Avatar to the Persians
A good friend of mine from college is actually from Pittsburgh, and returns for the holidays and other long weekends a few times during the year. She had the good fortune to come home for the Christmas holiday, though only for a short period of time, and so we made plans yesterday to see each other. She invited me to a concert her mother was putting on and dinner with the family. So I drove out to see them in Fox Chapel last night. Note to anyone not from Pittsburgh: Do not attempt this on your own. It's crazy out there, so many twists and turns and tiny road signs. And it goes on for quite literally ever.
I didn't realize that by "family" she meant her whole family. Sarah (pronounced Sah-rah, with a long first a) is an only child, so I figured it was just her and her parents. I was wrong. They had cousins galore there (all really intimidatingly beautiful Middle-Eastern girls by the way), and aunts and uncles and friends. It was surprising at first, and everyone's name mixed together in my head (Mina, Mashid, Mehmood, Sima), but luckily, I am from my own large family, and so I was able to handle myself well enough. Had to throw a couple elbows, but it worked out in the end. ;) Sarah's cousins and herself are all first generation Americans and the parents are from Iran originally and speaking Farsi to each other. Of course Sarah was very gracious and made sure I was included in the conversation and had enough to eat and drink. And really, everyone was very kind to me, which made visiting very easy.
One thing I learned about Persian families last night; they eat all the time. When I first arrived they had avocado dip and tasty snacks out. Then we all packed into cars and went to a friend-of-the-family's home for the concert. Sarah's mother plays the piano, and the piano teacher had a lovely basement with two pianos (in front of 3 life-sized portraits of the couple's daughters I might add) and many chairs set up like a concert hall waiting for us. This family wasn't exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel, so to speak. Upstairs, there were many more hor d'oeuvres and wine so we ate and chatted for a while before the festivities began. Then we all went downstairs for the concert (which was very nice, they played several Christmas-y songs together, some on one piano, some on both pianos) and then back upstairs for cookies and more drinks. And then back home for dinner. Dinner was a smaller affair than I'm used to, but this is probably because they'd already had 3 rounds of food beforehand. By this time about 5 hours had passed and I was ready to head home, though they were starting on more desserts as I left.
I have to say I loved every minute of it. I feel like eating is probably the only way to really enjoy company and family. When Allison and I were in Austria she used to joke with me about how we ate all the time around each other ("You make me hungry!" she said one day). I realized then that eating is a very social thing, a fact that's been reiterated several times in my adult life. I hope I'm never one of those people who eats standing up at the kitchen sink all the time. Or even alone at the table. I know it can't be helped sometimes, but I'd rather it always be a houseful of people eating together than by myself. Even if I have to invite friends or neighbors or people off the street to come eat with me.
The good news is Sarah and I managed to get some conversation time in together amidst the great numbers. We had to ignore some noise, but it was worth it. She plans on coming home again in February for a few weeks, and I look forward to having a friend in Pittsburgh again. It will really mean a lot to me. This past summer another good friend of mine was here for a few months, and I cried when she left. Even though we didn't see each other every day, it still meant a lot to me that she was here if I needed to call her up and go over for a few hours, or have her come over to my place, or meet me for tea somewhere nearby. In the past few years all of my friends from college and graduate school have moved away, and sometimes it can be really lonely without them.
As I mentioned I would in an earlier post, I got a new phone today! Yay! No more dropped calls or blank texts. Sarah was also my inspiration for that as well; I got the same phone she has. It's an LG enV 3. I love it. I've been playing with it all evening. I took a couple of pictures with my new camera (that's right, I'm a modern woman) so you know what it looks like.
This is the front of course. It has a pretty tiny screen, but it doesn't matter because....
...it has a big screen on the inside! The right side of the top picture flips open. I never thought I would be this excited about a new phone. But my old one was just so old and so unhappy. Several buttons didn't even work. It was a problem. But I'm really happy with all my new technology. Woot!
After getting my phone we went to Avatar in 3-d on the Imax screen at the Waterfront. It was really cool to see it in 3-d, as it was my first experience with those cool goggles they give you. But it was a very long movie and I'm not used to wearing such stylish glasses for such a long time. Also I get a lot of motion sickness, so I thought that it would be an issue for me. As it turned out, the real issue was seats. There were 3 of us, and when I got there nearly 30 minutes early to save us a spot, almost the entire theater was filled. It was madness, I tell you, madness. So I grabbed what I could, some seats very close to the front off to the right side. I think the boys were pretty disappointed. But once our "3-d experience" started, it really didn't matter. I got a mild headache almost immediately and it didn't go away; in fact, it still really hasn't, but I was expecting much worse, so it was a pleasant surprise.
The movie itself was okay. I mean it could have been a lot better I think, as far as the storyline went. It was a pretty blatant, in-your-face sort of one-layered story. Wasn't a whole bunch of depth to it, and it was predictable. But it wasn't a bad movie, though I've heard District 9 is way better. I have yet to see it because I'm very sensitive and apparently it's pretty disturbing. I have to prepare myself for movies like that. But the colors in Avatar were really striking, the blues and greens. I found myself wishing there was a place on earth I could visit like that. Of course there isn't, because none of those creatures or plants exist, especially the ones that light up when you touch them. But it would be cool if there was. At least we have movies to feed our imaginations though, right??
Back to work tomorrow, for another short week. I love this time of year!
I didn't realize that by "family" she meant her whole family. Sarah (pronounced Sah-rah, with a long first a) is an only child, so I figured it was just her and her parents. I was wrong. They had cousins galore there (all really intimidatingly beautiful Middle-Eastern girls by the way), and aunts and uncles and friends. It was surprising at first, and everyone's name mixed together in my head (Mina, Mashid, Mehmood, Sima), but luckily, I am from my own large family, and so I was able to handle myself well enough. Had to throw a couple elbows, but it worked out in the end. ;) Sarah's cousins and herself are all first generation Americans and the parents are from Iran originally and speaking Farsi to each other. Of course Sarah was very gracious and made sure I was included in the conversation and had enough to eat and drink. And really, everyone was very kind to me, which made visiting very easy.
One thing I learned about Persian families last night; they eat all the time. When I first arrived they had avocado dip and tasty snacks out. Then we all packed into cars and went to a friend-of-the-family's home for the concert. Sarah's mother plays the piano, and the piano teacher had a lovely basement with two pianos (in front of 3 life-sized portraits of the couple's daughters I might add) and many chairs set up like a concert hall waiting for us. This family wasn't exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel, so to speak. Upstairs, there were many more hor d'oeuvres and wine so we ate and chatted for a while before the festivities began. Then we all went downstairs for the concert (which was very nice, they played several Christmas-y songs together, some on one piano, some on both pianos) and then back upstairs for cookies and more drinks. And then back home for dinner. Dinner was a smaller affair than I'm used to, but this is probably because they'd already had 3 rounds of food beforehand. By this time about 5 hours had passed and I was ready to head home, though they were starting on more desserts as I left.
I have to say I loved every minute of it. I feel like eating is probably the only way to really enjoy company and family. When Allison and I were in Austria she used to joke with me about how we ate all the time around each other ("You make me hungry!" she said one day). I realized then that eating is a very social thing, a fact that's been reiterated several times in my adult life. I hope I'm never one of those people who eats standing up at the kitchen sink all the time. Or even alone at the table. I know it can't be helped sometimes, but I'd rather it always be a houseful of people eating together than by myself. Even if I have to invite friends or neighbors or people off the street to come eat with me.
The good news is Sarah and I managed to get some conversation time in together amidst the great numbers. We had to ignore some noise, but it was worth it. She plans on coming home again in February for a few weeks, and I look forward to having a friend in Pittsburgh again. It will really mean a lot to me. This past summer another good friend of mine was here for a few months, and I cried when she left. Even though we didn't see each other every day, it still meant a lot to me that she was here if I needed to call her up and go over for a few hours, or have her come over to my place, or meet me for tea somewhere nearby. In the past few years all of my friends from college and graduate school have moved away, and sometimes it can be really lonely without them.
As I mentioned I would in an earlier post, I got a new phone today! Yay! No more dropped calls or blank texts. Sarah was also my inspiration for that as well; I got the same phone she has. It's an LG enV 3. I love it. I've been playing with it all evening. I took a couple of pictures with my new camera (that's right, I'm a modern woman) so you know what it looks like.
This is the front of course. It has a pretty tiny screen, but it doesn't matter because....
...it has a big screen on the inside! The right side of the top picture flips open. I never thought I would be this excited about a new phone. But my old one was just so old and so unhappy. Several buttons didn't even work. It was a problem. But I'm really happy with all my new technology. Woot!
After getting my phone we went to Avatar in 3-d on the Imax screen at the Waterfront. It was really cool to see it in 3-d, as it was my first experience with those cool goggles they give you. But it was a very long movie and I'm not used to wearing such stylish glasses for such a long time. Also I get a lot of motion sickness, so I thought that it would be an issue for me. As it turned out, the real issue was seats. There were 3 of us, and when I got there nearly 30 minutes early to save us a spot, almost the entire theater was filled. It was madness, I tell you, madness. So I grabbed what I could, some seats very close to the front off to the right side. I think the boys were pretty disappointed. But once our "3-d experience" started, it really didn't matter. I got a mild headache almost immediately and it didn't go away; in fact, it still really hasn't, but I was expecting much worse, so it was a pleasant surprise.
The movie itself was okay. I mean it could have been a lot better I think, as far as the storyline went. It was a pretty blatant, in-your-face sort of one-layered story. Wasn't a whole bunch of depth to it, and it was predictable. But it wasn't a bad movie, though I've heard District 9 is way better. I have yet to see it because I'm very sensitive and apparently it's pretty disturbing. I have to prepare myself for movies like that. But the colors in Avatar were really striking, the blues and greens. I found myself wishing there was a place on earth I could visit like that. Of course there isn't, because none of those creatures or plants exist, especially the ones that light up when you touch them. But it would be cool if there was. At least we have movies to feed our imaginations though, right??
Back to work tomorrow, for another short week. I love this time of year!
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