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Entry 68It was the exam day & one of my students finished his exam, handed me his paper & said, " Now, can I listen to music from my MP3 player ? " !!!
The other week the principal of the institute came to the teacher's room with lots of mobile phones & MP3 players in his hand !He was so angry & said that he had got them from the students in classes ...He said they send SMS to each other from the back of the class to the front during class time & they also listen to music from their MPS players ...It was so funny, the staff all laughed and we were supposed to ask them to put all these things away during class time, or else they will be punished & their mobile phones & MP3 players will be gathered and handed over to their parents !
Entry 67Last night my praivate student who is very active, sharp, clever, studious & hard_working was so tired that I really felt pity for him; he said on the day before yesterday_ on Friday (which is a holiday in Iran) _ he had been to school from 7 A.M. until 3 P.M. !
When I asked him the reason, he said that they have to attend maths classes on Fridays, because their school wants them to get highmarks in competition with other schools to be the best !!!Nowadays schools in Iran have become a monster ... I remember when I was a schoolgirl, I went to school from Mehr (October) to the end of Khordad (June), then studies at school finished and summer holidays started until the end of Shahrivar (September) ... We didn't study during the summer & we just had fun ... and on the last days of Shahrivar (September) I enrolled in the school & on the first of Mehr (October) schools started again ...But nowadays everything has changed ... I hear that parents start looking for a school for their children when they are 6 or 7_ I mean one or even two years before their children are supposed to start going to school _ the parents have to study & check lots of schools to make sure which one is the best, then their children have to pass lots of entrance exams in different schools so that they can enroll in one of them ...This is the beginning of the process of studying:At school from the first years of elementary school they have to study hard, both in school and at home ...And from the time they start middle school at the age of 12 or 13, they start becoming worried about " Konkoor " _ the entrance exams for being accepted at the university_ they go to lots of different educational classes besides going to school just to prepare themselves for univesity entrance exams, since there is intense competition between the students for entering the university ... This is not the end: when they are accepted in the university & finish their studies there, they have to look for a job going through another difficult process & God knows whether they get it or not !
Entry 66My father came into the house & said, " Poopak Goldareh passed away after being in a coma for 3 months " !
She was an Iranian actress and she & her family are our friends, although we used to visit each other more often about 10 years ago ...We didn't have much news of them until 3 months ago when we heard that she had been injured in a car accident in a road in the north of Iran ...I got sooooooooo sad & depressed hearing this ...
Entry 65In an hour the Iranian solar new year will begin ...Happy New Year to all Iranians ... This is the photo of our " haft sin " which my brother took this evening ... 
Entry 64Now it is " 4 shanbeh soori " in Iran ...In ancient Iran it's been a custom to celebrate the last Wednesday of the solar year ... The people made fire, jumped over it & sang a song which implied something originated in mythology ...
It's about 10 years that Iranian boys have started having fun using explosives this night & every year it's becoming worse & worse ...I'm writing now while hearing sounds of explosions ...There are very few people who make fire in their gardens or in the street to jump over it ...It seems that these explosions are going to explode this 10,000 year old custom !
Entry 63" Britian's first commercial surrogate baby was born to Mrs Kim Cotton in 1985 and sold to a childless American couple. Mrs Cotton was offered 6500 pounds through an agency for a baby and 15000 pounds by a newspaper for the story. Many people think commercial surrogacy is wrong but Kim Cotton wanted money and having a baby for someone else was one way of getting it.However a committee was quickly set up to look into the rights & wrongs of commercial surrogacy & it is now illegal. There was a lot of publicity at the birth of the baby. As soon as she was born, the daughter and her mother were photographed by the press and then separated for ever. The baby was flown out of the country without the natural mother having the satisfaction of handing her over to the parents. Perhaps Kim Cotton will have regrets about doing what she did, but at the moment she feels she has done the right thing. But what about " Baby " Cotton. How will she feel when she is old enough to understand? Will she feel her mother loved money more than her daughter ? "From : Reading By : Rosemary ScottOxford University PressReading this text made me so shocked & surprised ... How is it possible for a "woman" & it's better to say a "mother" to sell her baby ?There are lots of women who leave their babies on the streets because of poverty, but they're different from those who give birth to their babies just to sell them to another family ... I don't know ... when it comes to poverty, everything may happen ...
Entry 62" Is it foolish to give money to beggars ? "There has always been an argument in our house & among my friends whether to give money to beggars or not ...I, myself, almost always give money to them ... esp. when they are young children ... These days the number of young children who beg in the streets has increased ... These young boys or girls are between the ages of 8 & 13 ... they actually don't beg; they have something like gum, a box of razors, a box of adhesive tapes or pieces of paper on which the lyrics of the Iranian great, famous & well known poet _Hafez_ are written ... Sometimes I argue with my father that since they're selling something, they are not beggars, but my father says that I don't know who takes the money I give to these children and what it is spent for , may be for drugs for the addicted people ...I can understand what they say , but I can't stop doing it , I just make myself satisfied by giving them money ...
Entry 61" There can be no freedom without discipline " Human being has been born "free"; the question is that: " How much freedom can a person have ? " Since we are all born the same and we will all die the same, nobody is superior to others, nobody can rule over others and nobody can order others what to do ...But where is the border of this freedom? How far can it go? I think a person can be free in whatever he does, but he shouldn't oppress & violate other people's rights; his rights & his freedom are respectable to the extent that other people's rights and freedom are ...
Entry 60Would it be true to say that national character is largely influenced by climate ? I cannot say it is always true and all people's character is always made and influenced by the climate of the area they have been born and lived for a time, but it is largely true ...I've seen that most of the people who have lived in dry areas where there has been little water like deserts are strict, severe, rigid and inflexible ... One of my relatives has been born in a dry area ; he's so mean & stingy; he always tries to stock up on everything and is always worried that he may not find food, ... later in his life; he is not generous and he doesn't use or share his possessions with others easily ... I don't want to say that his stinginess is only because of his hometown or its climate, but I think he's been mostly influenced by the situation of the area he has been born and has lived ... In his hometown people have always had to stock up on things, because of the dry weather, lack of water , ...In some cold countries like Sweden, Norway, ... people's character is somehow like the weather of that country ; the people there are mostly cold & insensitive in character ...It's also true for the people whose home town is dry countries like Arabian countries; the people in these countries are mostly strict, severe & rough in character ... I can't say what I've said is true all the time & for everyone, but I think it's mostly true ...
