A call with Sorosh about leaving Teheran for Sweden (Friends & Family chats)

Recorded using the \u003Ca href='http://importer.soundcloudlabs.com'\u003ESoundCloud Importer\u003C/a\u003E Transcript (via speakertext.com) Hello Mr, are you still there? Hello. All right cool. So I've patched in. There was do saying. Ther was a do saying, Sound Cloud. That's where the robot, that's the robot listening in on the call. So you can say that to the web. So this is, this is my Sunday friends and family series, friends and families chats. So what I was thinking, I was thinking about that you were born in Iran and grew up most of your life in Sweden. Right?Yeah.So I thought you, I think you told me once before you can tell me again the story of how that happened? Yeah, it's quite an interesting story. I was, yes, I was born in Teheran with my family and living there. And as you might know, there was a war between Iran and Iraq at that time. So, yeah, but it wasn't sort of really affecting Tehran that much in the beginning, except obviously you have to get food coupons and, you know, didn't have access to all the things you sort of usually had and my dad went to, my dad went to the military service during the war. Which was a totally bit stressful for my mom but, you know, for me and my sister, we weren't really that, we weren't really, we didn't really get it I think.Yeah, do you remember it? Do you remember that or was it like really early?No, I mean I was about probably three or four when he sort of went away and you know, it was like, "Yeah, Dad's going away. Alright, cool. Let's go play a bit. Daddy's coming soon. Alright." you know to get him home and sort of play with him. And we got some photos as well. Some of him in his military clothes and so it was sort of, I don't know, I don't think we really got it. Yeah, until there was the war came to Tehran a bit more. So that was sort of sending flights, and you know, there was actually sort of bombings. During the nights when there were sort of planes coming in, you could hear the sirens going, the big nasty sort of wheeee.Air raid sirens.Exactly, yeah. So then we lived on the floor.That would wake you up in the middle of the night? Yeah. I don't really remember. But I just remember we just always had to go down. We went into the basement.Yeah.And sort of sat there and yeah it was, you could sort of hear, I actually remember sort of hearing the missiles sort of coming down. You know, this very, sort of like wheeeee and then it would sort of shake, more or less, based on how close sort of the bombs would hit. It was quite creepy.Yeah.And I'm told I was peeing my pants, but I can't remember that.I wouldn't do that to you.But, I don't know. The memories aren't that bad still when I think back on it. But I think, obviously, for my parents, it must have been really horrible. So until before that, they were never even considering to leave but then my aunt actually moved so they decided to move and I think he was sort of like, "Yeah, let's go to Sweden. Seems to be a good education system and they seem to be accepting immigrants. Pretty much stay less and, you know, we...Yeah, just I think a couple of months after that my parents decided to go as well. And, you know, they really didn't want to leave, but it was like they really did it sort of for us. It was for...Yeah, if we hadn't been around, I don't think they would have moved. So, yeah, so...my dad was still doing his military service during the war, which is not very handy, but yeah, so, yeah...my...We ended up going, me, my sister and my mom first. And we also...I think actually two weeks before we were going decided to bring my cousin as well, without his parents.Was that Aman, or...?No, Haman, my other cousin. So he's five years older than me, so we ran to my mom and us three, took a bus to Turkey, and then sort of, I think we got smuggled out somehow, and flew yeah, we stayed three days in Istanbul. And there.Yeah. And how was that? How were the borders? Could you actually get through, or how did that work?You know, I don't know. I think we had some fake papers or whatever, I don't know. But I think we sort of met the smuggler guy sort of in Turkey.Okay.I think that was sort of.Yeah, we were there three days and then got the papers and then sort of flew to Sweden. We heard all these rumors, like yay, Sweden. It's day half of the year and then it's night half of the year.But that's true.Yeah, it turned out to be true. But also, yeah, and I remember. So we came to Sweden. This was like the best time for Sweden in terms of financially. It took really off well care of us and.Okay.I remember the first thing I saw we had, you know, where we stayed, I watched Inspector Gadget, that's my first, sort of, Sweden memory and then we had Corn Flakes which I didn't like. So that's sort of a couple of the sort of memories. And then, yeah, and then my dad came sort of think he, almost a year after us. Yeah.So he stuck around and was like in the military stay for another year before he managed to get out.Yeah, but also, no, he was in the military, but then after that was waiting for his papers to get done while also, he did the really horrible stuff like he sold everything we had. You know, he was going down to the mart and there was a lot of people turning off their lights.Yeah. I remember he had built a lot of the furniture we had at home and yeah, he must have been really sad sending off the things you have with all the memories and just getting rid of everything and starting from scratch in a strange new place.Yeah.And by that time as well, no internet, obviously, and calls were like, I think it was like Euro fifty a minute, and by that time that was probably worth five Euro. So it was really expensive to make phone calls. We spoke once every couple of months, and we sent letters, things like that, and then also I remember one of the consequences was when my dad came, it became really weird with the roles of him and my mom because, obviously in Iran, the culture is very dominated by men and the man is doing everything and taking care of most stuff. But then so when he came Sweden, he didn't know anything. He didn't know any of the rules. He didn't know the language. None of that. And then sort of, and then my mom was sort of the man of the house.Yeah. Yeah.I think that was quite troubling, as well, for them for a while.Yeah. Yeah.You know, to come over that. But yeah, hey, it all went really well after that and now living in London and then it's like, it's crazy to be forced to move but hey, I'm in some ways I'm glad. I'm glad your parents decided to move. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you. There's a lot of and it's actually quite funny, because this summer my, I've got an uncle who's one year younger than me. My dad is the oldest and he's the youngest of 10 kids and so he's got a visa this year for the first time to leave to sort of come over to Europe.Okay.And he's never, he's never, ever been outside of Iran.Oh, right.And, you know, we've got you know, we got the same blood. You know, same family.Yeah.You know, he works actually at an internet cafe. Oh, he's just coming to visit or is he.Yeah, he's coming to visit so yeah every time I'm there you know he takes care of me and Katisha. I'm going take him for a big trip this summer to Paris and we're going to Barcelona, etc. But it's just so funny I was, you know, it's just funny to see how different our lives are.Yeah.You know, and we sort of grew up together. Yeah, it's pretty -- I was reallysad last time I was there, actually feeling, you know, it's not really fair. Yeah. Yeah. So you say you guys are going on a crazy trip then to Australia. Yeah. Cool.I think it's going to be, you know, just imagine, he's never been in an environment where women don't have scarves. So there's just so many things like that that will be quite new and exciting for him so.Yeah.I don't think we can fail.Alright, cool. So let's do a chat after he's been here if you let me know how it went. What he thought of it. Yeah, part two. Maybe he can join in. Does he speak English?No. No. Okay. All right.You have to enable, you have to build an app with Google auto live translator.Yeah, okay. Let's check that out.Thank you. I'm going to turn it recording now, hang on two seconds, hang on.Okay. --- SpeakerText Transcript of the Track: Hello Mr, are you still there? Hello. All right cool. So I've patched in. There was do saying. Ther was a do saying, Sound Cloud. That's where the robot, that's the robot listening in on the call. So you can say that to the web. So this is, this is my Sunday friends and family series, friends and families chats. So what I was thinking, I was thinking about that you were born in Iran and grew up most of your life in Sweden. Right? Yeah. So I thought you, I think you told me once before you can tell me again the story of how that happened? Yeah, it's quite an interesting story. I was, yes, I was born in Teheran with my family and living there. And as you might know, there was a war between Iran and Iraq at that time. So, yeah, but it wasn't sort of really affecting Tehran that much in the beginning, except obviously you have to get food coupons and, you know, didn't have access to all the things you sort of usually had and my dad went to, my dad went to the military service during the war. Which was a totally bit stressful for my mom but, you know, for me and my sister, we weren't really that, we weren't really, we didn't really get it I think. Yeah, do you remember it? Do you remember that or was it like really early? No, I mean I was about probably three or four when he sort of went away and you know, it was like, "Yeah, Dad's going away. Alright, cool. Let's go play a bit. Daddy's coming soon. Alright." you know to get him home and sort of play with him. And we got some photos as well. Some of him in his military clothes and so it was sort of, I don't know, I don't think we really got it. Yeah, until there was the war came to Tehran a bit more. So that was sort of sending flights, and you know, there was actually sort of bombings. During the nights when there were sort of planes coming in, you could hear the sirens going, the big nasty sort of wheeee. Air raid sirens. Exactly, yeah. So then we lived on the floor. That would wake you up in the middle of the night? Yeah. I don't really remember. But I just remember we just always had to go down. We went into the basement. Yeah. And sort of sat there and yeah it was, you could sort of hear, I actually remember sort of hearing the missiles sort of coming down. You know, this very, sort of like wheeeee and then it would sort of shake, more or less, based on how close sort of the bombs would hit. It was quite creepy. Yeah. And I'm told I was peeing my pants, but I can't remember that. I wouldn't do that to you. But, I don't know. The memories aren't that bad still when I think back on it. But I think, obviously, for my parents, it must have been really horrible. So until before that, they were never even considering to leave but then my aunt actually moved so they decided to move and I think he was sort of like, "Yeah, let's go to Sweden. Seems to be a good education system and they seem to be accepting immigrants. Pretty much stay less and, you know, we...Yeah, just I think a couple of months after that my parents decided to go as well. And, you know, they really didn't want to leave, but it was like they really did it sort of for us. It was for...Yeah, if we hadn't been around, I don't think they would have moved. So, yeah, so...my dad was still doing his military service during the war, which is not very handy, but yeah, so, yeah...my...We ended up going, me, my sister and my mom first. And we also...I think actually two weeks before we were going decided to bring my cousin as well, without his parents. Was that Aman, or...? No, Haman, my other cousin. So he's five years older than me, so we ran to my mom and us three, took a bus to Turkey, and then sort of, I think we got smuggled out somehow, and flew yeah, we stayed three days in Istanbul. And there. Yeah. And how was that? How were the borders? Could you actually get through, or how did that work? You know, I don't know. I think we had some fake papers or whatever, I don't know. But I think we sort of met the smuggler guy sort of in Turkey. Okay. I think that was sort of. Yeah, we were there three days and then got the papers and then sort of flew to Sweden. We heard all these rumors, like yay, Sweden. It's day half of the year and then it's night half of the year. But that's true. Yeah, it turned out to be true. But also, yeah, and I remember. So we came to Sweden. This was like the best time for Sweden in terms of financially. It took really off well care of us and. Okay. I remember the first thing I saw we had, you know, where we stayed, I watched Inspector Gadget, that's my first, sort of, Sweden memory and then we had Corn Flakes which I didn't like. So that's sort of a couple of the sort of memories. And then, yeah, and then my dad came sort of think he, almost a year after us. Yeah. So he stuck around and was like in the military stay for another year before he managed to get out. Yeah, but also, no, he was in the military, but then after that was waiting for his papers to get done while also, he did the really horrible stuff like he sold everything we had. You know, he was going down to the mart and there was a lot of people turning off their lights. Yeah. I remember he had built a lot of the furniture we had at home and yeah, he must have been really sad sending off the things you have with all the memories and just getting rid of everything and starting from scratch in a strange new place. Yeah. And by that time as well, no internet, obviously, and calls were like, I think it was like Euro fifty a minute, and by that time that was probably worth five Euro. So it was really expensive to make phone calls. We spoke once every couple of months, and we sent letters, things like that, and then also I remember one of the consequences was when my dad came, it became really weird with the roles of him and my mom because, obviously in Iran, the culture is very dominated by men and the man is doing everything and taking care of most stuff. But then so when he came Sweden, he didn't know anything. He didn't know any of the rules. He didn't know the language. None of that. And then sort of, and then my mom was sort of the man of the house. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was quite troubling, as well, for them for a while. Yeah. Yeah. You know, to come over that. But yeah, hey, it all went really well after that and now living in London and then it's like, it's crazy to be forced to move but hey, I'm in some ways I'm glad. I'm glad your parents decided to move. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you. There's a lot of and it's actually quite funny, because this summer my, I've got an uncle who's one year younger than me. My dad is the oldest and he's the youngest of 10 kids and so he's got a visa this year for the first time to leave to sort of come over to Europe. Okay. And he's never, he's never, ever been outside of Iran. Oh, right. And, you know, we've got you know, we got the same blood. You know, same family. Yeah. You know, he works actually at an internet cafe. Oh, he's just coming to visit or is he. Yeah, he's coming to visit so yeah every time I'm there you know he takes care of me and Katisha. I'm going take him for a big trip this summer to Paris and we're going to Barcelona, etc. But it's just so funny I was, you know, it's just funny to see how different our lives are. Yeah. You know, and we sort of grew up together. Yeah, it's pretty -- I was really sad last time I was there, actually feeling, you know, it's not really fair. Yeah. Yeah. So you say you guys are going on a crazy trip then to Australia. Yeah. Cool. I think it's going to be, you know, just imagine, he's never been in an environment where women don't have scarves. So there's just so many things like that that will be quite new and exciting for him so. Yeah. I don't think we can fail. Alright, cool. So let's do a chat after he's been here if you let me know how it went. What he thought of it. Yeah, part two. Maybe he can join in. Does he speak English? No. No. Okay. All right. You have to enable, you have to build an app with Google auto live translator. Yeah, okay. Let's check that out. Thank you. I'm going to turn it recording now, hang on two seconds, hang on. Okay. Review Transcript and Additional Download Options Right-click and choose 'Save As...' to download HTML for CaptionBox