Strangeness and Charm

We arrived in Iran with 30 day visas. Part of the process to extend our stay required us to get our blood tested thereby ensuring we weren’t bringing in any infectious diseases into the country. My husband had already taken his a few months before, so it was me and my kids’ turn.

We went to a hospital in Qom. It was a professional and efficient environment and run entirely in Farsi. My husband handled everything so I had no worries.

The waiting room was mixed with both men and women. We easily found 5 seats for our entire family! Then there was a separate men and women’s lab sections. I went in with my girls and my husband took in my son. It didn’t matter that I don’t speak Farsi because all the information they needed was on the forms we had. The wait wasn’t too long, and the ladies who drew our blood were obviously professionals. It hurt, but it was quick. My kids handled it so bravely. Then we were ready to get out of there fast!

We went to a fast food place called BAMA restaurant. Well, we were 20 minutes early for its opening, so we walked a little bit and went into this little store that reminded me of DOLLAR GENERAL in the states.

Then we went into the restaurant. Check it out on Instagram here! It was large and clean and colorful. There was a small play section for little kids (glad my kids are too old for that now though!). The service was fast and the food was really delicious! It felt so liberating to be able to order anything off the menu since it's all halal.

How much in U.S. Dollars? **

Walking down the streets, there are many shops. I was surprised to see several charming window displays of fancy Iranian household objects. My photos don’t capture all the shiny things, but it was so nicely set up that I’d be intimidated with my humble budget just to go inside and browse.

So some of the elegance was lost with these tacky signs, but really captured the strangeness and charm of life in Qom.

The fancy stores are separated by strangely modest alleyways.

Oh, and we had to cross the street. So. It was frightening. The cars were not traveling too fast, but when vehicles are moving towards you at a steady pace and seem to stop only a few inches from your body, it is a STRANGE thing. Here’s a video of the street after we’d safely crossed. Scroll further down to see a snap I took of a couple on a motorcycle, the woman holding onto her baby. It is of course a culture shock to see so many people packed onto motorcycles (the first night here, I saw 3 men speeding down the highway on a motorbike, one was holding a large hookah pipe even). I don't judge the Iranian authorities or the Iranian people for this. I can still recall being a child in America and never having to bother with seat belts. The safety campaign took a while and a lot of money to successfully lobby for better seatbelt laws in the states, so it's just a matter of time and money here too.

Praise God.

Here are some other interesting street scenes from that day:

*Title of post taken from Florence Welch
**Around $12

No Visa, No Problem.

Actually, it's a big problem.

Our Iranian visas had not arrived and we were set to leave in 2 days. Once we heard that they were confirmed in Iran, we still had to get the confirmation codes sent to the Iranian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to get the final clearance. We had to consider if we wanted to risk waiting for them on the day of our flight, biting our nails with stress, or go ahead and reschedule our flights for a later day, paying a hefty fee to do so.

Then my husband came up with another idea. He bought a ticket to Washington, D.C. for the day before our flight. He went directly to the Iranian visa office there (he had called ahead to tell them he would be there) and got the relevant info and clearance. While he was there he discovered that his own Iranian Visa, which he thought had previously been completely cleared, had not been, so it was a very good thing that he'd gone ahead and flown out there directly! He arrived back in Texas the night before our flight.

Stress.

We had packed 5 large suitcases, 5 carry ons, 5 backpacks, and 5 large boxes. Believe it or not, we still had many belongings that we had to leave behind. I really wanted the kids to be able to take whatever special items such as their toys and books which they liked. These children have had to move a lot and give up a lot of stability, so I wanted them to have personal items that give them comfort.

I mentally prepared for the long flights ahead. Of course my main worry was that the kids would be bored and get restless during the 15+ hours of the first part. Also worrying was their potential exhaustion in the next 10 hours until we arrived in Pardisan. And then of course, I was nervous about the shock of being in a new place and country, establishing a new routine.

To be continued...

InshaaAllah
Alhamdulillah