A rare occasion at the prayers venue

It was Friday, but many of my colleagues were working from the morning. We met many of our friends at the University of Tehran, the venue for the Friday Prayers, as we had heard that the President was going to make a speech. Right after we arrived, the speech started and many participants were excited, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". Since it was a rare occasion to get his speech on film, I did my best to file a story about his comments.


many of our colleagues were here for the man!

It was already around 5PM when the job was finished and the only day off was about to be over. Together with my wife, we went out to shop at the usual supermarket and finished the day watching TV together.

Right when I was about to go to sleep, the IAEA report on Iran came in and though I was desperate to sleep, I glanced through it and saw the complexity of the paper, that I decided to analyze it tomorrow. This report will be on the table of the coming talks and negotiations, but it seems that either side can use it to defend their stances and also attack the other side as well. Let's see how the media will use this report to emphasize their stances!

Frustrated... but helpless...

It was supposed to be an easy-going holiday and as it was hot as ever outside, surely over 40 degrees, we decided to go outside later at night. We spent the day inside and I helped my wife start her blog in a Japanese site.
There were surprisingly no calls from Tokyo and I thought we took the right decision... We left our home at around 8PM and didn't think of going to an ambitious place for dining... just a hamburger shop that my wife said she always wanted to go...
Right when we decided what to order... a call from satan... no... it was from Tokyo. Apparently a plane accident took place in Mashhad and we had to leave without ordering... I was quite frustrated... why did they choose this moment? Why? Well, being frustrated doesn't help at all... feeling helpless I took my wife back and off I went to work!!


right in front of burger shop counter... I received the call...

It was exactly a year after I left Tokyo for this country having worries but slightly having hope that I might have a good time... Please don't ask me if I'm having a great time now. Please don't!

A kind of public holiday!

It was the second day of "a kind of" public holiday. I doubt that it was really a public holiday as the newspapers were printed and the courier service brought mailed goods to the office as usual. But it seemed like some people were taking the announcement seriously as my wife told me some of the shops were closed when she went shopping with her friend.
Well, I'm one of those who decided to take it seriously and announce these two days were holidays. It was a good opportunity for my staff to rest and I asked our temporary assistant to help me out today. Fortunately there were no big issues today though I had to record a radio report late at night. Not too much work, but it would have been better if I were able to take the day off completely!

PS
My favorite dish again for lunch!

ramen, ramen!

Ridiculous!

Another indication that this country is far from getting productive! Because of the dust that is blown from the west, originating in Iraq, they suddenly announced it was a day off today. They also announced tomorrow would be a day off too! Would Japan close its offices because of the Asian Dust (yellow dust/sand) originating in China? It would be ridiculous to stop things so suddenly! Well, it's not my country and I have to pay my respect to whatever the government decides here, but I first thought only the governmental organizations and offices were to follow the "order"... but it seems like they have announced it as a "public holiday" for "one or two" or even "three" days! How vague can you be when you order people to take a day off!? It's like a joke!
Well, I decided to let my staff take a rest, because they had enough work these two months. I'm having a temporary assistant helping me and even though it costs me money, it could be the wisest way to use money now!

After the 9PM news, the state television broadcasted the President's address to the nation. He surely did not talk just to his citizens, as he attacked his "enemies" as always. I had to work until midnight and it was not a holiday at all for me! It was also sad that while I had to put all myeffort into finding a soundbite I could use for my story, the television on the side was broadcasting the King of Pop's public memorial ceremony which billions around the world must have been watching... I hope at least millions were watching what I was watching!

I checked it out from the roof...

well you can see the Milad Tower... barely in the middle...
but you can see all the buildings nearby!
what's the problemo, señor!

Birthday of the 1st Imam

It was a holiday and there were plans for a small demonstration, so I had to be on the alert from the evening. But it was the first time in months I was able to sleep until noon... well after noon! It was 1PM already when I finally woke up and went slowly and hesitantly to my office.
The demonstration did not develop into a masive one and I was able to finish early. Things are starting to be back to normal, but I know there's so many people who can't return to normal lives. I'm sorry to admit I'm very selfish... I really want things to be back to normal!

PS
There were reports that China is now in turmoil! Since the reports say it's the Uighurs in protests, it's more of a racial issue, but it's also notable that they are Muslims. The news has completely shifted to the east! I think...

PPS
Internet under control...

it's still very hard to see the sites...

forbidden...

Hoping for a chance to spend some private time with my wife, I made a decision to take her out to dinner... walking for more than 30 minutes to a hotel in the north and eating at the familar restaurant!
On the way back, we also stopped by the supermarket where we're frequent visitors... there wasn't anything necessary to buy, but why not... it's always good to do something that is connected to our living!

Photos of the day...


my wife brought us a treat! ice cream!


laying out the roach killers... I hope they work!


there were stalls set up in the nearby park...


many enjoying shopping!


yum yum... Thai food!

Goods I found Japanese at the supermarket...

tofu... 56,000 rials!


and many Japanese deodorizers!

First day of the Iranian year!

It's the first day of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian year, and I was thinking I can take a rest without being bothered as there were supposed to be no activities in this country! I was wrong...
There was an activity in Mashad, the holy city in the northeast! The Supreme Leader did talk bitterly of their archrival which was taken as a reaction to Obama's Nowruz message to the Iranian nation...
Before noontime, I went to my office and started writing about the story... My staff also came to the office in the evening, and the day was over just by doing my job and spending around my office...
Three days of the six-day holidays are gone! Using two of them for work! There's only three more days left and I have to start working on my Nowruz cards!! Good night!


the Supreme Leader giving his speech... with sunglasses!

Hopelessly tired...

It was just after 3AM I went to bed in a hotel room in Bushehr. It took us hours to finish the feeding and I also had to send some voices for the report I had proposed to Tokyo.
Waking up after three short hours of sleep, I was very drowsy but the morning chai gave me just enough strength to get to the airport again meeting many of my colleagues that spent the night. (They looked more fresh! I'm sure they had a nice dinner!)


time I went to bed...


teatime! at 6AM!


and breakfast!


last look of the streets of Bushehr...


the nearby square...


and the airport!

In the plane I was so groggy that I felt the flight was just a ten minute ride!


fly away!


back to Tehran...

In the afternoon, I attended a funeral service of a relative of my staff and worked a bit in my office as the drowsiness got worse and worse...

It was around six o'clock in the evening that I couldn't resist going to bed... never to wake up again this day... (obviously I'm writing this later on... well I think my memory is correct about this day!)

PS
In the garden...

it was now a battle of three cats to get the food!

Too bad...

It was supposed to be a four day weekend for us... as the Government announced yesterday that tomorrow will be an official holiday which was in between two holidays; today being the "sad" holiday of the Demise of the Prophet and Thursday being another "sad" holiday of the Martyrdom of Imam Reza.
We had to be ready for tomorrow's sudden trip to the south and it really didn't feel like a holiday at all... But I must admit, the best thing that happened was... that I was able to sleep until noon!

PS
And as the Iranian New Year is coming up...

on March 20th is the New Year Day of Iran...

there's more holidays than ever in March!
all the days with pink circles are OFF!

Still very tired... very...

I woke up in the morning as it is a habit to wake up around 8AM, but after checking my e-mails finding no important messages, I went right back to sleep. I finally woke up before noon time, and after fighting a little with my computer, I couldn't resist going to bed again... I was still very tired after sleeping another two hours. I don't understand why, but I would like to get rid of this drowsiness and maybe taking a vacation leaving this place for a while would help, but I'd rather like to go with my wife after she arrives here next month. Unlike many others, travelling alone is very boring for me and it would be really stressful if I wander anyplace alone...
After talking to her in the afternoon, we could not resolve our case about when and where we should go as we had no clue when the authorities of this nation will grant her a multiple visa... This is the major problem we are facing and we might have the answer tomorrow. Sadly it might be too late because surely all the flights would be booked with many Iranians fleeing the country for vacation... A very tough situation here!

In the nighttime, I fought with the piles of newspapers I hadn't reorganized for months... some papers were old as last October's and it took me three hours just to pigeonhole two piles of them... oh I'll do the other pile tomorrow... I'm so tired...


a pile of papers to fight with!

And I probably woke up like this!

fwaaah...

End of a standstill?

It's the last day of four days of holidays... It was probably the best timing to have some days off and especially since the holidays were for a very special religious occasion for the Iranians, I have no objections about the standstill about work. At least on the calendar I see there will be no more holidays until the most important target I see exactly a month from tomorrow, except the usual Fridays off.
Even though we return to normal weekdays, the obstacles that I will face will not make it easy for me to make substantial progress anyways... I just have to hope we will be rewarded for the hard work we have done and hopefully be blessed with some good luck... Inshallah!

Again... quite hungry at night!
I didn't want to waste the polo from day before yesterday...


heated the dish up and also had the rice heated for more than a day!

They did it again!

Though I was working in my office knowing it's a holiday, I took it easy today though I had calls from Tokyo as I'm sure Tokyo has no idea there's no one working today in Iran...
It's an important time for the Shiite followers as it's time to mourn for the martyr of their great leader that has fallen to the hands of the aggressors more than thirteen centuries ago.

I should have anticipated it, but with today and tomorrow off, and of course Fridays off, it was not a surprise that on the 2 o'clock news, the nation had announced that Thursday will be off too! They just do that so easily! Call a day off just like that! Oh, this will jeopardize again the progress in my work, but I know, I know... Who cares!

PS
Suppertime...


having the boil-in-the bag meal... eel flavored with chicken and egg...
At lunch time, none of the delivery services were doing business today... it is a holiday!

Colder than ever...

Last day of the three day weekend and I used most of my time working on making a script for an interview I took last Saturday. I couldn't really concentrate as writing out the scripts is one of the most painful work I have to do as a correspondent. Time flew by quickly as I took some rest in between and it was over 7PM when I finished the task.
It was already dark and it was one of the coldest days ever today. I took a bath but the water was lukewarm and I felt even colder than before...
It's going to be a busy day tomorrow... Making the list of things to do, I felt really gloomy that there's so many things I have to do as the weekday returns...

PS: REVENGE!

okay let's boil them!

uh oh...

oh well....
conclusion: I'm suck at boiling eggs!

PPS: IN THE GARDEN...

hey, found something!?

A big disgrace!

A holiday that I would have wanted to take a day off and sleep all the way, but I woke up at around 10AM awaken with a mysterious door bell (no one was at door when I rushed to the entrance).

I went to my office to start working from around 11AM, but it was surely not a good feeling to see that the plunge in the global markets were even going further. Another sad and frustrating news I saw during my working hours was the money-mad ball club had ousted my favorite teams chance to make a come back winning the pennant. Oh how bad can you get than the slipping global market, losing the top spot after a 13 games lead earlier in the season!

the Tigers were still leading and the Giants tied with their opponents in the earlier stage of the matches...

When you look at the team roster and today's starters, you would understand how bad this conclusion is to the younger generation. (Oh, I'll take this back if you would agree that earning money is the most important thing in life. I bet there's tons of people like that so I bet you're a big fan of the champions!)

Today's starters (+stopper) of the teams along with their earnings (figure of 10,000 yen)

Tigers
1 CF Akahoshi 18,000
2 3B Sekimoto 5,000
3 1B Arai 12,300
4 LF Kanemoto 55,000
5 SS Toritani 9,100
6 RF Lin 4,500
7 C Yano 19,000
8 2B Hirano 4,600
9 P Shimoyanagi 17,500
(RP Fujikawa) 28,000
Salary total: 173,000

Giants
1 CF Suzuki 3,000
2 2B Kimura 6,500
3 3B Ogasawara 38,000
4 LF Ramirez 50,000
5 1B Lee 60,000
6 RF Kamei 1,400
7 C Abe 24,000
8 SS Sakamoto 850
9 P Greisinger 25,000
(RP Kroon) 30,000
Salary total: 238,750

Everybody knows Ogasawara, Ramirez, Lee were all the number one clean-up batters for Fighters, Swallows, and the Marines respectively who later all struggled substantially without their central figure. Greisinger was the top pitcher of the Swallows and Kroon was the Bay Stars' ace reliever.
The Tigers are also blamed of stripping "Aniki" Kanemoto in 2003 and his apprentice Arai this year (who eagerly participated in the Beijing Olympics finding a broken bone after the Games coinciding with the major slip his team experieced both in China and in Japan), both from the Hiroshima Carp which surprisingly almost made it to the playoffs finishing 4th in the league. But can we compare this to a greedy team who stripped the hopes of 4 teams so easily with lucrative gold!?
The starting pitchers were also significant as Shimoyanagi was an old one looking for a better payment with the Fighters who were not hesitant to let him go with a shaky record in 2002 and after six years with the Tigers, he is now considered as the hopeful "around 40" trio along with "Aniki" and Yano who was traded from the Dragons in 1997, giving hope to the elders facing "restructuring" because of the age factor, in the business world.
It was a miracle for the greedy team to win the pennant from 13 games behind, but it has also taught the young ones that money is everything and in that way the winner has shown how Capitalism really triumphs even in the sports world like the European football teams. So to win, you should use your money and strip the others of their hopes so they would dare not to counter you!
I'm starting to feel like the Iranian President always attacking the money-mad Capitalists and Zionists as I really feel it is a disgrace to lose to such a team that symbolizes greed... Well what can I say!?
"Death to them... Wipe them off the map... Their days are limited..."
Sadly, I feel quite vacant, and that's where I might disagree with the chief exectutive of the Islamic Republic...
It's only sports, that's all I could say. It's only baseball...

Working on a holiday...

We were in the middle of a three day weekend, but my staff was eager to come to work. I was so tired I really wanted to take a rest, but I'd always like to see this eagerness from them so I agreed to get to my office by 9AM and work together.

We went outside briefly... To Baharestan Square...

Shahab 3 missle dummy and the Supreme Leader looking over his weapons...

there was a statue of Ayatollah Sayyed Hassan Modarres with... nuclear atoms??

and a Jew was cutting himself trying to pull a Shield of David obviously representing the burden of being a Zionist...

At the office, we had to talk about things in the future and I had to take care about accounting papers... I need to finish it by next week!

back to these Iranian burgers!

Unconstructive day...

I finally got a day off... After I was awaken by a call from Tokyo at 11AM, I did try to stay awake for a while, but I fell asleep again and the next time I woke up it was 5PM!
After I cooked some rice for later on, I rushed to my office to see if there was anything important I missed, as it was a weekday before a three day weekend in Tokyo!
Luckily nothing that I urgently had to take care of was happening, and I returned to my room to have some rice with miso soup.
Though I was a bit tired, I once again went back to my office to make some documents to give to my staff. Since tomorrow is another start of the week, I have to use this time to get ready... It was just five minutes before midnight before I finished my work at my office... After having a night snack and taking a bath, I'll do some more work before I can go to sleep...
This is how I spend my day off... very unconstructive...

National holiday...

Imam Mahdi's birthday...
It's the second religious national holiday in less than three weeks and I used the day to fight with my computer which seems to be unstable maybe because of the incompatibility with the wireless internet system or hopefully not becaues of a virus.
It's unfortunate I can't connect all my Vista computers with the internet and my four years old VAIO is the top contributor to my computing life.
I woke up in the morning, went to sleep again till an hour after noon, and fought with the computer and took a nap again till later in the evening!

computer business...

and snacks!

In the evening, news about a satellite being launched jumped in and I had to scramble to write a story. Later, agencies said it was not a satellite being launched, but a satellite-carrier... I always have to be careful about what the agencies first report! It took me till midnight to compile a story... oh it's going to be a short, but long week!
Anyways, I have to find ways of showing progress this week... so let's scramble!

Chores and obligations...

I don't know how long I was dead... I surely remember I'd seen a quiz show that is broadcasted on the 8PM block, but I don't remember anything else. It was noon already when I finally woke up... so I think I at least had 14 hours of sleep. 14!

I had to do my chores... I had to carry out some obligatory missions...
First I washed my clothes, and I updated my diary while waiting for the washing machine to finishing his (or her) job.
I stepped outside. A beautiful day. Calculating my days left till I leave Japan, I decided to do two other things. Getting a haircut and picking up my suit being dry cleaned.
Ready to move on, heading towards my office, I decided Shinjuku was the right place to land.
I shopped for some suit I can wear in a 50 degrees India, which I want them thin as Iceman would want his costume to be when he's doing a fire rescue.
I munched on the largest burger in the area, a Double Whopper with Cheese so I wouldn't need any dinner tonight.


c'est mon beau vélo qui a aidé me vole autour du secteur aujourd'hui.

Finally getting to my office at 5PM, it was time to get blue obliged to go through two things... getting ready for my trip to India and working on my morning report about Iraq...
What a day... and it was supposed to be a day off being a public holiday in Japan!

Where's the light?

It was originally a day off for me and for many others at it was Labor Thanksgiving Day today, but as I'm really falling behind with my mission, I decided to work...
And I really needed a miracle to catch up... but of course my magic wand had no power and I was still walking through a dark corridor without no light in sight. Will I find the pathway to the right exit?
Looking pretty doubtful there...

Late at night after 11PM, I went out to get some sustaining food to perk myself up. Going out with my bosses and a younger colleague, we were supposed to stay around before the last train leaves... but...

with fire from the burning lard... light shines brightly on the cooking net! it would be great if I can use this as fuel oil to push me to the right exit!

Cleaning up... painstaking...

I couldn't wake up again... yes, again!

But I don't get a day off... In the evening, I finally made it to the press club at around 5PM. My job for the weekend was to clean up all the mess I made this year, as piles of papers and files were filled up around and on my desk. The painstaking clean-up seemed to never end as my laziness has really wrund my neck!

And meanwhile, the 4th typhoon of the year is starting to attack the east.

coming this way... SOON!

It was rainy in Tokyo too, and it sucks I have to take my materials out there in the rain in order to get it first to my car and then to my house...