My husband`s close friend is getting married, and when he announced it to us, I realized how happy I was for him, even happier than for my own close friend`s wedding! And that made me think that marriage is still a big deal here in Iran, and I believe, it`s a positive thing, something people, unfortunately, lost in the Western world. Marriage in Iran takes a LOT of effort, and couples face LOTS of obstacles on their way to marriage. Let`s say, due to lack of opportunities for socializing, it`s simply difficult to meet new people. But once the mutual affection is reached and a relationship is formed, mostly the…

Women singers in Iran has been an issue since the Revolution. If you are a woman, you can sing as much as you can as soon as no one can hear you.  And since then women have been fighting for their right to sing publicly. And some succeeded. Some female singers started singing with male singers, and you can hear their voice on the background. Some actresses perform group a cappella singing in a movie (watch Sadatabad for a beautiful song performed by Mahnaz Afshar and Leyla Hatami). But nowadays female singers finally received their right to sing publicly on concerts. The only requirement is that the audience must be…

It`s obvious that Iranians` attitude to things quite differs from the one foreigners have. It`s absolutely normal and understandable, but sometimes it really makes one uncomfortable. What happened to me today made me take a closer look on perception of modesty in Iran. Walking in the street somewhere in the southern part of Tehran (not some slums though, but quite a busy business place) I received a couple of comments on my look. I believe they were triggered by just my coat unbuttoned (due to nice warm autumn weather) revealing a modest sweater underneath instead of a manteau which is common in Iran. Normally, having heard it in my country…

When it comes to the dress code, the first thing that comes to mind is scarfs, chadors, etc. Not many foreigners know that there are certain dress-code rules for men as well. Of course, these rules are not so elaborate as for women, but still it’s not a bad idea to know them before going to Iran. The basic rule is that men like women are not supposed to show legs (except for feet) and arms (from elbow and higher). Although, nowadays T-shirts with shorter sleeves are also acceptable. The ideal clothing for men can be illustrated by this ideological poster in a bus: a long-sleeve shirt, pants (preferably not…

Being a foreigner in Tehran, and especially a young female, it`s totally normal to hear a number of “hellos” from young Iranians. Walking on the street you can see some Iranians pass by and smile to you say hi, ask how you are, compliment, or even sing a short love song! But they try to do it quickly and right the moment when they`re passing by.  Want to know the reason? Maybe they don`t want to be “caught” by the girl. Maybe they don`t know much of English and simply can`t continue a conversation so they try to escape it. Maybe it`s just their awkward way of showing that they…

Hi there! And welcome to my blog! I`ve been living in Iran for several years now since I married an Iranian. And during all this time I`ve been thinking of a medium to share what I see here with others and mostly with foreigners. Iran is well covered in mass media, but they say almost nothing about people`s everyday life. And I believe that it would be interesting for people all over the world to see what kind of life Iranians have and what kind of people they are. You might think that there are plenty of blogs that are written by Iranian bloggers and there is no need in…