? I’m loving my life here, and there is honestly VERY VERY VERY LITTLE risk of anything happening.
Love you all.

Xoxo

Kylie’s first 3 days in Iran (golly, I’m still alive!)

Kylie’s first 3 days in Iran (golly, I’m still alive!)

Wow. That was some ride. Let’s start from the beginning.

Saying goodbye at the airport in Adelaide was hard, but kind of exciting at the same time. The first flight was a little anti-climatic, actually. Adelaide to Sydney was an easy two hours in the air. (I love QANTAS food). A very tense wait in the transit lounge preceded a very simple customs walk through, followed by a 9 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand with a lovely Scottish couple going home for the first time in 30 years.

I got into Bangkok and realized that there was going to be absolutely nothing to do for the next 9 hours. I was too afraid to leave the airport, especially considering I arrived at 11.30pm on Saturday night! I walked around a lot, changed some cash to ‘baht’ and ate lentil soup, and generally wasted time. I slept rather awkwardly on the chairs for a couple of hours before dusting myself off and heading for the transit desk about 7am.

“Oh, you’re going to Tehran? Where is your return ticket please?”

“My what?”

Even though there had been ABSOLUTELY no mention of requiring a return ticket to enter the country, not from the embassy, not from the people who organized my visa, not from ANYONE, Etihad Airlines insisted that I required a flight out of Iran before they would let me on the plane. Period. No negotiations. Well, that was the end of me. I’m not too proud to say that I lost my shit right then and there. I was so tired, and I honestly thought I had everything organized, and to be half-way from nowhere to be told ‘no’. No further. I was gutted. And I had no idea what to do next.

I think the lady ended up taking pity on me. (I was a pretty big mess by then). She checked how much money I had on me and helped me to swap it to baht, and purchase a return ticket back to Bangkok for the 21^st of June. It was the only option I had. It’s also cleaned me out. But, the end result of purchasing that ticket means I can write to you from the AIESEC office in Tehran.

The 6 hours from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi went quickly. The plane was decked out to the 9’s. I thought it was business class, but it kept going all the way to the back of the plane! I had a row to myself, so a stretched out, watched movies and slept. Two hours in Abu Dhabi, and onto the last flight of the journey. By then, I was such a nervous wreck. Would they let me through customs? Had I really got everything in order? What happens if I get knocked back there? In the end, Customs took 15 minutes, they did not ask to see any bloody return ticket at all, I got a stamp in my passport, and ta-da, I’m in Iran.

I was met by Saman MCPe (my boss) and Alireza MCP (the current boss).We got a taxi back to an AIESECer’s place and chilled out for a while. All the way from the airport to Hojat’s place, I was jumping and tensing at every moment, because of that crazy driving. I’m going to sit in the front one day and film some of it so you can see what I’m talking about!

I was taken out for a fantastic traditional Iranian dinner, and finally went home to sleep.

The last couple of days have been pretty cool. Tehran is huge. It’s inconceivable. You have to take a taxi everywhere. There’s no ‘ducking down to the shops’ here. Or if there is, you take a taxi! I’ve been at the AIESEC office at the University of Tehran most of the time, just doing ‘stuff’. Neda (MCVPX) took me out to help me buy a manteau (the coat all the girls are required to wear here). It was majorly stressful, because you might know that I hate shopping at the best of times. It was like shopping at Supre at sale time, in 40 degree heat. But we triumphed in the end, and I’m much cooler now, wearing this lovely pale green coat.

I certainly learned something today, and that is: “Culture shock is a. not just something that happens to other people, and b. shit.”

I thought I was doing just fine, you know? Going with the flow, enjoying everything. But, little tiny things started to build up without me noticing. There’s no toilet paper here, for example. There’s hoses in every cubicle instead. I have to blow my nose every two seconds because I have a cold, and I keep running out of tissues. The pollution is something out of a movie. My hijab never sits straight, and it’s clear I’m a foreigner. I was having a bit of trouble writing a session outline, and managed to totally misunderstand the brief. Just add saying ‘please’ (lotfan) instead of ‘thankyou’ (merci) at the end of transactions, and you’ve got a girl who’s had it. Tears over lunch followed, but everything is much better now (promise!) I’m sure it’s just going to take a bit of getting used to.

This has turned into a novel, so I’ll come back later to tell you some more. Xoxo.