_______________________________________________________________ I'm Back
The aroma of rain swirls between her memories. Parmis is arranging her journey notes. Last week she returned from Iran with her family, and now she's going to write a report about her trip for presenting in the class.
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Hello Uncle Nowruz
On a warm March morning , our family traveled to Iran by a ship. Tina's dad was owner that luxury yacht.
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Tuesday ( Chaharshanbe Suri)
We arrived in Tehran on Tuesday morning, and in the evening we went into the street , and took part in the competition of jumping over large bonfire. We were dancing near the fire, singing between the noise of firecrackers , and eating the " Problem-solving nuts" cheerfully.
Dancing of flames were pretty and startling . It was an unforgettable night for us. Chaharshanbe Suri finished , and the light ( the good) overcame the darkness ( the bad) , now I can sleep peacefully.
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Wednesday
We got up early this morning, had a delicious breakfast, and then we went shopping. During the Nowruz holiday, we will have many guests, and it is quite obvious that we'll need some fresh fruits , cookies and nuts for reception .The stores were so busy , and the people were friendly. The air smelled like apple, like grass, like Nowruz.
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Thursday
" Many Nexus smartphones and tablets were flying in the blue sky, and I could touch , and picked up each of them. It's cool. I'm very happy." I woke up , and smiled : " Today I can buy a new tablet, because the clouds are going to rain, but not a real rain, rather the rain of money. "
The grandma was putting seven different items on the Haft-Seen table . Haft-Seen means sevens' S. She Placed : Seeb ( Apple ) , Seer ( Garlic) , Somagh ( Sumac) , Senjed ( Jujube Fruit ) , Sonbol ( Hyacinth) , Sabzeh ( Wheat Sprouts) , and Sekeh ( Coins) on the Haft-Seen table , these things start with the letter " S" in Persian.
Each of these items has a symbolic meaning , for example apple is the symbol of beauty , and coins are the symbol of wealth.
She also placed other things on it : Qur'an , candles , gold fish in a bowl, rose water , and a mirror, then she said with surprise : " oh, we don't have colored egg. Who colors the eggs?"
"me" all the children answered together.
We went into the kitchen , and picked up some eggs, but we couldn't color them, they were breaking in our hands during painting , and we just laughing. Then grandma brought a basket full of the boiled eggs for us.
Finally we got succeed , and a basket of the colored eggs were put on our Haft-Seen table, but viewing a messy room, a colored rug, dirty clothes and a few colored faces is unpleasant for every mom. The air smells like egg, like laugh, like Nowruz.
In the evening we wore our new clothes, and gathering around the Haft-Seen table. That looked prettier and bigger than other years ; the faces were smiling, the eyes staring at TV, and hearts full of the good wish. Armis , Mino and I had a coin in our hands, we believed having a coin at the beginning of New Year will bring us the wealth and blessing. The Aroma of Gun : Nowruz came.
We hugged , and kissed each other , and told " Eyde Shoma Mobarak" ( Happy New Year ), everyone wished that Nowruz brings the blessings of happiness, health , love and wealth . We expected for .... and Mino was more than others eager.
Wow ! Finally the best moment of Nowruz for our children came. The aroma of new bills swirled around us. Thank God! We got plenty. My mom gave me a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids, it's pretty, but it's designed for children. Tina Smirked , and I got a little sad , but I thought : " I have a lot of money, so I can buy 2 Nexus tablets one for myself and another one for Armis, and maybe l give this childlike tab to Martin or Mino .", next I gave a small gift to my grandma. I had written a poem in Persian for her , I read it :
" Maman Bozorgeh khobam Ghadre to ro midonam
To pako mehrabonee Tu ghalbe man mimonee
To Sabzee mesle sabzeh Goleh namake bamazeh
Negat mese ye ayneh Zolal o Saf bee lineh
Sedat cheh del neshineh Be Ghalbe man mishineh
Dastayeh narmet baram Pakon ashkeh modam
Samano o senjed , Serkeh Bekhand beshi por Sekeh
Sonbol o seeb o mahee Ghorbonet beram Ellahee
Doset daram ye donya Ino goftam be Khoda
Bia ra berim ro Shenha Hich vaght nazaram Tanha "
All family laughed at me, and a tear shined into grandma's eye , she embraced me , and kissed my forehead.
After dinner I invited my family to watch Uncle Larry on TV , and said :" He's going to sing a pretty song on the stage. " My mom looked at me , smiling . No one believed my word , even Martin. He told me : " It's April fool's day , isn't it ? " . I turned on TV set angrily.
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And now, Ladies and Gentlemen , here's Larry Page.
There are a lot of people in the audience , Larry takes some deep breaths , enters and smiles. The people cheer him, and the interview begins.
He talks about the NSA, the future of transportation, curing disease, and why companies fail,
" The main thing that caused companies to fail in my view, is that they missed the future." he says.
Larry also likes the self-driving cars , " the leading cause of death for people under 34 is car accidents in my view , the automated cars would fix this." he says.
The time goes very fast, Larry wipes off the small beads of perspiration on his forehead, he's going to sing his pretty song in the end of the interview, many thoughts swirl in his mind:" Are my clothes suitable for singing? maybe I should wear a colorful T-shirt?!" , he looks at the audience : Sergey and his band sitting , and look quite relaxed : " Cool it! " , they give Larry heart.
The interview goes very well, Larry keeps his eye contact with his band and the audience, he continues : " The more I learn, the more I realize , I have so much to learn." , then pauses and takes a deep breath, thinks : " Now it's great time to sing.", his face glows, his eyes glisten, and finally says : " If you give me a few minutes, I want to --- suddenly the lights turn on, Charlie interrupts him , and tells , smiling : " Thanks Larry, our time is finished."
The viewers start clapping , Larry is standing on the bright stage alone , wide-eyed, Sergey approaches him , laughing . His band leave the show , smiling. He's in shock. "
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I turned off the television set angrily, all family laughed at me for more that half one hour, Kiarash said : "You probably dreamed . Eat lesser at nights until you sleep in comfort ." I'm angry with Uncle Larry, he was just kidding me.
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Friday
Missed plans
This morning , I was counting my money, and had a plan for shopping one or two Nexus tablets. My mom entered the room with a piggy bank in her hands. She put piggy bank in my desk , and talked about investing.
Now I'm an investor, and going to save all my Nowruz's gifts in my small bank. whenever it will be filled , I'll invest it in a company, next I can buy everything with its profit . My money remains forever , and I'll earn what I want , this was a good deal. I accepted it.
Poor Children
The children were very happy for Nowruz' gifts. They wanted to go shopping, but its happiness didn't last for a long time, and all children except Armis and I missed their money.
Mino was serious to buy a website with 100,000 pages, and she didn't have enough money. She told us that real friends help each other ;
Armis wants to be an actress someday. Before Nowruz holiday, she had ordered a pretty dress , so she needed her money .
And about me, now I'm an investor , I know the value of each one cent , so I can't waste them, but as Mino is the best friend of mine, I gave her only $ 100 ,
and about other children ; there was no escape , Mino was too strong, so she gathered all Nowruz's gifts. Mino bought a good site, it doesn't have 100,000 pages, but its pages are plenty, and it is in first page of Google.
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We toured the whole Tehran by bus , and saw a lot of interesting places .
We learned a lot about Iranian culture at National Museum of Iran ,
Aunt Sami told that she never forgets first visiting of Milad Tower,
Tina took many photos of Mellat Park,
Uncle Mahdi answered Martin's interesting questions about Golestan Palace,
In Jamshidieh Park my mom told a funny memory for us, we laughed a lot ,
the grandma prayed in Imamzadeh Saleh for all people,
We ate a lot of delicious Iranian food like Chelow Kabab,
and drank tea in Farhangsara Eshragh, Aunt Lili said : " here was our childhood park . It had two play grounds for the children, we climbed on a Big Stone Telephone, fighting for swing, we have remembered the taste of its delicious ice creams yet."
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Monday
Gloria is standing at the window, and watching raindrops, a tear drops on her cheek, Sergey says , sadly :" did your father die?"
Gloria: " Not yet."
Sergey:" Another heart attack ?"
Gloria: " No, since my father has worn Google Glass, he looks more like 16 , his cholesterol is in the normal range, and also his blood pressure ."
Sergey gets confused , and asks :" then why are you sad ?"
Gloria:" Last night, I was studying about Google Glass in the public library that my father called me, the police caught him ."
Sergey, wide-eyed :" why?"
Gloria :" For Google Glass. Since he has worn Google Glass , he has found a lot of youth friends . His best friend is JT, he has only 16. They both go to beach, pools, parks and parties everyday, and he asks my father for recording video of young girls with Glass, and spreading on internet . I'm very sad and embarrassed, Sergey. "
Sergey gets exploded : " What? It's illegal ! Glory, you know that Google has put massive investment in Glass project, and everyday some blogs and magazines write negative reviews about it, and now your father proved their ideas. I lose heart, I can't stand it."
Gloria :" Sorry, Sergey. My dad broke my heart, he proved me that he is like a little boy, I can't also stand it, but you shouldn't be worried about negative opinions, when smartphones came to market , everyone said this things about them, too. People always fear new technology. Each invention has two obverse : The light ( the good ) and the darkness ( the bad) . We determine how to use them. You can cut a fruit with a knife ,or kill someone, the stuff is the same , but your different choices makes different results. "
Sergey:" I agree, but Tell your father that be careful ! If he repeats this behavior in the future, we will get the Glass of him. "
Gloria: "All right. Last night I said this to him. I think he regretted. "
Sergey thinks : " Gloria is really lovely and intelligent. " , but Larry Smirked him.
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I was watching a good movie with other children while checking my Gmail , Uncle Sergey came online,
He was laughing :" Are you watching Ted Show a few days ago? "
" Yes, but I got angry with Uncle Larry, he didn't sing ."
" Yes,the time of show ended , and he couldn't sing. Eric and I have laughed at Larry since Thursday. he practiced a lot , but Charlie said to him : " Our time finished. " "
" Oh, Poor Uncle Larry ! I thought that he was kidding me. "
" No, he's depressed. "
" Oh, I see, but it's funny ."
" yeah."
Uncle Sergey and I laughed
at Uncle Larry for more than one hour. After chatting I put my clothes into the suitcase. I'm going to travel tomorrow.
Best Wishes
M.T
M.T