Shopping day...

Its grocery day again, something I don't enjoy I have to admit. Its a tricky business trying to shop for groceries in a hyperstore where all the labels are in Farsi and you're guessing what it is you're putting in the trolley. Now, is this tomato paste, or is it peels tomatoes? You do get to a stage of "Who cares!" and shove it in anyway.

The other problem is that this store is new, popular and crowded. Steering a trolley in it is worse than driving around Tehran - and that is saying something.

Serious case of the mutters coming on here.....

Persian art

Traditional Persian painting, probably more properly ink and pen work, is exquisite and I came across this small illustration in a book recently. As I don't have a scanner here I had to try and photograph it and the result is pretty poor. It depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ Child surrounded by angels. I suspect that most Christians in the West would be unaware that Mary is held in high esteem in Islam as the mother of "the last Jewish Prophet".

What's a cat to do?

Mausi the cat almost triggered an avalanche yesterday as she examined the possibility of going our into the garden via the upstairs window and roof. The garden currently lies buried beneath almost 40cm of snow and this is far more than Mausi's height, so she has had to remain indoors unless she can make use of the paths her humans clear from time to time. Mostly she stays indoors. Its warmer, her paws don't get iced up and she can sleep....

But yesterday the other Mausi opened a window to take a picture and she saw her chance to test an alternative route to outside. She didn't reckon on the snow moving under her.... The mini-avalanche started as soon as she tried to walk on the slope. Just in time she pulled back, and scampered back inside to complain loudly that her humans should have warned her!

Construction safety?

Holes in the ground often contain interesting surprises, especially holes like this one out of which a man was observed to climb using a knotted rope. Further investigation revealed that there was at least one more of the Afghan workers we are now used to dealing with, at the bottom of the hole. It's a little over ten metres deep by the way and there is no shoring or support for the sides anywhere in evidence.
Now, our team includes one guy who is a specialist in collapsed structures and rescue, so it was obviously of interest to find out what, if any, safety precautions are in force. The discussion with the contractor provided some answers, but there is really only one way to find out for sure. Some photographs were obtained. These are they.



The workers digging this are Afghans. Desperate for work that pays these young men will undertake anything and everything so they can earn enough to send every Rial they earn home to wives, mothers or family members supporting younger siblings. Some of the "men" are little more than teenagers and the conditions they are living in are appalling. In fact the units my colleague and I burn for our courses are better constructed, better furnished and probably healthier that the mud a brick structures in which these boys and young men live.

And in case you were wondering - this is how sewerage is managed and disposed of. These are essentially cesspits. And the excavation has been done entirely by hand, by four men from a region in Afghanistan where the men and boys are renowned for their lack of fear of tunnels and confinement. We are told that many are killed each year .....

Working through

It's a holiday in Iran, in honour of the prophet's death in 632 AD. I'm not sure which date the Islamic calendars work from, because it is 1388 here in Iran and 1423 in Saudi and other Sunni countries. At a guess I think it explains a lot about the gulf between Western and Islamic cultures.

It's been a quiet day on the teaching front, only our courses in work and we kept it light in honour of the holiday and its subject.Tomorrow is, of course, another day.

End of Weekend

For the Monk, that is. For Mausi it is the end of a tedious week. Getting to the office in the morning proved to be a time consuming adventure each morning. And the tasks that had be done at work were not exactly ripping, either. But Mausi made good progress, eventually, and is now looking forward to a long weekend. Monday will be a holiday for her. It is the day of the big Rose Monday Carnival Parades along the Rhine as in Cologne, Duesseldorf and Mainz.

Mausi plans to embark on a quick shopping expedition tomorrow morning and then make herself comfortable inside the house with Mausi, the Cat. The snow can stay outside and keep piling itself up for all Mausi cares...

Celebrations for everyone?

Again the Monk cannot access his blog and has asked Mausi to step in. These days Iran is celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. It start with fireworks last night. But apparently this is not a reason for jubilation for everyone. The Iranian opposition is demonstrating again against the way the Revolution has turned out and against the way the president has seized power after the last elections. Members of the opposition have been arrested all day and - according to the media - marked for arrest with paintball guns.

At least part of the internet is still running, so Mausi was able to exchange the news of the day with the Monk. Today is the equivalent of Saturday in Teheran and this weekend is not easy for the Monk and his colleagues. They were warned to stay put inside their flats and show a low profile. It is a relief to hear they are not running out of provisions...

Teaching apparently went well last week. The students are eager as always and the Monk was able to take this beautiful picture of a backdraft.


And the Monk has made new friends. This dog is following him around faithfully, wherever he goes on the training grounds.


Mausi is counting the days until the Monk returns.