One more day please...

Working day from today... but to be honest, I really didn't have any energy to motivate myself to do any work... Maybe it's because I did some work yesterday and it's getting harder each day I stay here to go on without any day off...
I asked God please give me one more day to take it easy. Fortunately no one bugged me from Tokyo and in the evening, as we had agreed, my wife and I went out to have a burger!


cheeseburger and fries and salad!
it's a humble gift just to have some time together munching on burgers!

Relaxed Friday...

Today I didn't bother to cover the Friday Prayers at the University of Tehran and spent my time relaxed at home. Happily, there were no bugging phone calls from anywhere which was the last thing I wanted today!

I woke up at 11AM, so it was already lunch time!

we had some pancakes...

made with magic doe we bought at a supermarket in the U.S!

Snack time... trying a variety of local chips!

German brand made in Iran... 3 out of 5...


Tortilla chips... Salsa flavor!? 2 out of 5...


Chili flavor!? it's rather salty than chili! 3 out of 5...

At night, we walked for about 50 mintues to get to a hotel...

on our way... the moon was already out there...


we saw... McDonald's!? no... it says Moz...


we also saw the Milad Tower...

And our dinner at the hotel...

enjoy Indian food! the food was great!


there was a parrot!? at the hotel...


and the full moon in the sky...

I was a little worried that the guest sitting next to me was coughing as the swine flu rage is catching fire here in Iran too... I hope I didn't contract any viruses.

Sleeping... sleeping...

I went to bed later than usual, but got up even later! It was 1PM when I woke up... We had a guest today... actually we weren't expecting anyone, but a maid working next doors could not get inside her master's room and we asked her to wait in our living room as she had to wait for her master to come back home from outside. They'd just made a small mistake by giving the maid the wrong key to get inside. After our unexpected guest left the room, it was already half past three and checking out the news and talking with a fellow correspondent in Europe, we went to bed again...
It was already half past seven when I was awake again and as we had already decided to go out for dinner, we quickly changed and left our home.

We went to a "pizzeria" for dinner!

a spicy "Mexicana" pizza and Napolitana spaghetti!

After returning home, it was already half past ten... the day went by quickly and I was sure that it would be tough to go to sleep... let's see...

Too much sleep!?

I woke up at around 3:30PM... My wife was alongside me and we both admit we slept too long!
At nighttime, I went downtown to meet a Japanese expert visiting Iran. The day went by too fast. Too much sleep... but I couldn't help it. I was too tired!


nothing on the calendar for a while...
(PS: Ramazan is not from the 19th, but from the 22nd...)

Another day to relax

After yesterday's warfare, I seemed like the best day to take a complete day off. I was hoping there wouldn't be anything crazy to report on today and slept for hours. You can't imagine how tired I am recently and I couldn't resist sleeping for more than 12 hours! I even took a nap in the evening after confirming there wasn't anything important that I had missed as someone responsible to send the stories from a nation catching attention.
At nighttime, we went out in the streets, peaceful as always. This time I received no calls from Tokyo when we started ordering our burgers at the same store we went to last week. We took our time shopping in the supermarket and returned back after 10PM. I know it's my fault I was sleeping for so long today, but the day was over so quickly. Again, I have to return to my battlefield tomorrow...

Photos...

we played our favorite tennis game together!

and we finally became "pro"s today!

Going out...

so many people at the park! so peaceful... at least today...

waiting for the burgers...

voila! they're here!

Day off... at the 70th day!

Today, I briefly went to my office, but just to see if everything's okay. It was my first day off since May 1st... That's 69 consecutive days at work! I finally took a day off! I was very sorry for my wife, but I used most of the day sleeping! I was too tired to wake up in the morning, and after going out for lunch with her and stopping by my office, I went back to sleep! The day went by reeeeally quick! Sadly, it's Saturday again, but I hope my staff had enough time to rest themselves! Foo...


having a burger at a nearby restaurant!

Last day of the Nowruz holidays!?

People still seem to be off until today and many would have had 16 days off since March 19th if they were lucky! Sadly, with so many people without jobs, and also with many people who could be working in environments where the employers would encourage the workers to rest, this could be very likely! Not with our jobs though...

I wanted to use my time wisely, but after waking up after 11AM, time was running out! I also had to do some work and that made it worse! Finally in the nighttime, I decided to go out with my wife to eat dinner outside. We wanted to find the sushi bar that just opened near Vanak Square and wandered around the area, but we couldn't find it... So we went to the familiar restaurant inside the Homa Hotel...


beef time! it looks a little grotesque... but quite tasty!

Time flew by so quickly, and tomorrow it's time to return to reality!

A normal day off...

It was a regular Friday... just a day off to relax... I did have some unpleasant e-mails and phone calls about work, but who cares! I have to work like crazy from tomorrow anyways and I sincerely hoped that no one would bother me today!
It was a nice sunny day, but I stayed mostly in my office and my room to relax. They still have three days off including today in Japan, and I hope they would stay relaxed too. Saturday and Sunday for me will be two important days and it would probably be the best to make some progress while Tokyo prepares to enter their new working days...
Inshalla!


it was a nice sunny day... I hope this weather will continue!

Fondly-remembered pastime

I don't remember exactly when I played the game... It's quite a long time ago. Did I play it when I was in LA at my friends' which is now fondly-remembered...

Today I was in charged with a different trading company to organize a Mahjong competition tournament (without betting money!) from the morning and I woke up at 8:15AM though it was a day off.

It was quite sad that I couldn't participate as I was one of the organizers and it really did make me want to play once again this profound and intricate game.

I once again realized the distance that you face each other in this game makes it a nice tool of communication especially with new faces.

I don't know what I'd be doing this time next year, but I surely would want to participate as the player!


the fondly remembered tiles!

Irregular... but logical!

Since I couldn't secure any appointments for work and I had to stay in the city for an obligatory business transaction tomorrow, I announced that I would take a day off today and I declined to receive any business trip allowance and I even paid my hotel fee for last night and tonight! It's usually irregular to take a day off during a business trip, as I could usually thrust an appointment even though it was a holiday in the Arab city.
For many reasons, I decided to turn down to get any extra fees and decided to take a day off! You can say going around to see the city is useful for future coverage of the area and anything you do to get new information would be work for a foreign correspondent. But logically, today was just a day off for me.
So I'm sure pasting these pics will not be criticized as I wandered around the city on my private time!

the spice souq

with spices...

and nuts too...

the gold souq

Crossing the Dubai creek

to the other side...

and to the Old Souq area...
I came to the same area four years ago...

We took the taxi to the east...

stopping by the new Dubai mall...

they say it's the largest mall in the world... but only a third of the shops were open!
a little deceptive perhaps!?

But the big aquarium was enough to pursuade me with their appealing propaganda...

not a small one!

that you can walk under!

uh... hello...

And an ice rink!? who knows how to skate in the Middle East!?

But for me the most interesting...

is the fact you can find your favorite fast food!

they said this one which I had a bite in LA a while ago will only open tomorrow... boo...

but these will make me smile!

And at night... I didn't forget to have...

Japanese food!!

What a day off... I probably won't have a nicer day in probably months!!

Unintentionally...

It was a rare second day of a two day weekend as it was the holiday for the martyrdom of the 6th Imam. It's a precious day that it's a day off here in Tehran and a day off too in Tokyo. One of those rare days that I feel relieved as I had no calls from Tokyo as expected.
It's really tough when you think about the days off you might luckily get here. Being a foreign correspondent it's my decision whether I want to take a day off or not. Our offices hours are from Saturdays to Thursdays, having the Thursdays finishing slightly earlier that usual, so only Friday is off completely. (the governmental and public organizations are off Thursdays and Fridays) Evidentally, Saturdays and Sundays are weekdays.
It's really hard to take a Friday off as it is usually the last day I can confer with Tokyo especially about next week's schedule and making alerts to the elders and I usually have to do it early in the day so Tokyo which is running five hours and a half early will not finish it's weekday working hours. When you really feel safe on Friday, it's usually around 5PM when it's almost midnight in Japan. That's when I can get some rest. Obviously one fourth of the day per week is not enough for me to rest and revive. So I really felt relieved to have a day like today.
Still, I was hanging around my office to catch up with many things I've planned to do weeks ago... making recovery disks for my new computer (so I won't make a mistake I did with the Toshiba one that just crashed...), learning the Farsi "alef be", cleaning up my desk full with papers, replying to e-mails I've left unanswered, etc. The normal things I wanted to do when I'm not worried about work. My worries will return tomorrow anyways and I'm sure no one will care whether I'm taking some days off or not.

I started cooking my dinner... and unintentionally I realized...

pork bone broth ramen... uh oh... prohibited!?

So fast...

It was my mistake I was sleeping till 3PM. No wonder time flies and it's nighttime instantly. All I could do was to fight with my dirty clothes and finish the eggs in the fridge.

Okay... this time I'm gonna do it right!

boiling eggs... now this is something I can do correctly...

umm... no... the yolk ended up in the bottom!
I can't even make boiled eggs!!

Updating my diary

Being curious about the nuclear issue developments, I was a little restless though it was my second day off here. I tried to cook something, but I know I have no abilities in cooking so I just took out the eggs again and rammed them on the frying pan!


got something like scrambled eggs!?

After finishing up a document I was requested to fill from my boss, I started updating my blog... finally! I've written my diary almost everyday and though all I had to do was paste the pics to them, it seemed to take hours! I have to be clear that I will not write anything here that will jeopardize my position here in a very sensitive environment, but I will try to post as many things as possible so I can come back to enjoy my posts later on in my life! It's taken me at least five hours to update about two months of the diary!

I didn't know which channel to turn to see the Opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. At least the state TV was broadcasting it live in the news channel from 5PM.
The news about the South Ossetia was the center of the show and the nuclear issue may not be too big of a matter today... oh well, I luckily had a complete day off!

My day off!

It was finally my day off... But that also means I have take care of myself, especially about my meals!
It's a Friday in Iran, which is a day off like Sunday in the west and Japan. I was all alone in my room and with no one to bother, I slept till even after 1PM! It was my first day in weeks that I was able to sleep for so long!

After I woke up, I had to try to cook as there was nothing I can eat except snacks...

cooking some rice!


...and eggs!?

After a major battle...

voila!

I also fought with the washing machine...

hmm... 2 hours to wait!?

In the evening, I went to my office to work a little. I also tried using Skype to talk with my dearly people in Japan. I'm not lonely yet, but I have to think about what I can do when I really feel alienated. Communicating with Japan is one major way to salvage my soul.

It quickly became late and I couldn't finish my work before the day was over... It's a weekday again from tomorrow... better get some sleep!

a nice bath will help me! oh they have warm water! good!

A precious weekend off...

It's been quite a long time since I took a day off and spend my time freely. I really was concerned about cleaning up my room and of course my new job, but I had other important things to care about too.

It was a tough night to spend but I had to go through it asking the crucial quesiton. RSVP. But I didn't get an answer. And another day goes by. Another important and precious day. What should I do?

it didn't rain in day time, but it started to rain at night... still the city looks calm as always...


first time to go to a "family restaurant" in weeks!
I'll miss these kinds of food!