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SWEET HOME ARIZONA!
| 2 Years ago...
- "So, which state are your mother from?"
That was a question that I was actually expecting after I
dodged being questioned about which state I'm from by mentioning that my father
was Iranian. And as long as I was the only one person in the USA stall whilst
everybody else had left for the lunch, the fact that my both sides are Iranian would
have definitely trigger another question like "So what the fuck are you
doing here in the American stall?" by that clergyman; who was by the way,
so excited to finally meet an American in person who he can literally say
"Down With You" to, in person. Instantly, Phoenix Arizona popped into my
head, the place that I would have chosen to be born in if I were a nicer friend
of God:
- "Phoenix, Arizona Sir! You know, ultra-hot
classic cactus deserts and flat road-trips by a Pontiac 1988 with a Phoenix
shadow on the hood! By the way, have you ever been to America, sir?"
Mostly, people don't know if they love America or they hate
America. They're so unbalanced on this love/hate edge; just waiting for someone
to push them one of those sides. That's why I tried to make my first impression
effectively pleasant, by asking him if he's been to US before, although I knew
the answer was definitely "No", but it would always redirect the conversation to
the way I want.
- "No! You [Americans] never let us [Iranians/Clergymen]
get there!" He answered with an ironic smile, while tapping on my
shoulder.
- "It's a shame that we've missed the honor, Sir!"
(Which I said in Farsi: "MA GHABEL NISTIM, GHORBAN!")
and it made a perfect sense, bulls-eye, he started
laughing out loud. The hardest part was done: the ice was broken. It didn't take
more than 10 minutes of talking about American/Iranian game that he gave me his
card, WOW! Deputy of Scientific Research in "Hozeh" (Almost the biggest
religious school in the world located in Qom, IR) And finally when we shook
hands and I sincerely invited him to Phoenix (!), I couldn't see the hate in his
eyes anymore.
And, this was the story of me, being [literally] the
first ambassador of the United States in Iran after the hostage crisis! It started when
a friend of mine, asked me to participate in an exhibition of the foreign
students in Iran, representing their country's culture, food, fashion etc. Not
so hard to guess that it was the US stall that I was invited to. Actually, I
really had to write a 20 pages article about the incredible things that happened
to me, unbelievably amazing people that I met, craziest thing that I did and the
way that the whole thing changed my life. But while I'm too Shirazi [lazy] to
write about the stuff and besides it would be involved with lots of political
and security issues, I'm not gonna give you a headache.
One thing else, it recently occurred to me how goddamn small
this world is. It's is crazy...
P.S. We've got a very small stall first, and there were
lots of people/stuff to put in there which were pretty impossible to fit. So we
asked for a bigger stall and the answer was No. Then we noticed that the biggest
stall, which was still empty, was reserved for the Palestinians; and guess what?
We changed the stall labels and 'occupied' the Palestinians' stall!! You see
Israelis? We pay our sues to you guys, even in Islamic Republic of Iran!!!
P.S. For God's sake, please please don't take it
seriously!
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