I had some emails asking about AoE elections. I am not into politics and I don't know that much about it but I will try to write my opinions.

At Friday, we had two major elections. I have wrote about it some weeks ago (Pressure, Experts and brave people). The government announced that participation in Tehran was 47%. Have in mind that we had 3 elections on Friday: Councils, Assembly of Experts and mid-course(?) Parliament.

I did not participated because I did not had any appropriate candidate. Government had said that the results will be announced the next night but they have not announced it yet (3 days after the desired day). Some people and some reformist candidates are protesting against cause they believe the government is going to cheat.

In the AoE the results are not with Ahmadinejads group. Hashemi Rafsanjani is first and the pro-Ahmadinejad candidate is 6th (I think the first 15 will be in the AoE from Tehran). Right know the first candidate has 1'500'000 votes and this is from a city with 10'000'000 of population.

The main point about this elections was if our leader dies, one of these people are going to be the next leader so it was a great competition for those old people. For me, the elections was not important at all because I am sure in their next meeting -as always- they are going to say we have the best leader and this will happen each year. They never argue for peoples rights, they never criticize the leader cause they are all the same.

17. Who are (or were) the major artists and writers?
We are a country with a history of 2500 years (Persia), So we have many writers, poets and scientists from the previous centuries. I think the most famous poets are Molana and Ferdowsi. From the scientists we can mention Khayyam and Razi (discoverer of Alcohol). And about the contemporary artists, I can mention Mohsen Makhmalbaf (film director) and Shamloo.

Hey ! There are many people I can mention but I think they are not famous outside Iran. And keep in mind, Persia was one of the largest emperatories in the ancient times so our territory was much larger than this days. So many people start to argue if Molana was an Iranian or Turkish, if Bidel was Iranian or Afghan, etc. I do not argue about this, Iran was a big territory those days but it is much smaller these days. You can consider Molana as a Turk, Bidel as a Afghan and ... :)

18. What kind of music is popular at this time? Who is the major pop star or movie star at the present time?
We have two kind of music here: legal and illegal !
Every album has to have a license. You can not publish a song without a license from the government ! So we have two kind of music: internal (legal) and imported (mainly from Los Angeles). Many people listen to Imported POP music and some people like traditional Iranian music. Most famous traditional singer is Shajarian and some of the popular pop stars are Dariush and Googoosh.

19. How Patriotic are you about your country?
Not that much. I consider myself as an Internationalist. I love human race; with any gender, any color and in any country but I work in my country because I know the culture, the language and because it need more work :)
There is proverb in Farsi which says "Art is in the hands of Iranians" and there are many other Patriotic sayings but I am sure every culture and every country has it's own great poets, highlights and etc. The only point is that we have to study about them.


20. If you did not live in your country, where would you want to live?
I have just seen some counties and I do not know about all the world. But I really loved Netherlands (Thank you all guys there in Netherlands!). But do not miss understand me. I am glad that I have born in Iran because I know what I have to do here. It is easy to step for human rights in Iran; You easily will know what is right and what is wrong and what has to be done. Deciding what to do is much more difficult in an calm, peaceful country.

11. How do people spend their leisure time? What kinds of leisure activities do they participate in?
Leisure time ? Just like the other parts of the world except Alcohol, Dancing and Nightclubs. Some people go to cycling, some people go to other sports, some people spend it with their families, some go to travels, some go to cinemas, ...
BUT ! There are many people who have no leisure time :( Some people work in 2 jobs (one in morning, one in afternoon) to earn enough money for their family.


12. What are normal work hours? Are most stores open on weekends? What days might they be closed?
In Iran the official holiday is Friday and the Saturday is first day of the week and Sunday is the NORMAL second day of the week. So many people work from 8am-5pm from SAT to WED. In some companies/jobs Thursday is a half-day-job (8am-2pm) and in some places it is an holiday. Fridays are weekends and holidays.
And the shops ! lovely. They are open all time except Friday mornings. Iran is full of shops / bazars and it is very common to go shopping for cloths, food, home equipments, ... at 18pm. We recently bought our DVD player at 1pm Friday (official holiday). The bazar/some shops might be closed at some religiously holiday (say Prophets birthday) and some national holidays (say New years (first of the spring) first days).Cool question ! I liked it :)

13. What are the important holidays? Are there special observances of these holidays?
We have 3 kind of them. 1) religious holidays, 2) National holidays (say nationalization of the oil) 3)Cultural holidays (say new years celebrations). Keep in mind that Iran is one of countries with the most holidays (we have 26 official holidays during each years! :D ). For sure some of these holidays has their own observances, have a look at Norous (new day) in Wikipedia and Battle of Karbala (war between prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and a military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph) as two greatest and most special ceremonies.


14. Where and how do people get married? What is the average marriage age? Is it acceptable not to get married? What is the attitude toward divorce?
This need a complete course of sociology of the family ! but I will do my best. And remember that I am in Tehran, Iran is very big country and we have many many different cultures. I am talking about myself. I have met with Leila (my wife) in the university (we both studied Electronics / Communication Engineering). We met each other in university. Was just friends for one year, loved each other for other one year, engaged for one year and now we are living for three years.
I think the average in Tehran should be around 25 for girls and 27 for boys. IT IS MY GUESS so worthless !
Acceptable ? Difficult questions. My colleague is 32 and she is not married and lives alone and nobody bothers to ask WHY. but for sure it is not always this easy. Specially older people will ask you WHY and SO WHAT and ... and might try to find husband / wife for you. But I think we will see more and more single people.
When I was younger, divorce was bad but accepted in Islam. Nowadays we see more and more divorced people who are not ashamed of it. For sure, divorce is still considered bad in the general society but it not anymore a sin or anything (Islam have accepted the divorce from the beginning).

15. What is the national language of the country? Are other languages spoken?
Unfortunately national language is FARSI and every official thing and every education HAS TO BE in Farsi. We have many other languages: Turkish, Kurdish, Lori, Arabic and ... I myself can speak Turkish because my grand mother was a Turk but I can not read / write Turkish because IT IS ILLEGAL TO TEACH IT IN THE SCHOOLS. This of this: you are a Turk/Kurd child and Turkish/Kurdish is the only languages you speak and you are 7 and have to go to school but the only language in school is FARSI. shame ! You can hear this language from the rural radios or in the musics from the national radio but you can not learn it in your school.

16. What is the principal religion(s) of the country? What are the basic beliefs or doctrines of these religions?
It is Islam/Shia(Twelvers) and you are free to be a Muslim, Jew, christian or Zoroastrian but nothing else. Shi'a Islam (Twelvers) believes

• Tawhīd: God is one
• Adalah: God is just(as in Justice)
• Nubuwwah: Muhammad is the Prophet
• Imamah: There were 12 leaders(Imams) after the prophet who were also just and knew everything
• Qiyâmah: There will be a judgment day

I had this email

Hello,

I've read your blog a few times and have enjoyed your posts. I am taking a global cultures class and have been asked to contact a few people from other Areas of the world to see if they would be willing to respond briefly to some simple questions. Obviously, some of these questions could be answered by looking around online, but I ask them here because the answers I receive from interviewees are more authentic and interesting. I've listed the questions here if you'd like to respond (and of course, if you'd rather not, I understand). Thanks, and keep up the great writing!

Joe

1. N/A
:)

2. How do people greet each other – (shake hands, bow, embrace, other)?

Depends on the people :) Iran is a multicultural country (Fars, Turks, Kurds, Lors, Arabs, ...) and each group has it's own culture. In the most places shaking hands are normal but as you might know, a Muslim person is not allowed to touch the opposite sex so when a man meets a woman shaking hands depends on the situation and their personality. In the more friendly cases, embracing is normal too; even between two men. They might also kiss each others faces 3 times.

3. As a visitor to the country, would you exchange gifts at the first meeting? What gifts are considered appropriate? If flowers, what kind? (Some have special meanings.)
It is not a must but it is good to have a gift for your host or new friend. Flowers are not normal. This gift is a souvenir most of the times. A chocolate, a not expensive handicraft from your country or something like this.


4. How are children educated? At what age do they begin school? Do boys and girls generally go to separate schools, or are they separated by sex in the same school? Do they usually wear uniforms?
Every child have to hattend to the school at the age of 7. All the schools are separated until the university. I think in the cities and in the primary schools it is normal to have a school uniform (a dark blue shirt for example) but in the high schools or the universities nobody wears a uniform.

5. N/A

6. How is garbage collection dealt with?
Garbage collection ? each night at the 9'o clock (pm) you can put your garbage bag out of your house and a big truck will come and collect them. It is free. In some places there are bigger garbage buckets(?) which you can put your garbage bags in it instead of putting them in front of your house. Seperating garbage (paper, glass, metal, ...) is new and people are not used to it yet. One other point: nobody trows away any bread ! Everybody seperates breads in a diffrent bag and put them just near the garbage. It is cultural: break is the main source of food.

7. What is the normal dress for men and women?
Difficult ! have a look at Iranian People Photos. I wear jeans and a T-shirt most of the times. All the women HAVE TO wear Hijab (scarf or chador) have a look at Islamic Fashion Show and Wear Chador and be Free.

8. What foods, if any, are generally not eaten or possibly considered taboo?

Islam says eating Alcohol, Dogs and Pigs are forbidden. You can not find Dog / Pig meat in Iran easily.

9. Are there gestures or movements that would not be acceptable in polite society?

You are asking "is there any un-polite gestures in Iran ?" yes there are :) The one I have to mention is "thumbs-up" gesture. Here it means something like "showing the middle finger" in western culture (not that bad but bad :) ). The good point is many many people know the "thumbs-up" meaning in western cultures so they accept and even response possitively to it from a tourist :)

10. Is it acceptable to bargain for goods at department stores or at markets?

You mean changing accomodity with accomodity ? I have never heard of it in the cities.

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There are ten more questions. I will answer tomorrow.