Iran

One day I am going to tell you about Iran, I really am. Maybe over a glass or two of wine, or a pint of good ale or some freshly brewed coffee (fantasies, fantasies). I did try to write about it but it just kept ending in a frothing rant which is a shame really as both the people and country are largely beautiful.

So here are some positive words and statements to describe Iran (though I could say more): stunning architecture, safer than houses, generousity of people, highly educated population (something like 60% of women study at university though seldom do they use their qualifications), curious friendly people who manage to enquire about you and check all is well whilst respecting your space, Yazd desert city of natural beauty, Persepolis, mosques and mirror work, preservation of monuments and heritage (though the last would need to be discussed, definitely over beer), 'Welcome to Iran' - sometimes the only English words people know, really, how brilliant is that, if you're going to learn something to learn something so heart warmingly positive, well it just pleased me no end.

And the things I didn't like so much (not necessarily in order): religion as a system of government and law, sexual harassment, crazy traffic, being generally harassed for daring to do something as openly sexual as ummm riding a bike, hidden society (for all that secret dangerous stuff...dancing, singing, love and the like), sadly vocal and highly visible minority of moronic slavering misogynistic men (but I can't stand them anywhere), meat meat meat at every meal, that the young people of Iran seem to universally love Celine Dion and Chris De Burgh (seriously, there are sick people out there corrupting innocent minds).

US Den of Espionage - Tehran - Iran
Originally uploaded by t wi an e

And I will leave you here with a picture taken outside the U.S. Den of Espionage, previously known as the U.S. Embassy, cool name change. And just to clarify no one I met hated America or Americans much at all really, well maybe George Bush but I don't know anyone who liked him much either.

tx