Skip to main content

One thing we liked to do in Iran was either call people using 2 phones or just drive around and pretend we are Arabs. We would speak in broken Arabic based on what we knew from high school and the rest we would use regular Persian words and just add "al" to the beginning of them. If we did the phone thing we would pretend that it was a crossed line and that they were listening in on our private conversation. Once the guy said something to us, one of would yell "قف قف الخط روی خط". Then we would start babbling to the guy who I'm sure would realize it was all fake but would stay on the line as he found it amusing.


With the car thing we would find a kid by himself and as we approached him yell out the window "قف قف" Then we would go up to him and ask for directions like "الخیابان الولنجک الکجاست؟" Some kids would get really nervous and try to give us directions, others would see through it and mess with us. One time after we had got some noon barbari we approached a group of kids and went through the routine. My friend then said something like "ما از عربستان اومدیم" to which one of the kids replied "آره از نون بربریاتون معلومه" One variation of the car routine would be that we would pretend we were from Isfahan and looking for directions and try talking in an Isfahani accent.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"My parents, brother, and I left Iran in 1980, shortly after the revolution. After a brief stay in Italy, we packed all our belongings once again and headed west to the exotic and the unknown: Vancouver. We had recently been accepted as landed immigrants, meaning Canada graciously opened its doors and we gratefully accepted; we arrived at Vancouver International Airport on my 10th birthday, three suitcases and one sewing machine in tow. After respectful but intense questioning at immigration, we were dropped off at a hotel on Robson Street, which was then still a couple years shy of becoming the fashionable tourist hub it is today. We were jetlagged, culture shocked, and hungry, so that first night, my father and brother courageously ventured out into the wild in search of provisions. I fell asleep before they returned. The next morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and ravenously feasted on a cold Quarter Pounder with cheese and limp French fries that had been left by my beds...
Post a Comment
Read more
Stacey was a nurse so Kurt knew she would be able to give him a pretty good idea of how critical it was. On the other hand her knowledge of medical jargon could make her words seem foreign to Kurt. “He’s sustained two injuries. The first one was right on impact, his brain was shaken around pretty badly. It might have even rotated and perhaps nerve fibers were stretched and veins and arteries might have torn too. The second one is an open wound where the skull broke. The brain is exposed in that area. He was probably hit by some kind of sharp object during the collision.” Stacey unsuccessfully tried to disguise a horrifying yelp that she let out. “It's possible the area around the wound is undamaged. He might be facing long-term disabilities. He’s lost a lot of blood and his blood pressure has really dropped from the trauma. He’s really weakened by the blood loss. Plus there’s the loss of oxygen to the brain. The damage may be catastrophic. And then there’s infection…” “When w...
Post a Comment
Read more
In 1980 a former classmate wrote me a letter that stated that he was fine and the class was doing find.  
Post a Comment
Read more