Hello everyone
I’m at the beginning of probably the biggest adventure in my whole life. I’ll make a trip from Iran to Mexico with several stops between those two countries.

That’s why I decided to make a blog. I’ll keep you up-to-date by posting a new part of my adventure every week. This week I’m staying in a cute youth hostel in the capital of Iran, Teheran.

Before I travelled to Iran, I wanted some information about the country. I wanted to know some of its identity and its habits. So I started to look for some information, when I found an article about an interesting subject. The article goes about the game market in Iran. It’s a subject that I didn’t expect from that country. When I think of Iran, I think more of war, problems, …  So I was very surprised to get to know Iran in a different  way.

For the first time in history, Iran was present at gamescom in Cologne. Iran was there to showcase the latest games developed in Iran, establish contacts, and to see if Western retailers would stock their games.
Mr Tarbyatjoui says that this event was only to promote what is happening in the Iranian games industry. He believes Iran has more potential and they want to promote that. This is due to the fact that Iran has its own unique mythology that has rarely been used in video games.
The group said that the event in Cologne had been a success and they would be back next year, that will be at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. They will be at E3 next year, but there will not be a dedicated Iran stand such as you see in Cologne.

I was very surprised by finding an article from Iran about this subject. But I think it’s a good way to promote Iran again, and make the country more popular again. These days, people don’t like Iran anymore. They are even afraid of travelling to it, because it’s very dangerous there. And since gaming is very popular today, it’s a very good way to promote the country in a good way.
I also think they should be there next year. Everybody knows Iran and the USA don’t have a good relationship. It would be a perfect opportunity to get to know each other in another way.  

So this will be all for this week. Next week, I'll be reporting from another country, which I'll keep as a surprise till then.

I hope you found it interesting, and I'll hear you all next week !  

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8213272.stm

27-02-2011 om 17:53 geschreven door Sieglinde Debeer  

Iran Teheran

Dear bloggers

My name is Arne Looffen and this is my story:

I always wanted to go on a big journey to see the beauty of the world. That’s the reason why I planned the following journey from Iran to Mexico, making stops in different countries and villages along my trip ( IranèTurkeyèGreeceèJamaicaèCubaèMexico). By using this blog I want you all to be part of my incredible journey. I’ll keep you all posted with pictures and lots of information from each country I’ll be visiting.

This is my first day  at the capital city of Iran,  Teheran.  Already I’m able to tell you guys something about this city. Today I red a newspaper article saying  “ Teheran is the smokiest of all capitals”. Apparently Teheran is a very polluting city. The power stations, cement factories  and thousands of over-polluting cars made sure Teheran won the “world record in air pollution”.  In the past the Alborz massif winds kept the city providing healthier air with more oxygen in it. But since Teheran is air still, a large thick brown haze has covered the sprawling city ( see picture). Because of  the smog, already 3,600 people died in the past months. Especially old people and asthmatics suffered a lot.

Teheran needs to change its environmental policy ! The air pollution there is like 5 times bigger than in our cities. First of all, the government of Iran could lay restrictions on the emission of power stations or petrol stations that are settled in Teheran and the surrounding cities and villages. Closing these companies will mean a lot of unemployment, so that isn’t an option for a nearly third world country like Iran. On the other hand they also need to lay restrictions on the emission of the cars that are driving there. Cars driving there, pollute 3 times more than cars driving in our countries. This restriction isn’t that important as the others but everything will help Teheran to be a “cleaner city”.

We, Western countries can also help Iran (Teheran). We can sent engineers to these polluting factories so they can help them to be more ecological. This can be supported with money we get from certain foundations.

This was my  blog post from Iran ( Teheran ) within a few days I’ll take the plane to Istanbul, Turkey.
Speak to you later!

Arne Looffen

Source: http://www.economist.com/node/17804554

27-02-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Arne Looffen  

Coming soon

27-02-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Arne Looffen  

Hello,

This is my first blog of our journey throughout the world. Our trip starts in Iran and ends in Mexico. This first blog will be about the culture in Iran, to be more precise, about the Iranian marriage ceremony.

The marriage ceremony is one of the oldest traditions in Iran and has been influenced by a lot of different factors. There are many local variations of the ceremony and the Islam traditions have also changed the marriage ceremony in a big way. The marriage of the couple itself is actually only a small part of the big picture, and the two lucky people themselves have very little to say in the preparation. The family will take care of everything, from sometimes even choosing the right partner for their son or daughter, to organizing the entire party.

 

The government wants to be involved in the ceremony and has spend more than one billion dollar to help young couples arrange their marriage. They will provide them with cheap loans and this is necessary because some marriages can cost over  a hundred thousand dollar.

I am a big fan of the marriage ceremony, but I like to keep things small. And because I’m not a religious person, I wouldn’t want any interference of any religion. Marriage should just be two people who love each other and who want to show that to their friends and family with a small ceremony.

I would hate it if I would have to get married in Iran. Other people who organize the whole thing, without having the chance to change it into something you want. And, in my opinion, it would be horrible to have to marry someone you’ve never met before in your entire life. I can’t believe that those fixed marriages can have a happy ending. Maybe some couples have all the luck of the world on their side and get matched up to the right person, but that’s probably something very rare.



I’m not quite sure want to think about the government giving away all that money to support marriage. In a way it’s good that young couples get some help to follow their dream and have a perfect marriage. But when I think of Iran, I always think about government involvement in almost everything that their citizens do. And I think that this is also a way for the Iranian government to have a little more grip on the people of Iran. But maybe I’m a little bit pessimistic and Iran is doing this just because they want the best for all the people of Iran.

So, this was my first blog of our trip from Iran to Mexico. I hope you enjoyed it, and next week we’ll be in another country and I’ll be writing my second blog.

Source: http://www.cultureofiran.com/iranian_marriage_ceremony.html

25-02-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Jacob Mareen