As I've mentioned before, sometimes we have serious jokes in our Farsi classes. But the weird thing is that NO ONE in the class laughes, apart from ZW, HD and me!
The other day, we had some sentences that were all jumbled that we had to re-organise to make a couple of stories. Both the stories were hilarious and I've typed them out so you can tell me if you think they are laugh worthy too...
The Lost Donkey
A simple man had lost his donkey. Even so, he was still thanking God. A man asked him: "Your donkey is lost, why are you thanking God?" The simple man replied: "The reason I am thanking God is because I was not sitting on the donkey. If I had been sitting on him, I too would have been lost for 4 days!
The Thief and the Bell
An expensive and beautiful doorbell was hanging on the door of one of the wealthy men of the town. A thief walked past, saw the bell and wanted to steal it. But he was scared that if the bell moved, it would make a sound and the owner of the house would hear. So, the thief decided to put some cotton in his ears, so that he would not be able to hear the sound of the bell. After doing this, the thief went towards the bell (to steal it), not realising that the ears of others are open and are able to hear the sound of the bell. As soon as he started to remove the bell from the wall, it started moving and ringing, so the owner of the house came out to see what was happening. The simple thief was astonished and said to the house owner: "I am surprised that you can hear the sound of the bell from so far, whereas I am so close and I can't hear it!"
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tehran
The rest of the university has set examination times (i.e. end of the term), whereas we have exams all the time :-( Anyways, the students living in the dorms were taken to Mashad at the end of exams, which meant a 5 day break for the rest of us! The break couldn't have come at a better time. Farsi is really starting to drag on a bit now.
My friends and I spent one of our days off in Tehran. We travelled by public bus, after which we switched to the Tehran metro. We were lucky enough to have a Tehrani with us to take us shopping!
On the metro, we travelled in the women's only carriages. It was really bizarre to see women getting on and selling all kinds of things... cleaning cloths, hair bands, make up bags and even bras! Apparently, they can make good money, but if caught, can be arrested and imprisoned!
I knew shopping in Tehran was expensive, but I didn't realise how expensive. The first area we went to had really nice clothes, but way out of our student price range. After lunch (at Super Star Burger aka Hardees), we continued our shopping at Vali Asr Square. The shopping here was a little more within our price range. We even discovered a "Dubai Shopping Centre"
My friends and I spent one of our days off in Tehran. We travelled by public bus, after which we switched to the Tehran metro. We were lucky enough to have a Tehrani with us to take us shopping!
On the metro, we travelled in the women's only carriages. It was really bizarre to see women getting on and selling all kinds of things... cleaning cloths, hair bands, make up bags and even bras! Apparently, they can make good money, but if caught, can be arrested and imprisoned!
Firdowsi Square - our first stop (to exchange money).
The white statue is of the famous poet Fird0wsi
The white statue is of the famous poet Fird0wsi
I knew shopping in Tehran was expensive, but I didn't realise how expensive. The first area we went to had really nice clothes, but way out of our student price range. After lunch (at Super Star Burger aka Hardees), we continued our shopping at Vali Asr Square. The shopping here was a little more within our price range. We even discovered a "Dubai Shopping Centre"
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
I found out that in Iran, Valentine's Day is for boyfriend-girlfriends and not husband-wife! Despite this, I still bought The Husband some heart sweets (and he made me lunch!)
BTW, the Christmas tree that I reported on in an earlier entry is still here - lights and all! The shopkeeper obviously has no idea what it is.
BTW, the Christmas tree that I reported on in an earlier entry is still here - lights and all! The shopkeeper obviously has no idea what it is.
25 Things about Qum
In the spirit of the “25 things that you never knew about me” Facebook lists that are going around, I thought I’d write 25 things about Qum! BTW, if you’re my FB friend, don’t even dare tagging me in one of those lists! If you want to know about me, just read my blog.
So here it is... 25 things you (hopefully) never knew about Qum:
1. A car flashing headlights at you while you’re in Qum means “Don’t even think about crossing the road”
2. I have yet to find a pavement/sidewalk that I can actually walk on without tripping over steps, holes or garbage!
3. Iranian women somehow manage to juggle school bags, handbags and young kids and STILL manage to keep their chadors on their heads. I fail to handle my school bag and chador.
4. Iranian restaurant chefs are lazy. They can cook chelo kebab and maybe juje kebab if you’re lucky. That’s it.
5. Qum water is salty. Dishes have water marks on them, no matter how many times you wash them.
6. We only get 1-day weekends here – Fridays. One of the toughest things that I’ve come across here!
7. On that note, there is no water on Fridays – it’s the day that EVERYONE has a shower, does their laundry and cleans their house.
8. Further more, EVERYTHING in the city is closed on Fridays from late morning to evening. It’s how I imagine Sundays should be back in the West – a day to spend with the family.
9. Making tea is an art here. If your host offers you tea, it can take them upto an hour to actually serve it to you.
10. You can buy most medicines over the counter here (anti-biotics, Prozac...)
11. There’s a mosque on every street corner.
12. There’s a beauty salon on every street corner (are these 2 related?). Women’s beauty salons have a yellow curtain on the door saying “men not allowed in” or something to that effect.
13. Qum people are very nosy. Random people on the street will make it their business to know your business and comment on it. In such circumstances, I pretend to not know Farsi.
14. Kellog’s Cornflakes are $7 a box. (if you’re planning a trip out here, I like All Bran and Rice Krispies!)
15. Same with imported Cadbury’s (Dairy Milk and Whole Nut – hint, hint!!)
16. Fruits and vegetables are seasonal and don’t keep for very long.
17. Iranian dates are the best in the world – just watch out for the occasional bug!
18. Garbage collections happen every night – you just leave your garbage outside and its gone in the morning!
19. People (and cats) go through your garbage. Its not uncommon to come out of your house and find your garbage all over the street. I think they look for things they can sell or recycle, so I put out bottles in separate bags.
20. Even old bread is bought and re-used as cattle feed. (The man walks in the alleyways shouting “noone khushk” meaning dry bread)
21. People from all over the world come to Qum to study. It’s like the United Nations, with people from Azerbaijan, Myanmar and African countries I never knew existed.
22. Most people’s geography here sucks. They have no idea where most countries are on a world map. They can barely point out their own country
23. EVERYONE (and their goldfish) in this city wants to learn English.
24. Most young women here are very slim, but after 40, this suddenly changes and they all put on weight... must be all the rice they eat!
25. Despite all this, it’s still home! (well, home for now!) and I’m starting to like it here (sort of!)
So here it is... 25 things you (hopefully) never knew about Qum:
1. A car flashing headlights at you while you’re in Qum means “Don’t even think about crossing the road”
2. I have yet to find a pavement/sidewalk that I can actually walk on without tripping over steps, holes or garbage!
3. Iranian women somehow manage to juggle school bags, handbags and young kids and STILL manage to keep their chadors on their heads. I fail to handle my school bag and chador.
4. Iranian restaurant chefs are lazy. They can cook chelo kebab and maybe juje kebab if you’re lucky. That’s it.
5. Qum water is salty. Dishes have water marks on them, no matter how many times you wash them.
6. We only get 1-day weekends here – Fridays. One of the toughest things that I’ve come across here!
7. On that note, there is no water on Fridays – it’s the day that EVERYONE has a shower, does their laundry and cleans their house.
8. Further more, EVERYTHING in the city is closed on Fridays from late morning to evening. It’s how I imagine Sundays should be back in the West – a day to spend with the family.
9. Making tea is an art here. If your host offers you tea, it can take them upto an hour to actually serve it to you.
10. You can buy most medicines over the counter here (anti-biotics, Prozac...)
11. There’s a mosque on every street corner.
12. There’s a beauty salon on every street corner (are these 2 related?). Women’s beauty salons have a yellow curtain on the door saying “men not allowed in” or something to that effect.
13. Qum people are very nosy. Random people on the street will make it their business to know your business and comment on it. In such circumstances, I pretend to not know Farsi.
14. Kellog’s Cornflakes are $7 a box. (if you’re planning a trip out here, I like All Bran and Rice Krispies!)
15. Same with imported Cadbury’s (Dairy Milk and Whole Nut – hint, hint!!)
16. Fruits and vegetables are seasonal and don’t keep for very long.
17. Iranian dates are the best in the world – just watch out for the occasional bug!
18. Garbage collections happen every night – you just leave your garbage outside and its gone in the morning!
19. People (and cats) go through your garbage. Its not uncommon to come out of your house and find your garbage all over the street. I think they look for things they can sell or recycle, so I put out bottles in separate bags.
20. Even old bread is bought and re-used as cattle feed. (The man walks in the alleyways shouting “noone khushk” meaning dry bread)
21. People from all over the world come to Qum to study. It’s like the United Nations, with people from Azerbaijan, Myanmar and African countries I never knew existed.
22. Most people’s geography here sucks. They have no idea where most countries are on a world map. They can barely point out their own country
23. EVERYONE (and their goldfish) in this city wants to learn English.
24. Most young women here are very slim, but after 40, this suddenly changes and they all put on weight... must be all the rice they eat!
25. Despite all this, it’s still home! (well, home for now!) and I’m starting to like it here (sort of!)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
New Farsi books
The head of the Farsi department at Jamiatuz Zahra has written some kick-ass new Farsi books. From the 3rd book (Kitabe Sevom) onwards, the books have been re-written with a new format and are tonnes better than the previous ones.
Each dars (lesson) has several sections. The dars starts off with the main passage, which can vary from a poem to a story of a Prophet or simple things like the importance of water. I like the sciency ones, cos you can blag the summaries the next day in class! The new words are translated at the bottom of the passage into Farsi. They’re really big on this – learning the Farsi translation of words in Farsi! For someone like me, who thinks in English, it means I have to learn each word 3 times – twice in Farsi and once in English!
The next section is Dastoore Zaban which means laws of language or grammar. This is followed by loads of exercises (fill in the blanks, questions etc) to reinforce the content of the passage and the grammar rule.
There’s also a passge to read through with the conversation teacher, as well as a dars for listening. The reading passage is usually connected to the main dars in some way. The last lesson we covered, the main passage was about Prophet Abraham and the reading passage was a story from his life. The last 2 sections are for free study (not testable, but annoying, is usually more interesting the actual dars itself) and some kind of proverb, saying or prayer – which the teachers love, so we read in class!
As cool as the new books are, they are also slightly annoying as they take almost 3-4hours of self study at home each night :-(
Each dars (lesson) has several sections. The dars starts off with the main passage, which can vary from a poem to a story of a Prophet or simple things like the importance of water. I like the sciency ones, cos you can blag the summaries the next day in class! The new words are translated at the bottom of the passage into Farsi. They’re really big on this – learning the Farsi translation of words in Farsi! For someone like me, who thinks in English, it means I have to learn each word 3 times – twice in Farsi and once in English!
The next section is Dastoore Zaban which means laws of language or grammar. This is followed by loads of exercises (fill in the blanks, questions etc) to reinforce the content of the passage and the grammar rule.
There’s also a passge to read through with the conversation teacher, as well as a dars for listening. The reading passage is usually connected to the main dars in some way. The last lesson we covered, the main passage was about Prophet Abraham and the reading passage was a story from his life. The last 2 sections are for free study (not testable, but annoying, is usually more interesting the actual dars itself) and some kind of proverb, saying or prayer – which the teachers love, so we read in class!
As cool as the new books are, they are also slightly annoying as they take almost 3-4hours of self study at home each night :-(
My trip to hospital
Before you all get worried, it was nothing major! Just had no energy and was vomiting.
It all started with a simple ear and throat infection, for which I just got antibiotics from the pharmacy. Amazingly enough, you can buy antibiotics over the counter, without a prescription! A few days later, my throat and ears cleared up, but the no energy and vomiting started (sorry no news to share yet!)
After missing tonnes of school, I finally bit the bullet and asked The Husband to take me to the local clinic. The health system is so different from GP practices back home. You go to the reception and pay a small fee. The fee depends on what kind of doctor you want to see, I was going to see a GP type doctor, so I had to pay about $1.50. You get a ticket from the receptionist with has a number on it. There’s no sign in reception telling you whose turn it is, you just have to go and stand in the queue outside the doctor’s room and work out amongst the other ladies whose turn is next. Men and women have separate sections – men are not allowed in the women’s section, so I wrote down all my symptoms to present to the doctor. When my turn finally came, the doctor asked me who had come with me, and then asked The Husband to come in to translate! It was great, as all the women who were queuing outside waiting to come in just disappeared (yes, the door is open, so every Fatemah, Zainab and Masumah can hear what your issues are!) Luckily though, I had a bit of privacy. I don’t think the doctor really knew what was wrong with me, and suggested that maybe I had an allergic reaction to one of the over-the-counter drugs that I’d taken. And in view of my low blood pressure, prescribed an IV drip, a few injections and yet more tablets! The doctor wrote out a prescription, which was taken to the onsite pharmacy.
Everything has to be brought from the pharmacy – the IV drip, the needle, the tubing, the injections! I then had to go into the injection room. I presented the goodies to the nurse who wrote out another slip that had to be taken to the receptionist. The system is pay-as-you-go, so again, I had to pay for the administration of the drip. For some reason, Iranians love giving injections. Even vitamins are administered with a shot. Not only that, but they LOVE giving shots in the butt! Luckily though, they injected my injections into the saline drip, so I was spared! The IV drip goes in the regular arm way!
So, 45 minutes later, after having my needle yanked out of my arm by the girl in the bed next to me’s mother (don’t ask!), I was ready to leave.
An interested experience that has taught me to look after myself well and bring vitamin and mineral tablets from back home each summer!
Dahe Fajr
Hey people!
Sorry, I know its been ages since I last blogged. Been really busy with school, teaching and getting sick. Learned that Qum is not the best place to get sick, and have a package of vitamins etc on its way to me!
Well anyways, just to complicate things, the Iranians have their own calender. Its a solar calender and starts from the year the Holy Prophet migrated from Makkah to Madinah. This really complicates things - the lunar Islamic calender is used for all the Islamic dates, the Iranian solar calender is used for school dates etc. and of course one has to be on track with the regular solar calender that is used in the rest of the world! Welcome to the land of 3 calenders.
The Iranian New Year starts with Nawrooz (around the 21st of March). When I last came to Iran, we made up this really corny story to remember the names of the months (It was test-able, so we had to learn them!)
FARVARDEEN said to ORDEBEHEST let's KHORDAD.
TEER MORDAD'ed SHAHRIVAR
MEHR was given by ABAN to AZAR
on the DEY that BAHMAN went to ISFAND
Ok, that probably made no sense to you at all! We're in the month of Bahman right now...
Anyways, the 12th of Bahman marks the day that Imam Khumayni returned to Iran after being exiled in France. The 22nd of Bahman is the day that the Pahlavi Shah's corrupt regime was overthrown and the Islamic Republic of Iran came into existance. These 10 days are called Dahe Fajr (Dah means ten and fajr is sunrise). These's been some coverage on the BBC website on this too!
We learn a bit about the history of the Revolution in our Farsi lessons. The streets of Tehran were filled with hundreds of thousands of people on the 12th of Bahman 1357 from Tehran airport right up until Behiste Zahra (Humungous graveyard in Tehran). People were waiting for a glimpse of Imam Khumayni. (Ok, I only know this cos it's test-able too! LOL)
Yesterday, we were blessed with the presence of Imam Khumayni's daughter (Farideh Mustafavi) at our university. Classes were postponed for an hour (and yes, we stretched it out to an hour and half!) and we all filled the huge basement in the library.
Khanum Mustafavi started her speech with how honoured she was to be speaking and how happy she was the women's education had come so far. Women are now holding high positions in universities, hospitals etc.
She then went on the compare the Iranian Revolution with Imam Husayn's sacrifice on the fields of Karbala, how Imam Husayn has taught us the lesson of freedom and not giving in to oppressors and tyrants... Apologise a bit.... my Farsi still isn't that great and by the time I wrote down one sentence, I missed the next 10! (and yes, we were tested on the content of her speech in Farsi class afterwards!)
She mentioned 4 points that Imam Ali had passed onto his companion Jabir ibne Abdullah Ansari
1. If you have knowledge, share it with others
2. If you don't have knowledge, seek it from others
3. If you are wealthy, share your wealth with the needy
4. If you are needy, strive (not sure I got this last point correctly)
Khanum then shared some stories from her father's family life. For example, a man in the neighbourhood was sick, so Imam Khumayni bought a crate of apples and gave it to the man. A few days later, the sick man's wife met Imam Khumayni's wife and thanked her for the generous gift. Imam Khumayni's wife then went home and told her husband that she was so embarrassed, she had no idea that the apples were given to the sick man and she wasn't sure what to say to her neighbour!
She compared this to Imam Ali, and questioned, why did Imam Ali go out in the middle of the night to deliver food to the needy? why not in the day time or evening? The reason was the protect the honour of the needy (honour = eyebrow in Farsi!)
The other story that she gave is noteworthy for all the blokes out there! Her father never once asked any member of his family to bring him water, make tea for him, lunch etc. He always used to do this for himself. His family would always tell him that he should just say what he wants and it will be brought to him. He replied with a Farsi proverb-type-thing which roughly translates as "I don't have any problems in getting it for myself"
Anyways, at the end of the talk, the girls just swamped Khanum Farideh and tried to shake her hand and ask more questions, but in true Hollywood style, she was whisked out of the library via the back entrance. Our Farsi teacher was amongst the scrum and was a bit embarrased when she saw that we saw her!
Sorry, I know its been ages since I last blogged. Been really busy with school, teaching and getting sick. Learned that Qum is not the best place to get sick, and have a package of vitamins etc on its way to me!
Well anyways, just to complicate things, the Iranians have their own calender. Its a solar calender and starts from the year the Holy Prophet migrated from Makkah to Madinah. This really complicates things - the lunar Islamic calender is used for all the Islamic dates, the Iranian solar calender is used for school dates etc. and of course one has to be on track with the regular solar calender that is used in the rest of the world! Welcome to the land of 3 calenders.
The Iranian New Year starts with Nawrooz (around the 21st of March). When I last came to Iran, we made up this really corny story to remember the names of the months (It was test-able, so we had to learn them!)
FARVARDEEN said to ORDEBEHEST let's KHORDAD.
TEER MORDAD'ed SHAHRIVAR
MEHR was given by ABAN to AZAR
on the DEY that BAHMAN went to ISFAND
Ok, that probably made no sense to you at all! We're in the month of Bahman right now...
Anyways, the 12th of Bahman marks the day that Imam Khumayni returned to Iran after being exiled in France. The 22nd of Bahman is the day that the Pahlavi Shah's corrupt regime was overthrown and the Islamic Republic of Iran came into existance. These 10 days are called Dahe Fajr (Dah means ten and fajr is sunrise). These's been some coverage on the BBC website on this too!
We learn a bit about the history of the Revolution in our Farsi lessons. The streets of Tehran were filled with hundreds of thousands of people on the 12th of Bahman 1357 from Tehran airport right up until Behiste Zahra (Humungous graveyard in Tehran). People were waiting for a glimpse of Imam Khumayni. (Ok, I only know this cos it's test-able too! LOL)
Yesterday, we were blessed with the presence of Imam Khumayni's daughter (Farideh Mustafavi) at our university. Classes were postponed for an hour (and yes, we stretched it out to an hour and half!) and we all filled the huge basement in the library.
Khanum Mustafavi started her speech with how honoured she was to be speaking and how happy she was the women's education had come so far. Women are now holding high positions in universities, hospitals etc.
She then went on the compare the Iranian Revolution with Imam Husayn's sacrifice on the fields of Karbala, how Imam Husayn has taught us the lesson of freedom and not giving in to oppressors and tyrants... Apologise a bit.... my Farsi still isn't that great and by the time I wrote down one sentence, I missed the next 10! (and yes, we were tested on the content of her speech in Farsi class afterwards!)
She mentioned 4 points that Imam Ali had passed onto his companion Jabir ibne Abdullah Ansari
1. If you have knowledge, share it with others
2. If you don't have knowledge, seek it from others
3. If you are wealthy, share your wealth with the needy
4. If you are needy, strive (not sure I got this last point correctly)
Khanum then shared some stories from her father's family life. For example, a man in the neighbourhood was sick, so Imam Khumayni bought a crate of apples and gave it to the man. A few days later, the sick man's wife met Imam Khumayni's wife and thanked her for the generous gift. Imam Khumayni's wife then went home and told her husband that she was so embarrassed, she had no idea that the apples were given to the sick man and she wasn't sure what to say to her neighbour!
She compared this to Imam Ali, and questioned, why did Imam Ali go out in the middle of the night to deliver food to the needy? why not in the day time or evening? The reason was the protect the honour of the needy (honour = eyebrow in Farsi!)
The other story that she gave is noteworthy for all the blokes out there! Her father never once asked any member of his family to bring him water, make tea for him, lunch etc. He always used to do this for himself. His family would always tell him that he should just say what he wants and it will be brought to him. He replied with a Farsi proverb-type-thing which roughly translates as "I don't have any problems in getting it for myself"
Anyways, at the end of the talk, the girls just swamped Khanum Farideh and tried to shake her hand and ask more questions, but in true Hollywood style, she was whisked out of the library via the back entrance. Our Farsi teacher was amongst the scrum and was a bit embarrased when she saw that we saw her!
School corridors decorated for Dahe Fajr
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