Merry Xmas!!

A very big merry xmas to all of you out there! Boy am I missing the lights, the shopping, the festivities, the secret santas and the FOOD!

Xmas went relatively unnoticed here in Qum. I saw an xmas tree on Boulvar Amin a few weeks ago - decorated with lights and tinsel and the works! But that's about it.

In class today, our teacher wanted to go over 2 lessons, which means double homework. I managed to convince her that it was xmas and she should be nice to us, seeing as we were missing out on all the festivities back home. Not sure how, but she actually bought it!

Iran creates world's largest sand carpet

Iranian artists have created the world's largest sand carpet from the colorful sand found on the country's southern island of Hormuz.

Some 25 visual artists used 70 types of colorful sand to create the 'Persian Gulf' sand carpet, which will be displayed on the island from Dec. 9 to 17, 2008.

The 12000-square-meter carpet is unique in magnitude, pattern and color and its title which shares the name of the forever Persian Gulf.

The previous sand carpet record belonged to 900-square-meter one created on the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Known for its beautiful red soil, Hormuz Island has witnessed numerous artistic events, including Iran's 15th Environmental Art Festival.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=77858&sectionid=351020105

Eggs from Amul!

There'a a place in Iran called Amul that's famous for double yolked eggs. One of TH's friends is from Amul and after one of his visits, brought us a couple dozen eggs. The eggs are HUGE:

English classes

English classes are going well. We use the Interchange books – i think they’re from Cambridge university. Teaching students from Saudi/Iran/Pakistan has made me realise how different our cultures are. One of the units talks about occupations and amongst the examples is a dog walker. The students found it hilarious that in America/Europe people are actually employed to give dogs some recreation time!

Wedding anniversary

The first of Dhul Hijjah (Last month of the Lunar Islamic Calendar) is the wedding anniversary of the daughter of the Holy Prophet and her husband, Imam Ali – the first Imam of the shias. Since our university is named after the daughter of the Prophet, the students at break time went absolutely wild. They all gathered in the stairwell at break time and started clapping, singing and chanting.
This day is also known as husband/wife day. Although I’m still waiting for my flowers, I was treated to lunch when I got home from school.

The Chador

The other day I was waiting for the car to pick me up and take me to my English class. I saw an Indian lady wearing a shalwar kameez (Baggy trousers and long top) and no chador! I was a bit shocked that she was brave enough to hit the streets of Qum chador-less! Its funny how back in England, seeing a woman wearing regular clothes is ok, but here, if you haven’t got 5 layers on, you feel naked!

Anyways later that day, on the return journey, as I was walking home, my chador got caught on a nail. I didn’t realise and carried on walking. Before I knew it, my chador was yanked off my head and there I was standing ‘naked’ on the streets of Qum!!

The chador is a 5 metre piece of black fabric, full length and semi circular. It sits on the head and is open at the front. No hand openings or closures and is held by hands! There are different styles of chador. The Melli chador (or Arab chador) which is closed down the front and has sleeves and also the Lebanese chador , which is similar to the Melli chador.

Although wearing modest clothing is required by law in Iran, wearing the chador is not. Having said that, 99% of the women in Qum wear it as a sign of piety and respectability. I find the chador annoying. It constantly falls off my head or gets trapped in things! The worst thing is trying to do the weekly shopping. Picture this, a school bag, groceries bag, fruit and veg bag – the chador doesn’t stand a chance! Love it or loathe it, wearing the chador makes one stand out less here in Qum.

Today's class

We had the most hilarious class today. We were role playing doctor-patient situations. The book gives a cough-sneezing-cold example. After a few goes at this, the teacher told us to pick another illness. One of the Arab students and myself were picked. The conversation went something like this (in Farsi):

Arab: What uncomfort you have? Che naarahati dareed?
Me: My stomach hurts. Dilam dard me konad
Arab: Do you have a cough?
Me: No my stomach hurts
Arab: Are you sneezing?
Me: No, my stomach hurts (By this point I'm wondering if she's even listening to me!?)
Arab: Do you have a cold?
Me: No, my stomach hurts!!!!

The teacher intervened and taught us some words related to stomach illnesses! Remember that the teacher can only speak Farsi! So she's trying to explain vomitting, diarrhoa and constipation with concepts (e.g. vomiting = food exiting the mouth!). My friends and I just burst out giggling. The teacher thought we were laughing because we didn't understand, so she starts giving an even more detailed explanation, which does nothing to stop the giggles. The rest of the class then join in with 'helping us' to try and understand the new words! One of the girls said something like: once a month my child has poo that is watery. Except instead of using the word 'aab' which means water, she used 'aabi' which means blue! Scary mental image of a child with blue diarrhoea!!

I don't think we'll be forgetting today's new words!!