March 10th, 2002

My third day ends shortly in the condo of my Aunt Dokhi joon. I arrived Friday well rested, looking out of the window at the aching bright sun glaring over the land below, views of red copper and brown rounded by green tufts here and there, randow clusters of snow-capped peaks giving way to a broad plain as we turned in for landing - the great wall of the Albroz Mountains rising white and even, the dry bed beginning its rise upward to greeness and the urban vastness that is Tehran. All that hazy rolling sprawl of concrete and highrises punctuated by the Adazi Monument and the headless sky needle, a great smokestack pointing its finger towards God.

Customs was a long line of foreigners and locals mixed waiting, trying to sneak ahead of one another with the maximum verbal politeness possible. The guard asked me repeatedly for my aunt's address or phone number to which I raised my hands and pointed somewhere beyond immigration while shaking my head and saying 'baggage,' 'bagazshe,' 'baggij.' He pondered for a second and waived me through. At the inspection area before exiting there was a form in english and farsi everyone signed stating that if you are carrying any unislamic tapes or books or a cell phone etc go to have your bag searched. I had none of the proscribed items and the full chador woman who took my form waived me in. That was it. I rolled through the door with Dokhi Joon, Lili Joon and Maryam standing there with shining faces (thanks Amy) waiting for me and we drove through the calm slow Friday afternoon streets full of yellow light to Dokhi Joon's apartment.

Dokhi joon's place turned out to be elaborate, full of semi-antiques and portaits of herself, her late husband, many family pictures on the tables.

The bullet points of my first three days here are:
- People don't look at me. I seem to blend in somehow.
- Two mornings were dedicated to errands with Dokhi joon
- We visited Sad Abad palace, a 1960s style palace with no style and no infomation posted to make what is seen meaningful.
- I am impressed with the internet cafes here and the large computer mall (Paitakhte Computer)
- We went to a dried fruit and nut shop, large carved silver tray stands holding every type of nut and fruit, coloful
- Men in service jobs seem pretty comfortable snapping rudely at female customers shopping alone.
- Lots of strikingly beautiful girls on the street apparently in violation of certain points of the islamic dress code
- Dokhi Joon tells everyone about me: 'he is Iranian, only he doesn't speak Farsi.'
- Man at the internet said that with my strange half-goatee beard and pony tail I look like the Aladin Genie from a popular television serial here.
- My first venturing out alone.
- Did yoga on the floor several mornings
- Always hurrying back for Dokhi's wonderful lunches
- Hediyeh works like Cinderella in Dokhi's house.
- Right away started studying the 1st grade writing book.