few quick last things on Paris...crazy but one day I was walking around and some girl in front of me passed out and fell down...didnt see it but the people just in front of me did. her shopping bags were sprawled ont he groudn and she was breathing, but not conscious. it was creepy. ambulance came and took her away, not sure what happened but i think it was some weird neurological thing. anyhoo, one last comment on the difference bw france and iran....it was a big shock in the beiginning as the french girls were so down to earth and had natural tones...verz little makeup, natural tones and short unpainted nails with hair that was just in a pony tail or verz little done to it. in contrast, iranians have tons of bright usuallz makeup on, long painted nails fake looking eyebrows and done up hair. thez also always talk about how others look whereas in france it wasnt too often. not sure for the reason behind the differences but it was very noticeable...it was nice to cut my nails in france and just be myself without worrzng too much what I looked like.
anyhoo, budapest is amazing. very safe feeling and nice mix of beautiful old buildings and relativelz newer uglz as heck commi buildings. the foods not the healthiest and not the best...not enough spices for me...but thez use a lot of paprika which i love. got a gyro on te street the other day which was nice...yoghurt sauce was made with dill which was a very nice touch. went to the baths yesterdaz which were amazing...beautiful outside thermal heated pool with a gorgous building surrounding it. thez also had these pumps that would go on everzonce in awhile and the water would push zoou around in a circle which was prettz cool. it was so relaxing and the locals even plazed chess in the water. mmm, so budapest is actuallz two towns...buda on the left and pest on the right side of the danuble river. buda is hilly and green with the castle and such. pest is the commercial side and more busy. went to an amazing underground hospital today....started out a couple hundred zears ago as a bunch of cave cellars that people used to store wine and such to avoid taxes then thez were rediscovered in the 40s and joined together to be used as a safe hospital underground for the armz and aslo as a secret militarz meeting place with the germans. then in the 50s it was used as a nuke safe area and also a secret hospital. it has been kept a secret until onlz about 5 years ago and this cuople have been cleaning it and keeping it a secret for the last 40 years or so and doctors would go there everzonce in awhile to practice drills in case of nuclear attack. it was super cool and still had lots of original stuff from the 50s. verz neat. apparentlz used t be the state of the art surgery rooms and equipment which was cool to see as now it doesnt look like much, but thez even had an ekg and xray and autoclave. their own generator too and everthing hidden so no one would know it was there. at one point had 600 patients during the war. the guide told us a funnz storz about the different protocols if a nuclear attack occurred...the germans said that u should measure everzthing about it and give the info to zour superiors, and thanks for your service. the russians said u should lie on the ground with ur feet facing the explosion and ur soul would protect u from the attack. and the hungarians protocol called for u to wrap yourself in a wet blanket and try t omake it to the cemetary in time bc it would help clean up later:) lol it made me laugh a lot besides being a little creepz for official protocol.
anyhoo after walking around forever todaz (took me and this aussie girl about 2 hours to find the underground hospital as the signs here are nonexistent and horrible if existent) mz feet are killing me. sleep feels so good after a long days walk) off to the market and bumming around tomorrow then off to the opera at night and leaving for vienna on friday (apparentlz trains are on strike tomorrow so Ill be delayed a day). cheers from budapest!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Easter in France
I think I've fallen in love....with Paris =) I've been in France now for the past 2.5 weeks and it has been blissful. I've been surrounded by lovely people, excellent food, beautiful sites and amazing weather...what more could one ask for? ok, probably a million dollars, but I'm being realistic here;) I spent a lovely Easter with our good family friends, the Wimmers, and it was a very special time. We drove up to their summer house in Carnac, a cute town in Bretagne, NW France on the coast. We went for many bike rides and runs along the beach, and I even got taken out for a wonderful ride on a sail boat. We went to mass, which was my first time ever going for Easter and it was really incredible...to be sitting in an ancient cathedral from the 1500s with amazing architecture and beautiful stained glass windows/paintings was quite an atmosphere. Plus, the Easter night mass was exceptionally eventful. The candles that we all held and light during different stages of the ceremony let off so much smoke that the fire alarm went off...and continued for a good 10 min before it finally stopped. Then there was a drunk man who after everytime the priest said "Jesus is our lord" shouted out "yeah!" It was quite amusing as the place was quiet and it was quite a formal affair...but they finally showed him to the door. We proceeded to eat amazing food that day (like all the others) and I ate, for the first time, pate, which was excellent. It was a very relaxing time with lots of great company and good wine;)
The French is, well, coming along albeit slowly. My brain has been filled with Farsi and now it is making a very slow transition to French, but I still think of things in Farsi first and occasionally spit out some Persian words mid-sentence, which I only realize when I get a weird look from someone else and realize that that was the wrong language. But they have told me that my accent isn't too bad, and is not the horrid American accent, so there is hope yet:) I think I have to return during med school for a longer period so that I can really buckle down and concentrate on learning it...right now it is kinda (as our good Armenian friend has said) a "half-arse show." And return I must...Paris is such an amazing place with so many cute little neighborhoods, amazing shops (although if I keep wandering into them I think I may be broke very soon...the european clothes are just so much cuter than american ones;) and restaurants/cafes.
Spent the last week with Jamileh which was wonderful...she showed me some of her favorite places which were fantastic and brought me along to the most amazing (and cheap) creperie. It's in a really cute part of town by the Sorbonne where a lot of University professors live with a very harvard-type feel to it....lots of cafes/restaurants and a very intellectual feel to it...I was in heaven. I also got to check out her lab which was pretty cool. I wandered around lots of neighborhoods in Paris, but there are still many more places to go to. The other day though I wandered into a mosque, which was in Moroccan style, and it was beautiful...a little haven right in the middle of busy Paris. I was shocked to find it and pleasantly surprised when I went in. The guy at the door asked me for my ticket (u are supposed to pay on entrance), but I wasn't about to pay to go in so I said (surprising myself with my french:) "c'est une mosque, n'est-ce pas?"(it's a mosque, no?) to which he replied, "oui, bien sure"(yes, certainly) and I said, "mais je suis musulman" (but I'm muslim) and he immediately happily said, "allez-y madame, allez-y" (go on in) and he was quite amused and on my way out asked me if I saw everything. It was fun;) Spent my birthday with her and had a tasty pear-chocolate cake and a special dinner. I treated myself to a bit of a shopping spree for my bday, which was fun;) and to top stuff off, one of the girls working the cash register asked me if I wanted a discount card for the store and I told her I wasn't French...she then said, "Oh, Italian? German? Spanish?" and I was like no, American. Then she said excitedly, "Beyonce!" and I laughed. then we talked a bit more and she told me I had really good French, which was the perfect bday treat:) so I guess in some ways, money CAN buy happiness...hehe:) guess I just have to do some more shopping:)
Anne-Claire and I had a crepe party the other night and it was pretty cool...everyone brought something along for the crepes and it was quite a success. I'm in lovely Versailles now and it's such a relaxing place. The palace is not too far away and has lovely gardens. I found a cheap ticket to Budapest, Hungary, so I will be leaving Monday for a 12 day adventure...I'm going to go to Vienna and Prague as well, and possibly Bratislava. It should be exciting! I've booked my hostels and some of the train tickets and I'm ready to go explore some beautiful cities and drink some amazing coffee and hear wonderful music...ahh, it's going to be hard to go back to school now.
Anyhoo, hope you are all doing well. I got my return ticket and will be coming back stateside on June 5th, so hope you are all ready;)
The French is, well, coming along albeit slowly. My brain has been filled with Farsi and now it is making a very slow transition to French, but I still think of things in Farsi first and occasionally spit out some Persian words mid-sentence, which I only realize when I get a weird look from someone else and realize that that was the wrong language. But they have told me that my accent isn't too bad, and is not the horrid American accent, so there is hope yet:) I think I have to return during med school for a longer period so that I can really buckle down and concentrate on learning it...right now it is kinda (as our good Armenian friend has said) a "half-arse show." And return I must...Paris is such an amazing place with so many cute little neighborhoods, amazing shops (although if I keep wandering into them I think I may be broke very soon...the european clothes are just so much cuter than american ones;) and restaurants/cafes.
Spent the last week with Jamileh which was wonderful...she showed me some of her favorite places which were fantastic and brought me along to the most amazing (and cheap) creperie. It's in a really cute part of town by the Sorbonne where a lot of University professors live with a very harvard-type feel to it....lots of cafes/restaurants and a very intellectual feel to it...I was in heaven. I also got to check out her lab which was pretty cool. I wandered around lots of neighborhoods in Paris, but there are still many more places to go to. The other day though I wandered into a mosque, which was in Moroccan style, and it was beautiful...a little haven right in the middle of busy Paris. I was shocked to find it and pleasantly surprised when I went in. The guy at the door asked me for my ticket (u are supposed to pay on entrance), but I wasn't about to pay to go in so I said (surprising myself with my french:) "c'est une mosque, n'est-ce pas?"(it's a mosque, no?) to which he replied, "oui, bien sure"(yes, certainly) and I said, "mais je suis musulman" (but I'm muslim) and he immediately happily said, "allez-y madame, allez-y" (go on in) and he was quite amused and on my way out asked me if I saw everything. It was fun;) Spent my birthday with her and had a tasty pear-chocolate cake and a special dinner. I treated myself to a bit of a shopping spree for my bday, which was fun;) and to top stuff off, one of the girls working the cash register asked me if I wanted a discount card for the store and I told her I wasn't French...she then said, "Oh, Italian? German? Spanish?" and I was like no, American. Then she said excitedly, "Beyonce!" and I laughed. then we talked a bit more and she told me I had really good French, which was the perfect bday treat:) so I guess in some ways, money CAN buy happiness...hehe:) guess I just have to do some more shopping:)
Anne-Claire and I had a crepe party the other night and it was pretty cool...everyone brought something along for the crepes and it was quite a success. I'm in lovely Versailles now and it's such a relaxing place. The palace is not too far away and has lovely gardens. I found a cheap ticket to Budapest, Hungary, so I will be leaving Monday for a 12 day adventure...I'm going to go to Vienna and Prague as well, and possibly Bratislava. It should be exciting! I've booked my hostels and some of the train tickets and I'm ready to go explore some beautiful cities and drink some amazing coffee and hear wonderful music...ahh, it's going to be hard to go back to school now.
Anyhoo, hope you are all doing well. I got my return ticket and will be coming back stateside on June 5th, so hope you are all ready;)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Celebrating Nowruz in style...on the beautiful island of Kish;)
Well, I spent a lovely two weeks celebrating Nowruz on Kish with Khanom Moghimi and her lovely family;) I learned to wake up everyone morning saying "ammmuuuuuuu" in response to the "emmmmmaaaaannnnn" that came to me from amu Khosro at the breakfast table, which turned into our greeting everytime we saw each other and made everyone burst into laughter. My farsi improved drastically, as I spoke entirely in Farsi, and was always listening to some conversation or other. And the kids had a really good command of english vocabulary, so whenever I ran into difficulties, they had the persian word for me. I was cracking jokes left and right in farsi, that's how good I got. And I learned some very important words, such as zed zed or zan zalil, which basically means someone who's "whipped." It was a lot of fun.
So a little bit about persian new year, or nowruz. It lasts thirteen days and dates back to ancient times (for more details, check out wikipedia). Iranians set up a "halft seen" or table with at least seven things that start with the letter s (in persian) on it. These include:
In addition, this year I learned the tradition of making ashe reshte (a yummy thick noodle/green veggie soup) on the first day of nowruz. Everyone puts in the noodles, and while doing so you are supposed to say your wishes and hopes for the upcoming year. At the exact moment of the coming of the new year, Persians around the world (at the same time everywhere) gather around the halft seen together to celebrate. And, most importantly, parents give out new bills to the kids;)
As the signs everywhere made certain to reinforce, it is the "beautiful island of Kish." and with the lovely sandy beaches and crystal clear blue/green water, they are quite right. It is a beautiful island and if there weren't segregated beaches, tourists would probably flock there from all over. I had a blast with everyone...at one point, there were 17 people in house, 10 of which were kids around my age. and boy did we have a blast together. There was so much love and happiness, it had a quite healing affect and I really felt like I was back home with all of you around;) I made some really good friends and it's going to be very difficult to leave Iran now. Our days were on a very interesting schedule...woke up around 11 am, ate breakfast, if it was nice, we went to the beach for a few hours. went back home around 5 pm, cleaned up and had "lunch." Then we lounged around for a bit, sometimes watching lovely classic tv shows such as Kolah Germezi, and Marde 1001 Chehre, which were highly entertaining. Then around 9 pm we went to one of Kish's many shopping malls and walked around for awhile, sometimes doing a bit of shopping;) Then we either went back home around midnight to have dinner, or went to Mita Kish to eat some yummy pizza or cake/ice cream. Then around 3 am we would go for a run in their gated community, without a scarf and in t-shirt and capris. With the lovely breeze and cooler/rainy weather we got, it was quite lovely. Then we went to bed about 4 or 5 am and started over the next day. It was quite a relaxing time. I got quite used to waking up and seeing about 5 or 6 others sleeping next to me so that when I got back to Tehran and woke up alone, it was quite lonely.
The beach, as previously stated, was lovely. They even had masseurs from Thailand that gave cheap massages. They had huge blow up balls that you could get in and roll around in the water. I've never seen that many women (without any men) at a beach before. You can also go jet skiing or scuba diving in the persian gulf, but unfortunately the weather was a bit grey so we never got around to doing it. The island has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there, about 7 years ago. It is more developed and was quite busy for Nowruz, as everyone went to enjoy the weather. It didn't affect us much we were staying at their house, but it was evident when it came to the water and shopping malls. As they purify the water from the ocean and thus have a limited supply, and with all the people coming, we frequently ran out of water and had to be very frugal with our use. No one wanted to get stuck in the shower when the water cut, bc then they would have to finish off with a bottle of water stored in the bathroom. The shopping malls were packed at night, with everyone practically on the island there, walking around to be seen;) Our favorite shop was the candy store, where I got them hooked on gummy peach o's. One night we went and I got them some candies, and I asked them what they wanted. when I was going to also get some peach o's, they were like, "no, don't get those for us, unless you want them for yourself" and I decided to get them. As we walked out of the store, they tasted them and immediately fell in love. Every night after that, we went back in and got at least two small bags for us. The third time we went in, the shopkeeper, recognizing us, suggested that we buy a whole box to save money and the trip;) It was pretty funny, but didn't stop us from going back and getting more.
We also ate some delicious kabobs...probably some of the best I've ever eaten. The meat was so delicious and tender. We went to a few concerts (Reza Sadeghi, and Ehsun something) which were really fun, and notably, started at 12:30 am! I discovered polaki...a circular, thin, crispy sweet that is amazing with tea. We took a tour of the island's highlights on the "party bus" as we all fit in one huge van and were singing and dancing to the music between tourist sites.
also, now I can claim to have met some underground Persian musicians....two of the guys there were singers and let us listen to their music. funny enough, the other kids recognized some of the songs and didn't know that it was them. interesting what occurs under such governments...
After arriving back in tehran, I received an interesting text message...."hello, what is your name?" to which I replied, "what is yours?" Here's the response: "Amir, 25 years!" lol, I had a good laugh on that one, to which I replied, "Eman, 23 years" and needless to say, there was no further contact (Eman is a guys name in Iran:) I was tempted to reply with "what, you're not interested anymore?" but I refrained. Went to the relatively new and beautiful Azadi cinema and watched the movie Superstar....I was pleasantly surprised that I understood most of the movie (probably about 95%) compared to about 30% of the movie I saw in Iran last year at the cinema...I guess somethings working;)
Anyhoo, leaving tomorrow for France, so should be exciting;) hope yall are well.
So a little bit about persian new year, or nowruz. It lasts thirteen days and dates back to ancient times (for more details, check out wikipedia). Iranians set up a "halft seen" or table with at least seven things that start with the letter s (in persian) on it. These include:
- sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish - symbolizing rebirth
- samanu - a sweet pudding made from wheat germ - symbolizing affluence
- senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love
- sīr - garlic - symbolizing medicine
- sīb - apples - symbolizing beauty and health
- somaq - sumac berries - symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
- serkeh - vinegar - symbolizing age and patience
- Sonbol - Hyacinth (plant)
- Sekkeh - Coins - representative of wealth
- traditional Iranian pastries such as baghlava, toot, naan-nokhodchi
- Aajeel - dried nuts, berries and raisins
- lit candles (enlightenment and happiness)
- a mirror (symbolizing cleanness and honesty)
- decorated eggs, sometimes one for each member of the family (fertility)
- a bowl of water with goldfish (life within life, and the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving)
- rosewater, believed to have magical cleansing powers
- the national colours, for a patriotic touch
- a holy book
In addition, this year I learned the tradition of making ashe reshte (a yummy thick noodle/green veggie soup) on the first day of nowruz. Everyone puts in the noodles, and while doing so you are supposed to say your wishes and hopes for the upcoming year. At the exact moment of the coming of the new year, Persians around the world (at the same time everywhere) gather around the halft seen together to celebrate. And, most importantly, parents give out new bills to the kids;)
As the signs everywhere made certain to reinforce, it is the "beautiful island of Kish." and with the lovely sandy beaches and crystal clear blue/green water, they are quite right. It is a beautiful island and if there weren't segregated beaches, tourists would probably flock there from all over. I had a blast with everyone...at one point, there were 17 people in house, 10 of which were kids around my age. and boy did we have a blast together. There was so much love and happiness, it had a quite healing affect and I really felt like I was back home with all of you around;) I made some really good friends and it's going to be very difficult to leave Iran now. Our days were on a very interesting schedule...woke up around 11 am, ate breakfast, if it was nice, we went to the beach for a few hours. went back home around 5 pm, cleaned up and had "lunch." Then we lounged around for a bit, sometimes watching lovely classic tv shows such as Kolah Germezi, and Marde 1001 Chehre, which were highly entertaining. Then around 9 pm we went to one of Kish's many shopping malls and walked around for awhile, sometimes doing a bit of shopping;) Then we either went back home around midnight to have dinner, or went to Mita Kish to eat some yummy pizza or cake/ice cream. Then around 3 am we would go for a run in their gated community, without a scarf and in t-shirt and capris. With the lovely breeze and cooler/rainy weather we got, it was quite lovely. Then we went to bed about 4 or 5 am and started over the next day. It was quite a relaxing time. I got quite used to waking up and seeing about 5 or 6 others sleeping next to me so that when I got back to Tehran and woke up alone, it was quite lonely.
The beach, as previously stated, was lovely. They even had masseurs from Thailand that gave cheap massages. They had huge blow up balls that you could get in and roll around in the water. I've never seen that many women (without any men) at a beach before. You can also go jet skiing or scuba diving in the persian gulf, but unfortunately the weather was a bit grey so we never got around to doing it. The island has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there, about 7 years ago. It is more developed and was quite busy for Nowruz, as everyone went to enjoy the weather. It didn't affect us much we were staying at their house, but it was evident when it came to the water and shopping malls. As they purify the water from the ocean and thus have a limited supply, and with all the people coming, we frequently ran out of water and had to be very frugal with our use. No one wanted to get stuck in the shower when the water cut, bc then they would have to finish off with a bottle of water stored in the bathroom. The shopping malls were packed at night, with everyone practically on the island there, walking around to be seen;) Our favorite shop was the candy store, where I got them hooked on gummy peach o's. One night we went and I got them some candies, and I asked them what they wanted. when I was going to also get some peach o's, they were like, "no, don't get those for us, unless you want them for yourself" and I decided to get them. As we walked out of the store, they tasted them and immediately fell in love. Every night after that, we went back in and got at least two small bags for us. The third time we went in, the shopkeeper, recognizing us, suggested that we buy a whole box to save money and the trip;) It was pretty funny, but didn't stop us from going back and getting more.
We also ate some delicious kabobs...probably some of the best I've ever eaten. The meat was so delicious and tender. We went to a few concerts (Reza Sadeghi, and Ehsun something) which were really fun, and notably, started at 12:30 am! I discovered polaki...a circular, thin, crispy sweet that is amazing with tea. We took a tour of the island's highlights on the "party bus" as we all fit in one huge van and were singing and dancing to the music between tourist sites.
also, now I can claim to have met some underground Persian musicians....two of the guys there were singers and let us listen to their music. funny enough, the other kids recognized some of the songs and didn't know that it was them. interesting what occurs under such governments...
After arriving back in tehran, I received an interesting text message...."hello, what is your name?" to which I replied, "what is yours?" Here's the response: "Amir, 25 years!" lol, I had a good laugh on that one, to which I replied, "Eman, 23 years" and needless to say, there was no further contact (Eman is a guys name in Iran:) I was tempted to reply with "what, you're not interested anymore?" but I refrained. Went to the relatively new and beautiful Azadi cinema and watched the movie Superstar....I was pleasantly surprised that I understood most of the movie (probably about 95%) compared to about 30% of the movie I saw in Iran last year at the cinema...I guess somethings working;)
Anyhoo, leaving tomorrow for France, so should be exciting;) hope yall are well.
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