“I was born in Iran which used to be called Persia. I come from the capital city which is Teheran; ……when I was going to university I had a friend, her name was Miriam which is Mary in English. It was Miriam’s wedding party in 2004 and I was attending for the wedding party. Miriam’s brother was there as well and he was living in Kirkcaldy and he was there just to attend his sisters wedding party. And we met each other at the wedding party.” ……..
On Coming to Scotland… “….. So after some times we decided to get married and that was the reason after I got married I joined to my husband in Britain, in Kirkcaldy. ……….When I decided to come here I was going through the books and internet to know more about Britain, especially about Scotland but I must confess that again it was very different, you know reading the books and documents about the country it’s just documents it’s not real life, you can’t touch the real life.”
“,….. The problem I had it was the accent, you can’t find about the accent in the books so you think ok everyone in Britain speaks English so you need to improve your English but when came here I came to Scotland to Kirkcaldy for a very first month I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t understand because the accent was different for me. People, you know, talking very fast,
So just I wanted to say you can’t find everything in the books, you can’t find everything in telly. You need to be there and you need to touch it to see the differences the similarities the culture and you know everything.”
Talk Tell Share… A Persian perspective
On my Career
“…. Back home( In Iran) when I finished university I got a BA degree in English Language and when I finished university I got a job as a teacher and I was teaching English as a second language to teenagers. My second job was working for a commercial company as a translator so that was my jobs there. I worked teacher for 2 yrs then I decided to come here. When I came here, Scottish education system accepted my BA degree but not as a teaching qualification ...you know they are absolutely right because our subject is different from subjects here, so they just accepted BA and if I want to become a teacher I have to pass a post graduate year.”
So what next? “…. So when I came here I thought how can I just find a job or way to engage into education system again….so I just passed a classroom assistant qualification and for 8 months (worked) as volunteer in local primary schools in Kirkcaldy and that was a good experience for me to know about the subjects, about the students, about the way of teaching, everything. On the other hand I got a good reference after eight months I finished my volunteer work,”
“I applied for a job and I got a job as a classroom assistant in another local primary school. That’s my second year contract that I’m working with them. I’m really happy as now confident about the system of education and about the subjects and I think the next step for me will be applying for post grad. and maybe a good opportunity to teach English as a 2nd language to pupils who don’t know English as a first language like me - so that’s my goal for the future……..”
Talk Tell Share… On Persian and Scottish Culture
“……….Apart from language, culture was very different…..sometimes you feel so isolated because at the very beginning you can’t find friends appearance is different and it takes time to show to other people that everybody is just a human being. Accents, different language, different culture, very different, but we are all from the same group - just human beings……”
“Iran is an Islamic republic country so honour,, culture, family, parents, are so important for us.”
When I came here I thought that the culture was very different and it took time. Sometimes you don’t need to accept the culture. I don’t like some of the culture but I need to accept that I am living in this country so I have to respect this culture, It’s not necessary for me to act like them but I need to respect them.”
“I feel that is the same for British people as well, if someone comes from another country they don’t need to accept their culture but they need to respect, that’s very important and up to now I just tried to do that and I think I was successful. Now after 2 years I have some friends and I have a good life but at the end of the story I have an expression back home “that house is nice but it is not my house” …..you miss your culture you miss your country.”
Talk Tell Share… Persian New Year - Norouz
“One of the most special occasions in my country is New Year. Its the 20th of March and we call it Norouz, no in Persian language means new and rose means day so it means new day, we have a very big celebration for Norouz and we celebrate it for thirteen days and during the thirteen days everyone is going to see each other, all the relatives that you don’t see during the year…….On the very last day of Norouz the 13 day people can’t stay at home because thirteen is a bad luck number so everyone should go out and because Teheran, Iran is a big country and we have so many countrysides parks and picnic places and they take their foods and fruits out and they have a big celebration in the nature ( outdoors) and about 9 o’clock everybody’s ready to go back and start the new year, that’s one of the very biggest celebrations back home and other things about Norouz . You know how for Christmas you have a special tree, well, so do we.”
On Sport and fitness “….. Before I came here, back home I was doing swimming a lot sometimes three or four times a week. I got a good qualification for swimming. Unfortunately when I came here I couldn’t find many swimming pools just for ladies, because I am Muslim I am not allowed to swim in pool for both ladies and gentleman . Unfortunately I couldn’t find many in Fife there is just the one in Leven but it is very late time, it’s about 8 o’clock at night which is impossible for me to go there. Another kind of swimming pool where they have special time for ladies the life guards are men, again so I cannot go to them as well so sad for me that I had to give swimming up
I just try to do walking, but the weather can be really bad and there is also a kind of training course in Kirkcaldy high school that every Friday night you can book a room for an hour and play badminton, so sometimes if I have the time and my husband has the time, we can go and play there. Usually we walk in Kirkcaldy. “
Asian Connections Book
