bazzar

i went to tehran's great bazaar yesterday for the first time. it's weird that i've never been there before. my mom has always wanted to take us there but she always faced with terrible resistance. i used to think the bazaar is a noisy crowded place with useless stuff. it was not like that at all; it was clean and there were a lot of good stuff, and they were cheaper than anywhere else in the town. it was also interesting in almost any way.



i wanted to buy a rug. my relative knew some one there who had a shop, or "hojreh" as they call it in the bazaar. it was the first day after the new year's holidays and at 12pm when we got there they were just opening their shops. a lot of them haven't even bothered to come. i guess because it was right after the craziness of the end of the year when people shop like there is no tomorrow. in every open shop 3 or 4 people were chatting or reading the newspapers. there were too many people doing nothing, or not much.



the rest room was unbearably dirty and stinky even for iran's standards. i got dizzy when i stepped in. i was thinking these people are among the richest people in this country, if every shop in this yard paid a dollar each month, they could have the bathroom squeaky clean. but they don't really care...how could they not though?



i bought a pretty rug. it has a reddish background and there is some blue in the corners. the guy (haji) who sold the rug was really nice and he chatted with us about his kids and living in the states and how many many years ago he has gone on a trip to germany with my grandpa. he said these days people are difficult to travel with; they don't go just anywhere and they need to eat halal meat.



i was having a hard time deciding which rug i like the most and haji told me: if i was going to ask one out of three sisters for marriage, i would be confused as well. that's why you should just take one home and see if you like it. and i liked the sister i borough home.



we spent 7 hours in the bazaar. we also ate a lot of snacks which was just awesome. good times.