Shopping

Tuesday, July 22, 2003
I hate shopping! If you ever wanted to hurt me, make me do shopping. The only thing I like to buy is book. You know I rather die than to go shopping, talking to sell assistants, and asking about something &…. I always make a fool of myself doing them! Anyway, it’s an important part of living. I have no idea how on earth the shopping habits could be different from one society to another. & I consider it rather personal than social. (I have a totally different shopping habit than the rest of my family.)
Buying clothes is the worst part of shopping. I hate trying on dresses in shops & it is impossible for me to find the right suit & sometimes it gets on my nerve when sellers try to advise me about some rubbish ones. I don’t care about my looks, thereby most of the time I’m wearing the same old cloths that I have; yet I really like colors to go with each other. My mother does the shopping for me all the time & I’m satisfied with it as long as it doesn’t mean I have to try them on! ………. When I go shopping, I rather know the exact brand, mark & etc. this way there would be less chaos & finding the right one is easier. My folks like to go window-shopping. I mean it’s a kind of hobby. You go window shopping & you have fun! So most of the time it’s considered a good refreshing act.
Where to shop? It depends on how much you want to spend & what you want to buy! There are cool shop centers where you can discover so many beautiful things but the price is so high you rather watching than buying! The point is you can go to GOLESTAN shop center, just to have fun. (Although I found very nice things at very low price there! But that’s a secret how!) You can find almost everything there & if you feel like it, you can have something at on of the cafés there. Some folks date out there & the street “IRANZAMIN” is one of the most famous ones for joyriding.
Another shop center is GHAEM! It’s not a bad one but I find it a rather boring place. It gives me an unfriendly feeling; yet if you’re looking for weird kind of things, tries it. I forget “SAFAVIEH”, though it’s smaller than the others, there you may find really cool stuff (especially “dating stuffs”)
Well, there are some areas where you can go for shopping too, like MOHSENI square, VANAK square, VALIASR Avenue & bazaar for sure. The price is lower relatively. I like shopping in VANAk; maybe because I can get there in 10 minutes from home. But it also got an inviting environment. (Well, these days it becomes so crowded; & I don’t feel like going there anymore.) I used to go to a café there, but it was closed. On VALIASR you may find some cheap stuff & some rather expensive ones.
Bazaar is the main marketing place in Tehran. It’s been said that most of the purchases happen there. Yet it still has a rather traditional look! You may walk in one of these old dark chambers & find someone purchasing via internet! It is located in south part of Tehran on a large area. & the architecture plans are so complicated, you feel like you’re trapped in a maze. I’ve been there just 2 or 3 times, & I assure you I may have got lost if Katharine had been around! But there’s this “SHARAF O ESLAM” restaurant which is also called “ISLAMI”. (it got nothing to do with Islam, it’s the name of the owner.) I have had a very delicious CHELO KABAB there. What’s CHELO KABAB? Wait until I write about Iranian foods!