fees@isfahan.iran.com

Father and Son (faking it)

2006-03-29T05:46:00.000-08:00

Us and a mountain

2006-03-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

2006-03-19T02:46:00.000-08:00

Since I last wrote we have visited a mountain area called Chadegan where we stayed with Hossein and Pooran and Hossein's brother and his family for 2 days. It was a relaxing time in a beautiful area that was about the same temperature as Campbeltown (our home town)........ but sunnier. It gave me a chance to try and put into practise some of the Farsi (Persian language) I had been learning before coming. Although the online course I did was good it missed out some important words and phrases. Forinstance I was able to say when we saw an aquarium "The fish are swimming under water"....how proud I was! Unfortunately I couldn't say goodbye....or thankyou....or how are you?....or what is that?...the sort of words that help you get into a conversation in the first place!Anyway, I have started to learn those words and phrases now. I enjoy it.....though sometimes a little knowledge is worse than none at all:-)

Isfahan itself is an incredible city. We visited it last night. It is alive and incredibly busy and colourful. The traffic is horrendous but the whole place feels like one big party is happening. In the middle of all that is some incredible architecture....mosques, palaces and bridges across the river....ancient, beautiful, and often a haven of peace in the midst of the hustle and bustle.

We feel very welcome here even though we haven't seen any other foreigners. The negative images that are so often on the news in Britain seem a million miles away. I am not saying that bad things don't happen. They do everywhere. But I am getting the impression of a place where people are determined to be themselves even if someone tries to stop them.

Ineke and Pooran in Chadegan

2006-03-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

Kebab Lunch

2006-03-19T00:38:00.000-08:00

2006-03-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

Hello, it's me Ineke writing.
I love being here, the warmth and sunshine throughout the day, the beautiful bare mountains the smells and tastes of new foods and drinks (e.g. Dughr, a white drink made of yoghurt and water), the meal we had, sitting on a raised platform on a carpet
at night-time outdoors.Later we listened to the play of violin and guitar, while drinking tea in a courtyard of an old house.

2006-03-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

We are here in Isfahan. I cannot tell the emotions I felt on seeing our friends Hossein and Pooran waving frantically to us in the midnight crowd at Tehran airport. Suddenly all the news we have been hearing..... and all the politics..... and all the excitement at visiting a new country....and any anxiety....none of it mattered. It was all overtaken by the happiness of seeing our friends again.

And that is my first impression of being in Iran. The second one is of a night-time journey of nearly 500 kilometres. Hossein had just driven that distance to pick us up and now it was the same way back...... and we got a little bit lost getting out of Tehran.

Iran seems to be as alive at night as the UK is in the daytime. So despite the tiredness for all of us (we had hardly slept the night before having to travel up to the airport at Glasgow early because of snow, and waiting there over night) there was the exhilaration of laughing and joking with each other and at the same time taking in a very pleasant mixture of new and (to us) exotic Persian sights and, when we stopped, smells and sounds. And then as we approached our destination seeing the sun gradually unfold a dramatic rocky, sandy landscape and the peaks of the Zagros Mountains. And then to reach, only just awake, our friend's home which is on the campus of the Isfahan University of Technology (Hosseins work place) a short way out of Isfahan. And for the next 18 days our home.

And when all you want to do is sleep.....well it wouldn't have mattered if I was in Scotland, Iran, or on a dinghy in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.......zzzzzzzzzz

2006-03-10T03:39:00.000-08:00

Hmmm......after the last post which spoke about the "tension free" atmosphere in Isfahan......

Well, my parents arrived last night (after a 400 mile drive) to look after our 5 boys while we are away. They arrived just in time for Channel 4 news.....live from Isfahan. We have been telling them not to worry about our visit and they then watched a report with a more negative view. This report was about human rights issues and some of the abuses (of women and of those who speak out against the government forinstance) that may well have occurred in Iran....including footage of a public hanging.

It is difficult to know what to say. I for one am very concerned about the abuses of peoples freedom......whoever they may be. And there are of course abuses of this nature happening everywhere including my own country. Many people forinstance (me included) feel that the UK's involvement in the invasion of Iraq is one big human rights abuse. Probably 100,000 dead iraqi civilians largely because of the lies told by our government in support of the war. I feel justified in speaking out against this because this was done in my name. I would have a sense of support for those who stand up for freedom and justice in Iran or anywhere else......but I do not feel the same sense of freedom to make a judgement about what goes on there.

I made a comment on the "Channel 4 in Iran" site saying that I want to get behind initiatives that bring people together to talk not ones that "throw weapons of words and warheads from a distance". I believe that it is arrogant and counter-productive to sit in judgement of the actions of other people outside the context of genuine relationship

And to my parents I would repeat.....we are just going to visit friends who care about us.

2006-03-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Here is a quote about Isfahan (our destination) from the channel 4 website to which we have put a link. It might put a few worried minds at rest.....it might also inspire a little bit of envy!

Jon Snow says:

"Isfahan itself is utterly spectacular. The central square recedes into the most sumptuous turquoise mosque and then there are lesser but equally spectacular, turquoise mosques among the low-lying dorms and shops that make up the square.
In a strange way it's a kind of Persian equivalent of Florence.
It is extraordinarily laid back here. There's absolutely no sense of tension, it feels completely disconnected from the rest of Iran and even more distant from the outside world."

But we promise to be careful and not to become too relaxed and tension free........(deep sighs;-)

Pilgrims to Isfahan preparing for departure

2006-03-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

2006-03-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

This is a joint short term blog that will probably be written in English and in Dutch. We (myself David and my wife Ineke) are going to be staying with our friends in Isfahan, Iran and we will be flying out on Monday 13th March. Neither of us have been to the country before and we are getting excited despite worried looks and concerns from some friends and family. The fact is that we are going to be seeing friends who a)want to see us...and b) care about our welfare. In the UK (as in much of the west, I imagine) the image of Iran that has largely been portrayed is one of a fairly fundamentalist islamic country.

The only credible image we personally have of Iran stems from the friendship developed with our Iranian hosts when they were in England for a few years to study. Our knowledge has been supplemented in recent days by excellent courage from Channel 4 news in the UK who are basing their daily evening news from the country in the time when there a lot of interest because of the supposed nuclear threat. Go to their excellent "blog'' http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/iran.html for a wider look at the politics, culture, human right issues and news in Iran.

This is a personal account based on a personal friendship. Which might just be the best way of breaking through the clouds of fear, and of misunderstanding, and of threats and power struggles.....between secular/christian? west and the islamic?/secular middle east.