An American in Iran
Table of contents for american
I originally had one long post about this and it was several pages long and I doubt anyone would sit down and read the whole thing. Instead, I’m making it a series of articles that are linked to each other at the bottom of each article so that you can follow the series.
My trip to Iran was a once in a lifetime trip that I hope to repeat in the near future. I learned an awful lot while I was there and am still digesting everything I heard and saw. Hopefully I can get most of it out of my head before I loose it.
Before I left for Iran I had no idea what to expect from the people. I was anxious for obvious reasons and expected to get some nasty comments or looks or something.
My experience though was nothing but excellent. In fact, the Iranian people went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and welcome.
My sister’s family practically killed me with kindness; they made sure I was comfortable, well fed, and saw some of the best that Iran has to offer. For example, on the first day in the mountains I got a sunburn and her sister-in-law gave her a hard time for not making sure I had sunscreen on. At the dinner table, I was always served first and when my plate was empty someone was sure to offer me more. Its good that I loved the food because there was always plenty of it and they were persistent about me eating plenty of it. A funny story; on the first day I was there, my nephew Bijon asked if I liked the food, to which I replied ‘yes.’ He then said ‘good, because you’re going to be eating it for the next 11 days!’ Where do kids get this stuff!?
In public, I did catch people doing a double-take when they first saw me and some people would stare as long as I didn’t make eye contact with them but no one was ever rude about it.
Normally when asked I told people I was from London but it was explained to me that Iranians don’t care for the Brits at all. It stems back to the days of the British buying oil from the Iranians for ridiculously-cheap prices before the Iranians really understood what oil was worth. There were a few occasions where I admitted being from America but I was never comfortable doing so. That stems partially from being in the Army and being taught that when you’re in a foreign country to protect your identity and it also stems from the impression the western public has of Iran.
So what did I discover about Iranians during my short stay?
Iranians love their fresh bread. Everywhere we went we were able to get fresh bread and for an Iranian, fresh means it’s literally hot out of the oven. If it was bought in the morning, it isn’t fresh enough by lunch time. When they are in line to buy the bread, they’ll often disregard the bread already made and wait for what the baker is pulling out of the oven!
The most popular bread is flat bread baked in a mortar oven right on top of hot gravel. When you get the bread you often have to pick gravel out of it before you ruin a tooth biting into it. The best bread I had was a whole wheat bread that was formed into a lattice pattern of diamond shapes, baked on hot gravel. The flavor was amazing and you could eat the bread with yogurt, or use it to eat your rice, or put chunks of chicken and vegetables in it to make a mini sandwich. Great stuff.
