 Emails from home
Visiting Iran: Part 1
Part (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
August 17,2004
iranian.com
After 25 years of living in the U.S., a friend of mine recently
moved back to Iran. As promised, he has been emailing his weekly diaries
for the past few months providing me and my friends with
a cross-section of the Iranian society. The diaries are focused on
recent events in Iran and yet they are general enough to be
viewed by a larger audience. -- TB
1)
Salam bar hamegi,
It's been interesting so far. Although I have spent most my time
at home with my parents and my sister, relatives coming for visits,
from my limited experience, it seems Iran has changed a lot.
Tehran once again has pool halls, go figure!
I'm doing fine. I surprised myself, at how quickly I adapted
to the new
environment; jet lag was gone after one day. My dad has a mild
Alzheimers and it is hard to deal with, especially for
my mom. He sometimes forgets where the bathroom is and asks us
for directions. He remembers poems from 50 years ago when his co-workers
recited them to him but he forgets where the bathroom is located,
or that he has grand children. He is old, and every family in Iran
at one point or another has to deal with situations like this.
I will be tending my father more than I had originally planned.
I had to say no to two of my relatives who wanted to take me and
my sister to their Villas in the north. They understand that I
wanted to spend time with my dad.
The air quality has exceptionally been good in the past few days.
I can clearly see the Alborz mountains from my window. Home prices
have gone through the roof. One of my close relatives lives in
a tower in Fereshteh (Golnar Tower). It is supposed to be the most
luxurious tower in Iran; don't know if it's true. When visiting
them in their home I quietly asked my sister how much their 4-bedroom,
350 meter home was worth and she said probably over 1.2 billion
Tomans.
Their monthly association fee is 250 thousand Tomans. Unbelievable!
A 4bdr apartment in Tehran for over a million dollars? My relative,
the owner of the house, showed me the other towers viewable from
their windows and said over 80 percent of the homes (in the newly
built towers) were empty. The monopolist owners of the towers
are holding on to their homes and not letting the prices to drop,
he
said. It is said that after Norooz prices will climb even higher.
A 46 meter studio above my parents home in Ekbatan was recently
sold for 50 million Tomans.
Business is booming in Tehran. Hi-Tech gadgets seem to be more
advanced than what we have in America. Mobile phone lines are one
million Tomans and it seems everyone except me has a mobile phone.
One can see kids on the street, sitting on benches sending text
messages to each other over the mobile lines and giggling -- dokhtar
baazi in the 21st century.
My uncle who has worked as an engineer for Sherkateh-Naft for
over 35 years told me he was asked to go back to work (he was retired).
He said Iran is heavily investing in increasing its potential for
oil production. The Chinese are the main players in Iran's oil
fields he said, but he also said all the Iranian petrol specialists,
retired or otherwise, have been called and hired back to work in
that industry.
I'll write more after I get out more. So far I've been playing
guest
(mehmoon baazi.) If you decided to visit Iran don't bring anything,
bring
Dollars. Even those few items which were cheaper in America a
few years ago are now cheaper in Iran. Recent American movies are
available here on DVD and VCD. They come from China. You can buy
them cheaper than for what you rent them in America.
 2)
I have picked a potential father-in-law but they don't know it
yet. There are many many eligible girls in Iran, but the requirements
are very high (a house in better part of Tehran, lots of money,
etc.)
Report from Iran's society, you asked. How about a report from
a “Mehmooni”?
Last Monday night I went to dinner, to my aunt's house. After
tea,
Zoolbia, Shirini-tar, tea, then a fabulous dinner which was ordered
from a restaurant nearby, then more tea, we got down to talking
about our pasts, where everyone had been and done for the past
30 years. there were three people (cousins whom had gone back to
Iran from America at different times).
One was very happy and had made lots of money in real-estate,
one was going back to America after staying in Iran for 20 years,
claiming that he was happy in Iran but his children were college-age
and America would be a better place for them. And the third was
going back after two years, saying that business activities in
Iran required much more money than he had anticipated.
 Another
cousin was also visiting from Connecticut (for only two weeks)
After some B.S. conversation I asked some juicy questions: why
live in Iran? why live in America? Why homeowner Iranians double
or triple their assets in Iran once every 3 years, and why we
work so hard in America and don't get rich even with
high salaries?
What are we looking for? Why are people searching for a better
life on the other side, whether that other side is in Iran or
in America?
I reached a conclusions from the conversations and debates that
night that Capitalists will get richer much quicker in Iran. Iranians
still don't have the right information as what America is and isn't,
and that if you owned a second home in Iran it will appreciate
in value in 3 years so much so that it will equal to 40 years salary
of an
 Iranian bank teller. In other words,
as my cousin put it, one may open a business or may work for the
government, or for private
industry. But you only work to keep busy so people don't think
you are a bum; nevertheless real money comes from selling your
properties >>> Part
2
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