Iran part deux

ooo boy, time has flown by. life is going well, no complaints. well, actually there is one itty bitty major drawback. Tehran the last few days has been in the 90s, which is INSANELY ridiculous for april. I can't begin to imagine what august will be like here this year. My aunt informed me that usually this time of year it is cooler and rainy, and unfortunately I choose the year when it's a burning flipping inferno. although I can't honestly say where I'd rather be right now...heard that it snowed a few days ago in minnesota and it's in the 30s there....how about the average of the two, bueller? bueller? arman just informed me that I shouldn't limit my options to just two places, and why not try boston? after all, apparently its in the 70s. good point. san diego is starting to sound extremely appealing where it's a whopping 70 pretty much all year long. one good thing about tehran right now is it is a dry heat, but unfortunately with a coat and scarf on it doesn't earn too many bonus points. but, with that said, I am actually amazingly starting to get used to wearing a coat and scarf.

ok ok, enough weatherly complaints. things are going well. a nice mix between occupied and lazy bum, which suits me wonderfully. my dad got me in touch with a friend of a friend who's the leading genetique counseling doctor/clinical researcher in iran. he does research on predicting genetique diseases such as thalassemia and hemophilia. saw his lab/clinic, and it's pretty dang cool. got same stuff just like back home. has anyone seen lab benches that are made out of granite??! yeah, that's what I thought. plus, hands down the cleanest lab I have EVER seen, and in a decent sized lab they had about 30 girls (b/w 20 and 30 years old) doing research/clinical tests on patients. Pretty crazy/fun group of girls. they go crazy about science which was pretty sweet to see....made me think about the engeland lab and all us 5'5" brown haired girls;) he then put me in touch with his sister in law who is a general surgeon. went to the hospital and watched surgeries which was pretty....interesting. without knowing it, the first surgery I witnessed from 2 feet away at 9 am was an optional (cosmetic) breast reduction surgery. umm, yeah. apparently the surgeon's favorite type of surgery, but personally I think she's a bit wacko to feel this way. was a rather dull 2 plus hours in which she just cut out huge chunks of fat. we're talking over one kg from each one. almost put me off ice cream...almost;) the surgeon at one point was like, "jeez, what did this lady eat?!.....must have been a lot of kalepache" hehe...good thing I don't like it;) it was rather artistic though...I'll spare you the details, but just think, they had to make them both even....which when you are hacking away globs of fat left and right is a rather challenging chore. brought me back to the first year of snow sculpting, and bryan working the sphinx=) umm, yeah well anyways, you get the idea. chatted a bit with the anesthesiologist and other surgeons...really nice, fun group of people. this one really old guy after his surgery (forgot what he had done) started singing some old persian poems and made everyone laugh. also saw oral/plastic surgery done on this guy who had been shot about a year or so ago with a gun to the cheekbone. two awesome male oral surgeons were doing it, and they had the most fun I've ever seen. You'd think they were watching a futball (soccer) game if you heard them;) kept telling jokes left and right and then showing me the craziest things. at one point some of the other surgeons were trying to pull me away to eat lunch, but the guys wouldn't have it and sent someone to fetch me back and said this is the best part, you can't miss it. they had managed to break the guys jaw bone, and had pulled the upper lip all the way back (with the nose just flapping around) and all you could see was this huge bloody cavity. they then dug away and produced some bullets which they excitedly showed me. at this point the guys upper/lower bridges were wound together with wire and were at the bottom of his mouth. oh, and if this wasn't enough for you, to break the jaw bone they had giant tool box equipment...big screw drivers and hammers and such. yeeeaaaahhh. they realigned his jaw though and put in a plastic cheekbone and screwed his bridges back together. all in a days work. awo, and apparently they claimed he would heal faster than the lady who had her breasts downsized. but honestly, please, take it from me. if you are even remotely considering an optional cosmetic surgery, don't. it's just not worth it. to watch them cut and sew and poke around a perfectly healthy (to some extent;) human being was a bit much.

hmmm, what else. been taking a farsi conversation lesson twice a week, just me and my teacher. it's helping immensely and the best part is they bring in tea/coffee and dessert;) score. baked chocolate chip cookies a few times, which is a hit. even baba haidari tried one without anyone coaxing him to eat. awo speaking of which, we were watching the persepolis soccer game one afternoon and the funniest thing happened. baba haidari (80 some year old, cute as can be) was watching and the only line that came out of his mouth the entire game, but mind you was repeated about 15 times-every single time the camera showed someone falling-was "bah! *smacking his right hand to his thigh* yeki khord zamin!" which literally means "one ate the ground, but means that someone fell. absolutely downright made my day...ok maybe week;) other than that, my days have been spent lounging around the house/parks and reading...which seeing as I still have a plethora of books to go, has not lost its charm.

mohammad reza and I have been having a grand old time. for my bday, he took me to an indian restaurant which was delish and spent the rest of the day bumming around tehran. we've also managed to have a few colorful encounters with the park police which thankfully ended pretty quickly. the funniest thing I've learned so far, is that there are different types of police. there's the ones that are for cars, that could *note-hypothetically* see you kissing right in front of them and the only indication they give of witnessing it is a smile and salute-and then there's the park police that assume that a young boy and girl talking together albeit not touching are obviously up to no good. thankfully I have the fortune of being an "innocent american girl whose farsi isn't so great" so after a few minutes of confirming this and showing off a few words of english, they skidaddle. on a brighter note, tehran is blessed with some of the most beautiful parks. they are quite a haven from the rest of the busy city. and climbing in the mountains has quickly become a favorite pasttime as the air is clean, the peaceful sounds, and the wonderful omelettes;)

anyhoo, hope yall are doing well. I have about another 6 weeks in Iran and then I'm heading off to Sweden!