"Why? Why Iran in particular?"

We never asked ourselves that question. We like travelling, we want to see a lot. We've heard nothing but good things about Iran in recent years, especially from other travellers. So why not?

So where does the question come from?

It comes from the Iranians themselves. We hear this question so often. After the question of where we come from, it's actually the second most frequently asked question. "Why are you here?" "Why Iran in particular?" "Can't you travel to better countries?"

At first we answer "Because of the people, because of nature, because of the landscape". Later, when we realise that this question follows a pattern, we ask instead: "Why not?" or "Why do you ask that?".

Now we realise: They don't have a good image of their own country here. We dig deeper. And feel infinite sadness. And also anger. Helplessness and one thing in particular among young people: A lack of a future.

Perhaps they believe the Western media just as many in the so-called West do: because the media paint an extremely gloomy picture of the country, emphasising only the political side and forgetting all the people, the culture, the nature, the long history of the Persians. But all of this is also part of the image of a country!

We meet incredibly well-educated people here in Iran, we have never met so many people with master's or doctoral degrees. They all study because they can't do anything else anyway. There is hardly any good, meaningful work, and if there is, then only for the best. So they study until there are no more degrees. Many also harbour the hope of being able to live abroad.

We often hear from family members who are already trying their luck in Canada, Finland, Germany or elsewhere in the world. "Yes, that would be nice. We've already applied for a visa, now we just have to wait and hope".

One thing often becomes clear in these conversations: they love their country, their culture, their history, their music. In fact, if we dig deeper, we realise that they really love their country. If it weren't for the government, which doesn't suit these loving, kind-hearted people at all. Yes, it's actually all down to one thing: the country's leadership.

We are asked about Switzerland, Germany, Europe. What it's like there. We realise that, as long-term travellers, we no longer know exactly what it's like to live in Switzerland or Germany. But we try to say something about our countries. And quickly realise that people here in Iran have a rather distorted, perhaps even outdated image of our countries.

The car industry is so great, we hear. The quality of all goods is so marvellous. They don't want to hear about racism and marginalisation in public discourse. They have never heard of burnouts and depression, of the many lonely people in the western world.

We ask. Where did they get this image from? The answer comes promptly: social media and their parents. And from those who already live abroad. But do they tell us everything? As we take a long train journey (I'll write about it later, it was great!), we realise that despite all the moaning about the German railway, it's still 1000 times better than the one we travelled on in Iran. And when we buy paper handkerchiefs, I realise with horror that they are just as bony and thin (somehow unusable) as ours from the GDR. Yes, the quality of products in Europe is better. We notice that on every corner.

But we also tell them that they shouldn't just believe social media. They wonder why we are no longer on Instagram ourselves, because we could post such great pictures. Yes, we could. And then be part of this whitewashing and distortion of the world. No, we've seen through this to some extent and don't want it anymore.

We go on to ask: What is your favourite thing about Iran? "The family, the solidarity" comes first, almost always. Of course, we now talk to those who have stayed here. "The food, the music, the beautiful landscape."

Every now and then, depending on the situation, we point out that you might miss all that abroad. Yes, they know that. And yes, that would make them sad. "But what should we do? We don't see a real future here."

There it is again, this lack of a future. My goodness, how it hurts my heart. I keep thinking about the many coaches in our world who say: If you really, really want something, you can achieve anything! Sure, if you were born in the right country through no fault of your own, maybe. With the right passport.

In one of the many conversations, I share my thoughts that I am infinitely sorry to hear this over and over again and yet not be able to do anything about it. A friend, and I'm really calling her a friend now, not just a travelling acquaintance, relieves me of my responsibility with the words: "You don't have to take responsibility for this. You can't do it any more than we can. But you give us hope that our country is worth travelling to. You give us back a bit of self-confidence with your conversations and your views in your blog. That our country is a beautiful, good country after all. Okay, the government could be better, but the rest is actually wonderful!"

Thank you, dear ones! Thank you once again to all the Iranians who open up to us, who tell us their stories, who give us an idea of what it means to live in Iran. Because through the many life stories, the many questions, the many conversations, we can sense a kind of average. Because if you only ask one person, it can't be THE one opinion of Iranians. That is always dangerous. That's why we are so grateful for the openness, friendliness and sociability of everyone we spoke to.

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Merci for "travelling with us

We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.

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