Spring in Edinburgh

Football and Shajarian

2010-06-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

Today after 12 years I have watched a whole football world cup match, Argentina and Mexico. I really enjoyed it. Look forward to the next play which will be Argentina and Germany.

Then treated myself with a programme from BBC Persian about the first and only Shajarian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBWQGqW9vy8

For whom is much harder, me or my husband

2010-06-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today I have met one of my Islamic country fellows. I was talking that I am living alone and how difficult it is but mentioned that now I am getting use to it. At this time she arrogantly while reforming her veil said "Yes" ... "but poor your husband, it should be much more difficult for him" and I said to myself "What !!!!", "Why...",
Why she said that really, all these time I thought my situation is much harder, I am the one dealing with new life, culture, study and loneliness.

Using Chopsticks

2010-06-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

We were 8 to 9 people sitting around the coffee table in the Japanese style, each from different part of the world. Shamefully I was the only one who did not know how to use the chopsticks.
If you are interested to learn click here.

unpleasant circumstances

2010-06-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Since I came here I have tried to join different clubs and social events to make friendships and get to know people. Although it is very helpful believe me it is not always easy, if you were stuck at home you would have less problems and headaches.

For example, I was in a discussion group and a friend of mine was talking about the time he was going back to his homeland. He said even though he speaks the language perfectly local people there quickly understand that he is a foreigner and occasionally shopkeepers cheat the prices and charge him more money. While he was talking I recalled some of my own experiences in my homeland. They do the same ... Followed the conversation I said this, which I wish I should not have said: “Maybe they find you sissy”. He looked upset. It was meant to be an insult. But what I meant by that had nothing to do with him and it was about different contexts and people’s behaviour in different context. Being rough for local people has different meanings and signs. A man who is brought up in a very tough milieu has different body language and people usually expect a fixed definite understanding of being a man or women. Definitely sissy in the UK has another meaning and signs. That is why I said “they find you sissy” because as far as my experience tells me every word has relative meanings especially adjectives; there is no beautiful or ugly. Everything is relative. So to me in a society in which people are dealing with initial needs some behaviours look strange and out of norm while for others especially in affluent societies it is a norm and has nothing to do with sexuality or being inferior. In my culture upper classes are called “sissy” by lower classes because they treat women nicely, they dress up more colourful and they don’t have rough accents.

To be honest I look up the word in the dictionary again and he could be right by getting upset but I wanted to say something about different cultures and subcultures through a joke and share my observation. I hope people there would understand that. As usual I learnt something but I hope it would not have cost my friend’s anxiety.

cosmoplitan

2010-05-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

Living here is not just experiencing British culture, it is about many cultures and different communities. It is about having friends from Russia to China, Spain to Brazil, Syria to India. How could I know all these people without living here?
Such a blessing situation, I wish for all my beloved family and friends and every human kinds.

Plurality

2010-05-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hannah Arendt believes that communities are not based on homogeneity; on the contrary they are based on plurality (1958).

Big decision

2010-04-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have finally made my mind .... I am going to work on the kitchen appliances, why? because the necessity of the kitchen itself needs to be reconsidered. Then, what happens to kitchen appliances if we look for a sustainable kitchen?my target group will be ... I think I should not put to much information on my page :)

Kitchen Kitchen ... Kitchen
Food Food ... Food
Eat, Eat ... Eat

Buy, store, gather, wash, boil, cook, bake, serve, eat, wash, restore, ... and repeat.
What else people do in their kitchens:
In Britain definitely people use their kitchens for different purposes, they often gather to talk, listen to radio or music, have an afternoon tea, wash clothes or dry clothes. write to a friend or using the Internet.

Useless Kitchens

2010-04-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

"The definition of gadget would be its potential uselessness and its ludic combinatory value. … The gadget is indeed the truth of the object in consumer society. In this sense, anything can become a gadget." (Baudrillard, 1990, p.77)
“It is in fact neither its utilitarian nor its symbolic function that defines a gadget, but its LUDIC function. Our relationship to objects, people, culture, leisure, sometimes work, and even politics is increasingly governed by the ludic.” (Baudrillard, 1990, p.79)
Is it true that most of the functional things that we use in our everyday life are just only gadgets and have ludic functions? In a modern society like Britain for some lifestyles it could be true and when it is true even for a scare population then we can expect from a philosopher like Buadrillard to bring it into notes and claim it as a fact.
Kitchen in the UK is really useless for some families. Not useless useless but its function is just as an entertainment and nothing more. Every thing in a very decent quality can be purchased in ready made form at supermarkets. You don't even need a place in the kitchen to eat it because TV is the centre of the home and is "hearth".
Reference: Baudrillard, J. (1990) Revenge of the Crystal. London, Pluto Press.

share you some philosophical thought

2010-04-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

I am reading "Revenge of the Crystal" these days and thought may be it would be interesting for you to know some of Baudillard's opinions about objects. Here are some of his statements:

Man is not at home in the functional milieu.

***

This is what functional objects clearly lack: they only exist in the present, in the indicative, in the practical imperative, disappearing along with their use value without ever having previously existed. The functional object is effectual, while the mythological object is complete.

***

What man lacks is always invested in the object [ it is similar for savage and modern societies but in different form, for the former it appears as fetishism to modern objects and for the latter as fetishism for antique and bygone objects]

***

According to him our current lives have such controversies, and one completes the other one. a functional modern cupboard with a Spanish sideboard, an apartment in town and a house in the country.

Pray for me to overcome such deep philosophical meanings.

inappropriate feelings

2010-02-14T14:18:00.001-08:00

I like to write something but I censor myself a lot. then I find nothing worthwhile to put in here. I know it is good to just keep it up to date, but what should I do with my personality. a self censorship. like everybody I have some ups and downs but I don't know why just as the moment of being down I like to write and share. I used to talk to a friend or someone very close to me (who unfortunately is not available for me these days for reasons) but here I feel it inappropriate to talk about ordinary feelings, especially your bad moods. Everyone tries to show or at least show off a positive character then you find yourself alone, lonelier than ever. I miss my close friends ...
When you are looking for something, at the moment of finding that, be sure that you have lost something else.

by the way Happy Valentine, love more than you can but have a respect for yourself, something we have always forgotten and hard to achieve.

Piss Screen

2009-12-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

"The Challenge

So how to capture the attention of any potential drunk drivers? Well, where do most people go when they’re drunk? (Apart from the bar, that is. Or maybe a kebab.) They go to the toilet. As such, we thought the urinal would be the perfect medium to reach our target audience in a fresh, surprising way.

Our Solution

The Piss-Screen - a pressure-sensitive inlay set within urinals, enabling users to play while they pee. We installed this newfangled creation in male restrooms across Frankfurt, teaming up with a variety of bars, clubs and cafés. The game itself was displayed on a screen above each urinal, and would automatically start as soon as someone began to pee. The player could then control the car whilst relieving himself – if they wanted the car to go right, they simply peed to the right(and visa versa)."

http://www.piss-screen.de/

Classic Christmas Day

2009-12-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

meaning of the names

2009-12-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

One of my European friends said a few years ago for the first time in Edinburgh a Chinese asked her what her name means. She said I have no answer for that, because "names are just names".
This is much in contrast with the Eastern belief about the names. My Syrian and Turkish friends also admitted that they have always considered meaning of the names in their culture.

Why do we concern the meaning of names?

I recall Farhan Akhtar [the Indian director, actor and singer] once asked Shahrukh Khan what his name means. And after he replied it means "prince like face" or "King's face". he continued he think that names "affect personality". In a way he wanted to say that part of Shahrukh Khan’s success in his career and life is because of his name. And sarcastically SRK connected himself to Prince Charles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KDcXi-EkBM&feature=related (the third min)

But literally should names have meanings or connote something?

Iranian Diaspora

2009-12-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

Around Two weeks ago I was in an informal meeting. A friend introduced me to a lady. And this dialogue exchanged:

Are you Spanish as well?
Oh, no, I am Iranian.

Oh, really [with enthusiasm] from middle east, isn’t it?
Yes

Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.

From her accent I found that she is American.

................

At the end of the meeting, she came close to me and said:

My father is also Iranian. But I have never been in Iran. Actually all my family are living in the United State. But I really like Iran and do like to visit there at some point.

I said: I hope so.

I know also some Farsi. Can we meet sometime?
Of course, it is a pleasure.

Hope to see you soon.
“Khodahafez”

I laughed and said khodahafez.

Bad Dream

2009-12-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

We have started a romance, suddenly I heard something outside. My husband left me and run to the other room. When I followed him I saw two pigeons were stuck in the room and madly flying to escape. My brother was there and trying to catch them. I closed the door not to let them go out. One of them hit the door and fell down. My husband took it and they could finally get the other one as well. One of them was death and the other one still struggling to free itself while making violent sounds.

I thought:
How is s/he feeling now?
Is s/he aware of the other's death?
What a bloody romance?

Shahrukh Khan or Robert De Niro

2009-11-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Since this summer I start watching Indian movies, “the Glamorous Bollywood”. I have never thought one day I watch Indian movies and enjoy them. I have always made fun of those poor friends who liked them and followed the news from Bollywood. I criticised them for being kitsch and vulgar but now, sadly I am one of them.
I start loving movies by the TV game show “Yek Mosabegheh 30 Soal” [One Game Thirty Questions; I am not sure about the number of questions maybe forty] which Ebrahim Namjoyan as a film critic and expert, hosted part of the show by posing questions and showing parts of the best classics. I think I was 6 or 7 at that time.
I have always been fascinated by this medium and could not avoid it. At some point, as a youngster I was a fan of Marlon Brando and then Robert De Niro. I have watched most of their films and like them. Then I look at cinema more seriously and start knowing directors, companies, producers, screen players, critics and film festivals. And still try to follow it if I get a chance. But never thought of Indian movies and becoming a fan of Shahrukh khan! why now this happens to me? I try to psychotherapy myself and find out, and as a result I make a list of Bollywood’s movies characteristics, which hopefully leads me to know the reason:
- They have simple narratives and do not let you think.
- They are full of colours, motions and visual appealing.
- They show a mysterious, slow and reserved definition of love and sex.
- They obey no certain rules in our real life. Or if you like they play with reality. For example, you might see the lovers dance together, hug each other and are happy being together but it could be in their imaginations or in one of them; and could never fulfil.
- They demystify life.
- And a more personal reason, without knowing the language I can understand them because their language is something between Urdu, Persian [Farsi], Arabic, and English and the rest you don’t know is expressed in the faces.
Some of these characteristics need more explanations and seem contradictory, but what I want to say through these statements is that my mood at this time needs such simplicity and distraction. Although now I have more respect towards those fans of Bollywood and could see many good things in them, I do not know what to do if they change my taste for ever. I hope it will be a temporal thing to me.

Watching "10" with the new Scotts

2009-11-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

I could not imagine I would be so quiet for such a long time. Anyway, I start again and have intended not to say the reason because I felt embarrassed, but why not! Thanks to my husband who encourages me all the time and especially for opening this weblog and thanks to Naser who encouraged me to carry on.

On Thursday, 19th of November 2009, I have shown the movie “10” by Abbas Kiarostami at the International Cinema Club.
Generally, the aim of this programme is to give ourselves a chance to know each other more and broaden our knowledge about the different communities around us or as X. said “the new Scotts” who are living in Edinburgh.
X. gave me the opportunity to choose an Iranian movie for the new season opening day. Then I thought as an Iranian woman maybe “10” would reflect this aim.

Before showing the film I was having this thought that “10” is a wonderful movie and everybody will know about Iranian women and their situation in Iran. As soon as the movie started I thought “oh, I was wrong, this is not appropriate, how they understand these dialogues with just subtitles, too much dialogues”; literally for a while I doubted Kiarostami’s power. When the movie has finished and we started the regular discussion, I found that why Kiarostami is “Kiarostami”. People liked the movie and thought the subject of it is not Iranian but universal. Everybody everywhere has the concerns that 10’s characters have. It could be feminine issue and at the wider scope it is more humanistic. The discussion went very well and afterwards I felt much more comfort and indeed proud of having such a great director in my country.

Isn’t it pleasant people know your country because of a cultural product such as movies and not just entertainment movies, movies with great themes and humanistic concerns? It seems a bit self indulgent but I think it is the only thing at this point I could talk with proud from my country.

Watching “10” for the fifth times has still new things for me. The issue of losing and gaining, sense of belongingness and attachment, love, ... are timeless human’s concerns and it seems at different stage of your life they have different shades and colours.

Oh my God! I am going to have a weblog!

2009-04-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

As my first experience, I am quite excited. Especially having a post in non-mother language is very challenging. In this weblog, I am going to share my first hand experiences living abroad, my education process and my own feelings and emotions.
It is about 9 months I am living in Edinburgh, and since the first days of being here I would like to create a weblog but until now I put it off. Why? I don't know. I might not have that much confident about myself and my feelings. Maybe still I don't have but now I have found a lot of friends from all over the world that I think one of the best way to keep in touch with them and to know them better is networking and blogging.
I assume that writing the second and third post would be easier for me. Shamefully, I am not a very good blogger, I don't spend much time on reading other webloges and searching for new ones. I hope this step lead me to a better understanding of webloges' environments.