I am surprised at you, Sue

Sue, Faranak is right.  Do you really think that after all these years of this beautiful friendship between you and all of us, you will be left all alone and need to take a taxi and a translator and a dictionary and all the other things that an ordinary traveler needs when traveling in Iran?  Then you haven't heard anything about the Iranian hospitality.  Guests to us are the God.  Even if we hadn't known you through this site so well it wouldn't have made any difference.  Iranians are the most hospitable people in the whole world.  We are legendary hosts.  We may be poor we may be simple, but we sacrifice our souls for our guests and as a cmpliment ask our guests to step on the balls of our eyes.  Yes, asking guests to step on the balls of our eyes is a compliment that has deep roots in reality .  After ten years when I called an an old friend and asked him when I could see him again, the first thing he said was that I could step on the balls of his eyes whenever I wanted so myself.

We never wait at the door of our poor houses for the guests to arrive.  Traditionally we go forward to some distance and in many cases to the station to welcome our guests.  And when they are leaving we never say goodbye at the door.  We always accompany him or her to some distance.  An Iranian may sleep on the floor, but he or she always keeps some clean, beautiful matresses ready for potential guests even if it is for ages without any guests arriving.  At the table we are taught to eat as long as our guests seem hungry and willing to eat out of fear that the they may feel shy of eating more when the host moves away from the Sofreh.  Religion and nationality, race, color and abosolutely nothing else is important for us.  When somebody is a guest he is only a guest which is of course the highest status given to anyone:  As a favorite saying goes he is "a friend of God."  

What a dream, Sue! What a dream!  Yazd will leave an unforgettable impression on you.  It is a Venice on sands -- as I always call it because this city has retained its ancient structure in a way that UNESCO has annouced it a world treasure. 

Did I brag too much?  Hope not.  Considering yourself alone here trying to use an English to Persian dictionary, looking for a taxi was a direct insult to all Iranians who know English including I and each and every other member on this site.

Ali