Thursday, December 17, 1981
At about 16:00 this afternoon, Herr Kirby invited
me to join his advanced English class for dinner. The father of one of the CP
Station kids whom I treat was also invited on the suggestion of one of the
students. This father, Hassan, was here from Iran to see that his son, Ali, was
placed where he would receive the best treatment. I wondered about
“socializing” with a parent, but decided to go. Hassan and I waited in the
hospital lobby until we were picked up by Jan and Kirby at 18:15. We drove up
to Evilard, which takes a lot longer than going straight up by funicular! We
had a clear view of the stars and lights in Biel.
Dinner was at the condominium of Claire, the
social service secretary who is married to a shy athlete engineer (who worked
for Von Roll, the company that erected the
Roosevelt Tramway in New York City). They have five children. Their terrace
apartment was the top of three stepped along the hillside with great views of
Biel. They now have an American Field Service (AFS) exchange student living with them. Claire slipped in
and out of German, but appeared the most practiced in English.
We were
joined by the chief surgeon’s secretary, Rosemarie, who spoke the most, and seemed
to have a very sophisticated vocabulary, Barbara the receptionist, who had been in
the U.S., and although she didn’t speak
much, she spoke rather naturally. Hassan’s English was poor, but he was game.
We
started with orange juice and nuts, then sat down for the “light” meal, which
turned out to be very formal! The table centerpiece was of evergreens and
walnuts with candles stuck in tangerines. We had what I think is Zürcher Geschnetzeltes/veal in a mushroom
cream sauce, with rice, and steamed cauliflower and carrots.
Hassan spoke rather candidly about his country,
and according to him, Khomeini came into power because the Shah was so easily
let out (thanks to the U.S. allowing him to enter our country for surgery, so
in a roundabout way, the U.S put Khomeini in power?). Khomeini is no good for
the country because he isn’t concerned for Iran, but for Islamism. He doesn’t
care about selling oil or money, thus everyone is poor. Khomeini is battling
capitalism in Iraq, wanting them to join his Moslem Empire.
Hassan is a construction contractor (buildings
and roads), but there is no work because of the state of confusion. Apparently
everything has been nationalized (or Islamisized) and so the population of
Tehran has grown from 3 to 7 million because Khomeini opened the doors to all
residences. No private property. According to Hassan, Communism is good, but Khomeini
is using Islam to transform Communism into something not good.
Claire had Kirby help translate a letter she
received from the AFS student’s mother, who seemed to be from a different class
of people, since she liked dogs and tennis, and had a Tennessee Walking Horse
and was not brought up to have a career like Claire has. This mother has put up
pictures of Claire and her family in her home so she can feel close to them;
Jan jokingly had us picturing this mother speaking to Claire’s picture.
We also learned of Kirby’s heritage; his father
is first generation Arabic and one grandparent is Orthodox Catholic from
Lebanon, the other a Moslem from Syria.
We had a ceremony to change from the German formal
to informal language by saying, “Wir machen duzen,” give your first name, and
take a sip of wine with your arms linked, then greet each other with a kiss on
each cheek.
Kirby had to leave at 21:30, so I was dropped off
at the Personalhaus/staff residence, where they
picked up friend Christian, and took Hassan to his hotel.
Saturday, December 19, 1981
Went downtown shopping and the stores were
jam-packed. Got shoved around quite a bit, which is very unusual. In the
grocery store, you bring your own bags, and if you need a bag, you pay for one.
In department stores, they will give you a bag if you want one. Now at
Christmas time, the department stores will wrap your purchases in gift wrap. The
wrapping or stickers will identify where the item was purchased. The boxed
candies have a more Christmas-y wrapping at this time of year. I bought some Zimtsterne/Cinnamon star cookies that
appear to be very popular.
Out on the sidewalks there are Salvation Army
volunteers with their buckets collecting donations. At one bucket was a group
of singers, and at another was a brass band. The Armée du Salut/Heilsarmee/Salvation
Army folks all wore the familiar uniform and their hats had the Salvation Army
emblem.
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