Monday, July 28, 2008

My Mobile Phone...

Shortly after arriving in Qum, the Husband got me an Iranian sim card. I always wondered why sim cards here are so expensive. Turns out that once you buy the card, there's no monthly fee - you only pay for usage.

The bummer here is that to buy a post pay sim card, you have to be an Iranian (pay as you go ones are easier to get). The Husband took his Iranian friend with him to get me a sim card, which had a previous owner, but had been cut off for a while.

I haven't met that many people here yet, so my phone address book is quite empty. Within a few hours, I had a lady start texting me, thinking it was the previous owner. I nicknamed her 'Krazy Khanum' (khanum means lady). Turns out the sim card's previous owner had some kind of relationship with her, but then ditched her. I used to get missed calls during siesta time, phone calls from pay phones, as well as text messages asking what happened to the relationship etc. Each time, the husband would reply back saying that you have made a mistake, we've just bought this sim card etc.... Thankfully she's realised now and Krazy Khanum can go back to being just Khanum.

So anyways, the junior camp arrived today. (The Husband is the camp organiser) Some of the volunteers and myself went to the airport to meet them. We left Qum at half 1 in the morning, only to find that their flight was delayed. The ride to Qum takes about an hour and a half by coach, and we stopped only for refreshments and a prayer break. I advise anyone traveling to Qum from Imam Khumayni Airport should say they prayers BEFORE leaving the airport. The service station we stopped at had a prayer room, which was decent enough, but the washrooms were another story. I think the male ones were ok, but some stupid person had put the plug in the sink in the ladies, filled it up with water and then vomited into the sink. Needless to say, this was the last thing we needed at 5am with a group of tired teenagers from the west!

We dropped the kids off at their accommodation (Jamiatuz Zahra - the women's university - for the girls) and took the mentors off for the briefing session. Luckily breakfast was provided and the meeting was short and sweet. Got back home at about 9am, and planned to sleep till the afternoon.

Unfortunately, I was interupted by another wrong number. I answered the phone, thinking it might be one of the mentors trying to get hold of me. It was an Iranian guy asking me all sorts of questions - e.g. if I was in Tehran, where my husband was. I realised straight away that he was looking for the previous sim card owner. I hung up on him and tried to get back to sleep, but he kept ringing and ringing. After 5 rings, I kinda realised that he wouldn't stop until I answered, so I did. The guy asked me if I was married and would I like to marry him! Needless to say, the next time he rings, the Husband will be answering the phone!

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