whew!

so i am finally here in iran after many delays! and this is the 4th time i am trying to send this message. i have so far given up on trying to send mass emails until i figure it out. so this is coming from my home office in winston via the other bahrani!

so far things have been great! we landed in tehran on friday morning 1am local time. we spent two hours in a packed room -- 1000 people at least! - waiting for passport inspection. and it was hot! at least 80- 100 degrees and all of us dressed in winter clothes! there were two screaming matches that ended with shirt pulling and shoving and spontaneous chanting about the long delay!

after this we went to baggage claim. it was as if an earthquake had hit! we spent an hour searching for our luggage, in all corners and in large piles. they just threw things everywhere! again, people shoving and screaming. we escaped this area with our bags by 4am to discover another mob scene of expecting relatives and friends outside. one young lady screaming and crying at the sight of her uncle pushed a grown man over onto the suitcase i was dragging behind me! by the time we got in the taxi and drove away i had seen another pushing and shoving fight in the parking lot!

the ride home? the highways here have three lanes. people drive in 5- 6 lanes, if you can call them lanes. they're all over the place! one night our taxi driver missed the exit. he stopped, went in reverse about 3 kilometers in the busy highway and took our exit! another night my uncle was driving us for chelo-kabab and he was hungry. the traffic was horrible on our side so he crossed the divide at an opening and went into oncoming traffic and passed them all! my mom was screaming. i was quite thrilled -- my belly was empty too! (the chelo-kabob -- it must have been 3 feet, strecthing th lenght of the table!)

i have now seen my great grandmother! she was cool. spoke turkish only. 92 years old. she raised her arms up and down to show us how she excersies. tonight was a large gathering here in my mom's sisters house where we are staying and i met about 7 relatives i had never seen -- my mom's aunts and cousins mainly. they all left about 30 minutes ago. its 2:45am now.

we also went to a massive graveyard here where my mom's parents and brother are buried. . .

my dad, uncle and i went to the graves of the young men who died in the war as well as those who died of chemical warfare and the tomb of the unknown. . . what can i say? . . .

the other day my dad showed me tehran university where he became an M.D. and told me some absolutley great stories which i reserve the right not to go into details about as you writers and filmmakers in this mailing will steal (yes N., G. and the rest of you damn filmmakers!). these stories will make their way into my films sometime.

i have also been filming. so far about 6 hours. i am thinking about 2 small documentaries. one about my parents return and another about the people here. how they live, day to day etc. like my cousins -- teenagers, young adults, newly married etc. we'll see!

ah! my mom also showed me her mom's house where she grew up and all the neighborhood there. then my dad told the story of how he met my mom there and fell in love . . . ahhhh. we are thinking about renting out the 2nd floor which is vacant now for me to live in. i will live in the floor they met! ha! it's in a nice part of tow, far away enough that there is quiet. lots of windows too=lots of light!

we also went to the bazaar and the oldest neighborhoods in tehran. my dad was upset b/c they had changed them so much. . .

we also went to the movies today. makhmalbaf's "noon va goldoon" which is the film you gave me G. and i saw in H.'s house. but it was under the title "moment of innocence". great great movie. the audience reaction was intersting for me. people talk a lot during movies here. one thing -- G. and H.---> why do thay have that bright red sign right under the screen that says dont smoke? distracting and annoying.

a million other things to say but its very late here so. . . on friday morning we leave for esfehan then farther south for 2 weeks or so. that will be noruz (new year -- for those of you who saw the "white balloon" it is the same celebration) and my b-day! so overnighting gifts to me here is acceptable. i wont be embarassed by this at all. so until friday morning anyone who so desires may call me at (---------). of course you can always email as i don't know how many more mass emails i can do.

signing off from tehran
khodah-hafez
ramin

Go to: Part Two

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