{"id":210,"date":"2016-07-05T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/?p=210"},"modified":"2017-06-07T22:26:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T20:26:56","slug":"my-take-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/?p=210","title":{"rendered":"My take on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Because of my job I had the opportunity to go to Tehran. The first time from Saturday to Tuesday and the second time from Monday til Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Of course I had the usual impression that you get when you grew up or lived in a western country for a longer time:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-left: .375in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;\" type=\"disc\">\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Iran is not called Islamic republic of Iran for no reason: there is a religious leader who influences politics and regulations for daily live and law<\/span><\/li>\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Due to the relation to the US and the aggressive foreign policy especially under Ahmadinejad you get a very dark and frightful picture of the country: they want to erase Israel from the map and all American citizens are evil enemies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Similar like on my <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/?p=161\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">trip to Pakistan<\/a>, I had the chance to get a first hand impression.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">First of all: there is a huge &#8211; extraordinary huge &#8211; discrepancy between the government + the religious leaders and the daily life of the people. Two examples:<\/p>\n<ol style=\"margin-left: .375in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;\" type=\"1\">\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\" value=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;\">Alcohol is forbidden in Iran and recently students have been sentenced to 79 whips because they had some booze when celebrating their graduation.\u00a0<\/span>And of course there is a delivery service for alcohol. They come to your home, open the trunk and then you chose. Whaaaat?!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"margin-left: .375in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;\" type=\"1\">\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\" value=\"2\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;\">Facebook is blocked (funnily only on wired internet connections, &#8211; some? &#8211; mobile internet connections don&#8217;t block it.). Same applies for the heavily censored tv channels &#8211; ever watched or only listened to a football game on an Iranian tv channel? There is barely any sound from the crowd in the stadium. So everyone gets western tv from satellites. Smells a little like the former GDR, right?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Now what I experienced during my visits: all (!) people that I have met are extremely friendly, open and have a very liberal mindset. Strangers on the street approach you and ask where you are from what you are doing in Tehran etc (and no, they are not from the Stasi).<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">I even participated at a &#8220;party&#8221;. The conversation went like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Hey you wanna join a party tomorrow? Drinks and shisha.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Drinks?<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Yep.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Next day.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Well it&#8217;s not a real party, only a gathering of friends.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Ok<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Well and the location is a little strange. It&#8217;s at a nursery.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">???????!!<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Yeah, a friend of us is the owner and she invited some friends, we totally understand if you don&#8217;t want to join.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Sounds strange but I&#8217;d still love to join \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">\u2026 And yes, the nursery was full of children \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Some more quick facts:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-left: .375in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;\" type=\"disc\">\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Tehran has around 20 million people<\/span><\/li>\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">It spans from 900m above sea level up to around 1,700m &#8211; and the mountains next to it go even up to 3,500m &#8211; skiing hooray!<\/span><\/li>\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">It is a very green city, i.e. there are many trees, some parks etc. Still the smog can be quite bad, I guess mainly due to the extremely old cars.<\/span><\/li>\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Motorbike taxis are cool, cheap, roller coaster-like adrenalin levels are complementary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Food is very good, fresh, mostly local and cheap!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\">Last but not least: don&#8217;t go to Iran. Honestly. Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nbjVrm6XS_A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this video<\/a> to see what you are not missing.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1422.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-217\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1422-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1422\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1422-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1422-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1422-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1398.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-216\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1398-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1398\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1398-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1398-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1398-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1392.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-215\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1392-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1392\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1392-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1392-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1392-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1389.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-214\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1389-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1389\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1389-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1389-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1389-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1375.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-213\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1375-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1375\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1375-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1375-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1375-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1372.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-212\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1372-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1372\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1372-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1372-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1372-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1461.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-211\" src=\"http:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1461-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_1461\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1461-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1461-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1461-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because of my job I had the opportunity to go to Tehran. The first time from Saturday to Tuesday and the second time from Monday til Wednesday. Of course I had the usual impression that you get when you grew up or lived in a western country for a longer time: Iran is not called &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/?p=210\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">My take on Iran<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,52,65,40],"tags":[143,142,145,141,144,146,147],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authentic-cuisine","category-business-kaspern","category-food","category-landscape","tag-business-trip","tag-dry-country","tag-hipster-cafe","tag-iran","tag-kaspern","tag-salad-in-a-jar","tag-tehran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownexpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}