Sunday, February 8, 2009
India 1: Eman 0
Day one in India....Delhi 1, Eman 0. yup, I got a bad case of "Delhi belly" which basically means that the paneer and egg curry kicked my buttay last night. Add on top of that the horrible stressfulness of Delhi without train/hostel tickets and I ran all out of energy. I think if I write anything now it is not going to be too pleasant, so I'm just gonna hold off until later. suffice it to say, todaywas a nightmare, with everyone trying to hound you to go to their office. Even unofficial travel agancies claim to be official government places and "officials" with uniforms on and id's come up to "help" you, but its all a prank. mmmmmeeeehhhh....well we ended up booking all our hostels and train tickets for the rest of our staypretty much and we know we got jipped but retrospectively its nottooo much money for usand it'll be better than being hassled everywhere we go. Needless to say it was a big awakening for us. met a nice older lady who's an experienced traveller who is just as frustrated as us, but we're all happy now;) gonna go see the taj mahal tomorrow, so should be fun!! anyhoo, India so far has been comforting as it is way more develpoped than nepal, which is good after so much time with little electricity. hopefully the next few days will be more relaxing and better for my tummy;) cheerio!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Kathmandu
Kathmandu. I don't know where to begin, other than to say I've never been to a capital city without a street light. Yes, in the entire downtown area I have failed to see one. Imagine Tehran, but with narrow streets and many more motorcycles zipping around. And no sidewalks, so people walking on the sides of the road. Amazingly they are quite "good" drivers because they utilize the horn and aggressive driving skills to finnagle their way cross town. There are all sorts of sounds and smells as well that I never thought to encounter in such a big city. The rooster wakes us up in the morning, and the dogs are plentiful. In addition, a lovely aroma is released when they dig up the dirt streets to unplug the sewage system, essentially "repaving" the dirt road with a darker, more intense smelling type of dirt;) Pardon my French, but that's a very sh**y job. no pun intended.
The tallest building in town is, I believe, only about 5 stories tall. Ali and I climbed up to the monkey temple (named bc of the monkeys that wander around it, stealing food;) a few days ago, which sits on a lovely hill so it has amazing views of Kathmandu Valley. In all directions, as far as the eye can see, there are buildings. They say about 2-3 million people live there, but I would venture perhaps more. Apparently Nepal has more citizens than Australia, with a population of about 26 million. Quite a lot for such a small country. Many people live in rural areas and support themselves off the land. Hiking in the foothills was amazing as we got to see all the terraced hills where they grow many types of vegetation including corn, carrots, potatoes, herbs, rice and more. Viewing the open air meat butchers though has turned me into a vegetarian, at least here. I don't see how the driving cars and flies and open sewage system can add healthfully to the protein;) Houses in the countryside are simple, but better built than in Tanzania....probably due to the heavy rains during the monsoon season. They are mostly out of brick and wood, although poorer people simply have metal siding. They even have electricity way out in the boonies, and I had a hotter shower in the farthest town of our trek than in Kathmadu itself! Although this could be due to the electricity shortages they are experiencing. Ali's Nepali "family" attributed it to the Maoist insurgents in the government who have recently taken more power, however we met a few university grad students yesterday who vehemently denied this and said it was simply due to the lack of rain. I suspect this was due to the fact that they were wary of openly discussing politics (we were in a small local joint, where we ate samosas, tibetan bread, some chick pea soup, and a sweet desert for a whopping $1!) or else they supported the Maoists. Anyhoo, there is suspicion that they are selling electricity to India, as they have never had such sever electricity shortages before until the Maoists took power. Apparently Nepal has huge potential for generating electricity from the water, however they have insufficient means to capture it and the Indians were willing to help if they could get 80% of the power generated...not a fair deal by any means. They are supposedly looking for aid to help them develop better means to obtain the energy. Anyhoo, enough politics.
On our hike we went to Machupuchchre, or Fish Tail mountain, in the Annapurna Mountains of the Himalayas. It was magnificent. We got to see the sunrise from Poon Hill with great views of the range, and then hiked "through" the clouds! Ali unfortunately got a little altitude sickness as we hiked up 4000 feet in one day-the suggested safe range is 1-2000 feet! Luckily she got some gatorade and food in her and got better shortly. Cooking on the trek was tasty, although much I suspect was due to the huge amount of calories we were burning. They made most of the food with ketchup...need I say more. Arman, you would have loved it;) The people are very tolerant religion wise....Buddist, Hindus and Muslims get along sans problem and they seem to be a fairly religious group of people. Temples everywhere, (with lots of people praying) and Buddist prayer flags flying throughout the country. A cool thing we saw on the trek was a corn mill powered by a little creek. It was pretty cool to see how it worked and eventually I'll post the picture.
Yesterday we headed out to Baktapur, an historic town with lots of beautiful old buildings. They are famous for their curd (yogurt) and make a very delicious sweet yogurt. The buildings had amazing wood carving in them...very detailed and beautiful. We also saw them making pots...the "wheel" was literally a wheel....a big fat tire wheel that and old man spun fast with a stick before he proceeded to throw the pots. He managed to produce amazing pots in that one spinning of the wheel. I've never been so impressed, especially knowing just how difficult it is to actually make a pot on an electric wheel! It was a whole family affair as the men pounded the clay, the women dried the pots in the sun and attended to the details. It was really cool to see.
So after 10 days in Nepal, I've managed to learn a meager amount of Nepali. I learned a very important phrase though from our guide Chhining- beware of cat is "biralu hernu." He was so scared of them, it was quite funny. Whenever we passed by one he would put a good 10 feet between himself and the cat. Namaste is the greeting, malaicuchilai is nice to meet you, tapaicostohonuncha is how are you, peribedhonla is by, dhanevat is thank you, boklagyo is are you hungry, dherai mitucha is very delicious, dherai ramrocha is very beautiful, garmi is warm, jado is cold, and titcha is ok. A very cool sounding language and hard to separate the words as they put them all together when they speak. Apparently they can understand Hindi and only differ in the pronounciation of the words. They can watch Hindi movies/music/tv with no problems.
Anyhoo, we're off to Delhi today. All in all, Nepal will be missed although I can't quite say that for Kathmandu;) The countryside is absolutely gorgeous though and the people super friendly and helpful. It's the only place I've been to where the locals make sure you don't get ripped off when riding in a microbus. They actually harangue the ticket guy until he gives you your proper change back!
The tallest building in town is, I believe, only about 5 stories tall. Ali and I climbed up to the monkey temple (named bc of the monkeys that wander around it, stealing food;) a few days ago, which sits on a lovely hill so it has amazing views of Kathmandu Valley. In all directions, as far as the eye can see, there are buildings. They say about 2-3 million people live there, but I would venture perhaps more. Apparently Nepal has more citizens than Australia, with a population of about 26 million. Quite a lot for such a small country. Many people live in rural areas and support themselves off the land. Hiking in the foothills was amazing as we got to see all the terraced hills where they grow many types of vegetation including corn, carrots, potatoes, herbs, rice and more. Viewing the open air meat butchers though has turned me into a vegetarian, at least here. I don't see how the driving cars and flies and open sewage system can add healthfully to the protein;) Houses in the countryside are simple, but better built than in Tanzania....probably due to the heavy rains during the monsoon season. They are mostly out of brick and wood, although poorer people simply have metal siding. They even have electricity way out in the boonies, and I had a hotter shower in the farthest town of our trek than in Kathmadu itself! Although this could be due to the electricity shortages they are experiencing. Ali's Nepali "family" attributed it to the Maoist insurgents in the government who have recently taken more power, however we met a few university grad students yesterday who vehemently denied this and said it was simply due to the lack of rain. I suspect this was due to the fact that they were wary of openly discussing politics (we were in a small local joint, where we ate samosas, tibetan bread, some chick pea soup, and a sweet desert for a whopping $1!) or else they supported the Maoists. Anyhoo, there is suspicion that they are selling electricity to India, as they have never had such sever electricity shortages before until the Maoists took power. Apparently Nepal has huge potential for generating electricity from the water, however they have insufficient means to capture it and the Indians were willing to help if they could get 80% of the power generated...not a fair deal by any means. They are supposedly looking for aid to help them develop better means to obtain the energy. Anyhoo, enough politics.
On our hike we went to Machupuchchre, or Fish Tail mountain, in the Annapurna Mountains of the Himalayas. It was magnificent. We got to see the sunrise from Poon Hill with great views of the range, and then hiked "through" the clouds! Ali unfortunately got a little altitude sickness as we hiked up 4000 feet in one day-the suggested safe range is 1-2000 feet! Luckily she got some gatorade and food in her and got better shortly. Cooking on the trek was tasty, although much I suspect was due to the huge amount of calories we were burning. They made most of the food with ketchup...need I say more. Arman, you would have loved it;) The people are very tolerant religion wise....Buddist, Hindus and Muslims get along sans problem and they seem to be a fairly religious group of people. Temples everywhere, (with lots of people praying) and Buddist prayer flags flying throughout the country. A cool thing we saw on the trek was a corn mill powered by a little creek. It was pretty cool to see how it worked and eventually I'll post the picture.
Yesterday we headed out to Baktapur, an historic town with lots of beautiful old buildings. They are famous for their curd (yogurt) and make a very delicious sweet yogurt. The buildings had amazing wood carving in them...very detailed and beautiful. We also saw them making pots...the "wheel" was literally a wheel....a big fat tire wheel that and old man spun fast with a stick before he proceeded to throw the pots. He managed to produce amazing pots in that one spinning of the wheel. I've never been so impressed, especially knowing just how difficult it is to actually make a pot on an electric wheel! It was a whole family affair as the men pounded the clay, the women dried the pots in the sun and attended to the details. It was really cool to see.
So after 10 days in Nepal, I've managed to learn a meager amount of Nepali. I learned a very important phrase though from our guide Chhining- beware of cat is "biralu hernu." He was so scared of them, it was quite funny. Whenever we passed by one he would put a good 10 feet between himself and the cat. Namaste is the greeting, malaicuchilai is nice to meet you, tapaicostohonuncha is how are you, peribedhonla is by, dhanevat is thank you, boklagyo is are you hungry, dherai mitucha is very delicious, dherai ramrocha is very beautiful, garmi is warm, jado is cold, and titcha is ok. A very cool sounding language and hard to separate the words as they put them all together when they speak. Apparently they can understand Hindi and only differ in the pronounciation of the words. They can watch Hindi movies/music/tv with no problems.
Anyhoo, we're off to Delhi today. All in all, Nepal will be missed although I can't quite say that for Kathmandu;) The countryside is absolutely gorgeous though and the people super friendly and helpful. It's the only place I've been to where the locals make sure you don't get ripped off when riding in a microbus. They actually harangue the ticket guy until he gives you your proper change back!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Nepal
I've been in Nepal for a week now, and I think it's safe to say the Nepali are some of the nicest people I have met. My first encounter was meeting Ali at the airport and getting a cab to our hostel. I was dead tired and the guy asked me if I had been to Nepal before. Through his accent, all I heard was "are you very poor?" to which I paused, a little confused, and then responded emphatically "yes I'm poor, I don't have a job!" He just burst out laughing hysterically with his friends and they were like, man that's gonna be a great story for your friends;) Kind of a funny response given I'm in one of the poorest countries in the world;) anyhoo, the people here are awesome. There are no lewd comments, not too much ripping off, and usually just a general sense of interest. The plane from Bahrain to Kathmandu was interesting...I was definitely the tallest of all the girls and probably the same height as the tallest men. It was a flight packed with Nepali workers returning home....out of 300 passengers I was the only white one. They boarded the women first and when an airport worker saw that I had an American passport, he (embarassingly) let me ahead of everyone else and I was given a business class seat. It felt like a party on the plane although I didn't understand a word. Kathmandu is a very dusty city...not much like a capital you'd picture. There are monkeys, dogs, cows, chickens and more roaming around the dirt streets. buildings are only a few stories tall, but it is a pretty large city. I quickly learned that they drive on the "other" side of the street, which I hadn't known. Things are cheap here. We've hit my record (and probably forever) alltime low of a whopping $1.33 for one night at a hostel. I was pretty impressed. The main food Nepali eat is Dhal-Baat. It's basically rice with a lentil stew, and they serve it to you with some chapati, veggie cury and some pickled dishes. Pretty yummy. They eat it twice a day, for lunch and dinner, and usually only have a cup of milk tea for breakfast.
Ali and I just finished a 5-day trek through the Annapurna circuit....It had amazing views of the himilayas. We hiked about 4-6 hours per day and got extremely tired by the end as it was mostly straight up and then straight down. We still have pain when we walk and get up;) Met an amazing girl from Vancouver though who we spent the first 3 days with, which made for some amuzing conversations as we walked. Our guide, Chhining, whom Ali found through her volunteering at the orphanage, was the kindest boy. He always laughed at my attempts to speak Nepali:) I once said "Nepal dherai mitocha" which I meant to be "Nepal is beautiful" but which really was "Nepal is delicious!" He was very amused. Everytime I said something he couldn't understand, he just smiled an enormous smile and laughed. All in all things are going well here. We've eaten some amazing cheap food...moma (dumplings), noodle soups, and chapati being some of my favorites. They have yak cheese too which is sort of a miz of mozarella and parmesian, and is yummy. We also had fresh milk this morning up in a small village in the mountains which was quite delicious. More to come later...we still have a few more days left in Nepal before heading on to Delhi...hope you all are doing well!
Ali and I just finished a 5-day trek through the Annapurna circuit....It had amazing views of the himilayas. We hiked about 4-6 hours per day and got extremely tired by the end as it was mostly straight up and then straight down. We still have pain when we walk and get up;) Met an amazing girl from Vancouver though who we spent the first 3 days with, which made for some amuzing conversations as we walked. Our guide, Chhining, whom Ali found through her volunteering at the orphanage, was the kindest boy. He always laughed at my attempts to speak Nepali:) I once said "Nepal dherai mitocha" which I meant to be "Nepal is beautiful" but which really was "Nepal is delicious!" He was very amused. Everytime I said something he couldn't understand, he just smiled an enormous smile and laughed. All in all things are going well here. We've eaten some amazing cheap food...moma (dumplings), noodle soups, and chapati being some of my favorites. They have yak cheese too which is sort of a miz of mozarella and parmesian, and is yummy. We also had fresh milk this morning up in a small village in the mountains which was quite delicious. More to come later...we still have a few more days left in Nepal before heading on to Delhi...hope you all are doing well!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sweden
Stockholm quickly became one of my favorite cities in the world. It's got the perfect mix of lively activity, clean air, and active citizens. People walk or bike nearly everywhere, and there are lots of cute shops, delicious restaurants, and fun sites. It's a bit less expensive than Norway, but can still be fairly pricey. The city spreads over about 14 islands and the buildings are as cute as can be. Despite being a fairly big city (around 2 million including the suburbs) the town has lots of green areas close by.
Spent the first day exploring with the wimmers and then drove up to their friend's house in Uppsala. Picked arman up from the airport the next day and then drove to their cabin on an island on the baltic sea. spent a wonderful midsummers eating strawberry cake, listening to traditional music, and watching kids play many traditional races. The kids were dressed to a t, and seemed to have been taken straight out of a polo/ralph lauren magazine. We also all danced around the maypole and sang songs....hands down it was one of the best holiday celebrations yet....everyone was smiling and laughing and having a blast. That night we had a traditional midsummer's meal, including herring and aquavit. The wimmers supplied us with wonderful french wines, so the meals were five course meals including the drinks;) champagne to start, a shot of aquavit, a glass of wine, a glass of belgium beer, followed by some brandy at the end. not too shabby;) Took a ride on the sailboat one day, as well as the little two-person sailboat. Went swimming in the freezing water (18c or thereabouts). also went fishing for herring...although I seemed to have brought the bad luck as we only caught about 6 and they claimed they usually grab a bucketful in under 30 min. went back to stockholm and explored the city more with arman. went to see the vasa ship, which sank 30 min into its maiden voyage due to being top heavy. an absolutely stunning ship though. so many detailed wood carvings and detailed work went into it.
Headed for two days over to vasa, finland to try to trace my grandma's family down. Didn't get too far as we think my great grandpa may have changed his name when coming to the states...we found a karl oskar nordberg who was born just 11 days earlier, but he had only sisters compared to my great grandpa's 7 brothers and only one sister. anyhoo, vasa was a rather dull town with common shops and not much to do. met an amazing bartender the first day at the hotel though, who brought us to vora, a geneological place that had lots of information. finland was quite different from norway and sweden as most people did not speak much english. they also tended to look much more russian. the swedes and norweigans have perfect english with hardly any accent, which they say they get from watching tv with subtitles. they are also the most beautiful people i have ever seen.
have been back in stockholm the last few days and have been enjoying the time strolling through the city, doing some shopping and snapping pictures. looking forward to being back in the states shortly!
Spent the first day exploring with the wimmers and then drove up to their friend's house in Uppsala. Picked arman up from the airport the next day and then drove to their cabin on an island on the baltic sea. spent a wonderful midsummers eating strawberry cake, listening to traditional music, and watching kids play many traditional races. The kids were dressed to a t, and seemed to have been taken straight out of a polo/ralph lauren magazine. We also all danced around the maypole and sang songs....hands down it was one of the best holiday celebrations yet....everyone was smiling and laughing and having a blast. That night we had a traditional midsummer's meal, including herring and aquavit. The wimmers supplied us with wonderful french wines, so the meals were five course meals including the drinks;) champagne to start, a shot of aquavit, a glass of wine, a glass of belgium beer, followed by some brandy at the end. not too shabby;) Took a ride on the sailboat one day, as well as the little two-person sailboat. Went swimming in the freezing water (18c or thereabouts). also went fishing for herring...although I seemed to have brought the bad luck as we only caught about 6 and they claimed they usually grab a bucketful in under 30 min. went back to stockholm and explored the city more with arman. went to see the vasa ship, which sank 30 min into its maiden voyage due to being top heavy. an absolutely stunning ship though. so many detailed wood carvings and detailed work went into it.
Headed for two days over to vasa, finland to try to trace my grandma's family down. Didn't get too far as we think my great grandpa may have changed his name when coming to the states...we found a karl oskar nordberg who was born just 11 days earlier, but he had only sisters compared to my great grandpa's 7 brothers and only one sister. anyhoo, vasa was a rather dull town with common shops and not much to do. met an amazing bartender the first day at the hotel though, who brought us to vora, a geneological place that had lots of information. finland was quite different from norway and sweden as most people did not speak much english. they also tended to look much more russian. the swedes and norweigans have perfect english with hardly any accent, which they say they get from watching tv with subtitles. they are also the most beautiful people i have ever seen.
have been back in stockholm the last few days and have been enjoying the time strolling through the city, doing some shopping and snapping pictures. looking forward to being back in the states shortly!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Norway
Flew from Iran to Stockholm and then Oslo, which was an adventurous day. Topped it off by meeting my aunt and mom, who had managed to nearly lose a passport twice that day (all the while it was somewhere on the body). Finally we arrived in Oslo, after much hysteria. A nice Norweigan man offered to drive us to our hotel and he gave us a brief tour of Oslo on the way. It's a cute little city, much like Minneapolis. Laid back and quiet but very cute. Spent the next day wandering around the city-it is ridiculously expensive. The city bus cost $8 per person one way! We went out to dinner at a "nice, inexpensive" italian restaurant...one personal pizza, a pasta, and a caraf of wine later, and it cost us $100. Went to see a few viking ships, which were pretty cool. Spent the rest of the day walking around town and shopping. On the bus ride we saw a bunch of young norweigan school children who were as cute as could be...all blond hair and blue eyes which was quite a contrast to Iran;) The next day we took a train ride out and saw the beautiful norweigan countryside....rocky, very green with trees everywhere and in the middle of the country we past by a region with a few feet of snow everywhere and not a thing in sight. Got of in flam and took a very scenic little train through the valleys and by some amazing waterfalls. Then boarded a boat and rode through the fjords to our hotel...in the middle of nowhere on a fjord with stunning views.
The next day we went to see a glacier and enjoyed some more boating expeditions on the fjords. Talked to some kids working at the hotel and found out that they were mostly austrians, as Norweigans only work an average of 6 hours a day, and they expect too much pay. The Scandinavian countries serve amazing buffet breakfasts with a huge variety of food. Everything from fresh breads, cheese, meats, fruits, eggs, meat, fish, pancakes and sometimes even espresso. Quite a change from flat bread and feta cheese everyday for 3 months;) Next morning we nearly missed the boat to Bergen, a cute little town on the coast with lots of old style houses and fun little shops. It's quite a big city (for norway at least) and had a lot of character to it. Hands down, Norway is the most beautiful country (landscape wise) that I have seen. It's a beautifully rugged country, that reminds me of a more hilly northern minnesota, although mn pales in comparison. words and pictures just don't do it justice.
The next day we went to see a glacier and enjoyed some more boating expeditions on the fjords. Talked to some kids working at the hotel and found out that they were mostly austrians, as Norweigans only work an average of 6 hours a day, and they expect too much pay. The Scandinavian countries serve amazing buffet breakfasts with a huge variety of food. Everything from fresh breads, cheese, meats, fruits, eggs, meat, fish, pancakes and sometimes even espresso. Quite a change from flat bread and feta cheese everyday for 3 months;) Next morning we nearly missed the boat to Bergen, a cute little town on the coast with lots of old style houses and fun little shops. It's quite a big city (for norway at least) and had a lot of character to it. Hands down, Norway is the most beautiful country (landscape wise) that I have seen. It's a beautifully rugged country, that reminds me of a more hilly northern minnesota, although mn pales in comparison. words and pictures just don't do it justice.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Isfahan and Kashan
Headed to Isfahan to visit haleh and kia and had a blast. It is one of the most beautiful cities in iran that i have seen thus far. the fresh air up at the base of the mountains where they lived was also well needed. spent a day touring the city and learned lots of amazing things. all the ancient buildings had some inciteful trick built into them. also saw a pigeon tower where thousands of years ago they collected pigeon dung for maneur...apparently england wants to copy this now. they killed the predators of the pigeons-rats and snakes by ingenious methods...snakes by pitchers filled with milk that they would get stuck in, and the rats by putting wet flour on the ground that would harden in their stomachs and kill them. also saw the shaking minarets which were impressive. sat out and enjoyed some of the lovely bridges also. saw an old armenian church still in use today which was absolutely beautiful...also saw the piece of hair on exhibit there where a guy wrote on it with diamond. had a memorable moment at the abbasi hotel cafe where i asked for the bill by asking for the "hissab surat."
kia, haleh and i then took the bus to kashan, in between isfahan and tehran. went out and saw the little mountain town of absineh which was somewhat similar to sirince in turkey. you could wander the streets and buy lots of local foods they made...the faludeh was amazing. we also went to see how they made rose water and about 30 other eraghs. had a cute little taxi driver who on the way, offered us tea, cookies, sugar cubes, nuts and fruit. i joked that he had the kebabs in the trunk;) also saw an underground tunnel/cave area where the worshippers of mitra built many, many years ago. walked around and saw some beautiful and huge housed in kashan. we saw one that was so big it was being turned into a hotel and was absolutely gorgeous, with a hamum inside.
all in all, it was a great getaway from the busy, crowded and polluted streets of tehran;)
kia, haleh and i then took the bus to kashan, in between isfahan and tehran. went out and saw the little mountain town of absineh which was somewhat similar to sirince in turkey. you could wander the streets and buy lots of local foods they made...the faludeh was amazing. we also went to see how they made rose water and about 30 other eraghs. had a cute little taxi driver who on the way, offered us tea, cookies, sugar cubes, nuts and fruit. i joked that he had the kebabs in the trunk;) also saw an underground tunnel/cave area where the worshippers of mitra built many, many years ago. walked around and saw some beautiful and huge housed in kashan. we saw one that was so big it was being turned into a hotel and was absolutely gorgeous, with a hamum inside.
all in all, it was a great getaway from the busy, crowded and polluted streets of tehran;)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
