2023.06.03 17:00 _call-me-al_ [Sat, Jun 03 2023] TL;DR — This is what you missed in the last 24 hours on Reddit
2015.07.18 04:31 tabledresser [Table] IamA English tutor living in Iran AMA!
| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| What would you say the average Iranian's attitude toward the West (not just America, but yeah, mainly America) is in general? Is there a divide in opinion between students you teach and those who aren't interested in learning English? | They love Americans with a passion. Watch Anthony Bordain's special, it'll become clear. They chant death to America but on the signs they hold up it says down with the USA. That's the thing, they really, really, REALLY dislike the foreign policy of the United States. Unlike other countries, however, we don't blame the citizens of America for this. Most Iranians believe American citizens are powerless in their foreign affairs. They also know that Iraq had America's go ahead to use chemical weapons against Iran... as well as the fact that America shot down an Iranian passenger plane, which killed hundreds. They will never fully forgive the American government for this, yet against the American people they hold no grudge. Iranians are also the most hospitable people in the world. No American I know has been able to get through Iran without being invited to someone's house for dinner or has had anything negative to say about the country. |
| The reason they do this is they believe that showing you the hospitality and goodness in their hearts might change the way you think about Iran. No matter how poor or how rich they are, it is amazing the lengths they will go to in order to make sure you have a wonderful time in their country. | |
| Here's a link to the preview of the special: Link to youtu.be | |
| Oh and there is a divide. Almost everyone who learns English wants to live in America one day, and that requires a mindset about the US government that is slightly more... positive than the rest of the population, to say the least. | |
| Marine and French 'Drakkar' barracks which killed 241 American and 58 French peacekeepers seem from the average Iranian citizens view point? | Those acts were horrid but most (that I've discussed this with) believe that the Iranian government had nothing to do with it. We were one of the only middle eastern countries to have candle light vigils after 9/11, because we believed that despite the foreign policy failures of America, no civilian deserves to get killed for the actions of his or her government. |
| the blowing up of a van filled with explosives in front of the U.S. embassy in Beirut killing 58 Americans and Lebanese in 1983? | This is the same reason most Iranians are disgusted by ISIS as well as Hezbollah. |
| the Lebanon hostage crisis which involved the kidnapping in Lebanon of 96 foreign hostages of 21 national origins—mostly American and Western Europeans? | Most Iranians don't believe in Hezbollah as being a good organization. It's slang to refer to any terrorist (or guy with a beard) as a "Hezbollayi" so basically terrorism and Hezbollah are viewed as one and the same. |
| Is Hezbollah targeting Americans and Europeans seen as a good thing or disliked among the average Iranian citizen? | Hamas, however, is a different story. |
| Can you estimate like what percentage of homes in iran have electricity? | Everyone where I live (Tehran) has electricity access. Of course there are places outside the big cities that have limited electricity, but these locations are becoming increasingly rare (you'd have to go near the iraq/afghan border to see most of those villages). |
| Is it almost everyone? | As for internet, the story is completely different. It costs about 5000 toman (at my favorite internet "cafe") for internet access per hour. That's roughly 1.2 USD (exchange rates here are far different from those listed online). Internet cafe's are usually just the size of maybe 4 American cubicles filled with computers in a 4x4 configuration, with some fans included. For 5000, I get the filter lifted because I know the guy so I can visit blocked sites like facebook and twitter (in addition to, of course, Reddit). You have to pay extra for downloading videos as bandwidth costs money, unless you are using the internet between certain hours. |
| What about internet access? Of your friends how many have internet access routinely versus only when they go to an internet cafe? | Most people here use internet cafes when they need to access from a laptop. Only the very rich can afford tolerable home internet access (no restrictions, 10mbps+, unfiltered, and no need for a VPN that can slow your connection to a crawl). One of my close friends (who is the director of a hospital) has internet speeds more than that of an internet cafe but other than that everyone here uses cafe's when they need to do something online. Also, most middle class citizens have iphones anyways so internet use in cafes and homes is declining. |
| Apple iPhones? How did these make it into Iran given the trade sanctions? | The same way the BMW's do. We have plenty of apple stores here, we even have "geniuses" wearing the same uniforms. People want a phone that makes them seem classy, which is why they want Iphones. We also have plenty of Chanel and other designer brands. All these items cost much more than their non smuggled counterparts, although the sanction circumvention trade is massive and isn't really considered smuggling based on the scale on which it operates. |
| American goods like iPhones are revered as being extremely high quality. Black and Decker is seen as the gold standard for power tools, for example. Also American Muscle cars are very expensive, and almost every middle aged person's first car was a Jeep, and Jeeps are still very popular despite the sanctions. Land RoveRange Rover are seen as the ideal car today, people here like big, American cars. They last a long time, fewer people are willing to cut off a large car (and cause an accident), and not everyone can afford to buy more than 1 car in their lifetime. At least 1 in 5 cars here in the downtown area are of the Large, American variety. | |
| People are willing to pay through the roof for these goods, sometimes even triple the western rates (and it's far harder to earn money here than there) simply because they are American. German goods also follow this trend, but not as much as American ones. | |
| Black and Decker is seen as the gold standard for power tools, for example. This makes me cringe. Black & Decker is cheap crap, here. Brands like Milwaukee and Snap-On are what you really want. | My garage in the states only has Milwaukee tools. There are none here though, hopefully when the sanctions are lifted we will get some. |
| In your estimation, what percentage of the population studies and learns English? | In the US most high schools give you a choice of foreign languages. Here you get a choice of English, French, or German. You have to take Arabic and Farsi as well, those are mandatory. |
| The English teachers here | |
| As a career, fewer than 1% study English. As a hobby, I'd say maybe all middle class people, not sure what % that would be. They want to learn English because they dream of going to America, even though on the surface they may appear to hate it. | |
| The poor of course don't have time for things like this, they prefer European languages of countries that are easy to immigrate to like Norwegian, Spanish, Greek etc etc... most learn Azeri and Arabic if they are not interested in leaving the country. | |
| You have to take Arabic and Farsi as well, those are mandatory. What level of Arabic are we talking about here? Basic, do students get up to the level of being able to read Arabic books? Is it modern Arabic, or Quaranic type Arabic? That's actually kind of mind blowing to me. | Based on what the students tell me it's modern and Quaranic, but when I was a kid it was only Quaranic. |
| How do Iranians feel about chinese korean japanese people? I'm a female and a mix of these three ethnicities. If I went to Iran, would I be harassed? discriminated against? What am I to expect? | Basically an average of 5Mbps, which most believe is very slow. We still have some poorer people with netzero speeds. But bandwidth is limited and filtered/throttled by the government, which leads most to believe that their internet is slower than it really is. (The VPN slows your internet browsing speed). I find the lower income people to be able to get more out of their internet speeds than the upperclass. |
| tolerable home internet access. | You wouldn't be harassed but people would probably want to be politically correct and call you a "cheshm badoomi" (almond eyed one) which isn't supposed to be insulting it's just there's no good word for asian people, we usually say chini-japoni when we can't tell which one, but if we can't narrow it down to those two we say cheshm badoomi. |
| So it's still pretty underdeveloped? | Most Iranians can tell the difference between Asian races because there are so many Chinese people living here and they watch many Asian Farsi dubbed programs. |
| Also, do they do the teaching abroad things?? How much does one make? How many people do it? | Teaching abroad things is mostly limited to Latin American countries. |
| Hi! I have a double citizenship (italian/iranian) and gonna go alone in Iran for one month for the first time in August. Do you have some advices regarding: -how can I meet people in Tehran? -is it still forbidden to walk with a girl who is not you wife? and how about sex in iran? -i don't know farsi, will i be able to communicate in english, get indications in the city etc? -how about the cost of life? Thanks! | You have to at least know a few people in order to meet others in Tehran, the best way to make friends is to be introduced imo. It's forbidden to do all kinds of things but the moral restrictions are pretty lax. Unless you go to certain hotspots nobody is going to check if she's not your wife. |
| Sex in Iran... well I'm in a relationship but based on what I've heard the "country folk" have begun moving in and they are very morally... lax to put it lightly. The university students I teach tell me that sometimes there are groups of women who come to the men's dorms to have sex every so often, but that's basically all I know. Sex is pretty taboo to discuss with another gender, and the men and women say different things so it's hard to know for sure what's going on. | |
| The cost of life is relatively cheap in Euros. As long as you can understand broken English, you should be fine. You'll most likely take Air Italia to Iran, so get to know some people on the plane and that'll be your start to making friends. |