now you see how i gained about two kilograms in three weeks. delicious home made food. and of course many great restaurants. how about the drinks? well, drinks of choice seem to be home made wine, home brewed beer, heineken, johnny walker black label, and basically anything else.
i spent last few days in the northern part of iran where i had lived for a few years. the changes in the last 32 years are stunning. at my time, most houses were single family homes. now, the prices (land, home) are so high that single family homes, commonly referred to as villas are rare. the food is delicious, and people are as hospitable as people in the rest of iran, if not more so. i spent most my time in rasht and lahijan with a few stops in other small towns.
a few years ago while living in san francisco, i watched an iranian movie with some great shots of a village called masouleh, in a mountainous area of the northern part of iran. today i visited this village for the first time. pictures are not great but hopefully give you a glimpse of the beauty and simplicity of this village.
music lives high in iran where you can find a tight knit group of audiophiles. my friend sirous omidvar of avin ava is contributing well to that. nami, sora and i had a great meal at sirous, shadi and avin’s home talking about cultures, life, and music. we adjourned to sirous’s meticulous showroom while nami, sora, and avin played with their four new kittys.
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.
