Easter Sunday, 2002

Just thought I’d sit down to write a journal entry before Dokhi Joon and I go to dinner at the home of Ejlal, a dear relative of my mother’s who I have not met yet – she is cooking Gormeh Sabzi.

This morning was my first in a while with no engagements and so I took my time waking up, sitting dumbfounded in the bed until 10 AM. After Fereshdeh called (a close childhood friend of my mother’s) we made a plan to see the most historic building in Tehran- the Golestan Palace, residence of the Qajar Dynasty (that which my great-grandfather served as court physician). The decoration was a unique blend of almost cartoonish carving and painting which showed royal symbols, court life and some kings with very long and untamed facial hair.

Fereshdeh knew someone at the gate and were thus able to enter all the separate rooms of the palace on one ticket – Iranian tourist sites have two bad habits: 1) subdividing every site into the maximum number of subunits, each of which you must buy a separate ticket for and 2) charging foreigners ten times as much. My gregarious and respectable auntie’s affirmation of my Iranian-ness have thus far gotten me in all places at local prices but I imagine that wouldn’t work on my own.

I took some nice pictures, my desire to present Iran is very strong, and typically pressed for time we rushed out in a taxi, dropping Fereshdeh off at Vanak Square before heading home where I met Sara, an Iranian girl who had rather forcefully given me her number at a Now Ruz (new year's) visit. I called her last night and made a date to go walking and have tea. Iranian style I came down to the street to find her and her 13 year old sister Melody in their headscarves with the engine running. We went for a walk in a private club’s grounds Sara had to fast talk her way into. Turns out she is an uninspired third year med student with no visible charms or talents I could detect besides nice hands and giving herself manicures at home. She loves pop music, malls and fast food. I complemented her hands and came home early! If I do see her again a movie might be nice since it does not rely on the other for entertainment.