Tags: iran, travels
i am now in tehran, visiting my home country after about 32 years. there are many cousins i am now meeting for the first time. my aunts and uncles look much older now. everyone is so kind and i am so proud of the good people they are.
the trip through customs was uneventful and easy. the immigration officers were very professional to everyone. i was wearing conservative clothing (versus my usual music type of a guy dude stuff) but i soon realized my concern was a bit unfounded. you see all kinds of people, albeit it still makes sense to be on the conservative side to avoid the fashion police.
i have only had a two hour walk outside home. i passed by many men who appear to be gay. so yes, forget what you heard at columbia university! women cover their head with a scarf but it is often pretty fashionable and does not cover the head fully. in fact, some of their fashion and scarves draw attention to them more. e.g. a young woman covering half of her head with a scarf and her hair closer to the front was blue.
access to facebook and twitter is very difficult. i am taking a lot of pictures that i will be posting here. so far there have been two trips in my life i have been most excited about. this trip to visit iran, and my 1977 trip out of iran when i moved to switzerland.
Tags: chicago
well, unfortunately we were not even selected as one of the two last finalists. frankly, i was really concerned when 500,000 spaniards went to the streets supporting madrid as the potential host city for the olympics. i just don’t think we could have had that outpouring in chicago. too many people not supporting it. even our city council (alderman) was not totally onboard until last week.
really a shame. i am sad about it.
i was in seoul, korea many times before the world cup and shortly after the world cup. the improvements to the city, and the internationalization of the city was as a byproduct of the world cup events was impressive. i think chicago and america would have benefited from the events. as for me, despite my sadness, i am glad to see how i feel for the city. maybe it is becoming a home, after all.
Tags: travels
excited to be in vienna, the city of gorgeous architecture, beautiful music, and of course klimt. pictures to be posted soon. great lunch at plachutta. great coffee and some kinda viennese cake at the quaint leopold hawelka. open sandwiches at a nice shop in front of it. met a lady who happens to be from the same city as the character of bruno, played by sacha cohen.
Tags: chicago
tomorrow is a big day. we will know if chicago will be the olympics host city. i am very happy that our president and first lady are in copenhagen pitching chicago. i still think of san francisco as home but am glad to see myself getting more and more excited when i talk about chicago.
Tags: travels
i am very happy i came to warsaw. met many new people and of course some audiophiles too. the dinner last night was bad. i went to a restaurant called belvedere. i was told it is the best restaurant in warsaw but my fear proved true. it is the kinda place businessmen and diplomats with an expense account and no taste, wanting to impress others go to. unfortunately it cost me over $200 to realize that.
so, tonight i went back to the same restaurant i had gone two nights ago. i love it. polish food, great good. they recommended a few places for me to go to in vienna. i ended the evening with the opening party of pedro almodovar movie. met some very nice people. one person was an american champ living here and studying polish and wanting to get his master’s degree in economics. impressive. how often do we run into someone wanting to learn polish?
many thanks go to my friends in poland. appreciate your hospitality and hope to see you in chicago – hopefully the host city for the olympics.
