Out the Door

So, we've been in Iran for nearly 2 weeks now. The 3rd day here I needed to get out and see this neighborhood so we all went to the local grocery store which I discussed in my previous posts here and here. It was refreshing to get out and see what's beyond our comfortable home walls.

My husband had to return to his full-time school schedule the next day so the kids and I began unpacking and organizing. When Thursday rolled around, my husband had the day off (Here, Thursday is like the American Saturday and Friday is like the American Sunday). I really wanted to go to Qom.

I've mentioned the holy city of Qom in a previous post, but I haven't really done it justice in my blog. The entire time we had planned on moving to Iran, we wanted to live in Qom which is where the universities and the blessed shrine of our beloved Lady Masumeh (p) is located.

We were only able to find an apartment in Pardisan though, so although I was disappointed not to live in the city of Qom, I was grateful to at least have a place to call home in Iran. Pardisan is in Qom Province, about half an hour away from the center of Qom. It's sort of similar to living in Arlington, Texas when you really want to live in Downtown Dallas, Texas.

First we had to make sure the girls and I had our proper outer attire (and my son had long pants). Now, my girls and I have observed hijab in America for several years, but still, I was nervous to get our attire correct, especially since Qom is a very religious and proper place.

The ladies usually wear black chadors in both Pardisan and Qom over whatever it is they want to wear underneath. As long as your chador covers everything but your face and hands, it doesn't matter if you wear a tank top or your pajamas underneath because it's only your outward cover that will be seen (although I'd rather wear something more decent underneath, but the point is, the chador is the key). Now, to some Western folks, wearing a chador may seem inconvenient or the dreaded "oppressive," and yes, I felt a little anxious that our clothes would fall below standard and we might get "in trouble" somehow, but that faded once we got dressed. So sure, Islamic style clothing may be different than throwing on jeans and a tank top without any worries, but it's nothing to get hung up about, much less start violent wars to "liberate" the ladies' skin to the sun. In fact, once you get the right outer jacket and headscarf--it is very easy and convenient.

There are different types of covers (as I learned in bits and pieces of information), and I was slightly worried that me and my girls didn't have the correct kind so we went to the local store to find new ones. Now, we had been told to get a Lebanese style one (more often called an abaya) because it has a zipper in the front and sleeves (unlike some huge Iranian chadors that are basically sheets that one has to hold closed with her hands--no thanks!). We were also told that 65,000 tomans was a bit pricey.

So we were dismayed when the tailor had only one style with sleeves and no zipper priced at 85,000 tomans (about 850,000 rials which is $27 U.S.), which would add up to a big price tag for all three of us, plus we'd have to pay to get the hem taken up for my youngest daughter. I don't know if we were meant to haggle on the price, but my husband's Farsi is not yet at the bargaining stage (I don't like the feeling of haggling anyway so I doubt we'll do much of that if we can help it).

My beautiful youngest daughter trying on a chador at the shop.

So we decided to just wear the black abaya styles we'd brought from Texas because I really wanted to visit Qom that day. Anyway--flash forward to being at the shrine--I noticed not every women was dressed exactly alike. Although the main color was black, the style of clothing and covers varied a lot more than I had thought it would, so I felt at ease in being perhaps less than "traditionally" or "commonly" covered in a certain type of chador.

It definitely felt liberating to be among other Muslim women who observe hijab. Free at last!

So, more details on our trip to Qom next time...