Tiaras Are Not Against the Law, They Are Encouraged

The past two days we've been shopping for my wedding dress - this means taking a taxi into downtown Tehran as they've a system here to deal with what used to be impossible traffic requiring only permit-holding cars to enter the area - it's a good system and traffic flows pretty easily through the streets.
We drove past what used to be the United States Consulate...the only vestige of what was once there: a neatly spray painted sign "Down with USA." It was interesting to see...the first time I'd been exposed to a public display chastising the U.S. government. It's now my landmark for getting around that part of downtown Tehran - when we hit that particular corner I know exactly where we are in relation to the seamstress who will craft my 'lebas e aroos' (wedding clothes).

We ended up on the third floor of a small shop in the bazaar belonging to a seamstress - a woman famous in Iran for her sewing skills, particularly when it comes to wedding dresses, and I found photos from a French catalog to base the design on.
Basically, in the end, I designed my own wedding dress and I couldn't be happier with the result thus far.
The woman is clearly an expert and, with Hamid's translation services, understood exactly what I wanted.
We will go back Thursday for a fitting and to select the tiara I'll wear with the dress...yes, a full-on princessy tiara. They are common here as a bridal accessory and when Hamid's mother exclaimed that I absolutely MUST have one (after I'd nixed their plans for makeup and a veil) I gave in. I actually love the idea of wearing a little crown - and I don't think anyone who knows me will be surprised in the least.

But I am surprised, almost daily, by the sheer modernity in Tehran - in everything from technology, to furniture, to clothes, even in something as subtle as their civil engineering Tehran boasts the best-of-everything from all over the world. I realize a portion of the population doesn't have access to the finer things for financial reasons, but this is true in any country - even (gasp!) in the U.S. It's certainly not the way the media has painted it though - as I've not seen twenty people to a house or neighborhoods without electricty.

For the most part Tehran is pretty much like any smaller American city - granted, there are laws I've to get used to - the scarf thing is a source of almost constant frustration as I find myself fiddling with it just trying to keep it on my head - I don't know how the girls do it here - they make it look so easy. It's not.
And we can't kiss in public, can't wrap our arms around eachother - which is admittedly tortuous after being so free to be close in any circumstance the last year and a half (although they actually do arrest couples in India once in a while for kissing.)
So we come home and fall all over ourselves trying to make up for the lack of contact.

Speaking of which, we just got home and I really, really miss my husband...