Goodbye Iran

I want to sum up Iran, but I can't. I am pretty tired, I feel like I have run out of words.

Everywhere we went there were curious people who wanted to know more about us. We spent a lot of time reassuring everyone that we were loving Iran and felt very welcome. Everyone is aware of how Iran is typically portrayed in 'western' media and they are anxious to show that the people, at least, are super friendly.

I was expecting wearing hijab to be the hardest part of travelling in Iran. It turns out the hardest thing is not giving two thumbs up to express awesomeocity. It turns out thumbs up means 'up yours' in Iran.

That's fine, I thought to myself, I've been SCUBA diving, I'm accustomed to think of thumbs up as 'let's ascend' and using the okay sign to indicate 'she's all good'. I'll use the okay sign to indicate assent or approval. Nope. Turns out that means 'you're a man who has sex with other men'. There may also be an element of 'are you a man who has sex with other men?' Either way it is not good in Iran where gay love is not allowed.

It is easy for me not to flip someone the bird, no trouble refraining from the two finger salute, but you're going to have to cut off my thumbs to stop those other two.

The only other two things I would especially note about Iran are the piles of dirt, and the ferris wheel in every town. 


I would like to come back some day.