The end of the camp...

The last 5 days of the camp were spent in the Holy City of Mashad. Mashad is the 2nd biggest city in Iran and is the resting place of the 8th Imam of the Shite sect. The shrine where he is buried is HUGE! Its so easy to get lost, but luckily our hotel was within walking distance of the shrine (and the bazar!)

The schedule in Mashad was light, to allow the students to visit the shrine for prayers at their leisure and finish their shopping! For many of the campers, it was their first trip to a shrine and many of them were gob smacked when they saw the beauty and magnificence of the shrine and its surroundings.


Mashad is also home to a water park (like Wild Wadi in Dubai). There are separate days for women, so the Husband and I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids. The older campers decided to arrange a lecture instead (as they didn't want to have fun!), so I took the younger kids with me. The whole thing was an experience and as the only semi-Farsi speaking person in the group, I think my language skills greatly improved!

Buying the tickets was the first drama. We queued up for an hour and a quarter just to get the tickets. The ticket office is separate to the main building, so after getting the tickets, I then went to collect the kids who were sleeping in the bus (we had left the hotel at 8.30am!). Security to get into the pool is very tight. The security guard told us to leave all mobile phones and cameras etc in the 'daftar amanat' (like a cloakroom for valuables). Iranians insist that all swimmers wear swimming caps, so the next stop was the shop on-site.

Next, we queued up to go into the changing rooms. As well as searching our bags, our shoes also had to be removed. The girls passed through metal detectors too! One of the girls hadn't admitted to having an ipod earlier, so the women were insistant that it be checked into the daftar amanat. Somehow the girl managed to sneak it in. The next step was the shoe check in! You are given some flip flops to wear (you are not allowed to wear your shoes in the changing area) and you trade your shoes in for a locker key.

The girls started to get changed. Iranians are quite strict about swim wear, with no t-shirts or shorts allowed in the pool. The girls all had to pass through the pool attendant's strict criteria! At this point, we discovered one girl still didn't have a swimming cap and one's costume was not within the correct regulations! Feeling quite frazzled by this point, I was looking forward to a relaxing time in the jacuzzi!

Once all the girls were ready, we passed through the final check point. Here, the pool attendant checked the swimming attire, as well as ran a hand held metal detector over us. Once we got into the pool though, we had an AMAZING time. The Iranians (for a change) have done an excellent job with the place. There are lots of water slides (ones where you sit in a rubber ring etc), a lazy river (like Wild Wadi), a wave pool, a sleeping area, a jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, cold pool, loads of things for the younger kids....... The kids (and me!) had such an amazing time that we didn't want to leave :-(

Once I managed to force the kids out and get changed, we headed back to the hotel for a pizza lunch. I was narating the sequence of events at the pool to the Iranian volunteer's wife. She asked me if we were going to see the President or going swimming! Later though, her husband explained to us that in the past, people have taken pictures of ladies swimming and posted them on the internet, so that is why they take their security seriously. Even speactators are not allowed in the pool. Once I was aware of that, I actually appreciated the lengths the pool attendants went to to ensure our privacy.

Leaving Mashad was emotional for many of the campers as it was the last chance that many of them would have to see each other. The North American and European campers left Mashad earlier, flew back to Tehran, then took a coach to Qum. The African students, along with the Husband and myself and other volunteers stayed behind and took a later flight. We left the hotel at 6pm, drove to the airport and checked in. Internal flights land in at Mehrabad airport in Tehran, whereas international flights take off at Imam Khumayni airport (which is outside Tehran). We had to wait for a while at Mehrabad airport for the bus to arrive, and even when it did, the driver was unable to stop (a traffic warden kept telling him to move on). We ended up following the bus with our trolleys and bags for quite a while. We got our laugh, when just as we caught up with the bus, a strong gust of wind blew the traffic warden's papers out of his hand and we saw him trying to chase after them on the busy road!

We arrived at Imam Khumayni airport at around midnight. We feed the kids 'Boof' burgers and 'Icepack' milkshakes - both are highly recommended! The security checkpoint in Iran happens before check in, so we said our goodbyes to the students and made them pass through security as soon as their flight opened. Four of us volunteers then waited a couple of hours for the North American and European students to arrive. I was slightly worried as their bus had left Qum quite late and their flight had been announced twice before they arrived! needless to say the goodbyes to this group were very short! Once the kids were through, the volunteers and I all boarded taxis and made our way home. We arrived home at half 9 Sunday morning (15.5 hours after we had left our hotel in Mashad!)

Although the camp was exhausting, the Husband and I both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The campers were a really good bunch of kids and I look forward to next year's camp!

Not much time to sit and reminiscence about camp though.... We're leaving Qum to come back home (England/Canada) first thing tomorrow morning.... so whilst the Husband is wrapping up the camp paperwork, I'm left with the piles of laundry and packing :-(

See you all soon!

MY first time hosting lots of people!

When we first moved into the new place, the Husband wanted to host the camp boys at our new house for coffee and dessert. I'm not sure how the tables turned, but I ended up hosting the girls for dinner and a discussion!

Spent the morning shopping and visiting the shrine of Qum (which I will write about soon) with the girls, then rushed home to clean the place up! Since we have been out with the kids a lot, the cleaning has been a bit neglected :-( Hope the in laws are not reading!

Luckily though, I convinced the powers above to order in pizza for us, so all I had to make was pasta salad. The girls had an opportunity to see the view from the roof (you can see the shrine on one side and the mountain of Prophet Khidr on the other side). We were lucky enough to have a short talk and Q&A session with Salma Khalfan.

The place were the pizza came from (Pizza Pizza - the only decent pizza place here) had a power cut, so the food was delayed. They also ran out of delivery boys, so one of the volunteers had to go and pick up the pizza in a taxi! Needless to say, the driver arrived to pick the girls up before they had finished eating, and since we had so many pizzas and girls with very small appetites, we gave him a box of pizza to keep him happy! It was fun being hostess for the evening (for the very first time ever!) Although the Husband has conveniently disappeared to do his 'errands' after seeing the washing up pile!

The laundry and packing are also in progress (am just taking a quick break to eat breakfast and update the blog!) We are taking the kids to the city of Mashad later today, to visit the shrine of the 8th Holy Imam. Am not sure we will have Internet access there, but will update the blog when I return. Please pray the kids have a safe trip.

Tehran

Friday and Saturday were spent in Tehran with the camp kids. We left Qum at 5am and made our way to the shrine of Imam Khumayni. After a breakfast stop (where the choice of food was coco pops or jumbo coco pops!), we arrived at the shrine of the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. The shrine's office had organised a 'wreath laying' ceremony. While we were getting ready to go in, a crowd of Iranians gathered to watch, as we were entering through the door used by VIPs. I think the girls were taken aback by how much pride the country has in Imam Khumayni, and that stopped them from giggling too much.

We then visited the Behishte Zehra graveyard where the martyrs from the Iraq-Iran war are buried, as well as others who had contributed to the development of the Islamic Republic. Had to rush a bit here (didn't help that the girls were dawdling like old women!), as our next stop was the Friday prayer at Tehran University.

Friday prayer at the university is top security. The streets nearby are closed off and no cameras, phones or bags are allowed in. We were given VIP front row seats, which made the Tehranis very curious to know who we were. I used the chance to practise my Farsi to talk to the ladies sitting near me... although I haven't started formal classes yet, I think my vocabulary is getting better! Some of the girls were given prayer beads and other small gifts as presents from the Iranian ladies.

Neither the girls nor the boys dawdled to the next stop - a chel0 kebab and juje kebab stop! (lamb and chicken kebabs with rice). There was a partial solar eclipse happening too.... so we prayed the prayer in a park altogether.

After this, the younger and older camps separated - the older camp went to visit the Savak prison museum. Apparently, both groups were taken last year, but the plan was changed this year as many of the younger children were scared by the torture apparatus. Instead, we went to visit one of the Shah's palaces. The palaces have been preserved as a reminder of the extravagant lifestyle of this one family, while the rest of the country lived in poverty. I will post some pics up as soon as i have access to high speed Internet! The next stop was supposed to be the house of Imam Khumayni, for the children to compare how the 2 leaders lived. Imam Khumayni lived in a small house in a street so small that mini buses cannot drive all the way up. Unfortunately though, the kids were tired and so we made our way to the musafirkhana (youth hostel type thing, but not for youths only).

We had heard that the place had just been renovated. Didn't see much renovation though! The beds were hard (not sure you could even call them beds) and the bathrooms were a bit nasty. I also saw lizards in the reception area (didn't point them out to the girls!). Luckily it was only for 1 night. The next morning, we made another 5 am start (again, not appreciated by the kids!) We made our way to the Darband mountains. Most of us were not prepared for the walk - I had been told there were ski lifts to take you to the top - but at 6am on a working day, they were not walking. The walk up the mountain was very refreshing. There are many cafes and restaurants on the mountain, and people, as well as making their livelihood from feeding tourists, also live on the mountain. We saw many stray dogs, as well as ducks and donkeys (used to transport goods to the businesses). The volunteers found a cafe which was big enough for all of us (and was open!) This was the first time that I had eaten breakfast with the camp girls as I usually meet them at their first class or the first visit. We ordered 6 omelets between 17 and actually had left overs! The boys on the other hand ordered 22 omelets between 15 people!!

After the climb down, the volunteers tried to arrange a visit to Imam Khumayni's house, but were unable to secure a visit. Instead we took them to the graves of Shaykh Saduq (one of the early scholars of Shia'ism) and Rajabali Khayat (about whom the book 'Elixir of Love' is about. The shrines of the Holy Imam's children was not too far ( in the city of Rey), where we made our next stop. The Husband and the other volunteers left us to go and pick up some lunch. They trekked across the city to pick up the same Hardees burgers that we had on our last Tehran trip. Unfortunately for the volunteers and for us, it took them 2 hours to make the round trip as there were 4 accidents on the way :-(

By this point, I was completely shattered.... we boarded the bus to make our way back to Qum and I fell asleep most of the way! The kids enjoyed the trip, although I think most of them were glad to be back 'home' to Qum!