Mashhad - University Chancellor

Chancellor's office of Mashhad University: We discussed a variety of topics including USA/Iran University cooperation and relationship; exchange program for professors, speakers and students; assistance in publishing Iran research papers in International journals; topics specific to BioMed and Food Science an general image building. These discussions are part of a special objective we brought with us based our our membership in the Iranian BioMed Society in California.

The chancellor gave me two gifts, two books published by the university, one was a review of Persian literature and the other on theology research. Both are in Farsi, so I had better get a tutor.

Very religious relatives: I had not seen, up close, the very religious until we visited some relatives. Just as the less-religious, they were 100% completely loving and accepting of our marriage. The father had lost his sight to diabetes but had the brightest and most happy face. Their house was full of books, reminding me of my own fathers house. The women were very covered during our visit, but bright smiles and laughter protruded from the cloth. The father and mother had been published poets, and the father recited to me his first poem. I wish I could remember it all, but it was about the penalty of locking yourself inside, shying away from love, and when you finally embrace love, you find out that all of those days in hiding did nothing to prepare you for the necessities of love. My wife translated it to me, but oddly, I knew the meaning without full translation.

As gifts, they gave us pouches of "nobat", crystallized yellowish sugar and small squares of green cloth. The cloth swatches are remnants from the cover to the holy shrine that covers Imam Reza's body at the Harram. Every month they tear apart this covering, clean out the shrine and replace the cover. I do not know where this originated, but I see it is a necessity as the shrine is full of cash contributions from the thousands of worshipers that have visited each month.

Dinner with my wife's classmate's family: We met at the Homa Hotel and had a great meal preceded with traditional tea and "bastanie" (Persian ice cream). We all went back to their house afterwards and shared our wedding video, as their children also shared their talents (their son played a song on the Sitar and the daughter shared a pretty colored pencil drawing). Part of our discussion was on the cultivation and export of Saffron, one of Iran's most valuable commodity.

Iranians are proud of their homes and this one was very beautiful. The floors and stairs are all made of locally quarried marble. One of the most impressive architectural attributes of this home was the curved, all soft-white marble stairway. (Mashhad produces a significant amount of marble, and lumber is quite scarce. It is not uncommon to see the entire exterior and interior of a home wall-to-wall marble.)

The typical style for a home shares some attributes with an American home; there is a family or casual sitting room, and a more formal living room and dining room. Shoes always come off at the door and most of the walking or sitting areas are covered with an Iranian wool carpet. But in general, Iranian homes give more space to the elegant and formal side where American homes give more space to casual and comfortable living. The furniture style is influenced by their close historical ties with the French, hand painted chairs with embroidered cushions, maybe a glass top dining table with an ornate pattern below.

Curtain are given special attention and normally cover the entire expanse of the window, showing nothing from the outside. Again, they are ornate with pretty sheers, a fancy valance, and are probably part of the same French style. Then again, given the riotous and busy life outside the home, the curtain may be a symbolic separation that provides the home with much needed tranquility.

There is not much room for a back or front yard in Iranian cities, so they take on more of a 'courtyard' feeling, with high walls and tile or marble floors. Because of the climate, it would probably be cost prohibitive to have too much greenery so plants are restricted to individual beds of flowers, fruit trees and herbs. As I have mentioned before, the Iranian house is a veritable fortress with high shard-tipped "fences", double-bolted doors with secondary gates and simple security devices. The high walls are out to the perimeter of the property and all attributes are within these walls, including any space for front or back yard. In Iran, it is easy to lose what you have, very hard to get it, and therefore highly protected. The high perimeter walls make every street look like a narrow or wide alleyway. The only features on the exterior of the walls are the garage door, an iron gate that protects the front door, an intercom to the house (mandatory, else you would never get in) and various numbers written on the walls from the phone company, gas company, etc.