A Light in A Dark Place

I have considered the possibilities as to why last
week was so difficult for me and have settled on the
theory that my general distaste for life was due to a
few minor things which should be taken into
consideration before I deem myself a total downer in
the midst of such possibility and opportunity.
Firstly, there is my monthly vaginal hemorrhaging,
which conveniently comes along with its few
undesirable side effects such as cramping and a
general sullen attitude towards life. Then there is
the fact that I have been abruptly cut off from any
substances at all. This involuntary alcohol and cigarette
withdrawal could also be a contributing factor to an
incontrollable irritation which has characterized the
past week for me. Finally, I think that my past of
self-imposed isolation from family, and anything to do
with family, has finally come to seriously take it's toll on me. I am constantly surrounded by various family members and have been completely deprived of any privacy ever
since I arrived at the airport here. I’m not used to
having people around me all the time, much less a
close-knit family who doesn’t seem to believe in
personal space. Anyway, I will just have to get used
to it. In fact, it’s high time I finally learned to
deal with family like a mature adult...

In other news, I have hit a Neda jackpot here in
Tehran. I have discovered the subway, oh yes. And do believe that I will be all over it from here on out. The closest stop is
a forty five minute walk from my house and I plan on
traversing it daily. My family is
frightened silly that I’m going to get kidnapped or
lost forever in this gargantuan city but there’s no
choice for them. Curiously, the subway actually bears
quite a resemblance to the subways in Boston and New
York. The only difference is that instead of a
diverse population of passengers who tend to mind
their own business, I have to dodge the uninhibited
stares of close to twenty metrosexual looking Iranian
boys. I can’t get over the staring; it is so
shameless. I wonder what the root cause of this
behavior is. Is every tourist as obvious as I
supposedly am, and if so, are tourists really that odd
looking, or do boys just generally stare at girls as
if they’ve never seen one in their life? I don’t
think I’ll ever get used to the blatant lack of
personal space and privacy that seems to be so
ubiquitous here. Anyhow, I am much in luck as most of
the signs for the subway are written in English as
well Farsi. Hooray for modernization in Tehran!