It has been a week since I arrived in Tehran and it took me a while to get used to the daily chaos. Little by little I get acclimatized to this beautiful city. That's partly based on the fact that I'm pretty busy with my studies at Dekhoda Institute and many other things. Originally I wanted to post an article on Turkish-Iranian relations on which I was working last week. But after today I thought it would be better to write a very short blog entry about my 15 minutes at a bus station near Vanaq Sq.
I was about to meet a very good friend of mine who is living in Pasdaran (district in North-Tehran). We agreed upon meeting around 6.30 PM. That's basically rush-our in Tehran and so I said that I would take the bus from Velenjak (another district in North-Tehran) to Vanaq Sq where we wanted to go to a cafe.
Anyways, I arrived there around 6, took a seat at the bus station and started reading my tremendous book (Jenny White: Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks). The bus station was very crowded. Men and women were waiting in separate rows for the buses. Everything looked very organized and rehearsed. Young fashionable girls, business men, hipsters etc. patiently waiting for their turn. Some girls sat next to me and suddenly I was surrounded by women, so that I became concerned whether I was sitting at the women's area of the bus station. But nobody seemed to be disturbed by my appearance and so I kept on reading my book. After I while I took out my note-book to write down some interesting parts that I've read. A girl in a red "manto" was sitting on my right. I noticed she was spiking in my note-book. Suddenly she said: "You are not Iranian?". "No" I replied, "I'm from Germany.""Ahan, I knew it" she said.
I was surprised by that answer. Normally people here think I'm Iranian because apparently I look pretty much like an ordinary Iranian guy. However, according to Azadeh (the girls name) I wasn't dressed like an average Iranian man and I was reading a book which is (unfortunately) not a very common thing for men in Iran (I was wearing sun-glasses, a white T-shirt with the Union Jack on it and grey jeans).
Anyways, Azadeh is a 20 years old student of electrical engineering at an University in Tehran. Her English was not great but also not too bad which is often the case with young Iranians (my personal experience). She was very curious and I had the feeling that she enjoyed speaking to me very much. I had to answer the "usual" questions, like for instance "What are you doing in Iran?", "Why do you want to learn Farsi?", "Do you like Iran?", "What do the people in your country think about Iran?" etc etc.
After I answered her questions I asked her if she ever met a foreigner. She giggled and said no, further admitting that I'm the first foreigner she was talking to. "My brother and my sister are in America and I want to go there too, but my English has to improve", she continued. I asked her whether she likes Iran and if it's the case, why she wants to leave. She claimed that she loves her life in Iran, even if it's hard sometimes but in the US she would have a greater chance for success and "isn't success what makes life worth living?" she asked me in return. Once again caught by surprise I said "Sure, together with other things."
I think Azadeh is not an exception in Iran. Young, beautiful and self-confident despite all the difficulties she has to face in her daily life. She was very convincing and I had the feeling that she is truly happy. I hope she will achieve her aims and become even more happy. Good luck Azadeh...
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