Of all the places you thought you might paddle
some day, I’ll bet Iran never made the list. Well, maybe it should have. The adventuresome Becky Bristow heads to this axis of
evil to try out the bouldery rapids of the Sezar River. The story here is filled with interesting little cultural
anecdotes the likes of which you’re unlikely to find in a story about, say, paddling in Wyoming. To wit: almost as soon
as Ms. Bristow gets out of her boat, the locals swathe her head in a scarf, lest all that uncovered hair stir the
longings and unravel the turbans of the local tribesmen. The group described here hits some sweet Class IVs, and
overall make the paddling in Iran seem pretty darn inviting.
Citizen Penn
I’m
about a week behind on my New Yorker reading and so was pleasantly surprised this week to find last week’s issue had a
rather informative and interesting profile by John Lahr on Sean Penn. Now, I’m no celebrity worshipper. I honestly,
deeply believe that our fascination with celebrity is both absurd and harmful. Absurd because we are placing such lofty
value in people’s whose compensation (in the form of money and status) is completely incommensurate with their
societal contribution. Harmful in the respect that we are largely distracted from more meaningful aspects of the human
experience by spending so much time and caloric output on worrying what Brad and Angelina are up to.
Now,
with that as a rather ridiculous, if contradictory, preface for this post, let me say that I did find the article on Sean Penn rather interesting. Penn, you might
remember has been traveling the world…or at least certain dangerous parts of it…to show us the other
side of these places, the happy faces of the Axis of Evil, and it certianly is nice for him to have himself
photographed walking among the people. He penned, if you’ll pardon the pun, a series of articles, some 12,000
words total, for the San Francisco Chronicle, some of which we discussed here.
Now, despite my cynicism, there is value here, because Penn holds himself out as a kind of citizen of the world, a
purveyor of higher truths, and he is one of a few celebrities who really tries of leverage his status to heighten
public awareness of issues that lie outside of Hollywood. Now whether that is a good or bad thing is another issue.
Whether we should in any way trust that Penn possesses the smarts or experience to be the one who alerts us to the
world’s ills is a fine question to ponder. So you just go ahead and do so. But I think you will find the article here
pretty fascinating, as Penn comes across as a rather complex character. I can’t positively say I like him, but he
intrigues me.
No-Rooz: Persian New Year
Today marks the celebration of yet another New Year in the distant lands of Iran and elsewhere I’m sure, but for
now we turn our attention to the No-Rooz or "New Day" in
the Middle Eastern country. Iran Chamber online has detailed information involving some of the rituals and traditions
associated with Zoroastrian (the religion of ancient Persia before the advent of Islam) along with info on how the
present days to come will be spent among family and friends. If you’ve a moment to spare I highly suggest using it to
view some of the rich, colorful photos on the site as well soaking in some of the literature provided to help us all
better understand the event as they head into the year 1385. There is way too much for me to even begin to summarize
here, but I’ll leave you with these No-Rooz greetings found at Iranchamber.com.
No-Rooz Mobarak (Happy New Year)
Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak (Happy New Year to you)
No-Rooz Pirooz (Wishing you a
propersous New Year)
Sad Saal be in Saal-ha (Wishing you 100 more Happy New Years)
Word for the Travel Wise (02/18/06)
So earlier today I mentioned the upcoming Florida Strawberry Festival that I’ll be missing because I’m in Trinidad. (If only I could clone two more of myself.) This really bums me out because strawberries in my book are the best fruit on the entire planet, but since this only marks the beginning of the season I should be able to get my share of the fruit during its finest moment. Anyhow, in honor of the berry I thought it many of you might want to know how to say the word in another language. Right?
Today’s word is a Farsi (Persian) word used in Iran:
toot farangee – foreign berry
While ‘toot sefid,’ the country’s delicious white berry is most popular in spring too, strawberries are quite foreign to the country and are lumped into this bland category of unfamiliar berries. If only they knew what they were missing – they’d probably rename the fruit or give it a bit more respect. The best berry (toot behtarin) or good berry (toot khoob) would be a better title for a strawberry, but who am I to change centuries of foreign fruit naming.
Excellent sites for learning Persian online include a personal favorite called Easy Persian and Farhangsara. Both sites have an excellent beginner’s guide into the language and use images, sound and music to assist you in the process. Check out Lonely Planet’s Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook for a shorthand guide at the ancient lingo.
Past Farsi words: be salamati.
Word for the Travel Wise (01/01/06)
As mentioned before there are several new things happening today, this month and this year at Gadling. Guessing from the title of this post in particular you’ve probably already figured out this feature is one of them. It is my hopes that you’re just as excited as I am to expand those miniature dictionaries in our brains dedicated to foreign language into a world of useful vocabulary to use or not to use while traveling. Over time I’ll do my best to insert words in their original Japanese, Russian, Arabic, etc. text, but for right now we’ll use only the phonetic spelling. In addition to the word I’ll supply online learning links and books for continued language learning. Have a word you’d like to share? Slang, tribal lingo, and dead languages are always welcome, but let’s try to keep it clean.
Now the first word is a Persian word from the Farsi language used in Iran.
be salamati – Good health! Cheers!
Many of you probably made toasts to the new year, shouted cheers, and messages of good health, continued wealth and success from now and forever. Well, next time you find yourself in Tehran or West Los Angeles don’t be shy, shout it out in Farsi! Be salamati! Be make sure to use this one during the Persian New Year which occurs at spring in March.
Excellent sites for learning Persian online include a personal favorite called Easy Persian and Farhangsara. Both sites have an excellent beginner’s guide into the language and use images, sound and music to assist you in the process. Check out Lonely Planet’s Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook for a shorthand guide at the ancient lingo.