PMS!!! Thought I'm sure it probably stands for something else here!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
Supermarket food
When we first moved to Qum back in 2008, the convenience food wasn't very good. There was pasta sauce in a can that tasted so bad, that nearly all the western students here learnt how to make pasta sauce from scratch.
We couldn't even buy fruit yoghurts!
Over the last few years, things have really improved. We even find tiramisu here now! And it actually tastes quite good!
Friday, March 21, 2014
Taxi conversations
Taxi drivers are the same everywhere in the world. They know everything about everything!
So I had some errands to do the other day and the easiest thing was to get a taxi and ask them to wait for me at each destination for a few mins while I did my jobs.
So I called the local taxi agency ('adjaans' in Farsi) and here's how the conversation went:
Driver: prices have gone up 20%
Me: what to do? I have work to do and my only option is a taxi
Driver: we thank God
Me (thinking): yes I'm sure your wife is thanking God for your increased income
Thankfully the ride only cost me 9000tomans (£2ish)
Qum Girl is back! And this time there's a Qum Baby too!
So it's been forever since I last blogged. But thanks to the girl in the awesome chador http://thegirlintheawesomechador.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
I've discovered the blogger app! So no more excuses. And plus with 3G coming to Qum (yup the rest of the world is 4G'ing and Qum is just getting to grips with 3G) there really is no excuse.
So I was in London all these months, growing a little bubba! We're both back in Qum now and looking forward to some new adventures.
Iranians love kids! I had put some little denim bootees on Qum Baby for our first Thursday night haram/dua Kumayl visit. No big deal right? Except the Iranians that were sitting near us acted as if they were the best thing since sliced bread. They even sneaked in some photos while I was praying 😬
I should have said something after I finished but that would have been admitting that I was not focused on my prayers.
The other thing is that you cannot go 5 steps in Qum with some fancy western bit of baby gear without someone asking 'chand giriftee?' (How much did you get it for) very annoying! Even our buggy/travel system has been attracting attention. We've been putting Baby in the car seat and attaching it to the buggy frame. Very normal in the UK. Not so normal here.
Watch this space for more Qum Girl & Baby adventures!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Iranians and their fruit
There's a market (bazar) here that moves around the city and has a different location every day of the week. On Tuesdays it comes to my area, so we call it the sehshambe bazar or Tuesday market. You can find absolutely anything there- carpets, clothes, dishes, makeup, fruits, veggies.... It's a great place to go when you first arrive in Qum as the prices are a little cheaper than shops.
The only irritating thing is that you can't pick your own fruits and veggies. So inevitably I come home with a couple of rotting tomatoes or an apple or two that's really gross inside.
The other irritating thing is that in Iran, they must use less preservatives or something as the fruit and veg goes bad very quick. So you have to buy exactly what you need for the week to reduce wastage. BUT when you go to the sehshambe bazar and ask the guy for 1.5kg of tomatoes/onions/apples, he's like 'you don't want 3kg?'
So annoying, it's like if I wanted 3kg, I would have asked you for 3kg!
But you often see Iranians buying 4/5kg of one type of fruit. So typically at sehshambe bazar, you'll see a husband/wife/kids/stroller all jam packed with a lot of fruits and veggies and I always thought that was a bit strange. How can one family go through so much in one week?
Recently a group of us westerners were talking about this - it started from the fact that bananas are now really expensive. So a friend of mine asked her Iranian friend- why don't you just buy a kilo of fruit and have one each, rather than buying so much. So it turns out that Iranians actually eat that much fruit in one sitting! They'll go to someone's house and instead of being given tea and cakes/biscuits, they'll be given tea and fruit and a knife. So turns out they are really healthy people. And the Iranian friend actually laughed at my friend's suggestion of being less fruit. 1kg of fruit turns out is one persons portion per day!
The only irritating thing is that you can't pick your own fruits and veggies. So inevitably I come home with a couple of rotting tomatoes or an apple or two that's really gross inside.
The other irritating thing is that in Iran, they must use less preservatives or something as the fruit and veg goes bad very quick. So you have to buy exactly what you need for the week to reduce wastage. BUT when you go to the sehshambe bazar and ask the guy for 1.5kg of tomatoes/onions/apples, he's like 'you don't want 3kg?'
So annoying, it's like if I wanted 3kg, I would have asked you for 3kg!
But you often see Iranians buying 4/5kg of one type of fruit. So typically at sehshambe bazar, you'll see a husband/wife/kids/stroller all jam packed with a lot of fruits and veggies and I always thought that was a bit strange. How can one family go through so much in one week?
Recently a group of us westerners were talking about this - it started from the fact that bananas are now really expensive. So a friend of mine asked her Iranian friend- why don't you just buy a kilo of fruit and have one each, rather than buying so much. So it turns out that Iranians actually eat that much fruit in one sitting! They'll go to someone's house and instead of being given tea and cakes/biscuits, they'll be given tea and fruit and a knife. So turns out they are really healthy people. And the Iranian friend actually laughed at my friend's suggestion of being less fruit. 1kg of fruit turns out is one persons portion per day!
Internet
So it's been ages since I last blogged. In my defence though, the Iranians have blocked every useful website that exists (Facebook, blogspot, whatsapp...)
They obviously don't appreciate my need to stay in touch with the rest of the world. Lol
Thanks to my personal IT support (aka The Husband) I'm now able to keep in touch with the outside world using a VPN account. So I will try my hardest to keep the blog updated (even though I hate typing long stuff on my phone!)
On a side note- it's really LOL when someone messages me on whatsapp to say 'I whatsapp'd my daughter/cousin/sister who's in Iran but they haven't replied. Is it because there's no Internet in Iran?'
Me: no, most hotels have wifi. It's because whatsapp is blocked here
10 mins later (sometimes longer!)
Them: umm so how are you using whatsapp?
Me: VPN account
They obviously don't appreciate my need to stay in touch with the rest of the world. Lol
Thanks to my personal IT support (aka The Husband) I'm now able to keep in touch with the outside world using a VPN account. So I will try my hardest to keep the blog updated (even though I hate typing long stuff on my phone!)
On a side note- it's really LOL when someone messages me on whatsapp to say 'I whatsapp'd my daughter/cousin/sister who's in Iran but they haven't replied. Is it because there's no Internet in Iran?'
Me: no, most hotels have wifi. It's because whatsapp is blocked here
10 mins later (sometimes longer!)
Them: umm so how are you using whatsapp?
Me: VPN account
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