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While travelling in Iran, Louise and Tim Mooney were lucky enough to be invited to the home of a local family for a special meal. Louise shares their story with Unconventional.

We decided to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with an Unconventional Conventions trip to Iran. Whilst preparing for the much anticipated trip, we learnt that visitors may often receive an invitation to join a local family for a meal, so we were hoping for such a fortunate encounter.

Eager to explore, we arrived in Tehran a day ahead of the conference start date. When a beautiful scarf in a shop window caught my eye, I just had to drag Tim into the quaint and colourful space. The thoughtful shop assistant and her sister looked after me well when I was dazed by all the vibrant choices. We got to chatting and found out their parents had also just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! The sisters had recently applied for an Australian visa and were very curious about our customs. As the exchange went on, the sisters insisted we visit their family home for a meal the next night. Numbers were exchanged and we received enthusiastic messages two hours ahead of our meeting time asking us to head over, as they had closed up shop early for us!

On arrival to their spacious four-bedroom apartment, shoes and head scarves were discarded as scarves don’t need to be worn in the family home. We were offered a scrumptious feast of fresh fruits, nuts and all their favourite traditional foods (sans alcohol). Conversation flowed and old photos were shared by their father Siavash and mother Mimoo. We found we had a lot in common yet very much differing customs. Their tradition of girls staying at home until marriage is still strong. All three sisters – Moja, Mahan and Meri – are university graduates in their 30s with no boyfriends, though Mahan liked the look of our non-attached son.

Mimoo presented us with a beautiful book about Persia and asked Siavash to write an inscription for us. She also brought out a new chador for me to wear in our next destination, Mashhad, and taught me how to put it on correctly (as seen in the photo). The evening was filled with great laughter and many photos were taken. We were invited to come share two weeks with them next year at their summer house, which we had to decline due to the intense heat. However, we still keep in touch and they plan to visit us in Australia. Siavash firmly believes we were meant to meet and our lives would cross paths again.

We were overwhelmed by their generosity and were able to experience in a most profound way that Iran is its people and not its government. We hope more can enjoy it, as we have done.

Dr Gary Kilov (1:42)
Dr Asha Nair (1:31)
Dr Ralph Audehm (1:11)