Early in the morning Samaneh picked me up, in the car was grandfather and Sahand. Next was Nader’s aunt and we went to the highway. There we met Fatimeh’s family and grandmother in another car. Partly I remembered the way very well and again lived through that tour. To grandfather’s village however, we had to leave this route. On the way, grandpa wanted to stop, because there was a well with cool and tasty water.
In the village,
we first tried to reach the cemetery with grandpa what was a strong wish of him, but after a while we gave up and started preparing the picnic. Some friends of grandpa came to talk, one stayed all the time. He said, in old days grandpa was “flying like a bird”. It was touching to see those old men, silently sharing memories and aware the maybe will not meet again in this life (I don#t know how much relief they find in religious concepts).
Rasoul prepared omelette (Farsi: omelette) and in general was master of ceremony, caring for everyone, making tea, bringing food and water, washing the dishes (if someone else was not faster) and that although he also had birthday.
The place under the tree was nice, not too many insects came along, it was not hot, not cold, but finally we left because everyone was sliding down as it was sloping.
We made a short walk through the village
these where abthrooms ~200y ago
and went back to that well for refilling the waterbottles. Another car stopped, and they invited us to come with them to a nice place. The road was getting difficult and finally we had to stop to walk on. But it seemed impossible to bring grandpa there and additionally Fatimeh didn’t feel safe with those strangers.
So, we left for Sufian, a city ~35km east of Tabriz and settled down in a park for picinic II. I was surprised what the family additionally brought out their picinic baskets! Then, Sameneh and Fatemeh went for a walk and came back with a birthday cake. In this celebration mood, Fatemeh also wanted to dance. And so she did with her husband, in a public park and with uncovered hair, something I had not expected to see in Iran. Then they wanted me to dance, too. I am not so much into dancing, so, the only thing I could offer, was the basic steps of Chachacha. And to my surprise, Fatemeh wanted to try with me. I got another surprise. (More about Iran and its people as I experienced, I want to write down in an extra post.)
I hope to get some pictures by the family, my camera was in the car.
We left for Tabriz, everybody went or was brought home, except Sameneh who wanted to make a evening tour to Laleh “bazar”a four floor shopping Mall. By that, I saw some other parts of Tabriz and got an impression of rising tourism (Mainly from within Iran) and the life style of richer citizens, a strong contrast to the village life from the morning. There are expensive shops, you find appliances by Miele, Apple wants to open soon, many international brands and people who can afford to by that stuff. You could see the jeunesse dorée in the Tabriz variant and parents with their single child (mostly one) that gets a lot of things (and too much to eat, mainly boys).
Luckily, my camera again was in the car, it would have been hard for me to make pictures that show what I mean…