4th of july

it's the 4th of july and i didn't even notice. perhaps i was half expecting anti america riots in the streets. people really aren't that anti american; we prefer to speak french or russian amongst ourselves and protest strongly when asked if we are from 'amrika' but even if we did speak english loudly and profess our love for the US, i don't think it would make a big difference. have i mentioned the utter lack of tourists in iran so far? it's wonderful. i don't feel like i'm getting a tourist experience at all (need i mention the toilets again?). anyway, here is today's tally:

0 taxi rides
1 market
1 very cute tourist walking barefoot in a mosque
1 nap in the gardens of a gorgeous mosque
1 clean toilet
2 palaces
3 mosques
5 strangers asking where we were from
6ish hours of sleep
10 bottles of water
what feels like hundreds kilometers by foot

zoroaster vs. khomeini: round 1

i've been looking for pictures of khomeini to bring back for my friends (you can stone me for buying into this kitschy irony stuff, but the portraits are just something else!), so while browsing around for gifts, i asked my mother and great aunt to enquire about them in a shop. my aunt strode over (she's a very fiesty seventy something) and asked a young shopkeeper if he had khomeini paraphernalia; he shook his head sternly and according to my great aunt, even 'bared his teeth' at her. we bought some scarves in his shop anyway, and as we were leaving, he came outside and told us to wait. he reached into his pocket, and handed us pictures of zoroaster. it was then that we realized the pendant around his neck was a zoroastrian symbol, and that he had good reason to dislike the ayatollah.

we also saw numerous manifestations of polygamy, which i have to say i am strongly against, just because i wouldn't be able to deal with it and don-t understand how anyone would in this day and age. the women were very much covered; it got messy when they tried to eat ice cream by passing it under their chadors so as not to show their mouths. i wish fellini had made a movie with a scene like that, it seems appropriate, somehow.

tomorrow we are going to the armenian quarters, another mosque outside the city, and azoroastrian temple. very excited. i still need to buy iranian pop music cd's, and some traditional music too because it's really gorgeous.