Jill Will Go...

As we head out of Shiraz the rain starts. Jackets and umbrellas come out - unless you failed to bring an umbrella. Guess who forgot her umbrella? A headscarf can do a lot of things if called upon, but it does not exactly keep the rain out. Hashmet is tasked with running to the store when we arrive and brining back some umbrellas. Only 30,000 tumans, or 300,000 rials. Bills are printed in rials and have pictures of famous Iranian sites and of course, Ayatollah Khomeini. We refer to these by their color: "Wait, do I need a green Khomeini?" Most prices are quoted in tumans, so to figure out how many rials that is, you remove a zero. So that 500,000 rial bill is also 50,000 tumans. It isn't confusing at all. Nope, not one bit. I trade Hashmet my original beige umbrella, for a purple tulip one. After all, a girl still wants to look good traipsing around Persepolis in the rain. The long walk up to Persepolis itself is dramatic and impressive. The wind starts to kick

Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me," Of course you do not do this out loud; Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still, though, think about this, This great pull in us To connect. Why not become the one  Who lives with a full moon in each eye That is always saying, With that sweet moon language, What every other eye in this world  Is dying to  Hear. - Hafez Beautiful blue skies, green palm trees, bright happy flowers and little children on their field trip...and an American having a loud hissy fit about what he thinks everyone should have for lunch: "We just want meat! Potatoes! Why is this so hard for anyone to understand?! That's all we all want to eat! Jesus!" About seven of us just turned around and walked away to tour the grounds on our own. It was barely 9 am. So anyway. Instead of listening to that, we went and looked at this: The beautiful Bag