Fun

Tagged as: Iran daily life

1. “Some people think Iran is a hell because young people can’t go to discos or drink beer in bars. They have no imagination of what it means to have fun.”

M: “I grew up in the country, so Iran is a great place for me to have fun. You can never be disappointed by the nature here.”

ET: “It’s true that Iranians have a kind of fun that is really special and enjoyable, but I do believe that being young in Iran is a bit of a problem.”

1: “What do you mean?”

ET: “Well, you are always watched. There is so much pressure from family and from society.”

1: “Who says that?”

ET: “I see that myself. I see how young people have to put so much control on themselves because there is so much control on them.”

2: “That’s the first way to learn to lie. For instance, we get some money. Our parents ask us how we plan to spend it. We tell them a lie. We lie even when there is no reason to lie. We do not tell our parents where we are going or who we are going with. We do not tell them anything true. We are a lying people.”

ET: “All Iranians say that about themselves.”

Y: “What I like about working in Iran is that when I get angry in a meeting, the Iranians do not hold it against me. When the meeting is over, they slap my back and we are friends again. They know it is business. When I do business in Saudi Arabia, they do not accept the difference between business anger and personal anger.”

3: “Iranians show their emotions.”

ET: “No, Iranians are very controlled.”

3: “Do you think so?”

ET: “Particularly the women.”

4: “The women are really manipulative.”

1: “Because we have to be. That’s the only way for us to survive.”

K: “That’s what I always say. I’m with you.”

ET: “If the law were more fair, women would be less manipulative.”

1: “That’s true.”

Y: “The men are ruled by women.”

3: “No, it’s just natural here.”

ET: “Married men are like children. They cannot even feed themselves.”

2: “Our generation is better.”

ET: “Your generation is a lot better. I see a lot more 50-50 in younger couples.”

1: “Every generation has its lazy men and domineering women.”

2: “If you talk to ten young people in their 20s, only 2 will tell you that they want to get married. The others do not want to get married.”

1: “We have learned to lie so well that we don’t want to enter into a relationship of trust.”

2: “We had to learn to lie.”

3: “Do you wish the revolution never happened?”

2: “Of course I wish it never happened. We have fallen so far behind the rest of the world.”

1: “Me… I think the revolution has been a good thing. It has made us much more careful. We don’t believe things so easily. We think things through more carefully. Our decisions are more deliberate.”