2 posts tagged “delegation”
So, this will be weird. I’ve written tons of stuff to post, but the one thing that I never really understood until half way through the trip is that Iran has mostly 56.6 k dial-up (remember that) and it goes through frequent spats of downtime. I have almost 1,500 photos, 60 hours of unedited audio, 100 hours of unedited video, and virtual reams of blog entries. So, how to upload them?
Now that I have a bit of reflection time I think that I will commit myself to one post on Iran per day for the next week, then we’ll see where we are. There will be some real surprises, and I’m not really sure that I want to post them in chronological order as my memories aren’t necessarily in chronological order. I am decided that the final post will be a writing that I’ve been working on throughout this trip titled “Assumptions.” “Assumptions” is my reflection on the presuppositions I made before going to Iran, and how most of them were altered, or slightly skewed, of just flat out wrong.
Currently, I’m sitting in the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, that’s right, I entered the “Axis of Evil” and lived to tell the tale... and I can’t wait to return. If it wasn’t for the constant fear of what my own government will do to that wonderfully rich, ancient, creative, hospitable, diverse and multi-faceted gem of a country, I might even take my wife and children.
So, I begin with these photos and my first entry of writing from Iran will be posted from JFK.
much peace,
sean
Salaam!
Well we made it out of the airport and I think that I finally got to my room at 6 a.m. At about 6:15, there was a really loud crash on the street 14 floors below. I looked out the window and a police car had hit a station wagon. Both were twisted and up on the sidewalk. I crashed too.
After a deep 3 1/2 hours sleep, I got up and went with a group of my fellow diplomats to meet Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Primate of the Armenian Prelacy of Tehran. What a warm and wonderful opportunity it was to meet with this spiritual leader of a Christian minority in Iran. He sees the purpose of the Armenian Orthodox Church as a container to maintain national identity and to teach young Armenians about their history "and all the things we have lost." He was a very honest speaker, telling us that the problems in this part of the world are not due to religious difference but political, and he told us about the work of inter-religious dialogue in Iran. For one thing, people involved in this dialogue don't discuss matters of belief or theology -- they find the things that they hold in common (like service to the poor, human rights, education and family life) and that is where they find valuable connections with one another. I recorded a lot of the meeting and have hopes to get some of it up on episcopod.com by tomorrow or Saturday.
First impressions: I'm really struck by how wonderfully we are being treated, and how obvious our similarities are. What they say about the age of Iranians is also true, there are young people every where. As we walked down the street to our meeting this morning, boys of about 9 or 10 were saying "hello" and waving to us. I guess we are pretty obvious Americans. But many Iranians look to be in their 20s.
Driving into Tehran at night was really amazing -- the mosques are all lit up with thousands of colorful lights. There are trees that are completely lit up with what look like neon Christmas tree lights -- it is hard to explain but I did shoot a lot of video. The bus driver who brought us from the airport really likes Celine Dion and was playing the stereo much too loud for my travel-weary head. But then again it was Celine Dion, just hearing it was painful. I'm still not sure how to cross the street because cars don't really stop at intersections and that makes me worry somewhat about all of the bus travel we will be doing. I tried dhoog (the traditional yoghurt drink) and I'm glad I did. I was the only one at the lunch table who liked it. There is a scroll at the bottom of IRANN (the Iranian CNN) in English and it says that the Pentagon denies that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating. I'm really excited to go to a bazaar this afternoon. The weather is actually quite delightful, it's in the 80s and there is a cool breeze blowing. Farsi is a beautiful language. And I really miss my family.
I plan to do more detail as we meet with different religious and political figures, and I will get up a podcast soon. Finding the time to do production will be difficult, but I will do my best. My travel photos will be posted at flickr.com/photos/diocal.
Wishing you all peace,
sean
