Being A Kurdish Princess

To completely contradict the start of my Iranian visit, it ended it on such a high note, with a family in Sanadaj. Sanadaj is in the heart of Kurdistan, Iran, where the traditions, clothing and culture were entirely different to the rest of Iran. People had told me Tehran was pretty liberal, but here in Sanadaj I hardly saw a woman in a chador! Most just wore the bare minimum to get way with the government regulations and let their scarf’s slip down more times than they cared to place it back on their heads.

Old tradtional house under restortation

Sanandaj Mosque

Tile detail

Taranom had been waiting 6 months for me to arrive, so when I finally emailed her to let her know I was arriving that day she was so excited and called me immediately just to hear my voice! Taranom is a beautiful fifteen year old girl, with a heart of gold just like the rest of her family. She speaks perfect English and rambles on in an American accent at 90 miles an hour, just like any teenage girl would do.

Susan, Taranom’s mother, came to meet me as I entered the city, and guide me back to their house. In one foul(this might be fell, not foul, I am not 100% sure) swoop, she took me into her heart and treated me as if I was part of her family, well, with some visitor privileges! Now I don’t say this light heartedly, they literally gave me their bed to sleep in, their clothes to wear, and refused me to pay for anything what so ever! I felt as if I was been cared for 100% if not more!

I then met the rest of the family. Susan's mother was so cute, she would call my name out with such love, it made me giggle every time. I actually ended up leaving my bike at her house, where she cleaned my mirrors, covered the bike up and when it rained put it under the balcony. She just reminded me of my Granny  back in New Zealand.

Grandmother and I

One evening we went to visit Susan’s cousins, where they dressed me in traditional Kurdish dresses. I spun around with full makeup and high heels in sparkly bright coloured clothing. I haven’t been this girlish since the Eid festival in Pakistan.

 

It’s amazing how far away I am from my family, yet I manage to find family’s all over the world to compensate for that short moment. Everyone needs looking after sometimes – Thank you so much to Taranom and her family, I really hope you do not mind when I call you my Kurdish family!