2-2-9 Mountains Iran

http://www.couscousglobal.com/id/2706 2009-02-02T10:19:49+01:00 2-2-9 Mountains Iran Mondaymorning. The voice of a man sellin grapefruits resonates in my street. At th background the evrlasting sound of traffic. T is still cold in Tehran, but he sun is shining and it makes a beautiful day. I have been reading this morning the great Persian poets: Hafez, Rumi and Khayyam. I can not tell you enough how different he Iranians are from the image and the propaganda about hem in the USA, Europe and Iran alike, but for different reasons. I have been out in the mountains. A favourite thing to do for all Tehranis, especially on Friday. To get out of he immensely polluted city and the stress of city life it will only take you an hour to arrive in a completely unexpected ski resort scene high in the mountains. We went up in a cable tele cabine thing for 8 km. People as ever were warm, friendly and generous. We exchanged music on our cellphones, tea and pitachenuts. We made fun in the long waitings(up to 2 hours)for the skilifts. I photograhed the bungyjumping, snowboarding, skating(on DJ Tiestos dancebeats)and most dangerously sliding the mountain on a plastic bag….. Lots of fun. The girl I am with tells me about all her outings in the mountains as a child with her aunt, how these memories are amongst the best she has. That although she lived years abroad, the mountains made her come back to her country. How she hates the questions of everyone why she came back. The idea is that everyone want to leave Iran, not to come back. But I meet lots of Americans, Europeans who came back because “it is so exiting to live in Iran, but you need a break of it every 3 months”. “ It is a bit like New York in the old days. You would enter a building that looks shit and you wonder where your knife is because it looks like you could get killed any moment. But than you enter the building and everything is completely different than you thought. There is a spacious loft or a wild party going on”. In the restaurant high in the mountains people are making their own meals on butagas they brought with them. Walking the mountains is as nomal here as riding a bycicle for a Dutch man. For instead of the angry hysterical: “death to America and Zionist”shouting Iranians we all know from the television, the young Teheranis I meet are funloving, warm, international and poetry- loving people. As their Khayyam said: “A book of verses underneath the bough A jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou Beside me singing in the wilderness And wilderness is paradise enow…..” maartje nevejan http://www.couscousglobal.com/id/176 ARTICLE news