Family Gatherings: Not so Bad?

For the past couple of days my family has taken me to
the mountains. They know that I enjoy that type of
sightseeing rather than going to the malls, although that would be interesting
in a much different way. It’s a shame that I’m unable to
go hiking freely like I am in other parts of the world
because people just don’t do that here, and I can’t go
alone. I can’t travel around the country like I
wanted to because as a single woman, hotels will not
let me buy a room by myself, nor with any other single
woman, nor with a man who is not my father, and so on.
As far as I know, they don’t "like" you to camp either,
so in other words, I essentially can't. The only
way I could do the type of traveling that I’m used to
is if I hired a certified male guide to take me around
privately but it far too expensive and fussy for me.

But in consolation, these day outings with family are
highly entertaining, especially because my family,
with the exception of my grandma, are just amazing
people that I have endless fun with; and the only
reason that I don’t have fun with my grandma is simply
that she’s too old and stubborn and worries too
much. As I was saying, we went to the mountains
yesterday and I was positively camera-happy, to the
disconcertment of my family. For some reason, they
don’t understand that I like to take pictures of the
scenery and buildings equally as much as I like to take
pictures of family and I think because they don't understand it, they become quite irritated at it. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to stop and take as
many pictures as I’d like when I go out with them.
However, on this particular trip, it was so beautiful
that I decided I simply couldn’t let their irritation
inhibit me, so I proceeded to take pictures right, left, and
center for the entire time.

It was so beautiful up there. We walked around this
really old city in the mountains with old houses and a
stream running alongside the path. There were narrow
stone staircases, and tents with people selling nuts
and dried fruit underneath, and mosaic buildings
hidden in path corners, and beautiful trees with
really beautiful bark, and I could really go on forever. We ended up
in this outside “coffee shop” and it was splendid.
There were shallow pools made with beautifully
designed tile and contained big goldfish, which are
good luck here, and fountains. Amidst the shade of
the leafy trees, there were benches, but not just any bench. They were 7 by 7 foot
square benches with a back on two sides, covered in
Persian rugs, where everyone takes their shoes off and
sits cross-legged, or with their legs hanging off the
side, in a circle. Above our heads were draped these
big lengths of sheer fabric, hanging from two poles on
either side of the bench/table, through which sun
light could seep through but not bear down on us
uncomfortably. The café workers brought us tea and we
had already bought some chips from their kiosk. Then,
to my utter delight, they brought out a big beautiful
hookah and we smoked hookah and drank tea and sat on
our rugged table in the middle of this gorgeous
courtyard with fountains and pools in the mountains.
It was so wonderful I just couldn’t stop smiling. On
the way down the mountain we stopped at this tiny
bakery and got some freshly baked flatbread, it was so
delicious and somehow managed to intensify the feeling that I had stumbled upon some kind of oasis in the desert. There
were so many things I had never seen before such as huge sheets of fruit roll-up type foods hanging
from a string connected to two trees. There's too much to say, but once I get
internet on my computer, I will post the pics.

I can’t wait to see more places. My life here is
really simple. It consists of walks, reading,
family gatherings where everyone actually wants to be
there including me, and learning most of all. I’m
learning about so many things at once here. Yesterday
my cousins taught me Persian dancing and then we
danced together while the rest of my family sat around
us in a circle clapping and snapping to the music.
They said they couldn’t believe I didn’t know how to
dance before that. It was flattering. My cousins
play these really unique instruments as well. One of
them plays a Persian hand drum and she is 11 but she
sounds like she’s been doing it for ten years. It blows me away. There’s another one that
plays something that looks like a really big
tambourine but is covered on one side like a drum so
that you can beat it with your fingers and shake it
like a tambourine all at the same time. I’ll have to bring back some authentic Persian
music. Life is simple, simple...and I’m very happy
right now.