Martha's big adventure Part 1

It all started July 1976, we had been married 1 1/2 years. My husband obtained a job with an overseas company named "Bell Helicopter, Int.'l". After spending 3 years in Viet Nam he was restless for excitement and was searching for something to get the adrenalin flowing again. Little did I know that this would be a problem the rest of his life. He kept telling me that Iran was as civilized and as western as any place in the middle east, of course I believed him, I didn't know there was a difference.

I had never flown on a plane or been beyond the bordering states of Oklahoma. It seemed so exotic and exciting. We had 4 weeks to give notice to our employers, obtain passports, pack all of our belongings and let's not forget all the shots we had to have before we left. This should have been a clue but I didn't see it. Hubie had already had these shots when he went to Viet Nam. He still had his shot record book, so he just filled in the blanks himself and didn't go through all that, but I didn't have one and needless to say I got sick afterwards.

It came time to go and we had to say all of our good-byes. At my house my mother and 2 sisters were there and everything was fine until I headed for the door. Mother started crying which made me cry then both sisters chimed in. Hubie headed for the car. My mother just couldn't understand why he was taking me so far away. We left for Tulsa and stayed at my brother's house in Bixby. He was going to take us to the airport that next day. The next day we flew to Dallas, Tx., which thank goodness was only a 40 minute flight, but I was scared to death. It is amazing how sharp your senses can be, I heard and felt every bump, crack and squeak on that plane. After we landed Hubie pried my fingers off the arm of the chair. I thought "well that wasn't too bad", but the big flight was tomorrow.

Bell Helicopter put us up for the night at a hotel in Bedford, Tx. The next morning we all gathered in the lobby and we met a couple that became friends from the start, Katy and Terry Bessinger. They had just gotten married about a month earlier. I've never seen two people argue, fuss and fight but still get along. Katy was a TWA Airline Stewardess who had taken a leave of absence. Terry was.....into short cuts. He thought he was going to make a bundle in 5 years, go home and start a business. He was as tight as bark on a tree.

we were all taken to DFW Airport and boarded a Flying Tiger 707. Half of the plane was passengers and the other half was full of personal effects. By the time we got to Paris I thought I was a pro at flying. We didn't get to stay in Paris but maybe 45 minutes. We didn't even get out of the airport. We got back on the plane and headed for Teheran, Iran. We flew a total of 20 hours. When we arrived in Teheran, we taxied and the door opened. The heat and smell just about knocked you down. I looked at Hubie and said "ooh" and thought to myself, what have we done? We were met by Bell Helicopter Reps. and they herded us through customs. But not before we were body searched and our luggage searched, which they proceeded to pull out my douche bag. I was so embarrassed. I was so naive back then. I guess they had never seen one before. Once again I thought to myself what has he done to me? After customs we loaded on a bus and worked our way through traffic to the Inter-Continental Hotel. As it turned out Katy and Terry were going to be stationed in Isfahan just like us. This meant another flight - oh joy! But let me backup a little bit. At this hotel we checked in and started to relax, when the electricity went out, the next thing we knew some Iranian guy is unlocking our door and coming in. It looks as though we lucked out and got the room with the fuse box for the floor we were on. That night I slept with one eye open, just in case.

The next day we left for Isfahan, which was considered an oasis in the desert. Not! A river ran through the middle of town. On one side was the old part and the other was more modern. It all looked the same to me. We arrived at the Kourosh Hotel where we stayed for the next 2 months. Hubie went right to work, however, before we left for Iran he was told he would be an instructor and work 8:00 to 5:00. But when he went to work they said there was some misunderstanding and he was scheduled to work in maintenance on the flight line, 3rd shift on less starting in 2 months.

Within the first week I got what the Americans called the Shaw's Revenge. I have never been so sick in my life and it lasted 2 days going at both ends. I thought again, what has this asshole gotten me into? To top it off Hubie never got the Revenge, the jerk.

We lived on the 8th floor and Katy lived on the 2nd floor in room 222. This is very significant. It became a ritual after the guys left for work every morning Katy and I would get together in her room and call room service for breakfast. Every morning we would call room service and order 2 tea, 2 toast, 2 melon in room 222. Every morning we would hang up and immediately the phone would ring and the same guy we gave the order to would say, in very broken English, you want 2 tea, 2 toast, 2 melon in room 222? This went on for 2 months, we didn't dare change our order.

Katy and I just stayed around the hotel, we were told not to venture out of the hotel by ourselves. Needless to say by the time 5:00 came we were climbing the walls. We were told that around the corner and down the street from the hotel, there were 3 men hanging in a tree. That's not hanging around but hung on display because they had done something wrong like treason. But they would overlook all the men that walked around and held hands. Kissed other men and held each others butts. There were a bunch of them too. This was something I had never seen before coming from Pryor Creek, Ok.

By the way everyday since I had arrived in Iran I bawled. They called it culture shock and it lasted for 6 months. But I wasn't the only one, so was Katy.