Travel note in Persia 8 Surrounded by gladiolus

Travel note in Persia 8, Surrounded by gladiolus

It was the third day. I woke up refreshingly and I felt good.

This day was Friday. The holiday is Friday in Iranian calendar instead of our Sunday. Saturday and Sunday are weekdays here.

There must be many guests specialy on this holiday.

The house of the eldest brother

Parents house had many people than usual. I had to wait taking a shower long time. So the eldest brother's wife brought me to their house near there to take a shower.

When Iranian women go out a little, they put on the printed thin cloth instead of the coats or Chador.

She wore a piece of white cloth with the little flower printed. I put on the coat and went out.

There were only a vegetable shop and a Shish-kebab(meat barbecue) restaurant in this residence street on the way to their house across two streets.

I saw only the walls in the road side as I wrote before. We stopped in front of the big door after a while.

Because the lock was automatical, we had the inside open the door. I was welcomed by the eldest brother and their 3 children who were students in this house.

This brother stayed at home though his office hours were irregular.

This living room was less larger than Parents' house. There were TV, the sofa set,the dining table set and some shelves.

The persian carpets of blue were spread on many. I like these blue ones more than the traditional colors, red and blue ones in Parents house.

They served Chai after taking a shower. They presented me the gold accessory.

"We didn't give you yesterday at my parents house. Because we cerebrate when a bride is invited in new relatives house for the first time." he said.

Then we talked with seeing their albums. It was the photographs of their wedding. Because he could speak English, we talked smoothly.

Though I visited many houses in Iran after this day, most of them showed me the pictures or the videos of their wedding on the first visit.

This brother's wedding was 20 years ago. All of the relatives on the pictures looked young and had old fashioned cloths and hair style.They seemed to slip the time.

The guests

When I came back to Parents house, there were many guests again.

It was the season of the gladiolus in Tehran, so the living room was full of the bouquets of it. The bouquets never ended because the guests came one after another.

My husband told me to put on good cloths and make up the face well because the guests would come.

It is said to put on a headscarf and to hide a body and not make up if possible in the outside. But it is opposite in the house.

Other relatives who I had not seen would come here. Our family has a good relationship with them.

At first the eldest brother and his wife came here again who I just had said good-by one hour ago. Then we were visited by more than 10 people of the relatives.

Our mother came to the living room and talked with their mother sitting beside her.

Most relatives of my husband are not Persian but Azerbaijan Turkish who are from the northern part of Iran.

They speak Farsi (Persian language) in the outside because the official languge is Farsi in Iran. But they speak Turki (Azerbaijan Tukish language) at home.

When all gather, people speak both Farsi and Turki. I got confused all the more.

One of their family was a school teacher. It was the first time for me to see the woman who had a job.

Most of Iranian women are housewives. But many are career woman like doctors, professors and teachers.

They listened to my husband speaking eagarly. Even if the men and the women were divided in the living room, all were listening to my husband speaking about Japan.

When the guests came back, it had been almost night. Mother looked very tired because there were many guests on this day.

So my husband and the nephews went to buy Shish-kebab (meat barbecue) to the neighborhood shop.

They brought back Shish-kebab, Nan(thin bread) and vegetables on the dish they brought from the house. Vegetables are fresh harbs, fresh whole onions and baked tomatos.

It smelled delicious and spicy in all the house. Those were distributed to all and dissapeared soon.