Iran UK Blog Farnaz/Natasha Channel 4's 121

121 Blog COMPLETED

noreply@blogger.com (Gia) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:34:00 +0000

121 conversations normally run for a period of three months. This conversation has now reached its end date.

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Hey there :-))

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 05:05:00 +0000

Hi Farnaz,

I hope all is well. As for myself I'm good.

Here's some of my work please feel free to tell me what you think of it :-)

Take care and all the best

Natasha.x

This is work I created for my Speak With The Body project. The brief was to create a visual narrative using the body; this was one of my responses

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This is work created in response to the Keep It Simple Stupid brief to state(focusing on one of the following)when and where a design talk is and what its about this is one of my responses, it was lots of fun and as you can see I like typography just as much as image making :-))

This is the results of a typographical work shop I had taken part in, it was lots of fun.

This is my response on a brief which required me to examine the comma closely; I decided to create a design piece on the comma with out visually using the comma

Here are a few examples of my response to the favourite things brief as you can see I love Bic Runga she sings beautifully and if you haven’t heard of her I can send you a copy via the net, I think you'd like it :-)

Keep in touch x

Hey Farnaz :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 21:19:00 +0000

Hi Farnaz,

How are you? Good I hope

Long time no blogg.

Well Summer is over it's getting darker earlier and yesterday I was taking all my woollen/warm clothes out in preparation for the Autumn aka Winter (some years it feels like Autumn gets skipped altogether tee hee :-))

As for me I'm well. I attended an event at Number 11 Downing Street on Wednesday which was lots of fun (for my work on a creative project on financially excluded young people).

I can’t wait to hear from you

All the best

Tasha :-)

Hey :-))

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:53:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz!! :-))

It's great to hear from you.

I'm sorry to hear that you have been having problems.

I hope all is now well and I am always here to chat to you, thats what friends are for :-)

Seen as you are on your travels lets hope we can meet very soon! I am looking forward to one day meeting you.

In the meantime have a look at my Gregynog pictures :-)

All the Best

Natasha

Final days

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 20:03:00 +0000

Hey Tasha,

How is every thing going?

Hope well. And it seems well too, since you've had such a great time in Wales. When something is meant to change one's life, it is surely of a great value... .

Well , I'm packing for a long time trip , getting away from almost every thing in my life ( except myself !) ; home , family , friends , atmosphere and ... .

And as usual exactly during the final days, nothing goes well as supposed, so to be brief , I should just say I'm struggling ... .

Except all above! every thing is as usual here, the sun rises on time and downs on time and the autumn is already on the way . I do feel so sorry missing the autumn here, as it's absoluty gergeous; the festival of colours and corvines.

Wonder how and where I will be the next time I blog you, but hope it'll be OK

Wishes

Farnaz

Hey Farnaz

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:44:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

How are you? Long time no blogg.

As for me I'm cool :-)

I have recently come back from Wales from taking part in Thr Royal Designers for Industry Summer School (RDI), IT WAS FANTASTIC I'm going to upload some photos later for you to have a look at.

I was staying at a place called Gregynog it was a 700 acre estate and it was wonderful, a real breath of fresh air their were lots of famous people from the industry with Mike Dempsey to name just a few it was awesome and has changed my life forever.

Hows life for you at present? I hope all is well

Take care

Blogg soon

x.Tasha

Hey Farnaz:-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 04:45:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz! :-)

How are you? good I hope.

I am sorry it has been so long.

It sounds like you have been as busy as I have.

In London the weather has gone bad AGAIN, I suppose I should be glad but
I'm not -I know , I know us Brits are hard to please ha!ha!:-))

I have been spending some time with one of my childhood friends and I totally agree with your take on friendship. Although through the years my friend and I didnt talk as much as we should have because our timing clashed etc whenever we meet it feels like we saw it other only yesterday- our friendship just 'flows'.

oh.....am I getting soppy, no it's not very British to get soppy so I had better cut it out Ha!ha! (you know, the whole stiff upper lip thing! ha!ha!)

I really enjoy our blogging.We are so far away from each other
and are from diverse cultures and yet have so much in common, it's awesome.

Lookin forward to your next blogg.

All the best

Natasha

Bad Blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:26:00 +0000

Hey Tasha,

Seems I've been absolutely out. This long absence is rather hard to explain since I've been busy with some unpleasant cases ( and afew pleasant of course).

Hope you're O.K and your sickness is over ( sorry, I know it was long ago...)

Any way, I hope this time I won't be vanishing soon again !

These mid-summer days in Tehran are at some moments the hell itself; it's unbearably hot, today and tomorrow are specially forcasted to be the warmest days for this year.On the other hand, every body has a gleam of hope thinking the hard days are being over , We're passing the peak of heat and the other half of summer will be more promising heading Autumn.

A friend of mine is back from Canada on her short summer vacation, we've been friends since school , then during university years and then working together at the same wood workshop, to sum up it is some thing about 13 years... .
Our relation during these long years has turned to be something so special , a kind of long term accompany which has resulted in a deep unique friendship.The quality of friendship, this is what matters, this is what makes a relation different from dozens of others. When I think by myself, I see these friendships ( afew but so heavy) I've made , the most valuable and surviving things in my life.
Got sentimental again!

It's Friday, and for the first time during these weeks we're at home. We have a small garden outside Tehran, approximately 1:30 hours away, where we go for every weekend , specially during spring and summer. My father loves gardening and he has done a lot of gardening there , he has planted many different fruit trees : apple, apricot, walnut, peach, strawburry and... . And now it's the harvest time for most trees , we have just few of each kind but watching the ripe beautiful fruits up there on their home and picking them from the trees is a real pleasure. It's a compeltely different weekly experience getting away from Tehran with all its noise and compression back to a simple small land with basic facilities ... .

Wish you all the best and looking forward to hearing from you.

Farnaz

Hi :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:45:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz :-)

How are you? Long time no blogg.

I'm really sorry it's taken me so long.

England lost the match :-(( but it seems like a life time ago now, at the time there were lots of very unhappy brits-but were over it now :-))

Things are back to normal in London now (no more red and white themed things).

It's very hot over here at the moment(the tubes/trains are hell and the buses are hellish-tee hee) last week we had one of the hottest days ever in history(for cold -cold England)!!

How are things in Tehran?

I'm really looking forward to your next blogg

Take care and all the best :0)

Natasha

ill blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:56:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

I hope that you are well.

sorry I've been a bit of a stranger it's this pesky viral flu I've been battling (and I lost the battle!!)

Your Doll house is very cool, I really like it.

At the moment in London everyone is fOoTbAlL CrAzY there are lots of flags, mugs, T-shirts, flip flops, chairs and bags among other things people have even gone as far as painting their bodies and colouring their hair in the colours and design of Our Saint Georges Flag (I’m gonna try and get hold of some pics for you).

Do you follow the football? If yes I'm sorry about Iran going out the world cup, I heard the coach lost his job because of it. Does football have a big following in Iran?

This blogg is quite short but once I've re charged my batteries (Arnold Schwarzenegger /terminator voice) I'll be back! :-))

All the Best

Tasha

The apple doll house !

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:32:00 +0000

The house is empty now, but it has got some furniture too!

A lazy blogger ...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:32:00 +0000

Dear Tasha,

How are you, How is it all going?

Hope you have good days with the nice sun in London. But here, our situation is absolutely opposite, we're neither enjoying the terribly hot sun, nor looking forward for more sun at all, the days are cruelly hot now in Tehran ,especially during the midday. Every body seems to be getting mad and is just trying to get out of sun! Intresting , isn't it ? You're celebrating the sunny days there and here we're miserably escaping the sun and the heat of the last spring days ( I'm sure we'll have an absolutely hot summer...).

How is your granny after all, I hope you have good news about her...

And as usual: sorry to be off for a long time, I'm getting through my Master defence session in about two weeks and nothing seems to be on time.

My subject is designing wooden dollhouses for children aged 3-5 ( think I had written it before!) . I'm going to upload one of the 3D samples of my practical phase. To be honest, I like the apple figure of this dollhouse myself and the wooden prototype seems happy and funny too ... . I would be so happy to have any opinion of yours about it.

So cool !!! how did you find about that Farsi word, do you have any Iranian friend or links? In Farsi we say Salam, which means Hello in English, I like how it sounds and also the meaning ; It means happiness, health and peace... . We share this word with Arabs, but Khodahafez is completely Farsi.

I'll be out of school for the summer holidays , which lasts about three months here, the students love the long vacation, going out to different summer classes e.g sports , music , arts, science and ... . They also enjoy going out to shopping centres and entertainment complexes with friends and family.It's a really HOT season for the youth here!!!

I'm now dreaming the time when all is finished with my thesis, and I can be rather free ... . Seems far away however!

All the best

Farnaz

Hey Farnaz :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:08:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

How are you? Good I hope.

How cool is it that we have each other’s email :-)
The lady said it would be fine as long as we don’t have all our best conversations on email (tee hee).

Thank you so much for praying for my gran –it means a lot to me.

I’m glad you liked the photos the nighttime picture is one of my favourites.

Are you leaving your job (the blog before last)or are you just breaking up for the summer (it’s summer over here, do you break up for summer in June/July also?)

In London the clouds have finally wised up to the fact that it’s summer and they should back off ha! ha! ha! Today the sky is blue- not one cloud is in site –people seem happier, friendlier even. Us Brits don’t smile all that much when we are out and about, so this is something.

I am really enjoying the weather, and I’m about to go and soak up some more sun.

Looking forward to your blog

Best wishes and Khodahafez
(yeah I’ve been doing a bit of research:-))Tasha

Hi !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:07:00 +0000

Hey Tasha,

So happy you're back again and REALLY sorry about the bad news , I wish your granny all the best ... . We here, have strong belief in praying, specially for others, friends ... .So I would deeply pray for your grand mother and hope she will get all well soon. I myself really believe in praying , it does have a meaning to me. You know "family" is a rather wierd word, one will just feel its deep meaning when exactly something unexpected happens...

Cool , you had a lot of great photos, various and colorfull ... .
The one at night for example ... . Surely you don't know the Farsi alphabet but those repeated shapes in yellow, are exactly the same as two letters in our Farsi alphabet, like "ha" in english . That's interesting really ....
And the photo of that church is really great too, is it a special church?

My name is purely Farsi and it means very nice or very beautiful ... to be honest I don't really like the meaning but I like the way it is said ,the tone or whatever you say.... But sometimes I think it's not really me, not the way I am...

And about our contact, I would be waiting to hear from her... .

Best wishes for you and your granny...
writing back soon,
Farnaz

Uploading pics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:13:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

I've had alot of coffe today and I'm raring to go, hence the three blogs :-)

The pictures are quite tricky to upload from a PC and impossible from a Mac. I have realised that's why it wasn't working before but now I've worked it out there will be lots more pics!

Talk/blog soon

N ;-)

Me again! :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 May 2006 10:49:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

I have attached some more Biringham pics for you :-)

The London ones will be coming soon (no really).

As I said before my gran is unwell and I am really close to my family thats why i've been missing, but I'm back now! :-)

I will contact our middle person, perhaps then it would be easier for us to arrange a good time and day for both of us (I will do this today).

I love your pictures they are fantastic.

My brothers name is Arabic and it means Friend of the Prophet.There are lots of people in London with names that belong to other religions and cultures, London is a real melting pot. My name is (Hindu) Indian and means the Child of Christmas AND Russian, in Russia it means rebirth-from Anastacia.

What does your name mean?

Looking forward to hearing from you

Tasha :-)

Hi there

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 May 2006 10:38:00 +0000

Hi Farnaz,

So sorry about the delay in getting back to you. My Gran is very unwell(it's cancer) and it's been alot for me to take in. The doc's are taking good care of her now.

I went to Birmingham a little while ago and I have uploaded some pictures. I know it's not London but I found it to be a colourful and interesting place (not as fast paced as London which I found quite nice).

Two other photos ...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 May 2006 02:24:00 +0000

Hey Tasha,

Seems we'll never be here together at the same period, sometimes I'm away and sometimes you, that's really funny ... . Any way I wish you're fine and happy...

Above is another photo, I love the layout... .The background is Damavand and the flower is the most common in mountain areas around there.

The one at the bottom is our first day of the trip, when we were leaving for the mountains.

Reviewing these photos myself , I'm so tempted to go through such trip again and as soon as possible...

Wishes,
Farnaz

One Photo!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 13 May 2006 13:45:00 +0000

Hi again,

This is one of the photos I told you about. I've tried several times during these days to upload some of my trip photos but it seems impossible to upload more than one each time cause my connection at home is of a rather low speed, so I should do it from another connection... .
Here is where we were, isn't that great really? The peak you see behind is Damavand's peak, the highest in Iran, we went there during the summer but as you see there is still snow round there... . We were a group of 16,mostly friends from different backgrounds, that was a great trip ... I'm going to upload more photos soon.

How are you doing thses days?

For me it's the end of schools season, this week is my last week at school, I teach both Guidance and High school students and it's really a one of a kind experience, It's not my job and all my students know it. As a matter of fact sometimes I think it's good for both of us; they have a different teacher and I avoid becoming an every day boring teacher. I should say that I will miss some of them ...

Looking forward to hearing from you...
Farnaz

Back again!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 07 May 2006 12:03:00 +0000

Hey Tasha,

I'm so sorry to be this late, I've had a lot lot of things to do these weeks and also a rather long cold ( like you!) and now after something about 3 weeks , every thing seems to be much better( not so wild at least !!!). Each night I just sat to write something here but I either fell asleep or had to leave the seat for another late night task... .

Any way , I hope every thing is ok with you and you're fine after that illness . I'm eagerly waiting to see the photos you'll put here .
We had a wonderful trip round Damavand mountain ( the biggest and highest mount of Iran ) last summer , I happend to review the photos of that trip and then decided to put some of them here , so I'll have some photos here soon too.

Your post about the Holy Week and the Good Friday was great . We've got some ( rather alot) ceremonies here in Iran, they are mostly religious and have to do with the Muslims greatest days for example the birthday of prophet Muhammad and ... .

I don't want to be nosy!!! but I think your brother's name is a kind of Arab name, Isn't it? Do you have such names there in England ?

And about the time ... . I absolutely agree, that's a great idea. I think we're some thing about 2.5 hours ahead, that's not a big difference so it won't be hard to arrange a proper time for both of us . It is cool !
What time of the day is the most appropriate for you , Is it evening, night or ...?
For me it actually depends on the day of the week , because I've got different schedules on each day. However I think I can fix it somehow so you choose first !

And I think it's not a bad idea to have each other's emails , at least I would like to have yours ...

Finally the weather ... . As a matter of fact we're having the best days of the year here in Tehran according to the season .Every thing is great, it's mostly sunny with some unexpected showers ( which are specials of this season only),and it's getting warmer and warmer , I think we'll have a rather hot summer this year. Ordibehesht ( the second month of the year in our Solar Calender) is the most beloved month of spring , cause it's gorgeously beautiful . The name itself means heavenly and from heaven ...

I'll be back here soon ( believe me!!! )
Wishes,

Farnaz

long time no blog :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 May 2006 23:13:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

Long time no blog, I hope that your well. I'm sorry I havent put my pictures up yet but I will be doing that very soon.

Whats it like in Tehran at the moment, in London it's quite sunny at the moment (in between the rain, ha!ha!) and every thing is in bloom it looks so lovely.

I have been doing a lot of running around of late and I was ill a few weeks ago but I am all better now :-)

Maybe we can arrange a time (based on both our time zones- er not too sure how we'll figure this out but lets have a go) and arrange a time to blog at the samer time, that would be cool. Is that cool with you? (it would be like messenger, kind of):-)

Let me know what you think

Take care :-)

Tasha

This week

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 14:10:00 +0000

Hia Farnaz!

I hope your well.

Did I tell you that in the UK this week is a very special week? It's Holy week (for Christians) and today is called Good Friday, so all the banks are shut and everyone eats fish today (no red meet) and gives thanks and spends lots of time with the family.

I think my little brother (his name is Khalil and he's 8) is looking forward to Sunday (all the children get chocolate eggs- the eggs are symbolic) in the shops (window displays) there are lots of chicks, eggs, chocolates and bunnies -I do not have a clue about the bunnies :-)), I guess I should find out.

.... So things are a lot calmer in London today and there will be a bank holiday on Monday as well (got a feeling that one wont be so quite).

lookin' forward to your next blog

today in London

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:35:00 +0000

Wow your blog was fab, I hope you are well.

It is 10:50pm in London.

Today was bright but cold and the sun sets a lot later now so it seems like the day last's a little longer(we've recently put the clocks forward one hour for summer time).

Over the past week or so I have been working on lots of projects and taking the bus and train from one part of London to the next, going here and there having meetings and brainstorms along the way (I should really take a packed lunch for the journeys when i catch the bus!! -all the traffic :-))

I am a real city girl, I love being able to just hop onto a train or a bus and get to where I'm going quickly(central line is one of the best lines for me) but the trains are not so nice in the summer (the underground trains get very hot).

One of the projects I'm working on involves me asking the public questions (it's all recorded on camera for part of a showreel).Even though London is so full of people and is so busy I have found that people seldom look at each other and even though you are right next to someone people don't talk to each other and rarely smile, because we are all in such a rush.

Where do I go to get away from all the rushing around? Chiswick park, right next to my old Secondary school, its great for chilling out and writing poetry (if you're a nerd like me ha!ha!).

But I haven't had a chance to go there recently (been so busy)but for me thats one of the only places I can go and chill out (and I am feeling the need to 'chill').

I will blog you shortly.

I am really looking forward to your next blog

A terribly beautiful day ...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 04:58:00 +0000

Here it is; the first working day after the new year's holidays . Today is Farvardin 14th.THe city is gloriuos, fresh , clean and shining. spring is absolutely here in the heart of the city. Some haven't been back from their trips, so the city is rather less busy . I know it's the magic of this single day and surely not tomorrow or any other day, just wondering how beautiful Tehran can be ...

I've got lot to do downtown today ... . Even here, along the centre streets with the everyday rush , every thing is different. There is a pure blue sky above with beautiful fatty clouds, the little, so young, shining leaves and this delicate breeze. And there is a difference in the faces of everyday people: the brightness of spring.

I happen to see some sweet people on the way; a taxi driver with a very good taste of music, playing a nice selection of old songs I've always loved all way long and some more...

There's a favorite place of mine near Tehran university, a rather old confectionary , Cafe France, where I sometimes go to take a breath , have a drink and cookie by myself and be all alone for minutes. The cafe is placed at the corner of a busy crossway so from inside you can observe the fast everyday life of poeple you have just been among, in the peace and quiet of cafe.

Wandering in the downtown streests yet ... , I've been rather successful getting some of the stuff done so I deserve a walk. And here is the final special of this unique day : I just walk into the cinema near by and there a film by Kamal Tabrizi is just getting to start, "Apiece of bread", which seems to be good and I just get in...

It's 8:30 p.m , I've just got out of the cinema while the scenes are still continuing in my mind.The film was great, it did work for me. I've had the day of mine ...

Hey Farnaz

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:00:00 +0000

Hey Farnaz,

How's it going? good I hope :-)

I'm sorry I have not replied sooner but things have been a bit mad.

Thank you for the great blog- I never knew all this great stuff about your country (and you of course:-))) until now. What would you like to know about life in London? (I'm not sure where to start-it's very busy thats for sure!).

I will blog you on Wed's and we can talk some more about the great points you raised in your recent blog.

Take care

Blog Ya' tomoz :-)