Interrogated by the Syrian Embassy
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
141
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
I was supposed to be at the Syrian Embassy at 9 am but I only got there at 10:15. I really enjoyed taking a cab to the embassy only because I haven't taken too many on my own while I have been in Tehran. There's something truly amazing about taking a cab in Tehran. I was all relaxed in the back just listening to the Iranian music coming from the car radio while staring out into the chaotic and hectic streets. Inside I was at peace but outside of the cab it is a different world. Taxi drivers change lanes without a second of warning and somehow cars seem to avoid each other. Everybody is zig-zagging around and somehow the zigs avoid the zags. It is truly amazing. The traffic and the driving culture truly defines this city - especially the driving. I try to figure out why the people here are such crazy drivers and why no one pays attention to the street light signals or the rules of the road. My theory is that it seems like the roads provide Iranians the only opportunity to be rebellious without getting into trouble. It seems like none of the driving laws are enforced so people take advantage. Life on the road is different from their daily life where they are faced with so many restrictions and rules that are enforced at every moment. I feel like driving through the streets of Tehran may be their only outlet to blow off some steam and say "F&%k you" to authority.
Anyhow, I haven't felt this way since I left Africa. Everything I am experiencing is a shock to my natural senses. Europe was nice but Iran is on a totally different level. Visiting Europe is like visiting your grandparents. It's always nice to go see them but it is a bit boring. Visiting Iran, however, is like seeing the girl your parents warned you about. Feels a bit dangerous and exciting and your constantly filled with energy.
When I arrived at the Syrian Embassy, Ali was already there waiting for me. We rang the doorbell and were eventually told by the security guard that someone would come out shortly to get us. Thirty minutes passed and we were still waiting outside in the blazing sun like fools. I wanted to ring again but I was actually afraid. I didn't want to piss off the people who were responsible for deciding whether I could enter Syria or not. We decided to ring anyhow. It was good that we did because 5 minutes later I was escorted to the lobby of the embassy. Ali decided to wait outside.
After registering with the head of security at the embassy, I was asked to sit down in the waiting room. About 20 minutes later, a staff member told me that the consular official was ready to see me. I walked into the consular's office and there was a very intimidating looking guy dressed in a sharp suit sitting behind a desk just staring at me. He looked a lot like Eva Longoria's husband on Desperate Housewives. I said hello to him in Persian to break the ice (even though he wasn't Persian) and shook his hand. He looked at me and asked if I spoke Persian. It seemed like he asked the question knowing full well that I was going to say no. Not liking his game, I told him I didn't speak the local language but that I did speak English, French and Italian. I wanted him to know I wasn't the dumb shit he may have thought I was. The man was all business. The interrogation started almost immediately. He asked questions like:
-Where were you before Iran? (Turkey)
-Where are you going after Iran? (Hopefully Syria via Turkey)
-How long is your trip? (1 year)
-Where have you been on your trip so far? (I told him)
-Where will you be going after Syria? (Jordan)
-What other countries do you have left on your trip? (I told him)
-Why did you pick these countries? Aren't they dangerous? (Because they seem more adventurous than the alternative. And no they are not dangerous. Many people think your country is dangerous and we both know that it isn't )
-Are you going to Israel? (No)
-Why aren't you going to Israel? (I don't have time)
-You have a year, what do you mean you don't have time? (I need to be in Nepal by mid November so I could do a trek so I can't see everything in the Middle East)
-Why do you want to go to Syria? (Why not? I hear it is a beautiful country with friendly people)
-Which cities in Syria do you plan to visit? (I told him)
-Why are you so interested in the Middle East? (This area of the world is always in the news so I want to understand it more)
-What is your job back home?( IT Consultant)
-How could you afford this trip? (I saved for 5 years)
-What is your salary? (I told him)
-Is this per month? (I wish. It is per year.)
-What did you study? (International Business)
It was obvious the man was suspicious. I got the feeling that he thought I was a spy or something. In his head, my trip made no sense to him. He also explained to me that he never had a Canadian come to the embassy asking for a Syrian visa. I thought this was surprising.
He remained quiet for about a minute and then told me that I would have to wait a week before he gave me an answer. This sucked as my guide book stated that I could get a Syrian Visa at the embassy in Tehran on the same day I applied for it. I wasn't interested in staying in Tehran for a whole week so I told the official that if this was the case, I didn't want to waste anymore of his time as I couldn't wait a week in Tehran and that I would just skip Syria. He became a bit annoyed with me and raised his voice. He asked "Do you know how long I would have to wait for a visa if I wanted to go to your country?" I didn't answer as I knew he was about to answer his own question and he did. He answered "3 months!. And yet you don't want to wait 1 week?" My mistake was that I assumed that he would keep my passport during this week and that I wouldn't be able to travel in Iran because of this.
He said that he would photocopy my whole passport and that I could have the original back immediately. In that case, I explained that I could wait a week. He finally directed me to leave his office and wait for a staff member to return my passport to me. While waiting for the passport, I realized that I didn't want to backtrack to Tehran while I was in the south of Iran. I knew I would be there for about 2 weeks. I wanted to see if I could just come back to the embassy after my tour of the south was over. I didn't want to press my luck but I did anyway. Once the staff member arrived with my passport, I asked him to ask the official if I could just come back in about 10-14days. He walked down the corridor and into the consular's office. I could hear the staff member repeating my request to he man in charge in English. All of a sudden you heard the consular yelling "I TOLD HIM TO BE HERE ON MONDAY!" I actually yelled back like a scared schoolboy "OK. OK. I was just asking if it was possible. It won't be a problem." But I guess he calmed down as the staff member said that I could just call from wherever I am on Monday and they will inform me of their decision.
When I left the embassy, I found Ali sitting comfortably in the security guard's office chatting with a young man dressed in military fatigues. It was obvious that Ali told the guy all about me as he came over with a big smile and shook my hand and wanted to know all about what happened inside the embassy.
The rest of the afternoon was reserved for sightseeing. We first went to the old US Embassy (referred to as the US den of espionage by the local people). Anti-US and anti-Israel posters could be found against the wall surrounding the former embassy. I was scared to take photos of these posters as there were cameras everywhere but I Ali said it should be ok as there were no signs saying that people weren't allowed to take photos. So I took a few reluctantly. A local saw me and said that I shouldn't. Ali said to just ignore him and snap away but I didn't after that. I want convinced that I was allowed.
I felt bad for Ali as he was dying of thirst but didn't want to drink in public as it was Ramadan. He eventually broke and bought a small bottle of water and would take a swig every now and then when no one was watching.
Our next stop was the Jewel museum which I actually thought was interesting. After that, we went back to my hotel. I said good bye to Ali and thanked him for everything he did for me during my stay in Tehran (as I was leaving tomorrow for Esfehan). He actually made me promise (again) that I would go see him and his family in Tabriz on my way to Turkey. I reluctantly said yes. I really didn't want to. I couldn't say no after everything he did for me. He wanted me to promise him that I would stay at his home for 2 days but I said it would only be 1. He agreed to this. I think Ali just wants to show me off in his home town. He will enjoy the attention in Tabriz.
I only stayed at the hostel for 30 minutes. I had to meet Majid (the young man I met at the bazaar yesterday) at the metro station as we were going to go to his friend's English class. Apparently, I was going to be the special guest for the class. I found Majid at the metro at 5 pm as we discussed earlier in the day.
Majid is a really interesting guy. He loves telling me about how people live in Iran and what they are up against in their daily lives. As soon as we entered the metro cart, I noticed Majid did a 180 with his head as if to tell everyone "Get ready. The show is about to start." And then he started talking to me in English. Boom! Right away people started looking towards us. You could see that Majid was expecting this reaction as he looked around to confirm that everyone was in fact looking towards us. It was interesting. I knew most people couldn't even understand what we were talking about but it didn't stop them from observing us. Majid was just like Ali. I could tell that he enjoyed the attention.
After taking the metro, we took a cab to the school we were supposed to visit. Majid was talking openly about politics in Iran and he was being very critical of his government. I was quite surprised that he would speak so bluntly in front of other people and I told him this. He laughed and asked me "Dino, do you think any of these people understand what we are saying?" It was a good point. I felt more comfortable talking to him about politics after he said this. Majid taught me a lot about the restrictions people were faced with. Examples:
-A man cannot be seen in public with a woman if they are not married to each other
-In University, the only girls you are supposed to be allowed to talk to are those that are in your class. All conversations should take place in the classroom.
People just aren't free here.
The cab driver as well as the 2 other passengers were pretty happy to have a foreigner in their presence. It is really nice to be in a country like Iran. There are travellers here but not so many. The people make you feel like you are the first foreigner they ever met and that makes me feel a bit like a trail blazer coming to a country like Iran.
We eventually made our way to the building that housed the english classes. Majid knocked on a classroom door and the teacher told us we would need to wait until after the break to join the class. Break time was only 5-10 minutes away. While waiting, I asked Majid what was expected of me. He said that all I would need to do was sit in the class and observe. I wouldn't be speaking unless the teacher asked me to speak. I was fine with this. Much easier than I thought. I then asked him what should I do after I am introduced to the class. He looked confused after I asked this question. He answered "Just say hello." I laughed. I was then more specific and asked if I was allowed to say hello to the women. He said that wouldn't be a problem. I asked if I could shake their hands and to that he said it would be best if I didn't. I asked if I could talk t the women. He said that wouldn't be a problem. I knew the rules now.
At break time, the teacher came out and said he would go downstairs and ask the Main Man if I was allowed to enter the class as a guest. Meanwhile, Majid's friend, Armand, came out from the class and joined us in the hallway. Every now and then, I would peak into the classroom to see who the students were. Each time, I would see the students staring at me with curious looks. I did notice one very beautiful girl looking out into the hallway. I was scared to look into the class for too long as I didn't want to appear disrespectful so I kept my occasional peaks no longer than 3 seconds. Something really surprising then happened. Two girls came out from the classroom and approached me. They both introduced themselves to me. This was the first time I actually soke with an Iraniam woman so I was in unknown territory. Fatima, the beautiful girl I noticed earlier, introduced herself first and said in broken English "Hello. How are you?" She had this huge smile on her face. You could tell she was excited about meeting a foreigner. Behind her was her friend, Hasti, who didn't know much English either. Majid ended up being the translator. I was asked all the common questions I expected from them:
-What is your name?
-Where are you from?
-How old are you?
-Do you have children?
-Are you married?
-How long have I been in Tehran?
-How long will you be in Iran?
-What do you think of our country?
It is always funy to see their reaction when I tell them people from this area of the world that I am not married. They always look like they feel sorry for me. They always ask "Why not?" as if there is something wrong with me. I always respond "In Shallah" which I think means "God willing". They laugh at my response and then move on to their next set of questions.
Another thing that surprised me was when she commented on my appeareance. She was more than generous with her comments and it really caught me off guard. I just didn't think women were allowed to talk that way to men they didn't know. I looked at Majid in confused way but he didn't have any reaction to my confused look.
We were finally allowed in the classroom. I didn't sense that the teacher was happy with my presence. I think it posed as a distraction to the class and he was right. People stopped listening to him and just wanted to know who I was and why I was in Tehran. As soon as the teacher continued his lesson immediately after the break, an older gentlemen raised his hand and told the teacher that it would be a good idea if the guest of honor (that would be me) would introduce himself and provide them with some background information. The teacher allowed this. I told everyone about my trip and they were all fascinated which is understanding as it is so difficult for Iranians to travel.
When the teacher continued delivering his lesson, some f the students ignored him and started talking to me. They weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were not listening to him. This made me a bit uncomfortable as I didn't want to come across as disrespectful by talking as well. So I would quickly answer whatever question I was asked and then point to the teacher as if to say that we should be listening. I forgot how it felt to be a student again.
At 7 pm, Fatima suggested that we leave the class immediately and head out to a restaurant to celebrate the end of the fast. I felt bad skipping early but they assured me it wasn't a big deal. So off we went. Majid, Fatima and myself squished into Hasti's little car and drove across the town to a specific restaurant. We must have passed 500 restaurants on the way and I asked why we couldn't just go to any of them and they said that they wanted to take me somewhere special. We drove for about 45 minutes. During the drive, Hasti would pump up the radio and sing and dance to the music. She was a fearless driver, like the rest of the drivers on the road. She would get her little car to roar up to 100 kms in the insane Tehran traffic. Meanwhile, she would turn to me and try to understand what was coming out of my mouth. I made sure my eyes never left the road as hers left it way too often. Regardless of her suicide driving, I enjoyed the drive. You could tell that these girls were liberal and not conservative like their headscarves made them appear to be. They were amazingly full of energy and life which made them extremely wonderful people. For the whole drive, we each asked questions about each other. All of us were interested in each other and our lives so there was a lot to question and answer.
We finally ended up in a really nice outdoor restaurant which looked more like a garden. I was impressed. We placed ourselves on this slightly elevated platform covered with pillows and a nice Iranian carpet. The girls ordered a small meal typically ordered when breaking the fast. The meal was nice. It was crushed oats in some kind of sweet pudding. It was more like a desert than a proper meal. I really enjoyed it. We also had tea and smoked a sheesha. Hasti would entertain us with her superior sheesha smoking skills. It was fantastic as we all got along. The girls really enjoyed the experience. I was so glad I decided to accept Majid's offer to go to the school. It really worked out much better than I expected.
Every now and then, I would look around the restaurant. It was extremely packed and their were beautiful women everywhere. You cant go far in Iran without seeing a beautiful women. They are very classy looking. In a strange way, their head scarves really bring out the beauty in the women's faces. In fact, a lot of women are obsessed with their looks here. You see so many women with bandages over their noses in Tehran. So many of them get nose jobs. I asked Majid about this. He said that because the women have to cover their whole body, their face because really important as it is the only thing they can share with people. So a lot of them get nose jobs. However, I even noticed men with bandages on their noses. Much fewer than women though. If I was an Iranian man, I would focus on plucking my eyebrows and forget about my nose. The men here have amazingly bushy eyebrows. Many of them have the uni-brow look. The women, however, have perfected the art of
eyebrow plucking. They have the best eyebrows on the face of the planet.
OK - back to the dinner. I asked Fatima about her upcoming wedding and learned quite a few things. Many hotels and reception halls do not allow music or for people to dance. A lot of them close down if the police find out about it. Fatima explained that she was able to find one hotel that would allow singing and dancing (at a risk obviously) and that she would have her wedding reception there. It is as if the government here wants their people to be miserable. I couldn't believe it.
The only bad thing about the dinner was my smelly feet. I was walking in my sandals all day long and I could easily smell the stench from my feet. I would bury my feet in a pile of pillows which helped but did not completely absorb the smell. I was very self conscious about it and was really glad when it was time to leave.
Another surprising thing that happened was that Hasti paid for our dinner. Even Majid commented about this. He said I was his guest and he should have paid but the Hasti insisted. He explained that this meant that she really enjoyed our company and wanted the honor of paying for the dinner. This was not common.
The girls then drove us to the metro station. I needed to hurry back to my hotel and pick up my bag as I had a midnight bus to Esfahan to catch. Before letting me out of the car, Fatima said that she hoped that one day I would marry an Iranian girl. I asked her why. She answered "Because they are beautiful and really love their husbands". I then took a chance and shook their hands and said goodbye. They were fine with it.
The metro ride was 40 minutes long. Majid would show me some "interesting" material on his cell phone that the mullahs would definitely not approve. I thought it was great that he was showing the videos so openly with people all around us. He didn't care.
I got to my hotel at 10:30. The manager of the hotel said that he booked me on a 1 am bus instead of a midnight bus. I was fine with this. Since I had time, I went out looking for some food to take on the bus with me. I found a fruit stand nearby and bought a cantaloupe, some peaches and some pears. The fruit guy was pretty happy to have a foreigner in his store. I went back to my hotel and ate my cantaloupe on a small bench in the outside alley way. The streets surrounding my hotel get so quiet at night. It is amazingly peaceful. Unlike during the day when all you hear is the constant sound of cars honking. I just enjoyed the peace out on the streets. It was so quiet that I could hear, from quite a distance, the street cleaner swiping the garbage in the alleyway (Note: The people litter like crazy here. Because of this, the streets are cleaned each night). He eventually arrived at my bench and I motioned to move out of the way for him but he insisted that I stay seated. I then offered him a piece of my cantaloupe. He refused. The game was on. Iranians always refuse the first time they are offered something just in case the person who was offering was doing so out of politeness. So I offered him the cantaloupe again and once more he declined. I then got up from my seat and handed the cantaloupe to him signaling that I was serious about my offer. This was the third offer and I fully expected him to accept and he did. I played the game well. I watched him eat it and he finished his piece in no time. I then offered him the rest of my cantaloupe as I was full. After 3 offers, he took it. He fully enjoyed eating the cantaloupe while standing next to his small mountain of rubbish. He then motioned me to throw away my cantaloupe peels into his small pile. I did that and said good bye. For once, it was nice to be the one sharing something that I had. Up to now, it was the Iranians who were always offering
something to me.
I eventually caught a cab at midnight. It was only a 15 minute ride through the strangely quiet streets. My driver was a really pleasant guy. He smiled for the whole drive. Because the midnight bus was late in leaving, I was able to jump on it.
Tomorrow morning I will be in Esfahan.
