I’m a bit behind on updating our previous few days in Tehran and we’ve been in Esfahan for 3 days now so I will jump ahead and update you on our time in Esfahan. We took a 4 hour bus ride from Tehran to Esafahan. Our hotel in Esfahan is beautiful! The Abassi Hotel, a 5 star hotel that used to be a Palace for the king over 400 years ago! Esfahan is a beautiful city with an abundance of history. The highlight is the Imam Square:
This square is over 600 years old (I think) and is surrounded by a Bazaar and several breathe taking mosques. Today we took a tour of the mosques here which used to be the personal mosques for the kings. Esfahan was the capital of Iran 400 years ago.
Here is an explanation of why I look Persian!:
My father met a Mullah (an Islamic holy man, the Islamic version of a priest). The Mullah went up to him and asked him how he likes Iran and asked where he was from. He replied “America” and the Mullah’s first question was “That’s wonderful! Do you know Abraham Lincoln?” LOL. Classic. Here is a video:
The people here are so kind. They rarely see Americans here so they are very kind to us and interested in us. Me, My bro and Dad met a handful of Iranians at the swimming pool at our hotel. They all were excited to talk to us. They said “Husein Obama! Doost doreed?” (Do you like Obama?!) They loved to call him “Husein” since they are so proud that America elected a man with the name “Husein” as their president. They told us that they love Americans here. Everyone understands that the people of America are different from their leaders (such as Bush) as well as the Iranian people. The guys we talked to didn’t like Ahmadinejad either. So we were able to relate people to people instead of through our governments which never really represents the true values of the people. One man we talked to lived in Houston 30 years ago. He spoke great English and bought us beers (non-alcoholic beers of course!) We sat and talked to him for 30 minutes.
Last night we went to the famous bridge with 33 arcs. Very beautiful at night. We met a religious Iranian family that was very intrigued with us. The daughter asked “Where are you from?” with a kind curiosity. “America” I replied. She smiled excitedly and asked “What is it like there?”. It was the first time they have EVER met Americans. Amazing. They were so nice, and asked to take pictures with us. They even invited us to come to their house for tea!
Meanwhile my Dad sat down on the bench and two men came over to sit next to him. Our typical response is that we expect them to want something from us or sell something, but they just wanted to chat and find out about us. One of the men was a professional wrestler in Iran. He said their team really wants to travel to America to wrestle but when they applied for Visas, they were rejected by the US. That ain’t right US, let these people see our country, just as they have allowed us to see theirs.
Here are a few more pics and videos from our time in Esfahan:
It's Kareem's Mom contributing to his blog. This trip thus far (after 6 days only) has been so wonderful in many ways and the main event is still to come. Meeting Kat's family has been very special. They have embraced us with open arms and all of Kathy's aunts and uncles are insisting on inviting us over for dinner. There are simply not enough days for us to visit all of them. We are managing to communicate with them in spite of the language barrier. KG is improving his Farsi every minute... picking up colloquialisms and new vocabulary. We rely on him while out on our own.
We feel so special being here... the Iranian people are so curious when they see us... looking all of us over and trying to figure out who we are, where we are from, how we are related. They think that KG is Persian... with his long hair and emerging beard, he can definitely pass as long as he doesn't open his mouth. Denise and I are either from China, Japan or Korea... or Mongolia. Norm is the only "American" looking person. DG.... almost Persian... The people are extremely friendly, always giving us a smile or a "Hello," "Where are you from?" and anxious to practice their English. And, they ask us for permission to take a picture with us with their own camera! Before leaving, I was concerned about taking pictures of the Iranians. Little did I realize that we would be the subject of the Iranian photographers.
GWhang with the Iranian school girls, she's a celebrity (the one in the red!) : The family dodging Iranian traffic, its a video so press the play button:
Video of my Aunt Denise talking with Iranian kids at Imam square in Esfahan, click the play button! :
Men and Women are not supposed to touch each other (according to Iranian law) so Kat and I walk with our arms close but not touching!!! :
Video grinding the lamb kebobs by hand and putting the meat on the skewer, press the play button:
Today, Kat’s dad, Al aka Oghaye Khavari took us to see two of the Shah’s Palaces. (The extravagant and mostly hated Shah that was over thrown 30 years ago.) We took a Taxi to the palaces and the traffic was ridiculous. People drive pretty crazy here, weaving and merging with no fear. Coming within an inch of hitting each other is common practice. The smog is horrendous! Close to 17 million people in one city, I guess smog is inevitable. But this is bad, hardly bearable at times. I often have to cover my mouth and nose just to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning! Once we finally got to the palaces we bought tickets. The cash money is in “Rials” but prices are sometimes displayed as “Tomans” which has one fewer 0 than Rials. So we thought the tickets for 6 of us to see 3 exhibits was $100 but we were gladly mistaken when we found out it was only $10. The palaces are a popular school field trip so we saw several school classes, mostly young girls. Each school has a different color uniform, we ran into a group of 30 4th graders all wearing green uniforms and their hair covered of course. They were amazed to see us and quickly ran up to my Mom and Denise and said “Hello, how are you”. My mom who is great at interacting with kids and loves it, quickly replies “Salam! Engelisee Baladeed?” (Hello! Do you speak English?) I watched proudly as the kids smiled back shyly. My mom has been studying Farsi tapes with me over the past couple months so she was excited to put it to good use. I love how she embraces cultures and the things in my life so openly. Along with the rest of my family as well. I really appreciate my parents, aunt and brother for being so supportive and open for coming on this trip with us. I’m so lucky to have such a great family and friends ☺ (that includes all my family and friends back at home too, I love and miss you all!) The Shah’s palaces were extravagant to say the least. Keep in mind that these were only 2 of his 20 around the country. Huge rooms, tons of gold, real tiger carpets on the floor, rooms lined with thousands of mirrors that took years to make. I can now see why he was hated so much. It was interesting though, they gave details about who was the last people to visit the rooms such as President Carter, Charles De Gaulle and Kings from Jordan and Egypt.
I haven’t been able to update my blog for the past few days because of the really slow dial-up internet and Daniel’s modem isn’t working now. I tried uploading a picture and it took 15 minutes to upload one picture! I’ve been taking a bunch of videos to give people a better idea of what its like here but uploading a video on dial-up? Forget about it! However, we just arrived in Esfahan, the former capital of Iran (400 years ago). We’re staying at a really nice hotel here and hopefully they have DSL internet so I can upload my videos and pictures! Let me give you a few brief updates and thoughts on the past few days:
Kat and I are staying at her Grandmas home in northern Tehran. The neighborhood is very nice and peaceful but still close to several shops, restaurants and grocery stores. Almost all the homes in Tehran are apartment buildings. They all have large front gates and a garden in front. It is definitely more developed here than I originally imagined. The apartment has a video camera hook-up to the apt to see who rings the doorbell and most of the stores have American products such as Coke, Red Bull, Snickers, Dole etc. in addition to all of the Iranian goods.
Kat’s Grandma’s (“Mamanjoon”) apartment is very nice and spacious. Most Iranians have huge living rooms since family gatherings are common and they always sit in a large circle when company comes over. I must say that Iranians are the nicest and most hospitable country of any of the 18 countries I’ve visited in my short lifetime. Everyone we’ve encountered on the street, shops and restaurants is really nice, always stopping to help us.
For example, we were looking for the jewelry museum yesterday and asked a man on the street where it was. He was really nice and went out of his way to explain that it was closed today but that there were a couple other museums near by that were open. He even walked down a half block to help show us where they were. People here don’t hate Americans like what is often portrayed or implied in the media. They are excited when the learn that we are from America and always say “I hope you have a wonderful time here in Iran”. I honestly feel 10 times safer walking down the street here at night than I do back at home! There is very little crime here. Perhaps because of the stricter laws, no alcohol and religion that is ingrained in society. I must say it is a very refreshing change from America. In just the week I’ve been here my perception of the world has changed already. I’ve realized how powerful propaganda can be. Even for myself and I consider myself to be very open minded and have heard stories about Iran from Kat for the past 8 years! I have to admit I still didn’t know what to expect and the fear that is instilled in everyone back home definitely had an impact on my expectations. All of us, my parents, brother, aunt and myself heard countless replies of “What? Iran?! Why the hell are you going there for?” “Do you have an escape route?” “Watch out for the bombs”. Definitely unwarranted fear. I think many people associate Iran and all often all middle east countries with the war torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. All we hear about Iran and the middle east in the media is “Nuclear weapons”, “Axis-of-evil”, “suicide bombs”. But no one talks about the rich history and culture here. Or the kind hospitality and caring hearts of the people here. Propaganda is powerful, so I don’t blame people for having the perceptions that they do about countries like Iran. I was, am and probably always will be a victim myself to this propaganda. I just try to keep an open mind and try to not judge before experiencing anything for myself.
Alright, that is my propaganda rant for the trip. No more, I promise :) .
I am having a wonderful time staying with Kat’s family here. I’ve heard so much about them all over the years so it is great to finally meet them. They are sooooo nice. Every minute they offer me tea and food. I’ve been showered with gifts already. Her grandma and uncle both bought us very nice (expensive) Persian rugs. We went to the store yesterday to pick out glassware and other home appliances for people to buy for us (it is a Persian tradition for families to by the couple these things in addition to several other gifts for their wedding). Her parents have been great to us. Treating me and my family like their own family. Taking us out, always making sure we are comfortable, inviting us for dinner, etc. I feel like I am part of their family already.
We arrived in Esfahan today and are staying at a really nice 5 star hotel here. The hotel is 600 years old and used to be one of the Kings palaces! Best of all they got Wifi!!! So no more dial-up, I can finally upload some pics and vids... here are some updates to catch up...
Kat goes to try on her wedding dress, while I walk over to the fams apt. Me, Mom, dad and Denise didn’t sleep at all b/c of jet lag. We’re really tired but still go out on our own for the first time. We find a great Kabob restaurant and I try to order in Farsi for the family.
“Doh Barreh Kabob, Lotfan” I say in broken Farsi.
The waiter replies and says a handful of things I don’t understand. He the calls for another man in the back. He comes out, evaluates the 5 of us and asks “Japones?”, “Phillipines?”. LOL. We bamboozle everyone in this country with our looks. My mom replies “Na, amrikayiam” (we’re American). He speaks some English so we order 2 kabobs and 1 order of lamb chops. They then bring us 4 kabobs and 1 lamb chop! Oh well, what can you do? It was HELLLLA good!!! Kheyli khooshmaze! We also order 3 non-alchoholic lemon flavored beers. The closest we can get to alcohol since alcohol is illegal in Iran. My dad and I expect the check to be about $50-60, but to our pleasant surprise the bill is only “Si o hasht hezar tomane” or about $38.
I’ve been studying Farsi for the past 2 months so luckily I’ve got the numbers and money conversions down and a several other basics, just enough to get by.
We then head back to Kats gmas home for dinner and to meet her family that is coming over to meet us and pay their respects. We only expected maybe 4-6 people. The first 8 people come in. Her grandma’s brothers, wifes, son, wife, daughter, etc. They all bring flowers and “Shirini” or Persian pastrys. The family is very nice, and both of Kat’s great uncles speak very good English. They both lived in the US briefly, and one had traveled to 43 states! In the next hour and a half the door bell continuously rang and about 40 people total ended up coming in and out to pay their respects and meet us. A very nice Persian tradition.
Iranians are definitely one of the most hospitable and kind people in the entire world.It is very sad that Iran is portrayed so negatively in the US media. Fuckin Bush! Idiot. I’m very happy that people are starting to realize how great the Iranian culture and people are. With people such as Rick Steve’s and other films such as “Arusi” Iran is finally getting the proper exposure and I will also do everything I can to make sure people know how great the Iranian people and culture are.
Dial-up internet is ridiculously slow... you will have to come back soon to see some pics and videos of Iran goodnight!
My heart beats with both excited and nervous energy as I gaze over Kat’s shoulder out the window and into the dark skyline of Tehran dotted with orange and blue lights. My ecstatic and curious thoughts are telling me “Kareem you are in Iran, you are about to experience the trip of a lifetime!” What seemed to be such a foreign land that so few Americans know anything about is finally waiting for our arrival below.Quickly, my excited energy fades to nervousness as the Luftansa flight attendant announces with a heavy German accent “We are preparing for our landing in Tehran, please be aware that no photography is allowed in the airport and by Iranian law all women must cover their hair with a scarf.”
Suddenly, the dozens of responses I received when telling friends and family that I was going to Iran for 3 weeks flashed through my head: “WHAT?! IRAN?? Why the heck are you going there for? Are you crazy?”, “Becareful Karl, are you sure it’s safe to travel there?”, “Please be safe KG, and watch over your Dad! He looks hella Jewish!”. All in addition to the sweet goodbye hugs in which some friends seemed to hug me as if they’d never see me again!
My nervousness turns to excitement again as Kat looks at me with a big smile and says “We are in Iran!!”. I smile back as she puts her scarf over her hair, and we both chuckle while watching my Mom and aunt Denise put on their head scarves for the first time.
As we approach the customs windows I can feel my heart beating faster. Will we get through customs with our “axis-of-evil” accusing USA passports? The signs with pigs on them telling any passengers coming from the US or Mexico who feel any symptoms of illness to report to the customs desk aren’t helping me calm down either. We lined up in the slow moving “Foreign” line while Kat breezed through the Iranian line with ease. A few Germans and Turkmenistanis pass through customs with no problem. My parents are next. The customs agent flips through their passports, checks their visas and quickly stamps both. Yes! That was easy right? Not so fast. The agent then gets up and walks my parents and their passports over to another agent, then back to where we are standing in line. Uh-Oh. This can’t be good. They quickly check mine, my Brother’s and Aunt’s passports and we join my parents on the wrong side off the customs windows.
We are told to follow the customs agent as he takes us down several hallways into a small backroom. Not many words were spoken between us as we all nervously entered the small room. The agent gets on his computer and asks us “Address in Iran?”. He stares us down suspiciously since none of us know Kats Grandma’s address. My mom quickly scrambles to try to find her visa application with the address. Luckily she has it. Then one by one we each get called up to get finger printed. Once we finish the fingerprinting process we all felt a bit relieved as the agent lead us back. But then we are stopped again and must wait as they make copies of our passports and fill out information about our occupations. A very nice young Iranian man dressed in a green army suit comes up to us and starts asking us questions in very good English.
“You work at ‘GoogO’? What is that?” he asks curiously,
“Yes, Google, it is an internet search engine.” I reply.
“AHH you mean ‘GoogEL’! Why don’t you pronounce the ‘l’??” he says with confusion.
We explain that the ‘l’ is kind of swallowed when pronouncing Google in English. The rest of the family one by one explains their occupation to them (including my brother who had to lie about his occupation as a professional Poker player!)
“I’m self-employed… I uhhh… have a internet business… I… teach people how to use the internet.” He replies nervously.
Finally we are finished! The very nice army soldier hands us back our passports and congratulates me and the family on the wedding and tells us how much we are going to love Iran. I asked him how often he sees Americans here, and he said about once a week, usually on a tour. We then enter the baggage claim area which is now completely empty! Relieved and very excited, we laugh as we see Kat rolling around our 7 suitcases with her parents and the 8 of us are the last to leave the airport.
We made it! Salam Iran!
Kats Thoughts:
My mind decided to not believe that we were all actually going to Iran until we got there. I had such a difficult time imagining Karl and his family in Iran with me, I figured not thinking about it too much until it actually happened would be more peaceful.As we touched down into Tehran, I woke Karl up to show him the nighttime Birdseye view of the city, a canopy of bright lights that seem to cover every square inch from such a great distance.We were here! I looked down at Karl’s aunt and mom who donned on their headscarves—the two most conservative looking women on the plane.
My initial plan was to go into the passport control line with them and explain to the official why all these Americans came to Iran.Then I remembered that I’d be going into a different line than them, the one for Iranian nationals.I went through without any problems, what a breeze.Karl and his family were still waiting patiently in line, which was moving very slowly.They finally all passed through the line, but instead of joining me on the other side, they were taken into a corner and seated. Gail motioned to me that they were going to get their fingerprints taken.
Several minutes passed and they were still sitting in the corner. I went over to the customs guy and asked him how long they would be.“Oh another five minutes. Hey did you bring these people here?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Who are they, a tour group or something?”
“No,” I said, “they are my family.My husband, his mom, aunt, brother, and father.”
“Ok, yea another five minutes.”
Fifteen minutes went by and the customs guy called me over. “Hey how are these people American?”
“Well, they just are.” I replied, a bit confused by his question.
He picked up one of their passports and flipped to Gail’s passport picture, “This lady right here, she’s American?” he said, with a chuckle.
I laughed, too. “Yes she is.”
“How is she an American??”
“She just is. She’s Korean American, but she was born in the US, and so were her parents.”
He looked at me blankly, still unconvinced by my logic.
“But you’re right, she’s basically Korean.” I was defeated, and he looked quite pleased by this.
Ten more minutes passed and I decided to go down and get our suitcases before they were gathered with the unclaimed luggage and thrown into some random, unused room, never to be seen again.It took me no more than three minutes to find all of our belongings, and I was once again waiting for Karl and his family to show up. In the midst of all this, I could see my parents looking for me through the glass window on the other side of baggage claim.I waved to them, and through a series of loud yelling and hand gestures, I was able to successfully communicate to them that I was waiting on the “fingerprinting” process that Karl’s family was going through.
How long could fingerprinting possibly take???A good half an hour had passed since they first went through passport control. I began to imagine the worst (I am, after all, my father’s daughter).Interrogation, intimidation, torture…all sorts of atrocities.What did I do??? Why did I bring them here?? Just as my mind was going through the many possible forms of torture, I decided to ask another airport official about KG’s family’s status.
“Yea, fingerprinting takes a while,” he explained.
“How long? They’ve been in there for over half an hour.”
“Are they foreigners?” he asked.
“Yes, they are Americans.”
“Oh well then it’s definitely going to take a while. They like to keep the Americans longer. When we (Iranians) go to America, they (American airport officials) really bother us, so we just reciprocate…make things even. Nothing to worry about though, it’s standard procedure. The whole process for Americans takes about an hour.”
Feeling some relief, I took our seven bags and headed towards the exit.
“Excuse me miss, is this all of your luggage?” asked the customs agent near the x-ray machine.
“No, sir, it’s mine and other passengers’ whom I traveled with,” I replied, hoping he’d let me through with their stuff.
“Well, where are they? They need to be here with their things.”
“Sir, they are getting their fingerprints taken and it’s taking a while.”
“Are they foreigners?”
“Yes, Americans.”
“Oh, what are they doing here?” he inquired.
“It’s my husband and his family. They are all here for our wedding.”
“That’s wonderful!” he exclaimed, obviously excited by this piece of information. “What do they have in their bags?”
“Just clothes.”
“Alright, send their stuff through.”
The bags passed through the machine and he never once glanced at the x-ray screen to see their contents. Instead he continued his conversation with me, more interested in my upcoming wedding than what the foreigners brought in their luggage.
“Good luck with your wedding. May you guys have a great life together,” he said with true sincerity.
Salam! We finally figured out how to connect to the internet from my parents apartment. It is dial-up and really slow so I won't be able to upload a ton of photos or videos but I'll see what i can do. I'll start with our stop over in Frankfurt, Germany. 8 hour layover, so me, my Dad, bro and Kat went out while my mom and densie stayed at the airport to sleep. We filled up on beer since alcohol is illegal in Iran, watched several socialist protests (since it was May day) and ate a lot of bratwurst and schniztels...
Hello. My name is Kareem. You good? I'm going to Iran! Yeeee!
I'm bursting with excitement and curiosity as I prepare for my 3 week adventure to Iran! For those of you that don't know, I have adopted a new name, Kareem, a new religion, Islam (to go along with my Buddhist, Christian and Jewish religions), and will soon have a new wifey, Kathreen (my girlfriend of 8+ years!)
To make a long story short, I had to convert to Islam, pick a new name, get a new hair-do, get a criminal report, Aids/STD check, and get legally married, twice (western and islamic)! All so me and my family could get Visas to go to Iran. We will be having a marriage ceremony in Tehran with Kat's family and will be traveling around the country to Shiraz, Esfahan and more! Stay tuned to learn more...
