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!
No comments:
Post a Comment