Iranian friendliness...

Yet, another example of the friendliness of the Iranian people. Whenever we go out, we can guarantee a friendly encounter with the people here. Yesterday, Daniel, Denise, Norm and I decided to have a chill day so we walked to a park about 3 miles away. The park was green with lots of trees and views of the surrounding snow capped mountains. We saw several couples on benches holding hands. Some were exercising on the elliptical machines and children were playing in the children's area. We walked through the park and saw a group of 6 women sitting in a circle on a plastic mat, chatting and relaxing together. As we passed them, we greeted them, "Salam" and started to walk on. They greeted us and quickly offered us some tea from their thermos located in the center of their circle. Again, awed by their friendliness and generosity, we joined them in their circle and sipped tea from plastic cups. Between our very limited Farsi and their limited English, we learned that 4 of them are retired high school teachers and 2 of them are retired principals. They asked if we were Japanese and we told them that we are Americans and are here for Karl and Kat's wedding. I showed them a photo on my camera and they commented about what a beautiful couple they are. After chatting for a few more minutes and taking pictures, we thanked them and bid our farewells.

We walked on and within 5 minutes, we were greeted by another Iranian man relaxing on the bench. He lives in Austria and is visiting him family in Tehran.

After these two encounters, we discussed how, if we were picnicing in the park at home and two tourists walked by, what's the chance that we would greet them and ask them to join us and offer them a drink?