Boyfriends:

Honestly it never did cross my mind that others wanted to know about how Iranians date. I mean, the point is that's a very personal & private matter in my opinion. & everybody has different idea about it.
I do understand that having a boyfriend had been kind of a taboo in my country for so long, like the s** matter & every other related subject, it had only been talked about in the safety within the closed doors. I'm not saying that I comprehend why or that my family practices that kind of thoughts. Being brought up in an open-minded family, the question about guys & how to treat them never actually bothered me much. They had been my friends, co-players, co-students &.... so really there had never been once in my personal life that I had to think of them as a taboo.
However, there are so many girls out there in my country who still have problem with boyfriend issues. What is natural friendship in my opinion happens to be a hidden taboo in someone else's. Therefore it is totally understandable that a question about dating issue would be brought up in a conversation with a foreigner. The fact is that I had been questioned whether I do believe in dating or not & also if I had dated anyone or not.
As I mentioned before that is a very personal issue; yet I will answer them later on for now I want to talk about the majority of people I do know. Most of my friends, both guys & gals, had been in relationships before. Some even dated around, trying to find their suitable match. & it is natural for them to have girlfriends & boyfriends as well as just-friends. At least it's like that in the part of the society I am personally involved with. I have met people who didn't believe in dating & going on an even a friendly date with a guy was a big hush-hush for them. But well everyone is entitled to their own opinion & there is no way I could say that it is wrong or right. & yeah keep in mind that I'm just talking about dating & not S**.
As for the S** part, again most of people I know don’t consider it as a taboo yet they believe in s** in marriage & staying virgin till then. However, I have acquaintances who believe in making love when they are in a happy serious relationship & they practice it. No harm done anyway in my humble opinion since usually this kind of relationships end up in a marriage over here. So basically it depends on the viewer choice of point of view.
Now back to the questions: I have no objection to dating & I would not keep my relationship hush-hush if I had one. That is stupid. Either you believe in having a relationship & dating or you're not; so if you don’t, just don’t do it! I hate feeling creepy about anything & relationships are just the same. What's the point of sneaking out & meeting low & always fear someone would catch you?
I had never dated though; I mean I have guy-friends but there is no feeling romance between any of them & me. It's not because I am afraid or things like that. It's just that I don’t like to date around, have fun with people I don’t know, go on blind dates or whatever. & to be honest I am not a person who catches the eyes at first. & I am sure that I have mentioned that I am a fat girl & I have very average looks. Not that I don’t like myself, but frankly I am not someone who people wants to look at twice. So that could be another reason.
On the other hand, going out with someone who is not the right one & there is nothing between the tow is pointless. Most of the time I start a friendship first if I want to really date someone & after a while I just figure that there is no spark between us & we are just good friends. I admit that I have had crushes but they never ended up to a relationship. & in some points I get asked out, which usually caught me off-guard since I can not see what they see in me to start a date to begin with.
On the S** part, I am a believer in staying virgin. & it has nothing to with it being a taboo. It's just that I feel having a sexual relationship brings commitment & it's not the way I want to live my life. I am a free spirit, not to be bound to any kind of obligations.
This is really complicated, & I am no ordinary girl so do not base your judgment about Iranian girls on my personal opinions. I just hope that the friend who asked me would have got his answer. & I made a public answer to subside the hesitation some people feel about this particular issue in Iran.
BTW, to the dear friend I mentioned: you can remember that I don’t believe in marriages & living happily ever after for sure. So don’t start with the whole thing again. This is totally different with dating. & in my world dating doesn’t lead to wedding rings!
Sorry if the post is rather personal but I should have been done. Anyway, do you remember the other friend I told you about who liked me? Well, he brought the subject up a while back & I just gave him my tow cents on the matter & we worked things out. I guess he handled it very well & he moved on easily cos he is already engaged with someone. It was fast! I wish him & the soon to be bride all the best.... it's cool to have a close married friend!

The neighbors

I guess I have talked about the neighborhood I do live in before. But I never got to talk about the neighbors I have.
My family had lived in the same apartment building for the past 30 years. Wow to think of it, it's even longer than I existed. There are 8 apartments in the building we live in. Three of them are half-empty & the owners only drop by when they come over to Tehran (tow lives aboard & one in a south-western city of KHORAM ABAD)
This fact leaves only 5 settled-in flats in the building, three of which (including ours) are occupied by the families who had been here over the last 30 years like us. & the other tow family neighbors are pretty new, one just moved in a year ago & the other 2 years back.
We live like a very big family.... I mean we have our privacy & all but in times of trouble we look out for each other. Living together for so long the new generation, as I may put it, has grown up together. I had babysat for my baby-sister as well as the twins who just live downstairs.... The twins & my sister are as old my sis & they are best friends actually. I, Elsie & Ethan are friends too. Elsie is the oldest among us, going on 26, then it's me being 24 & the youngest in the threesome is Ethan, 22. Through the years we learned all about our weaknesses & strength. We had fought, played, laughed & cried together... & we share a history that is hard to ignore. We had been there the first time each one of us fell in love, or when we had our hearts broken.
Elsie had to move out for a year to complete her study in pharmacology. She left this very summer & now she is back for a visit. While we were over at her place, Ethan said something that is carved in my memory; that somehow made me think of how precious this people are to me.
He said: "could you even imagine a day when we all grow up & return here only as guests?"
By the way; last time I used chalks & Black boards is going back to the time I was a third grader.... We Have White boards here... Too bad I am in love Chalks & Blackboards....

There is the cutest in our CLC class:

They come to class together & it just seems so nice... the way they try to share each other's passion for English & the way they try to make time in their hectic life just to be with each other in the classroom. I keep thinking about their lives & the way they keep their love alive. It's so tremendous that.... I can't even describe the feeling I get just watching them. May Lord be their savior.
Yeah... it's raining cats & dogs outside although we had a very warm & sunny day! It's unbelievable that I had to carry my coat everywhere today & it never rained or got cold & now that I am back inside... it simply pours! What more do I have to say?
I had to go to one of the campuses up in the north of Tehran today to have a talk with a professor. So I had to wake up soon & head out which meant that I only got five hours of sleep. & that means that I had slept only 3 hours a night on average over the past week.
Anyhow the professor was having a meeting somewhere else & I was told to rearrange my meeting for 12 o'clock which was fine by me.
Then I had to drive all the way to west of Tehran to check out some stupid pay-bills. By the time I was almost done, it was the time to drive back to the campus for the meeting so you guess.... magically I got there on time but the professor never showed up! So the meeting where rearranged for Wednesday! I got back home, parked the car, changed my clothes & head out for my class. My students had an oral midterm & they were just waiting on the edge. It took a whole tow hour!
Well, I am going to scan a piece of paper which would be my 7-year-old student dictation in near future & I am going to ask you to find out the true word he had to write! He can talk really well & he answers the questions correctly. But when it comes to dictation.... do you think he might have a problem or something?

What's this with students & a sub teacher?

My CLC teacher had taken a day off & so another teacher was to attend the class on that day. & a few friends decided to ditch the class & you know the rest.
The funny part is that... the sub teacher is the supervisor of the institute & she had been the examiner in some of our friends' oral exam. (She had also been my teacher about 5 years ago)
One of the students told us in the last session that when Miss S. (as I'm going to call the sub teacher) was taking an oral exam & had asked him "What's your name?" he had answered "Ra...Ha..." although his name is "Rasa". He was telling us that he had even forgotten his name!
He was one of the classmates who ditched the class... I called after him "I am going to tell her that you are running away!" he turned around "don’t worry she thinks my names is Raha!"
Do I need to say more?

What's this with students & a sub teacher?

My CLC teacher had taken a day off & so another teacher was to attend the class on that day. & a few friends decided to ditch the class & you know the rest.
The funny part is that... the sub teacher is the supervisor of the institute & she had been the examiner in some of our friends' oral exam. (She had also been my teacher about 5 years ago)
One of the students told us in the last session that when Miss S. (as I'm going to call the sub teacher) was taking an oral exam & had asked him "What's your name?" he had answered "Ra...Ha..." although his name is "Rasa". He was telling us that he had even forgotten his name!
He was one of the classmates who ditched the class... I called after him "I am going to tell her that you are running away!" he turned around "don’t worry she thinks my names is Raha!"
Do I need to say more?