Iran thoughts

Iran is different than I expected in so many ways.There is an enormous language barrier but the Iranians are very happy to meet Americans and very friendly and curious. I'm not seeing much evil here. People are educated and have opinions and want to express them. From my perspective the women I'm seeing in the cities seem empowered, strong, pretty (with plenty of makeup), stylish (they wear their manteaus (overcoats) tight and hip looking and all have amazing sunglasses, open, friendly and free to get their photos taken whenever I have the nerve to ask, instead of shying away with Muslim modesty. They are on the street shopping while their husbands tag behind holding the kids.


In terms of Islam, it doesn't seem to strict. Hard to explain why, but their is DEFINITELY less present in daily life than other Islamic countries I've been too. I don't see many mosques and don't hear call to prayer very often. In fact, they only have three calls a day, instead of the normal five because people "are busy and have to work" but even with that I haven't even heard it on some days. Today is the big Friday prayer day and I didn't see one person praying. I'm sure they went to mosques but it just isn't as visible.