I love this place
My first 5 weeks in Iran

May 23, 2006
iranian.com

I've been in Iran for about five weeks now and I'm half way through my trip.  It's been an unforgettable experience thus far.  This place just seems so much like home at times that I forget I'm in Iran or that I'm travelling. 

The first two weeks of my trip I spent with my father visiting relatives and attending family gatherings.  One of those days we went to Behesht-e Zahra cemetary where we spoke with the mothers of the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War, which was a profound experience, one that I still ponder upon nearly a month later.  At the end of those two weeks, we drove my father to the airport. 

I've said good-bye to my parents dozens of times when I went to college up north in California.  Saying farewell each time was difficult but not nearly as hard as the first good-bye after they moved me into my college apartment.  Saying good-bye to my father at Mehrabad airport, however, was almost as difficult.  My Iran-trip with my father had concluded and it was an emotional farewell for me. 

The next day after his departure, a new journey began, one where I was on my own for the most part. Two days later, my Persian language course began at Dehkhoda Institute.

The class has been integral to my Iran experience and I think all Iranian-Americans travelling to Iran should attend Dehkhoda.  About the center:  Dehkhoda Institute is a language center sponsored by Tehran University and is located on Vali Asr Street halfway between Parkway intersection and Tajrish Square.  Three days before the class began, I went to the instititute, registered,  took a 45-minute placement exam and qualified for the advanced level class (advanced for foreignors).  They have beginning, intermediate, and advanced classes for a duration of either five weeks, three and a half months, or seven months. 

My course is the five-week class that begins at 9:30am and ends at noon.  At 10:30 we get a twenty-minute break where we go downstairs and have Pomergranate juice and tea.  At noon we have an Iranian lunch which varies by the day.  Some days after Persian class the institute offers a  movie class, where they screen Iranian films and on other days they have either a newspaper reading or writing class.  Next week they're screening "Marmoolak". 

The tuition for the program is $110, which covers the language class and the extra classes, of which attendance is voluntary.  The environment is very conducive to learning and the building is newly built.  Dehkhoda does not have a website up yet but if you want further information, you can email them at: icps@ut.ac.ir.

My class has a total of nine students, three Iranians from abroad (me included), three Koreans, one Spaniard, one Kazakh, and one German and they are lively bunch.  They all love Iran and the Persian language.  Ms. Jafari, our lovable instructor, asked us our dreams and one of the Koreans said they wished they could master the Persian language. The other Korean concurred. I love this gang.   

The class has been integral to my Iran trip for a number of reasons. One, it's such a warm and positive environment that I look forward to class everyday.  The instructors and students are so positive that it's hard not to enjoy yourself while in their presence.  Second, the Persian class is very well structured and in my opinion, is more educational than the Persian language courses I took at UC Berkeley.  Third, in class we talk about all the social and political subjects that seem taboo in Iran like the large disparity between Iran's classes, double standards in relation to men and women, feminism, the Iranian Revolution, real religious practice vs superstitious religious practice, religion and governance, the things foreignors find annoying and soothing about Iran, etc.

One day Ms. Jafari asked each of us what we liked and disliked about Iran.  Constantine, the German student, complained that too many Iranians talk on behalf of the entire populace and speak as if they're words represent the one and only truth.  I agree but  I also think he's been having too many conversations with Tehran's cab drivers.  But he also says that the thing he loves most about Iranians is that they appreciate the little things in life.  As for me, I complained about how Iranians like to blame everyone but themselves about their problems but I also said I think the greatest Iranian attribute is that they are a people who know how to struggle.

In any case, this trip has been very rewarding thus far.  I'd like to share all the wonderful stories and experiences I've been fortunate enough to enjoy here, but there just isn't enough time and space.  To put it simply: up until now, Iran has been a documentary, book, lecture topic, college course, or a story, but now it's a real-life place that feels like home and the longer I stay here, the more solidified that sentiment becomes.  In the past five weeks I must have said: "I love this place" more than a hundred times. And if I were to say it again a hundred more times, I wouldn't be lying.

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Pouya Alimagham's blog ipouya.blogspot.com.