A Day in the Park

Today we got up early to meet my cousin Samira downstairs for a trip to Jamshidieh Park. Mom, Dad, and I went with Samira and met Nadir, a long-time friend of Samrira’s, before the short drive up the mountain. Looking into the entrance to this park, the breathtaking view took me aback. I was entering the Garden of Eden compared to the dusty roads and alleys we used to get there. The whole park is paved with gray stones, and trees cover all of the walkways. Pavilions are interspersed throughout where women’s groups or youngsters playing guitar and singing had gathered. Waterways trickled in the middle of some of the walkways and steps, adding a tranquil sound to the surrounding scenery.
Flowing water is very common to the Iranian landscape, especially Tehran, since it is located in a valley with mountains to the North and East. This is why many businesses and residences all over the country have ponds with fountains. Many Iranians in the U.S. still have an affinity for decorative water. A little ways up the mountain, the park ended and a hiking path began alongside a wide creek. We stopped there to take pictures, and I videoed my Dad, the poet of the family, reciting a poem while standing next to the water.
We then went to my Aunt Minoo’s apartment for lunch. Her family lives in Phase 1 of Ekbatan, a series of large apartment home buildings that basically form a large village or small town. There are three phases, and each phase has its own shopping areas and grocery market. My Aunt Farzaneh and Rouhi live together in Phase 2. Aunt Minoo had made a stew with a vegetable that is a cross between celery and artichoke. My other Aunt Farzaneh (Uncle Houshang’s wife) had just arrived into town as well from Atlanta, GA. Everyone is coming for my cousin Pejman’s wedding in a week and a half. It’s interesting seeing someone that you see all the time in the U.S. on the other side of the world.
After a long nap, Samira and I went down to the local shopping center to walk around and use the internet at a local internet café (coffee nets, as they are called here). The interesting part is that most of them are just internet businesses and do not serve coffee or anything else for that matter. We spent a couple of hours looking at websites and talking, catching up on a lifetime of being apart. The shops were also very interesting. You could find anything you needed without ever really having to leave Ekbatan. Banks, clothing, barbers, electronics, groceries, internet, and many more products and services are right at your fingertips. After leaving the shops, Samira and I walked up one of the streets alongside Ekbatan to her dad’s sandwich shop called Haida. Haida is a franchise very similar to Subway. There are about 30 located all over the city. Uncle Jamshid owns one of them. We ate there and continued to catch up on each other’s lives.