Mehran fixes a lot of computers, printers and technological viruses. Frequently. Often people are extremely grateful. Sometimes, to demonstrate said gratitude, they give him things like Persian Ash (stew), sweets, sabzi (fresh herbs) and well...freshly gutted fish. Admittedly that was a first, it was also, by far, the most interesting and educational.
The children had a field day (and a biology lesson) while we waited for the fish to defrost (Mehran had the sense to place it in the freezer when he arrived home late that night.) We learned the location of all the fins, including the caudal fin, what the lateral line is for and after a bit of Internet investigation what type of fish it was based loosely on the 'facial features' and position of the lips and gills. It may not be entirely accurate as there were only four choices but it gave the children something to look for with regards to differentiating certain features. One thing we did learn with excellent accuracy was in response to Anisa's question: "Do fish have tongues?"
Before our investigations began I honestly didn't know. I had never thought to ask, nor had I ever wondered. In case you are curious (or at any rate as ignorant on the subject as I was) they do. They also have extremely sharp teeth. I learned this too with extraordinary accuracy as I tried to pry open its frozen jaws in order to investigate the tongue query.
They got right into discovering all they could just touching, discovering and watching. They even drew pictorial diagrams with labels...well, Ruhi did. Anisa drew an elaborate pair of mermaids.
Mehran enjoyed the fish too. He enjoyed the fact that (by the time he encountered it again) it was stuffed with buttered crab meat, herbs and complimentary seasonings, was baked to perfection and served with salad. Poor fish.
While this is not the primary reason that the 23rd of May is a Baha'i Holy Day, it is perhaps the one that the children understood best and related to most enthusiastically. We had planned to make prayer book pages to add to the prayer books that the kids are making, but it was one of those days where time just flew and we had very little to show for ourselves. We did manage to bake a low-sugar apple cake just for the occasion. Bayan got very involved and by the time the cake was in the oven, someone was more than a little "ticky". Nevermind, he rinsed his hands in the fish bowl and despite repeated attempts at wiping him down he went happily to bed with a bit of dried batter still clinging to the bottom of his chin.
The girls have really gotten into the whole English tradition of tea time. Anisa wanted to make 'rosey tea', so we raided our herbal stash (to no avail), attempted to create our own refreshing infusion using dried Persian rose petals (never do that) and ultimately found ourselves at the local grocery store where we eventually located a rose hip, lemongrass and ginger tea (close enough). While we were in the aisle Ruhi noticed some marshmallows and asked if we could get them. Undismayed by the negative answer she then proposed that we buy them for Ridvan. She said, and I quote: "We really should because they are sweet and Baha'u'llah's words are sweet." How can you argue with logic like that?
