Bahman Mahmoudi's blog

The Sign Language

Bahman Mahmoudi — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:26:16 +0000

I had been working in our company headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Had given up on trying to discover new foods.

Weiner Schnitzel with the potato salad had become my standard meal.

One weekend, I had become home sick and took a long walk through the beautiful parks and the lake side areas of Zurich and at the dinner time, went to a modest, but nice restaurant in the Old Town area,

There was an Italian waiter, who brought me the menu.

He spoke very little German, no English, or French.

Cancun

Bahman Mahmoudi — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:04:33 +0000

Had been traveling a lot and my wife was going to school. Decided to make her happy by going to Cancun, Mexico. She had studied Spanish and French and Mexico was a lot closer and more fun. She could practice her language skills and I could practice my eyes.

We went to our neighborhood travel agent and got our tickets.

I had just gotten my American citizenship and had my brand new passport and did not need to go for interrogation, as previously with my Iranian passport.

What a suffering to travel with an unholy passport to a hostile country.

Universality of Medical Malpractice

Bahman Mahmoudi — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:38:00 +0000

I used to get horrible head aches in the mornings. It had been going on for several weeks.

Finally, my mother decided to take me to the government hospital which was free and soon to be doctors were practicing their future trades.

After explaining the pains that I had been suffering, the attending doctor examined me very closely and stated that I had a large tumor in my head which needed to be operated on and removed.

The Summer Of 93

Bahman Mahmoudi — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:02:37 +0000

It had been raining continuously and the rivers around Saint Louis were rising fast.

Our office in the Chesterfield area was in danger of getting flooded.

I was joking and betting that the floods would not reach our office.

My little miniature long hair dachshund was getting excited with the sound of thunder and was jumping up and down my bed.

I couldn't stop him. He finally hurt himself and got paralyzed. He couldn't move his legs.

The Train Conductor

Bahman Mahmoudi — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:13:37 +0000

We had gone to a weekend picnic, with my fellow country men to a city park in Saint Louis. There was a friend, who had a medical condition which made him jerk his head uncontrolled, and flickered his eyes at regularly.

Another friend, who was an Azari (Turkish speaker Iranian), saw him and asked me what was the matter with our friend.

I told him that he was born that way and could not help it.

He told me that he used to be a train conductor in Iran, going from Tehran to Ahwaz which was an oil city in the south.

Oil Drillers

Bahman Mahmoudi — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:48:06 +0000

The whole country was mapped and all the possible locations for the oil wells were marked and numbered on a map.

It made it much easier and more straightforward to instruct the oil drillers where to go and start drilling.

Each driller had its own equipments, trailers, eating facilities, communication equipments and the power generation.

The equipments were all skid mounted and ready to go at a moment notice.

They were charging their clients per an agreed hourly rates.

The Nanny

Bahman Mahmoudi — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:33:41 +0000

I was involved with major problems of my life, such as putting the right shoe on the right foot or the potty training.

It was rumored that the big three western leaders had met in Tehran and had gone back home.

The brave Iranian army had imitated the brave armies of France and Italy by dressing in women's clothing and disappearing among the civilians.

The allies had occupied Iran and did not have anybody to fight with , so the peace had returned.

The Joys Of Skiing

Bahman Mahmoudi — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:16:19 +0000

Had been working in California, away from the snow, ice, and cold weather of Illinois.

Oh what a wonderful world, I had not missed any of it and had just learned where the Coast Highway was and had watched a large building slide down a hillside in Malibu hills.

It still was much better than the slush we had to walk through to go to the supermarket or the drive through.

I was working with a Swiss engineer who had moved with his wife to the southern California and were eager to see all, and find the exciting parts of their new home.

The Awakening

Bahman Mahmoudi — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:01:11 +0000

The summer vacation had started and we were going to have fun by going to the Caspian Sea in northern part of Iran. Those were the happy years of the cold war, Iran had become a stable Dictatorship Democracy.

The foreign powers were getting the oil, and the local honchos were getting the oil revenues transferred directly to their Swiss numbered accounts.

The king "shah" was in search of a new queen to give him an heir and a spare, so he could wear the crown of the friendly gas station man.

Barcelona

Bahman Mahmoudi — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:10:03 +0000

We had just landed in Barcelona International Airport and followed the same process as in Madrid. Took the bus to center of the town and hired a German speaking taxi to find us a moderately priced hotel.

The buildings were unusual, they looked like the buildings in the fairly lands with rounded corners and edges.

The driver was telling us about a famous Spanish architect by the name of "Gaudy".

The Accident

Bahman Mahmoudi — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:47:22 +0000

The weather was getting nice and warm, It was the season to go to the sea side. My dad suggested for us to go to the French Riviera. How could I resist? It was much better than all the places I had dreamed of.

Started from Rome, heading north towards Pizza, and Genoa on the coast highway.

The road got narrow and high above the sea.

Saw the leaning tower, the cathedral withe magic acoustics. It was amazing how they had managed to build such a building so long ago.

To A Good Friend

Bahman Mahmoudi — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:44:27 +0000

I had been assigned to inspect and supervise the electrification of the petroleum products pipe line starting from the southern part of Iran to Tehran.

The pipe line was built 30 years earlier and was powered by gas turbines, there had been a large investment in the power generation and transmission of the electric power all over the country and they had decided that the best approach would be to get rid of the old gas turbines, and replace them with 6kv electric driven pumps and simplify the operation and the maintenance.