A brown eyed handsome man:

I joined orkut- third invitation is a charm. It came from Ali Reza, he is a young Iranian man I tutored in English while I was in Dubai. I also spent lots of time with his, then secret crush, now wife, Marriam.

They are both adorable, and each (separately, since they were both from consevative families who would never agree that they should spend time together before certain arrangements had been made) made my time in Dubai more enjoyable by far.

He called me tonight, I haven't talked to him in years. He and Marriam are living and going to school in Sydney now. He is working at a Persian carpet store, and he says they are both very busy at "Uni."

When I think of Ali, this is what I remember first. Occationally we would go into the city and look for things in the bigger markets. Ali was very protective and responsible for my well being and never let me get lost. We walked along a street in Dubai, he was close enough to me to sing the call to prayer in my ear and he laughed when I smiled and asked him what it meant.

He would have liked for me to be converted. I fear I would have made an even worse Muslim than I do a Christian.

I told him about my dog. When he asked his name I told him his name is Buzz, I was going to call him "Buzorg" which is Farsi for "big," but nobody would get the joke.

Ali got it. :0)