in the cold

I bought a second hand air-conditioner today. $100. He said he’ll buy it back when I’m leaving… Maybe $60. $40 for two weeks, of temperature dropping from 40 to 20. $2 per degree Celsius. Me, in the cold.

I remember two weeks ago, back in Soosangird with all the school kids. By Wednesday the word had got out that the movies were being shown for the kids, so we had more kids coming by from other schools to see the films and meet the “Stars”, and, we had kids from the days before who wanted to come back.


Try to imagine a Hall with 450 capacity, by 4pm in the 40 degree heat, and double the capacity, and “Movie Stars” from the North who “… just can’t stand the heat”.


Yes it was great.

The kids were hot. Movie stars were just sticky. Me, loving it.

Same thing is going to happen next week for the kids in Abadan and Khorramshahr. It’s already hotter. And South-er. Me, loving it.

I’ll be work-shopping a book called “Chess with the Dooms Day Machine” by Habib Ahmadzadeh next Monday for a week, with 15 Abadan theatre actors. Me, loving it. The air-conditioner at the place doesn’t work.


My Azat, won two Cohen CDs on the radio for singing one of his songs. Me, loving it.

Missing the boss and my daughter. I, lonely.

Salam. Many over due and left over letters/blogs to pass on. Things changed. The BLOG’s order needs the same. Change of order.

Here I am in my three room house, Keh 30, # 2, Koyeh Kargar, in Abadan.

I was born in one of these houses, two blocks south. Alif 20, #1.

These houses we
re built for Abadan’s oil refinery workers, back then, about 80 years ago, under the BP. Later on, world’s biggest oil refinery, until the Iran Iraq’s 8 year war. Right on the border to Iraq’s Basra. Divided by our story’s famous Arvand Rood (river).

And here my Arvand divides me from Iraq.

There a few things that have happened here since I came from Halifax. Maggie has filled some of them in. I’ll jump some for now since I would rather tell you about the kids.

For a whole w
eek I went- with a good friend, Habib Ahmadzadeh who runs this- to a film festival for middle and high school kids, north of Abadan, Also close to the border to the small towns of Soosangird, Hoveizeh and Bostaan. A farming country. 20 years after the war, some of their lands are still covered by land mines.

We set up shop in five venues, for six days, two shifts a day and served over 21,000 kids. Some of them had not been to a movie theatre or out of their villages before. Some of the buses traveled for almost an hour to cover everyone in the triangle.

We had some of Iran’s most famous actors and directors who dropped by from Tehran to see the kids. It was cheers and laughs and whistles.


In any of these towns, every time I asked for directions, someone was sent with me to show the place and then I was asked to go over their house for lunch or dinner…

I’m going to regard the rest of the blog as one letter.
Right now I have to go to that English class. Thank God I found someone- who’s English is much better- to slowly replace me.
I will miss the students greatly.

later,
s