March Madness and the April Break in Iran
March was the busiest month I’ve had since finishing my Master’s back in 2014. I had a ton of work commitments plus preparation to speak at two conferences and I also had to move out of my hotel apartment and into new accommodations before the end of March. Needless to say, it was an exhausting month.
April started out with a trip to Glasgow to present at an IATEFL conference. Presenting at this conference was one of my big goals for the year, and I was happy to get some extra time outside of Doha. The conference itself was great, and I was glad to meet a friend who used to work with me at CNAQ but now works out of Saudi. I didn’t get much of a chance to explore Glasgow because of work commitments, but I did at least get to try black pudding and haggis. I highly recommend both. I’d love to visit Glasgow again as well. Once the conference was finished I was officially on vacation and flew into Tehran, Iran to meet a friend.
My parents chirped a bit at me for deciding to take a holiday in Iran. The media hasn’t really painted a pretty picture of the country. And to be fair, the country certainly has had its issues over the years, but overall I found the people I met there to be quite nice and friendly. I don’t intend to get political on my blog, but in my travels and experiences, I have notice that it is worthwhile to make a distinction between the person on the street and the governments that represent them. Anyway, it was a guided tour that included cultural sites and some biking. For me, the highlight of the tour was a small trip to a mountain village where my traveling partner and I got to meet a mom and her two young boys who were serving coffee from their porch to tourists. The boys were more than happy to chat and practice their English with us. This also led to a group of girls who were on a field trip sneaking a photo op with us while their escort was preoccupied with other things.
The other highlight was the final day. We went biking around the city of Shiraz and met some computer science students, did a cooking lesson in a local restaurant and went out to a local cafe later in the night with our guide who hung out with us as we all enjoyed another chat while listening to Iranian pop music. The cafe barista also sat and chatted with us for a while, and it was refreshing to connect with people on a personal level and get a feel for the day to day life.
We flew out the next day and after an uneventful flight found ourselves back in Doha. The vacation was much needed, and like every good vacation, I wish it had been longer. There are only six weeks of teaching left until final exams and only nine weeks until the next break!