Iran: The trip of a lifetime

We’ve been in Iran for just three and a half weeks, but this (too) short magical adventure has opened my eyes to a widely misunderstood part of the world and has positively altered my perception of our world forever. This memorable journey will go down as one of those monumental trips of a lifetime. Iran continuously exceeded our expectations each step of the way; from the time we stepped off the plane in Tehran; to the dozens of delicious Iranian meals prepared by the kindest most hospitable family and people we’ve ever encountered; to the intricate artistic masterpieces at the Mosques in Esfahan; to the perfect, ideal, beautiful Persian wedding; to the breath-taking 2500 year old Palaces in Persepolis.The most enjoyable part of our trip has been meeting and really bonding with Kat’s entire family: Kathyjoon, Baba (aka Don Al), Mamanjoon, Nunu and the rest of Kat’s family. It has been such a heart warming experience. They welcomed us as if we have been in the family forever. Kat has been talking about her entire family here for the past 8 years we’ve been together and I’m so happy that I’ve finally met them and really got to know them all. They are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

We all were so moved by the genuine kindness of Kat’s family and the Iranian people that we decided to make sure to be extra nice to all of the tourists we see back at home. Next time we see tourists or even nice strangers back at home we will invite them to have Tea or share our food with them or just strike up a friendly conversation and offer to help them. However, with the ‘get ahead’ $ mentality back in America and the way I look, I’ll likely scare more people away than I actually get to help. Kinda sad (and pretty funny), but probably true. Very inspiring though, I will be leaving Iran a much kinder, genuinely nice person than I was when I arrived (not that I wasn’t before ☺). In addition, my perception of human beings has jumped up 10 positive notches!

My final discovery on this magical (Persian carpet) ride through Iran was that Kat and I were Persian royalty in Persepolis in our past lives! I kid I kid, although the comfort and several instances of dejavu I felt throughout the trip really did convince me that I was likely Persian in my past life. Perhaps a Persian camel? Chew chew spit. Me engraved on the wall 2500 years ago?? --->
For serious though, what a unbelievable journey this has been. I’m so happy that our families have bonded, my dad and Kat’s dad have become BFF’s and me and my fam really got much closer to Kat’s parents. As well as all of her Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We all really fell in love with the entire family! Makes me want to have a big family ☺ (right Kat?). Kat, I didn’t think I could love you any more than I did before this trip, but I really fell in love with you even more on this magnificent adventure and feel like you are even more a part of me now than ever before. Ghorbenitzberam! Azizam, toh behtareen doostam, va tanha eshgheman dar een donya hasti, va khakhee bood!

I feel so lucky and thankful that we were able to discover and explore one of the most beautiful, kindest countries and rich cultures in the entire world. I hope you enjoyed reading about and experiencing Iran through our eyes and that you now have a renewed (or the same) view of Iran that is different from what we often see in the media. Always remember to look deeper into anything you see or hear about any country, culture, people, animal, book or anything in this Universe of ours. Always keep an open mind and be kind to everyone you meet! ☺

Love and Peace (in the Middle East)
Kareem aka Karl aka KG aka King Darius (circa 500 B.C)

DGeezy's Final Impressions

After being in this country for a lil over 3 weeks now, the one thing that stands out the most in my mind is how FRIENDLY and hospitable the people are. I've been to dozens of countries all over the world, and never met such genuinely nice people. I must admit too, that before coming to Iran, I thought we would get hated on, cuz i too was a victim of the propaganda in the US.
My Aunt (Big D) and I have decided to bring this friendliness that we have learned here back to the US with us. Whenever we see tourists, we are going to approach them, ask them where they are from, ask them if they need directions, and offer them some choi (tea)...

Another thing I've learned about American society that sux, is how suspicious we are of people. In America, we are always worried about getting duped by taxis, salespeople, etc... but in Iran, every time i thought i was being duped, i was proven to be wrong... In the restaurants, I found myself always checking the prices to make sure that we weren't being charged "tourist prices". In the taxis, I found myself worrying that I was going to be charged $5.00 for a short ride, but over and over again, the taxi driver charged us the local price of $1.50. When checking out of our room, we left a tip for the maids. When we got to the front desk to pay our bill, the maid called to inform us that we left money on the dresser. Getting over on people is just not apart of the Iranian society like it is back home.... people trust people here...which is a great feeling to have...

In closing, I have to say IRAN IS HELLA TITE... i hope everyone has a chance to come here someday!

Video of us chatting with our new Iranian friends we met at the park in Tehran:

Live from the Persian Gulf

by GWhang

Here we are... chillin' in the Persian Gulf on Kish Island for our last few days in Iran. Our hotel overlooks the Gulf. Today we all went swimming... Norm, DG and KG walked to the Men's Beach, adjacent to our hotel. Denise and I had to take a taxi to the women's beach about 10 minutes away. Unsure of what we would find and whether or not we would be the only ones on the beach, we enter the locker room inside the area surrounded by a 10 foot fence, change into our bathing suits and walk out onto the beach. There, on the beach were hundreds of women, scantily clad in bikinis and thongs, sunbathing on the beach. We were among the few older women in our one piece bathing suits! Actually, I like the women only beach... no leering men checking me out!!!

The water was perfect in the 95 degree heat... refreshing and buoyant. Later in the afternoon, we vroom vroomed on jet skis... thrilling! And, of course, I did my qigong on the beach! Haven't missed a day while in Iran.

Photographs

by: GWhang my mom

I'm sorry for being so repetitive, but I continue to be so amazed and incredulous by how much attention we attract and how many people approach us and want to have a friendly conversation with us. Before coming here, one piece of advice I received about taking photos was the following: establish a relationship with people before taking photos (which I usually try to do anyway) and no photos of religious women. I was also very timid at first about walking around with my camera around my neck. Friends and family were also concerned about my shutterbug fixation.

Well, contrary to all of these warnings, people stop us all the time and ask to take a photo of us or with us... in fact, one religious woman in her chador asked our permission to take a photo of us!!! While we are waiting for a table at a restaurant, people offered to share a meal with us. (This happened twice)

Now, when we go out, we wonder who we are going to meet and what kind of encounters we will have. One couple that we met at the park in Tehran already emailed us and wanted to get together with us again before we leave Tehran. Unfortunately, we won't have time.

Check out the picture. Guess what the man with the video camera is taking photos of at Persepolis? YUP... our group!!!!! And, the other photo is of our guide taking a photo with the cell phone of one of the young men in the photo.

Post from Denise

A video of me making bread in Shiraz! :
Hard to believe that our vacation is winding down. It's been 3 1/2 weeks of non stop activities with Kat's family and sightseeing on our own. The wedding was fabulous, but can't say anymore. Everyone will have to wait until the Berkeley celebration before seeing any pictures of the bride and groom, but I must say the bride was was beautiful and the groom very handsome. Family of the groom looked pretty good too!
Seeing that everyone has already written something for the blog, I guess I should send something too. The only thing left to talk about is the traffic, drivers and pedestrians. Tehran has a population of 17 million people so you can imagine the traffic that would cause seeing that 70% of the population is under 30 years old. There are painted lanes on the street that no one uses. Drivers drive in the middle of the lane or anywhere they can maneuver in. There are round-abouts going counter clockwise but many drivers go the other way. There are one way streets, but no one pays any attention to them. Buses let people off on the freeway and one day while in a taxi our driver missed the exit (on the freeway)stopped and backed up to the correct exit. We all just sat and looked at each other, not saying a word. Crossing the streets are an experience in itself. You just go when you see an opening and pray no one hits you. I have to say the drivers are probably the best I've experienced seeing that I have not seen one accident..............oh, maybe one, Gail was walking across the street not paying any attention and a motorcycle hit her. Not to worry she wasn't hurt, only a black tire mark on her pants. Big D got hella mad and told her "you better pay attention to where you're going".

Shiraz and Persepolis: The city older than Jesus

Salam Salam, Khoobi?? The wedding is over and we are all ready to relax and chill in Shiraz! (Especially Kathyjoon and her family who were working tirelessly to plan the wedding). As my mom mentioned in the post below, we found a professional basketball team here! My mom is the best at being proactive and going up to anyone at anytime and finding out where to go and hwo to see what we want to see. I was really excited to finally see a basektball game here and actually get to shoot a little bit. The point guard on the tema from Tehran was really nice. Gave us his # and called us to tell us where the game was. I'll def. keep in touch with him and who knows maybe I can play ball here in Iran one day?! I can fulfill my lifelong dream of being a pro bball player! Even if its not that much money I'd still be a dream coem true.
The number of friendly encounters we've had here are now too many to count. People here really are the most frienly we've ever met! So hosiptable and genuinely kind. Our taxi driver for the bball game was really nice, gave us an whole tour, helped us find the gym and told us how much he loves americans. He even stayed with us the entire time at the game and gave us a mini tour of the city after. A total of 2 hours! When he dropped us off he didn't even want to take our money, but we insisted, and he said just give what ever we want and didn't even count it. There were countless other friendly encounters, pretty much everywhere we go people want to take pictures with us and strike up friendly conversations.



During our 2nd day in Shiraz we had a very very nice tour guide who was a nice young women and spoke great english. We went to several gardens in Shiraz and a few small palaces and the Hafez tomb (The most famous poet of Iran and the world who lived in the 1200's). Every household in Iran has a Hafez book of poetry.


I must make this quick as we are leaving for the airport in 3 minutes. So today we went to Persepolis, the 2500 year old palaces and city of the ancient kings of Persia. I must say, Persepolis blew ancient Greece out of the water! No contest. It was jaw dropping to see the beautiful columns, engravings, statues of Lions and massive palaces! And to think that these were created over 2500 years ago simply blew me away! Propbably the most amazing piece of history I've ever experienced. You have to come see this for yourself to truly appreciate the beauty and genius of it all. I imagined being a civilian in 500 B.C. and thinking wow, this Darius guy really does deserve to be King for this! We also saw the tombs of the great kings which were just as remarkable. Built hundreds of feet up the steep cliff side. Hundreds of feet tall columns and artistic carvings and cuniform writing. Unbelieveable that they created this so long ago, even before Jesus was even thought of!

Basketball in Iran!

By GWhang Wouldn't you know.... can you'al guess what we did one afternoon? While at the Shiraz airport waiting for our tour driver to pick us up, we notice some tall dudes! Of course, we think BB players... One of them is wearing a shirt that says "California" so I approach him and ask him if he has been to Calif. No... he answers. But, he says that they are a Professional team from Tehran and are in Shiraz to play the Shiraz team in a tournament. After exchanging all of the pertinent information about where we are from etc. etc. we exchange mobile numbers so that we can find out where the game is. So, at 4:30 PM, KG, Kat, Norm and I hail a taxi and head to their game that starts at 5 PM. Along the way, the taxi driver stopped several times to ask for directions. He found our way to the general vicinity but couldn't find the exact location of the gym. Then KG says, "Hey, that looks like a gym!" BINGO! We find the gym and join the 20 other fans. We root for the Tehran team while our taxi driver(who waited for us) cheered for the Shiraz team. What fun!!! During half time, KG went onto the floor to practice his shots... he hasn't attempted a three pointer for 3 weeks! The game was close and our "friend, a point guard" made the winning shot... The Shiraz team had a Persian Tim Lin... quick shooter with socks up to his knees. After the game, we went to contragulate the team. KG told our friend that he might be interested in playing BB in Iran. He said, "WHY?" hahaha.... But, then went on to say... "anything is possible" KG plans to keep in touch with him. So, we got our BB fix over here.

Here is a video of the game winning shot!:

Arusi! The Wedding! I'm officially married... in Iran

We had a beautiful, ideal Persian wedding last night. Kat's mom planned it wonderfully (in only 2 weeks!) It was colorful, vibrant, and lively. We started with the ceremony in Kat's grandma's apartment. Decorated beautifully with flower arrangements and a traditional Iranian Arusi layout. Filled with an extravagant fruit/vegetable art piece, a giant silver mirror, bread with colorful spices, honey, candles, flowers, a crystal sugar ball, Iranian pastries, eggs, a Koran and two other traditional (poetry and history) Persian books. Each item signifies something different for the life of the bride and groom.

Kat's dress was beautiful!! but i can't tell you any more about the dress, you'll have to wait until to July wedding to see it :)
For the ceremony, Kat and I sat at the edge of the traditional Persian arrangements. Then her aunts, uncles, cousins and my family held a beautiful gold nylon cloth over our heads and took turns rubbing sugar cones wrapped in elegant lace material over our heads. Kat's cousin, Shahriar then conducted the ceremony in Farsi, explaining the significance of each of the items in the arrangement. Kat's other cousin Layla (who flew in from Florida with her adorable 6 year old twins, Parsa and Donya, for the wedding) then translated it for us in English. Kat and I dipped our finger into the glass of honey, fed it to each other and exchanged kisses. I proceeded to put Kats new gold band on her ring finger and she reciprocated with my new gold band that we bought at the Bazaar in Tehran. Next came the wedding gifts! Each family member from oldest to youngest took turns bringing up their gifts to us. We got beautiful jewelry, several gold coins and cash money.
okay, fine we'll give you a small taste of what we looked like at the wedding :)

After dozens of pictures with each of the family members and friends, we all migrated downstairs for the reception. A group of traditional Iranian drummers and one guy playing an Iranian string instrument were performing live. Kat and I made our traditional entrance to loud 'lalalala' chants and clapping. Everyone then hit the dance floor for some traditional Persian and Kurdish dancing to the live music. The music was awesome, fast beats mixed with captivating melodies.

We danced up a storm for an hour, my brother, mom, aunt, and even my dad joined in briefly, along with all of Kats beautiful cousins and some of her aunts and uncles. After an hour the live drummers left and the DJ took over the music duties. I was a nervous reck up until this point because I had written up a page long speech to give at the reception... in FARSI! eeeck, a page long speech in Farsi in front of nearly 100 of Kat's Iranian family and friends. I was terrified but also up for the challenge and excited to express my deep feelings and gratitude to the family and Kat. I had been practicing the speech dozens of times over the past few days, trying to get each accent and pronunciation of each Farsi word correct (with the help of Kat, her mom and dad). The English version went smoothly and the Farsi was broken but i think it came out well (probably 80% of the people understood 80%) of the speech :). I'll post the video once we get DSL.
I gotta run, must pack for our 3 day trip to Shiraz tomorrow so I'll finish up the rest of the wedding details later. I'll leave you with a picture of the gorgeous food layout we had:

Dancing at the Hena Party... Denise and I are TRYING to coordinate the wrist and hip action! KG's got it DOWN! PARTAY!!!

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?

Rubbing the hena on their hands together for good health, happiness and "beautiful, healthy kids" together. (my addition) LOL

Kareem and Kat at Hena Party

The hena party is held two days before the wedding. Women attend the festive party... dance, sing, eat and "get down." A platter of hena, flowers and candles adorn the table. Everybody gets a little ball of hena on their hand for health, happiness and peace. Karl and Kat each got paper currency wrapped around a coin and hena. They throw this and whoever catches it is the recipient of good health and happiness. My height gave me an advantage... good health and happiness for MOI! Here are some pics from the party. Denise and I are TRYING to learn the intricate movements of Persian dancing...

A blog from Persian Kat

Quotes and things that happened:

KG said ghorboonet beram to my grandma and she was so happy that she gave him a giant kiss and hug.

Grandma keeps commenting about how smart karl is. I attribute it to his being mixed race and she agrees.

My dad says that when he goes out with Karl he feels like he’s going out with his own son.

KG said that him and his family love that daddy is so outgoing and goes up to just anyone and asks them any question. Him and Daniel went out together and my dad was curious about a chandelier store so he went in and asked hella questions, then walked out with a couple of free calendars. KG thought that was cute.

My dad says Karl and Daniel are really smart.



Kat's thoughts:
So far things have been progressing very well. Karl and his family are really enjoying Iran and that makes me very proud. They have gotten a good perspective of the Iranian culture, and fully appreciate the rich history as well as the sincere Persian hospitality. For the past eight years I’ve been trying to educate them (as well as others around me) about Iran and its people, but nothing prepared them for the actual experience. Hearing about a place is very different than actually experiencing it, especially when one is constantly being bombarded with bullshit propaganda from their racist, prejudice government.

We are currently on a bus about to leave Esfahan to go back to Tehran. This morning we visited the mosques and palace in Naghsheh Jahan square (renamed Imam Khomeini square after the revolution, of course). While we were walking towards one of the mosques, a mullah stopped Norm and struck up a conversation with him. KG got some of their interaction on video. He asked Norm where he was from and when Norm responded, “America,” he enthusiastically replied, “Welcome to Iran!” The mullah wanted to know about Norm’s perspective of Iran, and oddly enough, he even asked Norm if he knew of Abraham Lincoln! He was glad to hear that Norm was enjoying Iran, and after a couple of minutes of polite conversation, the mullah left and we were all pleased to have witnessed such a rare interaction: a mullah choppin’ it up with an American Jew.



In his last post, KG mentioned the wrestler and his father who sat next to Norm and I, and chatted with us about the American economy. The wrestler was curious to know what KG and his family thought of Iran. He was aware that many in the West believe that Iran is full of terrorists and angry Muslim extremists, not to mention the constant confusion between Iran and surrounding nations, which are primarily Arab, not Iranian.

What has really been confirmed for me (and everyone else) on this trip is that the majority of Iranians—whether they are extremely religious or lack a defined faith—have made the differentiation between the American government and its people. They believe that just because our nations don’t get along politically, it’s no reason to harbor any negative feelings or even antagonize the people of the “rival” nation. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for my fellow Americans. I don’t blame them…they have been fed much organized and consistent propaganda, most of which doesn’t differentiate between people and their government. But let’s not forget that Iran has spread a significant amount of anti-Western sentiment in the form of murals, public speeches, media, etc. Even elementary schools tried to instill anti-US thoughts in their pupils. However, it’s obvious from our interactions that the Iranian people have been able to rise above their government’s unfair political tactics by judging a people individually, and not broadly as a nation. We can all learn much from this.

Here are some pics from the past few days:

Persian food by Norm... visiting food critic

Blog entry by Norm (Visiting Food Critic)

On our first night we had a great meal at Kathreen's grandma's house: Beef stew in a thick cilantro and parsley sauce,roast chicken in savory tomato, onion and saffron sauce, rice, salad, and crispies from the bottom of the rice pot, all delicious.

The next night we had fava bean, rice, and meat all mixed together and formed into balls about the size of baseballs, and a scruptious
baked eggplant dish.

We went out to a great kabob restaurant where the chef stands on a platform chopping up lamb with a huge chopping knife about 18 inches long and 6 inches wide. Kabob comes in minced lamb, cubed lamb or beef, cubed chicken or lamb chops. Usually
served with soft warm flat breat and/or rice, yogurt, and grilled tomatoes.

Kabob stands and restaurants are everywhere and definitely the most common food. We've had some almost everyday and I'm still loving it. If I don't have some kind of kabob for 24 hours, I start to get the shakes.

Kathreen's great uncle and aunt took us to a wonderful rustic restaurant specializing in a dish called abgoosht.

This is a hearty lamb stew with garbanzo beans and potatoes served in tall individual earthenware pots. There's an art to eating abgoosht. First you put the small pieces of lamb fat in the bowl and smash them. Then you tear some flat bread into small pieces and put them on the bottom of your bowl, then pur the thin gravey into your bowl.

Eat this mixture, then put some lamb, garbanzo's and potatoes into your bowl and mash these with the provided wooden pestle to a consistency like refried beans. Spread this mixture on flat bread, top with leafy herbs, sweet raw onion and maybe some eggplant relish and eat- Fabulous!



Bakeries specialize in one of about 4 kinds of flat bread. Some very flat and crisp, others softer, chew and a little thicker. You always buy them hot out a wood burning oven and carry them home unwrapped to be eaten within an hour. Daniel and I bought a wonderfully soft bread about 2 feet long and 10 inches wide sprinkled with sesame seeds for 40 cents- we couldn't wait to get it home so we tore pieces off and ate as we walked. I'm a bread lover so this was heavenly.

Dg here, to give some more insight on the food here. The first day in Esphahon, Kathy ordered a dessert. When it came out, it looked delicious, a shiny, bright orange pudding looking thing, I thought it was mango pudding. It even had strands of what I thought was mango. I took a bite, and it tasted pretty dayam good, but not quite mango like I thought. I asked Kat, and she said "Those strands you are eating, are LAMB!!", "UHHHHGGG!! LAMB!?! lamb pudding?! you gotta be shittin me!" I responded, needless to say, that was the last bite of dessert I took.

Like my dad said, We've been eating kabob's pretty much every single day. So to combat a kabob overdose (keep in mind we are here for 3.5 weeks), I've been trying out the Iranian fast food, like pizza, burgers, fries and hotwings. The pizza Karl and I had was a bologni, semi deep dish pizza. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. It came with ketchup, cuz all the iranians smother thier pizza in ketchup, I tried this but it just didn't do it for me. The burgers are off the hook, they are GIGANTIC, bout the circumference of 3 big mac's put together! They taste hella good too, like the persian burger at bongo burger on telegraph (the best burger in the bay area imo).