Happy Yalda Night

It was 4:00 pm today when I noticed my dad Tangoed me which I missed. I know he wanted to read me my Fal E Hafez. On my way home, it was raining like crazy. I know we are going to celebrate Yalda this weekend with few friends but tonight is Yalda and I can not miss it. I wanted to do something special. I don't know why but the only thing came to my mind was a beautiful pine tree shining with colorful lights. I got my made-in-china tree and surprised Nima. :)
I will call dad tomorrow to ask him about my Fal E Hafez but tonight I am getting one for myself.
I take Hafez poems, close my eyes, slip my fingers through the book pages randomly, open the book and this is what Khaj E Hafez from Shiraz has to tell me:

غلام همـــــــــت دردی کشان يک رنگــــــــم

نه آن گروه که ازرق لباس و دل سيهند

Growing the right connectom and prefrontal cortex :)

I am reading this book called "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonical. Kelly teaches willpower as a course in University of Standford. The book is explaining the science behind the willpower. It explains how strengthening our prefrontal cortex we can gain more willpower. And also she defines simple assignments to practice and muscular our prefrontal cortex. :)
When I was reading this book it reminds of Dr Sebastian Seung TED lecture "growing the right connectom". I wrote about this couple of post before. See when I said saying prays for 10 years was working like a magic for me because it gave me self confidence and of course willpower, to me this is the same practice that Kelly is suggesting in her book "meditation everyday". The meditation helps your brain to become stronger by growing a right set of neurons. This sounds very similar to me to what Sebastian said about our brain is capable of  growing a connectom based on our fears, experiences, etc.
we have flexible brain we can learn how to make it stronger in certain ways. I think being flexible was a key to our survival. My mom lost her dad when she was the Same age as me (2 years before I was born), she lost her sister in a car accident when I was 10, she lost her mother when I was 23 and her younger brother a following year. She told me once " Hiva I don't know how on earth I managed to survive these losses, I think I developed an iron mind." I know now that she certainly did.  This is how her brain coup with the pain.
Our brain is everything, our personality, identity, goals, memories, likes, dislikes are stored in  infinite layers that curled in each other. Curious just curious.

Old School Tourist

Last night I met a man in his 70. He was retired from 30 years of tunneling under GTA.  We sat on a table together and he told me about his trip to Iran in 1974.  Good years back then I was thinking to myself while he was trying to remember where he went from Tehran to Isfehan to Mashad. He told me things where simpler back then.

 "I got a tent and my wife and we went to Mexico, we arrived at the gas station and I asked the owner if I could set my tent there and he let us. See every nation are proud of their country if you show them your respect they will treat you right." He said. "When I was a kid my mom used to give me 5 cent to take the bus downtown , no one was worried that I was going miles away from home. Nowadays they put these whole safety things in your head" he continued.

He had an interesting vision of life, kind of a tough old school overview. He said "when you go on a trip it must be spontaneous. No plan nothing, you go and see what happened. That is more fun, when you don't plan then you will meet people which makes it interesting."

I like to meet with people who thinks different way and took totally different approach in their lives. It gives a better perspective. This man was very straight forward and to the point. I gave him my card but he didn't. Then my boss came to our table and teased him "Hiva did Mike gave you his card?"
"Nope" I smiled.  "There's no money for me here to give my card to her. I am the contractor you should know better. Ok ok here I give you one." And then he gave me one of his card. :):) Yes!!!

Growing the right Connectom

Life is quite dynamic. We grow, change, learn, adapt, experience, fail,...

The person I am today is different from Hiva at 18 years of age. " I am my connectom" I repeated after Sebastian Seung who is trying to answer to who we are through neuroscience. He said our experiences and memories in life stored through connections among neurons. 

I know more than anything I am looking for inner peace. A state of mind that wont easily be disturbed, call it wisdom, call it inner peace. I belive every person has to find a solution for their restless mind. 

- one might confides in organazied religions, phylosephy, aethiesm ,...

- one might confieds in family and/or friends

- one might drown himself/herself in work or certain hobbies

- reading books, listening to music, reading poems, doing Yoga, doing extreme sport, having a baby, having a pet....

The list has no end. I belive only I know what would works for me the best. When I was 15 years old I started saying prays. I loved it. It was working for me like a magic. I had a great self confidence which helped me overcome my anxieties. I happily said prays for years till the age of 25 which it was not working for me anymore. I found my doing kind of robatic, wasnt giving me anything. I knew I had to find another solution.  

Few days ago I was sitting in a bar with few friends and talking about life were we are going and stuff like that ( these are kind of topics you usually have after few drinks :))

I told to my friend, " in today's society we have big milestones to achive which keep us motivated. Motivation is a huge positive source of feeling happy. First we go to school, finish high school, finish university, find a job, find a partner. Now if you are a person who already done with your school, married and working you already achived big parts of your milestones. You reached to the plateau of your life. When you are on the plateau it's important to find out what you want. Without noticing the big source of your motivation is gone and without that you might find yourself disoriented, aimless, empty, depressed, middle age crises...."

It's like you have been on this super fast roller coaster that all of a sudden comes to this halt at the middle of nowhere. Where am I ? How these years passed? When did I grow up this much?

If you start having babies then again your plateau will start steeping upward which means now your babies life curve, affecting yours. Your children milestone becomes yours. You find yourselfe motivated again. But these days many couples having baby at older age and they have easily 5 plateau years or more. Don't be astonished if you find yourself confused, bored since the adrenalin of achieving different milestone is gone. As much as you notice this you will feel better. 

To feel the gap we start making other excitement in our life, we define other goals, get my boating liscence, learn fishing, buy a pet, planting, partying like crazy, running for this or that cause.  All good, all good. Whatever works I am telling to my self. Just find me my inner peace. Just grow me the right network of connectom.  Hallelujah 

Vote

Tonight is the night that Americans will know who is their president for the next four years. Nima who loves statistics, charts , numbers and graphs can not be happier : D

CNN uses state of the art facilities to analyze the results every freaking minute. John King working on his magic wall showing what is the percentage of voters age between 19-29, 30-46, 46-65, and older than 65 who voted for Obama or Romney based on 4 percent of the counted votes. And yes of course he will update us every 20 minutes.

 I cant help comparing this election with Canada's. comparing three course debate between American candidates and two rounds debate between candidate here in Canada ( one in English and one in French) which is basically one. I watched debates between Obama and Romney while red, blue, green, etc, lines jumping up and down, and jumbling to show how men and women favorite each candidate every second. Too much drama for me !!

I remember canadian debates between Five leaders of major parties. They were all sitting around one table call each other by their first name and talking. At the end, the chair of the debate asked each candidate to say something nice about the person who were sitting at his or her right side. I liked that gesture  very much. I like Canada to stay like this. Away from all noises and fake excitements take more reasonable approach to select the leader of the country.

I think Obama will win. I cant see how american expected him to do miracle in four years.  changing the whole office at this time doesn't sound right to me.  We will know by tomorrow or maybe not!!!!!

Demon of Depression

I've started reading this book "Out of the Blue" by Jan Wong. I heard about it on CBC radio one afternoon while driving back home. The book is the true story about the writer falling in depression and coming out of it. Depression is a sly disease sneaking inside you, you might not even know it. Its always good to know more about this subject and listen to those who experienced it. 

I picked few paragraph of the book:

" There is no universal story of depression. That is why it’s so hard to diagnose. It’s why so many—friends, family and employers—are skeptical and pass judgment. Depression is a complicated illness. You may read what happened to me and think, Hey! That’s not what it’s like. But it runs the gamut from paralysis to high-functioning behavior, with many layers in between. Some people stay up all night to justify staying in bed all day. Others seem normal: they go to work, they socialize, they run errands. And then one day, they go home quietly and kill themselves. ...

But here’s the surprising and scary aspect of depression: it doesn’t afflict only the weak. The strong are just as vulnerable. In fact, susceptibility to depression has nothing to do with strength or weakness. And yet, many people persist in equating weakness with vulnerability, and strength with invulnerability. Certainly, that confused many around me because before I fell sick, no one would have described me as weak.What happened to me is proof that depression can strike no matter how strong, able and tough-minded someone is..."

Must See Movie

If you like to watch a positive, funny , inspiring movie  go for "Intouchables". This is French movie based on true story. 

Have we travelled far enough, that we can allow our tears to fall?

A beautiful quote from a movie we watched last night 

My woolly Friend

I saw Its face first on the website called The Houzz. It just entranced me. I couldnt took my eyes off its little cute face. I could see the innocne in his face but it wasnt just that. Its pink smiling lip, pink shining little nose, pink ears standing up showing his awarness, and the way he kept his head high up showing his pride all bewitched me. I found the photographer Sharon Montrose's website she is a baby animal photographer. :)

After a week keep looking at him I finally order the print, now I am going to hang Woolly picture somewhere I can see everyday. To me his face is full of life, very positive and optimistic, he  looks curious and funny.  

It's interesting yesterday I was watching this TED video by Jane McGonical a game designer who was saying looking at baby animal's face actually increasing your life span.   There you go Woolly on the wall :D Love it

Remember Today

I spent a week with Behi and Behrouz (my cousin and her husband). I am recharged, happy and calmer now. We haven't been together this long since I came to Canada which is about 7 years. Every morning Behi prepared lovely breakfast table:
1- A bowl of different berries: red gooseberry, blackberry, strawberry and rasberry
2- Freshly baked baguette, buns and croissant tasted so good
3- Bulgarian cheese tasted very much like Tabrizian cheese of Iran
4- Butter
5- Sunny-side Eggs
6- A glass of freshly squeezed orange
7- Cappuccino
8- Tea, different kinds offered in a beautiful French tea box
Nima was telling me he still thinks about us sitting around a table for an hour enjoying the meal and chatting.

Behi and I talked. I bombard her with any topics I wanted to tell her but didn't have a chance. We tried to tell each other how much each of us changed since last time we have been together. We realized we both grown up.
Behrouz always liked photography and this time I noticed that he came a long way and becomes a very skilled photographer. He showed us some of the photos he has taken, which was absolutely brilliant. He took a gorgeous photo of Nima and I with Eiffel tower. That day there where hundreds of people around the giant metal tower but in the photo it's just Nima and I with the Eiffel alone. I have the photo beautifully sitting in our TV room reminds of so many good things.
I told Behi this phrase from the Lord of the Ring movie, there is a scene that Boromir coming back from a victory celebrating with his brother Faramir. He said to him "Remember Today little Brother, Today Life is Good". 

Paris Highlights

We knew we couldn't see Paris in 3 days thus we decided to sample the most romantic city of the world.

My colleague told me " listen if you needed to ask for guidance from Parisians, remember three things 1) they like greeting 2) they like to be acknowledged and 3) ask them if they can speak English but in French.  thus if you need to ask you will say Bonjour Madam/Monsior, parlez-vous anglais?

Taking advice from my sister and brother in-law who are experts on Paris "things to do", and my colleague, we headed to Paris from Rotterdom on express train.

Did the city wowed me? Oh yeah, just one word "charmant"

3-4 stories building with white stone finishing, petite balcony surrounded with black fence, delicate vintage design, and Granium plant decorating outside of each window that caught my eyes first.

Narrow streets pointing to a charming hill or a church, infinite number of cafe and restaurants, boutiques. My sister in-law told me drink as much coffee as you can, my brother in-law told us try baguettes anywhere you can. We did our best :)

We went to this restaurant recommended by my brother in-law "Le Relais de l'Entrecote" which was famouse for its steak with the most addictive sauce. The sauce recipe apparently is a secret, many men tired never succeed to remake it "un tel secret". We loved the food the steak was amazing and thin sliced French fries were unbelievable. We went back there the night after I think, we became addicted after the first try. :D

Another place that I liked very much was a pastry shop called "Pierre  Herme" the Picasso of the pastries as Navid said. Colorful fresh macarons with different tastes very yummy, the pastries looked very sexy each has a unique design. I got three pastries each cost about 6 Euro worth every penny :) my cousin Behi got 6 macarons with different tastes we ate them all on train back home except for one which is still in  the fridge waiting for a right moment to be eaten.  

Paris is alive city I feel. Many people are stylish, woman with makeup and accessories are adding to this city's charm. Watching many people sitting outside of the cafe drinking, eating and watching pedestrians all sounds cool to me. So many smokers in streets got my attentions I should say. Metro lines were so many but the subway stations were kind of unpleasant because of strong smell of urine, litters here and there. Well nothing is perfect. 

right behind Notre Dame Cathedral, on Pont de l'Archevêché I bought a lock for 3 Euro, wrote Nima's and my name on it, hardly found a spot on the bridge fence and put the lock around it. I throw the key into the river. Can I find the key if I came back after years? Who cares

I do have some pretty pictures that I will share later.

I Passed It Just Like That

Today I went for my G road test for the second time and I passed it. This morning when I got into the office I saw a big horseshoe was made at the bottom of my coffee mug from the coffee residue. I told to myself : today is my lucky day :)
I had an exam at 12:00 pm and I arrived at the exam location at 11:15. As my instructor advices I waited till 11:40 and then registered my name. He told me try to be one of the last candidate before lunch time. Officers will be happy to wrap you up and go for lunch.
My examiner was a very nice guy. He gave me a little bit of hard time during the exam " oh come on already what are you waiting for" or " go go go..." or " why did you breaks can't you see you have your own line, don't you look at ahead ". I thought oh god He is going to fail me. At the end he looked at me with a big smile and said: alright you passed :):)
I almost hugged him :) now who should gets the credit? The giant horseshoe inside the coffee mug or getting close to the lunch time :D
When I went to take my temporary liscence there was this man ahead of me who passed after 8 times he said I am a truck driver , driving is my profession ( of course in another country) but here I failed 8 times. I told him " it would be harder for you since you have your owen way of driving".
Anyway it is such a relief :)

Quotes For Saturday :)

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.
 George Washington 

A friend to all is a friend to none. 
Aristotle 


Read more athttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_friendship.html#fA1i0kVBeXoxGFAo.99

Late night chat

It's 2 am and I am awake. Now that I am awake anyway let me give you some sisterly advices: :)
1- More than anything and anybody, LOVE YOURSELF
2- Be kind to YOURSELF
3- Be confident (find a way)
4- Be positive(sadness just chew your brain and if you are not yourself you do no good to anybody)
5- Fightback your pains and never let your pains break you apart (it does not matter how silly your pains are the point is if they can upset you, if they can break you, you must fight those back).
6- Love people and be kind to them but never be dependent on them because no matter how close you think your friends are there will be moment that they break your heart

I think I can try sleeping again..good night

Toka Instead of Enemy

There is an Indian tribe that does not have a word for enemy in their language. They use a word "Toka" which means a person who is different from you and is not your ally.

Just a simple note

It's a hot beautiful summer in Ontario. I am settling down at work which I like it very much so far. Life is good. Nima and I ride a bike with couple of friends every other Sunday. Last week we were riding along the river and at the same time there were people were walking their dogs, few people were sitting on a bench talking, a family or a group of friends were walking. I felt grateful. Happiness is that simple :)

I have something in my mind to do. I don't wanna talk about it know. I should do it. I know I can. I am telling to myself for that you should get a cottage or something with a nice view, clean your mind and sit. I don't know maybe later maybe now.

:):):):):):):)

I am finally coming to see you. :):):):

JUST GET REAL

I failed my G driving test today. Here in Ontario when you pass the road test you get your G2 driving test which expires in 5 years. Before this happens you have to get your G liscence.

Honestly I thought I've done a great job. I looked at my mirrors like every freaking 5 seconds, checked both sides of the intersection even when the green light was on, try to stick to 40 km/hr speed limit, pooooh

When the test finished the officer told me "unfortunately you didn't meet the ministry requirements today,..." He lost me at "unfortunatellllllllllllly".

What really bothering me is that here in Ontario people drive like crazy (I mean in Canadian scale). If you dare stick to your speed limit, cars will tale-gate you really bad, and even worse you might even meet with some of the drivers finger. If you stop behind every stop sign for "1001, 1002, and 1003" I bet someone will honk for you or the other driver whose turn is after you will just go.  If you look at into your mirrors every 5 seconds I bet you will ended up having an accident for not paying attention to your front. You see drivers here talking on the phone, texting, eating, even rare occasions reading.

I am a good driver for god sake. Never had an accident in the past 5 years.  I think the ministry should get real in examining the applicants. Instead of pretending that as a good driver you should pass 250 items, just see how skilled I am, How comfortable I am, If I am a danger to the road..What is the benefit of pretending to be "by the book" for 20 minutes and then go back to this jungle and drive as we all know how.

I have to book the damn test again, take few hours off the work again, pay the fee again...
I am pissed off you can tell ..

Ride on The River

It's been almost five years that I am living in Ontario. Ontario has an interesting motto "yours to discover" which really fits for this beautiful province of Canada. From the very first day Nima and I tried to visit different places here, either in cities or out there in woods. I know there are still places we haven't visited yet but I can claim that we saw a good deal of it.
One of the coolest place here in Ontario is Elora village. The village itself is very pretty specially with Grand river passing through. You can rent a tube and ride on this river in Elora Gorge. The experience was amazing. That day the weather was hot and humid. By the time we arrived there, it was a big line for tubing and I was really disappointed when the girl behind the cashier told me they are sold out. We went back there at 4:00 pm. The weather was getting cooler, we got two tubes, got on the school bus which gave us a ride to the launch area.
I sat on my tube and the ride began. I loved it. I felt like a leaf dragging by the flow, here and there. The river has few rough sections along which addeed up the spices but in general it was an amazing experience. At some part it was so calm and quite I could only hear birds singing and the soothing sound of the river. I was in heaven. Nima had a small accident at one of the rough sections his tube overturned and he felt in the river. Nothing major the river wasn't deep and he soon manage to got on his feet and control the tube.

Just give you few tips, get there early in the morning or later in the afternoon to have a chance to rent. Of course you can bring your own tube. If you like camping stay in Elora Gorge conservation and enjoy the night of Grand River. While tubing mind your butt :)

Before I close this post there is one more beauty we visited Elora Quarry. This is a bowl shape little lake surrendered with rocky edges. Swim to the center of the lake and look up.

Bravo to Brave

We went to cinema to watch Brave last night. Before the movie started they showed this amazing short animation called "La Lunar". I loved it
Here you can watch part of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HVCXjmdMd4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Good night

A Day Trip

This morning I called home to say hi to my mom. I usually call her up when I am driving to work. My baby sister, Helia answered the phone. The voice wasn't quite clear and I mistaken her with mom.

"Hi mom" I said.
"Hi child" My sister teased :)
"Oh Heli, is that you..how are you doing? how's things? How was your day trip the other day"
Helia asked me if I have time because the day trip ended up quite adventurous. She told me all about it and I couldn't believe what I heard. At some point I started laughing and all day today every time I remember what happen I can't stop giggling. The story has kind of "due date", or "hangover" fast pace genre.
I wish I could ask Tod Phillips to Make a movie out of this :)

Quote of tonight

"Everybody makes a mistake , minimize it fix it and move on" :)
Fictional president of the United states , west wing tv series.

دالانهای تنگ و دالانهای گشاد

اینجا هستم و اینجا نیستم.
راه میروم..راه میروم تو پیچو خمهای بی‌ انتها و دالانهای تنگ و گشاد این ذهن. هزارو هزاران در..هزارو هزاران پیچ..تاریکو تاریکتر..روشنو روشنتر.
باز می‌کنم.
اولین در..باد کلفور می‌پیچه..من و پیراهن هوا رفته..من و جنگل ما..من و رودخونه باریک کم عمق..منو اسب جمشید..الاغه پیر..رخش..در و میبندم
درِ بعدی..نه این تلخه.
درِ بعدی..صورتم چسبیده به شاخه‌های تنومند گردو..مزه شیرین انجیرهای سفید تو گرمای شمال..منو لیزا..نه نه تلخ نشو..در و میبندم
باز می‌کنم صورت مهربون و آبشار ساواشیی.
باز می‌کنم عروسی‌، رقص..چهری پر اضطراب پدر..وکیلم؟؟ بله!
این اتاقها..این پیچو خمهای تو در تو، منم..گره‌هایی‌ هست که آرزو می‌کردم هیچوقت شکل نمیگرفت..طرحهأی هست که میخوامشون...بارها بیشتر
غم فیسلوفم می‌کنه و شادی ساده لوحم …
ساده‌لوح هانه فیلسوف شم نمی‌شه؟

K'naan in Toronto

Last night it was Luminato's opening night. K'naan performed a free concert. Matt Galloway came to stage before K'naan for introduction. I looked around there were people from different origin, K'naan himself is originally from Somalia, his guitarist looked like a Latino guy, the guy behind the keyboard looked like an Asian guy. This what Toronto is about "Multiculturalism". This is what Nima and I both love about this place. We are open to new cultures, new foods, new dress, ...I love to get to know people with different background. I don't like to live in Canada but only goes to Iranian restaurants and only have Iranian friends, there is nothing wrong with this but not for me. I want more than that

Abakhtar

Abakhtar means north is the name of my dad's seasonal magazine. When he was here in October we were talking about how these days Internet is the main source of information. I encouraged him to make a website for Abakhtar to introduce it better, to find his own readers. He did it
Here is the link: http://abakhtariran.com/
Here is his bio: http://abakhtariran.com/index.php/anjoman/31-asatid/78-mahdavi
As a proud daughter the first thing I have done was to vote how the website is. Of course I voted really great :)
It's funny the options are:
Not too bad
Good
Very good
Great
Really great :):)

You noticed there is no really negative options available you kind of have to like my dady's website. Why not

Life is a dance we must learn

I can't stop listening to this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L5WitGvF2U&feature=youtube_gdata_player
It has a simple and sweet lyrics. Nima and I have started watching this English tv series called Forsyte Saga which is about life, love and relationship. I love the song at the end of each episod. Here is the lyrics.

Life is a dance we must learn
Into the night we will turn
Time holds the secrets of our song
Moments are given, then gone
Come have this dance with me darling
I'll hold you tight till the dawn
Let the night see how I love you
So the moon can tell the sun
One more time around the sky
Kiss each tear that you have cried
Soon the day will tell everyone
I'll love you till I die
Look at your hair flowing in the night
Look at your lips in this light
Just let me kiss them this one more time
Nothing was ever so right

Hang in there Little One

I came out of the building that suddenly I heard a man behind me said "look it's still up there".  I looked at the tree and say a young raccoon hanging the very end of the up-most branch. It was a windy day with strong gust of 100 km/hr. The Baby raccoon hanged tightly to that branch with closed eyes. "She is probably scared to come down" A man said. "Yeah, maybe she is waiting till night when no body is around" I replied. "I'll check up on him tomorrow morning and if he was still here I'll  call for help."
"Hang in there little one" I said to myself. the day after I came back there was no sign of her.

Thanks Apple

I love my iPad. This beautiful piece of technology is just perfect for blogging in bed just what I am doing right now. I was looking into my gmail drafts. I saved few poems or writing that I liked as a draft. I was reading through till I saw one email dated back to 7 month ago. I wrote the email to a very dear friend who asked me something but I never sent the response. I just felt I shouldn't. I remember writing my response with so much care to avoid any heart feeling or misunderstanding but still after finishing the letter I couldn't sent it. It didn't feel right. Still I am not sure if I should have pressed the send button or not.
There is another draft written to the editor of a journal. That one I should have definitely sent. Here is a lesson for myself next time I will express my opinion with self confidence. Promise

Tomorrow with my boss I am heading to a site to audit a tunnel construction. Believe it or not I can not find a pair of safety rubber boot with steel toe protection for myself. I checked several stores and the last one told me quite searching. A young guy who was trying to help me told me here there are none for women. All of the available safety rubber boots are for men and the smallest size is too big for me. I am going down the shaft climbing down a vertical ladder 20 m long I can't afford falling heavy boot in the air. Down the tunnel is always muddy and regular safety boot doesn't do the job for me.
After googling for a long time I finally found a pair of rubber safety boot for female which was design for fire fighters. I was so excited and ready to order till I realize that they currently don't ship anything to Canada. My next hope is to find. Steel toe guard to attach to my regular boots. I can't be the first female with small feet inspecting tunnels here in Toronto or am I?!!!

Entry for April

These days everything are kind of quite. Nima and I enjoying spring and cant wait for summer. I like my new work place, what I am doing, my colleagues, all.   I am 32 now, no kids and have no plan for a one. My parents never push us for a grandchild but recently my dad started asking about it :). He is so funny when trying to ask but not to push. It's a big deal raising a child and I don't see that in myself. I don't want to have a baby just for the sake of not being alone when I am getting older. Well I guess I will feel like it when it's about time hopefully before it's too late.

Innovative Soul

I

I wanna be that lamp.

Happy Norooz

March 20 at 1:15 am spring came to northern hemisphere. We have been lucky in Toronto with warm weather of 24/25 degree. Earth is alive again. I prepared our 7c table. I came home the other day and find this beautiful hyacinth push away the curtain to reach the sun.
I wish you all a spring full of joy, good news, health, wealth (why not)...

 Happy Norooz

Fruits of Life - Part II

When I was 15. back in high school I had a very nice geometry  teacher. In my class we were only 19 students. He told us once "Kids I am telling you, the best friendship for a lifetime are happening during these years, behind these desks. Look at me now, after all these years being grown up and all that, still when I feel blue I go to a bank where my old friend from high school works there.

I had the same classmate from pre-high school (3 years) to the end of high school (4 years). 7 years from age of 11 to 18 gave me a chance to develop strong bounds with some of my classmates. I don't know how but still at the age of 32 when I see my classmates I became that kid again. Nadia is one those pre-high school/high school friends that we keep in touch. Last time I saw her it was after my wedding (5 years ago). She couldn't make it to my wedding and came to see me after. I always loved her for her pure kind heart as big as Pacific ocean.

She lost her mom 6 years ago in an accident couple of days after her younger sister's wedding. Another sister of her was in a car and seriously injured. Nadia was really strong getting over her loss and helping her dad to put the family together. She did her best to help out her sister to recover from her serious injuries. I always loved her for being so generous.

I am really bad with phone calls, one of my big flaws I guess. I sent her emails once in a while but the internet inside Iran is always slow and shaky. She couldn't always check her e-mails or reply me back. Couple of weeks ago I finally called her up on her cell.She recognized my voice after a hi.

"Hiva, is that you? How are you doing girl? what's new? have a baby yet?" Nadia said excited.
"No baby yet" I replied.
"Idiot what are you waiting for?" She said.
"How about you Nadi, any boyfriend yet?" I asked.
"No boyfriend yet" She replied.
"Idiot what are you waiting for?" I said.
"I missed you so much." "I missed you too."

And just like that we continued talking. After almost 3 years that we haven't talk, after almost 5 years that we haven't seen each other, when we talked it was like never this gap existed. It was like we have been together just yesterday. This is a kind of bound that I like.  The trust in our friendship with Nadia. After all these years still at the age of 32 I know I can pick up the phone. Call her up and just talk about my day. Nadia is one of the sweetest fruit of my book life.

Good Stuff

Finally after a long time today I had a chance to chat with my cousin (Behi) and her lovely husband. Before I came to Canada we all lived in Tehran and hang out all the time. We were very close, still are despite the long distance. Have you ever had a friend in your life that you didn't need to explain yourself to her/him. She/he just knows what you mean by few words. Have you ever had a friend in your life that just sitting next to him/her makes you feel much better. Behi was/is that person in my life.
When Mr Behi join the club I couldn't be happier. He was my gadget guru, book guru, technology guru..We used to sit and talk for hours about our favorite topics.
Today he told us about this cool gadget "fitbit". It is the same size as a memory stick. You put it in your pocket and this cool piece of technology track your daily activities and tell you about how your week was in terms of acitivies you've done. He also bought this "Wi-Fi Smart Scale" that track your weight, % body fat, and BMI over time and sync your weight data to your Fitbit.com account through your wireless network.I think I know what to buy Nima for Valentine. ;)

Happy New Year

Nima and I went for one week trip to Punta Cana in Dominican Republic this new year holiday. This is our second sun destination travel after Cozumel Island. I loved it. Beautiful sun, tropical vegetation, grinish blue ocean, warm and wavy with a very fine white sandy beach.
The ocean was warm and slightly wavy. We floated on the waves felt weightless like a leave on the water. We took an island tour which was very interesting. Our guid was a mixed American/Dominican with american accent. We went to a local coffee and cocoa plantations. The farm was family owned who were happy to have visitors. One of the family member I think the father cut the cocoa fruit in half. It was full of seeds with a soft white cover.He told us to eat the cover which was sweet and sour and inside was find a cocoa been. That was what they would dry later and pack to go. Our guid told us that these family are doing ok in this area financially. He gave us a tour inside their house. Basically it was very basic shelter made of wooden wall and tint roof. No shower. Washroom and kitchen was outside. The family looked simply happy.
I loved the nature, beautiful flowers. We visited a local school, had lunch in a resturant with home made food, and ended our tour with boogie riding in Macco beach.
We had different experience in Cozumel and Punta Cana. In our resort in Cozumel they had entertainment every night, which was always related to their local culture, dance, music, etc. But in Punta Cana it was mostly western specially music of eighties or nineties. Even in a shuttle to airport the music was Bee Gees, Donna Summer, etc. There was king of sense on humor in different individual (local people) we met in Punta Cana. In both country where we went, sellers were eagerly try to force you to buy something from them but in Punta Cana this was much more aggressive. Even when Nima and I were walking to get fresh air if there was any store around the seller would come out and shout to attract your attention.

I shared some photos from the beautiful nature around.