Chasing Cats in No-Man's Land

Sunday – our day out.  Today we planned to visit the Nicosia Emmanuel Church - a family oriented, evangelical church (so the newspaper ad said).  This is our fourth and final church ‘sampler’ so that we know what exists around town and we can make a good decision about where we’d like to have some Christian community.  The kids have complained about going somewhere new and different each week although they’ve been absolute troopers bravely attending the tiny Sunday schools in which they know nobody.  So this morning we head for the Old Town.  The church advertisement said it was next to the Ledra Palace Hotel, right near the checkpoint.  So, having crossed the border once before, we boldly head off to the same area feeling pretty good that we kind of know the area.  However, when we get there and look around, there’s not a hotel in sight; just restaurants and souvenir shops. 

We start asking around, thinking it can’t be that hard, and find that most we ask don’t have a clue where it is but a few point in the general direction of ‘across town’.  So, with Anna in the stroller plus 3 kids in tow, we take a walk through the back streets of the old town and are amazed by the cross-section of humanity we encounter.  Old Greek men sitting in corner cafes downing their first ouzo or beer for the day, Sri Lankan and Philippino women cheerfully meeting up with one another on their one day off, Greek ladies dressed in black washing down their balconies (somewhat of a national obsession here), street-side ‘chefs’ cooking meat on spits, tourists of various nationalities, Lebanese Maronites on their way to mass, Catholics and Greek Orthodox coming out of their respective cathedrals, suspicious looking guys with tight-fitting Adidas tracksuits decorated with lots of bling (nationality unknown – we can’t pick them…where are they from?) and women dressed to the nines for their big day out (best outfit today was an African woman in tight lemon coloured levis, knee length white vinyl boots and a peacock hair style with lemon scarf to match).  All this combined with narrow one-way streets full of moving cars, ad-hoc slim footpaths and Sam getting tired legs:).  We were 40mins late to church but felt the adventure had been worth it before arriving.

We finally found the church, realising that it was actually located in 'no-man's land', ie. the UN-patrolled buffer zone between the divided Greek and Turkish halves of the city.  Nothing like a walk through a former war zone to get to morning prayers!  We were welcomed warmly to the congregation, not least because we doubled the Sunday school’s numbers in an instant.  A Cypriot gentleman by the name of Hercules was getting up to preach and we settled in to our chairs wondering expectantly what awesome Greek tales he might be able to throw in alongside the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Sadly, we were only to be disappointed, however Ross was having adventures of his own outside with Anna.  Being the regular 'almost 2 yr old', Anna is not all that great at sitting still in church (even if the preachers name is Hercules.....), so Ross took her out for a walk.  Anna has become somewhat obsessive about cats whilst we've been here, so she and Ross spent an hour or so walking around in no-man's land chasing cats.  A little surreal to say the  least.....  The Ledra Palace hotel also sits in the UN buffer zone.  A magnificant old building, it was heavily damaged during the war and is now occupied by the UN.  It was once used as the exchange point for prisoners of war between Turkey and Greece in the years immediately following the 1974 conflict.

The Ledra Palace Hotel in its halcyon days

Overall we are still finding that Nicosia is somewhat of a sensory overload.  It would be a stretch to say that it is an attractive city, but it is a really fascinating mix of new and old.  The division between Greece and Turkey is both tragic and compelling at the same time.  We are looking forward to further exploring the north in coming months. 

Better get to bed, ready for another week.  Thanks to all for your comments and emails.  We really appreciate hearing from friends and family.  love Sarah and Ross 

ps. a few recent pics of the kids below: Angus on the occasion of his 7th birthday last weekend, and Sam in his current preferred sleeping location (yes we are still trying to get him into a bed!)

Sam's current 'bed'.....

Kids in the old town





Lets put it down to experience...

Today I have learnt some valuable things:
a) don't make plans to swim, just because you see "Pool" written on the map;
b) don't assume that the central part of the city is Pedestrian friendly;
c) don't ask potential landlady's if you can knock out a wall of their house.  They get offended.

OK, lets keep this brief so I can get to bed. Its been an action packed day.
a) Swimming.
Being a bit exercize deprived, I thought I was on to a winner when I saw how great the outdoor heated olympic size swimming pool looked.  I even took my swim-gear with me hoping to get wet after school drop off.  Surely Anna can sit strapped into a pram for 10-15mins?  I turn up and the doors are open but the large foyer is empty and the pool outside is covered.  A gardener sees me and kindly ushers me to the boss' office.  I ask him when I might be able to swim.  He gives me a piece of paper and a pen, apologizing that he does not have a translation for me of pool opening hours.  He needn't have worried, the pool's not open much for 'general swimming'.  I can go 8.30-9.30am 4 days of the week (oh, and 9-10pm, if I can't sleep!).  It seems that nobody feels like working much generally on a Wednesday (most shops close every wed arvo here) so the pool doesn't open at all. Just my luck that today is Wednesday so I'll be staying dry in land-locked Nicosia.  What the heck is this guy doing at work today if he's not going to open his pool to the public?  I've since found out that this pool is something akin to the island's Institute of Sport so I guess their athletes need to train.  Go for Gold Cyprus!.... (sorry, I think my lack of swim today has made me a little cynical).

b) I think I'll take a walk.
Oh no, you won't.  You'll dodge the cars, walk where you might have hoped for a footpath, trip over road works, stand alongside cars (like a bicycle would) and push the stroller across the road when you get a green light AND finally when you see one of the city's central parks just across the road there isn't a crossing to be found anywhere. Cars are dashing past so just wait for a gap and RUN.  I'll never complain about paying my taxes and council rates in Sydney ever again.  They provide me with safe places to walk and play.  Thank you Lord for effective bureacracy. Amen.

c) House hunting faux pas.
As many of you know, we're in temporary accommodation which is adequate but not so child friendly.  Our sea shipment arrives in 2 weeks and we'd love it's arrival to co-incide with the place we've chosen to rent.  As everybody keeps warning us, the summers in Nicosia are stifling with temps sitting around 40 degrees or higher for long periods. (having lived in the hot Pilbara, Ross & I are curious to see whether all this Mediterranean grumbling is justified).  Nevertheless, whether it's scorching or not, our kids are at a great age for a pool so that's our first criteria in the house hunt.  Not only does this narrow the search down considerably, it puts the price up and steers us further away from the city centre where the school is.  

To cut a long story short, (which is a shame - so I'll encourage Ross to write a house hunting blog.  Our architect friends would love it!) we found 2 houses which satisfied our criteria of a pool and 4 bedrooms.  One was OK but "no fun" and the other was big & old but the kids would have a ball in it.  It had a huge staircase spiralling through the middle of the house, a giant living area that I wouldn't know where to start in trying to furnish, and a massive landing at the top of the 3rd floor of stairs which looked out onto the mountains of the Turkish occupied area.  The pool was the best we've seen and the house was located only 100m from a nice park.  Some of the downsides were "the cats" which the landlady was intensely embarrassed about because she couldn't work out how they were getting in. On our first visit to the house, we were viewing the bathroom and I looked into the bath to find a stray black cat looking up at me from under the shower curtain.  "Oh" I said, a little startled, "you have a cat!".  The landlady replied (rather indignantly) "no, I hate cats" and was then mortified to find there really was a cat in her bath.  This immediately explained the cat poo smell around the entire house, especially in the kitchen sink - yuck. Speaking of the kitchen, this was my main complaint about the house and why we offered less than she was asking for.  It was old and shabby and needed a lot of TLC.  It was also not as 'open plan' as I would have liked (having been spoilt in Mona Vale) so, thinking I'd found the perfect solution, I asked if she'd ever thought about knocking the wall out that adjoins the living area.  There was a quiet pause as she mentally checked that she had heard correctly, followed by another indignant "no".  Whoops...come on Ross, lets just get out of here.

So...in hindsight...the house was GREAT and we wished that we'd offered more because somebody, just the very next day, was willing to pay what she wanted. The agent explained the situation to me as "Sarah, she thought you didn't like the house".  Gee, where did she get that idea???  Bummer.  I'll be more polite next time. 

As the title of this blog so aptly puts it: LETS PUT IT DOWN TO EXPERIENCE.

A Day in the Snow

As part of Angus' 7th birthday this weekend, he wanted to see snow and become a snowboard demon all in one day.  So we set out to achieve the former and asked him to be patient with the latter.

We are very lucky to have both the sea and the snow an hour away so, to head out for some skiing we didn't need to pack the overnight bag.  There is one main skiing area called Mt Olympus which is in the Troodos Mountains in the centre of the island. It's about as high as Mt Kosciusko and today was a little patchy on snow.  Out of the 4 lifts available, there were 2 tee bars open and we weren't exactly sure whether you could ski from one to the other given the conditions.  The ski resort is quite spread out, and is interspersed with various military installations which keep a watching eye over the "occupied terrritory" ie: Northern Cyprus.  

We arrived to find parking was easy and free and just across the road from the ski rental shack.  The shack was probably smaller than our Mona Vale living room and we all shuffled through and got Angus and Jessie set up with wet ski boots etc.. Sam got a sled and Anna was completely out of her depth and just cried.  Sarah realized that in the midst of packing for the family she forgot her socks and so trudged through the snow in her smart leather shoes (unfortunately not the boots today) and suffered the cold.  It was about 2 degrees, a slight breeze and foggy.  A ski lesson for the 2 older kids was quickly arranged with a young Cypriot man by the name of Stavros.  His English was poor but the number of words needed to get kids down the slope in one piece are few.  By the end of the hour we were pleased to see them up and cruising down the slope.  Jessie all style and Angus just speed.  They had a ball, as did Sam on his sled.  Poor old Anna didn't really smile too much but put in a valiant effort until her little hands and feet started to freeze.  Nothing like having the warm car close by!

Even though Jessie and Gus would have happily kept skiing all day, we couldn't sustain Sam and Anna drinking hot chocolate for that length of time so decided to depart after lunch, with the clear statement of "it's better to leave wanting more"!  If there's another dump of snow in the next few weeks, we can always plan a return visit (perhaps sans Sam and Anna next time)!  

On the way back down the winding road, we found quirky little camping sites and beautiful forest picnic areas.  All noted for the summer time when guests come to stay (is this you?).  We came across a number of old mountain villages, one of them of particular note called Kakopetria.  The name translates to "wicked rocks" and the legend goes that a couple getting married beneath the cliffs that surround the village were tragically killed when some boulders fell down and killed them both.  Why doesn't Mona Vale have a legend like that???

Onward down the mountain, back into the temperate climes of Nicosia.  We had enough time for a quick drive by of a house Ross wanted to show me which had a full size swimming pool & sauna built under the house! Surely we can negotiate a deal to live there...?  Anyway, 'twas a great family day out.

P.S. But did Ross & Sarah ski?  No, such is the sacrifice of having four children...





View from the road down the mountain



Angus takes to the slopes.....

A pensive Anna, trying hard to enjoy the experience!

Ski lift Cyprus-style

10 Observations of Nicosia

A few of the things we've observed thus far in Nicosia, or Lefkosia as the Greeks like to call it.  


One of Nicosia's many orange trees

1.  There are orange trees everywhere.

2.  There is no such thing as a straight road, which makes maintaining any sense of bearings difficult.  The road system has largely evolved around the donkey tracks that were in place long before vehicles were ever here. 

3.  The Cypriots love a good traffic jam.  In fact, we think this is a bit of a national pastime each day to build community. 

4.  Even though Cyprus is part of the EU, the people here drive like it's the middle east.

5.  There are several peak hours every day, depending on whether people:  a) work for the government b) are dropping their kids off at school at 730am or picking them up at 130pm c) work for private business which has standard hours d) are heading home for a siesta in the middle of the day or returning to work after a siesta.  So you get the point, traffic is busy most of the day but there are some notable 'peaks'. 

6.  People here LOVE to drive everywhere.  Lots of strange looks for anyone contemplating a walk or stroll along the footpath.  A drive-in supermarket or church would do a roaring trade here.

7.   The city is a chaotic mix of new and old.  New apartments, office buildings and houses interspersed with pockets of old neighbourhoods, narrow streets and ancient houses.

8.  No one here particularly likes looking to the north into the 'occupied' areas of the country (although the giant flashing Turkish flag on the mountains to the north of the city is kind of hard to ignore at night)

9.  There are cats everywhere.

10. The people on the whole are very friendly, and everyone has a cousin or brother/sister in Sydney or Melbourne.   

This and That

Even after only two weeks, we are starting to get down to some of the more mundane aspects of life.  School, work, kids' routines, housework (still waiting on that maid!) and, of course, the eternal question of what to cook for dinner.

The positve aspect of this is that last night we did something that we considered 'incredibly normal' at this early stage.  Thanks to being able to access a colleague's daughter for babysitting, we went out to dinner together.  We arrived just before 8pm, a little concerned about whether we had the right place as it was empty but for 1 table.  I told her I had a table booked under my name and she directed us to the outdoor seating.  Since it was about 10 degrees outside I assertively said that we'd prefer to sit inside (at one of the 30 odd empty tables!)  She replied (just as assertively) that the restaurant was fully booked for the evening.  Gulp....and she was right.  By 9pm, there were guests arriving to fill the last table.  They live by a late night clock here.

The restaurant was what they call a 'tavern' which seems to mean that they serve traditional Cypriot 'meze' dishes. Of course, we lapped up the Haloumi cheese and fresh salads but also felt that, after looking around at what the locals were all eating, we would definitely order better on our next visit.  The wine is not bad...perhaps a taste to be acquired. 

Some of the not so positive aspects of life becoming more normal, as I'm sure many of you can appreciate at this stage of the year, is THE EVERYDAY ROUTINE.  For us, this is a 6am wake up (in the dark here as it's winter) followed by a very new thing for Ross & I which is actually waking our children.  Breakfast is gobbled down at a rate of knots with lots of Sarah nagging Jessie to "stop talking and get a wriggle on".  Kids are taken to school for the bell at 7.25am and Ross walks about 30mins to work.  From today, however, he has some options as he just bought a little VW Golf.  This essentially means that he might save me from school drop off altogether!  When he is in the country of course...

Speaking of Ross travelling, it hasn't begun yet but he'll have a conference all next week at the coast in Larnaca.  I've been searching for a casual babysitter during the day so that I can get a bit of time to myself and I'm going to start with a lady this week.  A very interesting middle-aged English Cypriot woman who grew up here, endured the 1974 war and then moved to England.  She has only just returned a couple of months ago to look after her elderly father.  Hopefully when we move house we'll get some more permanent home help installed...more on that later.

Ah yes, the house.  This place that we are currently in is just not right for us.  We can't wait to move.  Aside from the hard tiles, the lack of out-door clothes line  and the low-hanging chandelier that I keep banging my head on; we have an old Cypriot landlord who won't stop talking and torturing us with his terrible English.  Forgive me if I sound harsh on this man; I'll need some patience myself as I begin to learn Greek.

And learn Greek I will.  I just found out about a Greek course for beginners at the university in town.  Can't wait.  Not least because it will get me out of the witching hour two nights a week.

What else can I tell you?  Am not getting lost so much these days.  Am learning that the city is really quite small and I'm never really far from my destination; it's just a matter of getting around the one-way streets.

Have also learnt that the Jolly Radiographer was not so unusual setting up his business in an apartment.  Today I discovered that a number of things I needed could be found in apartment blocks.  Beauticians, hair-dressers, physiotherapists....you just buzz their button downstairs and they let you in!  Voila!  Am looking forward to a Pilates class in somebody's (ex) lounge-room.

I met my local GP today.  A very friendly lady from the US who talked so much that by the time we finished the appointment (1hr!) the pharmacy had closed.  Not such a big deal and worth it for a thorough session.  She even said she'd ring in a few days to see how I was doing.  Huh?  Unfortunately this lady won't be the childrens' doctor as everybody under the age of 18yrs must see a paediatrician.  Yes, even for a runny nose.  I'm still getting my head around that one.

Our air freight finally cleared customs and arrived today.  Great to have a little bit more of home with us, along with a high-chair for Anna and a scooter for Angus.  Sam was always happy with his Turkish belly-dancing "Katchinga" and Jessie not fussed as long as she could e-mail Kelly.   

Thats This and That for you. Oh, and tonight we had roast chicken. 

A trip to Paphos

Today we drove to Paphos, which is at the western end of the island.  The drive from Nicosia takes about an hour and a half, most of it on a motorway along the coast.  It was a delight to see the ocean for the first time since we arrived.  The mediterranean was quite spectacular today, and the island is relatively green after some good rains this winter.  We were amazed at the clarity of the water, although the beaches are largely empty at this time of year. 

 



Aphrodites rock

As you drive around this island it feels like you are literally looking at thousands of years of history.  Paphos is a pretty town, with an old boat harbour overlooked by an 800 year-old fortress.  The place has become a sort of mecca for British retirees, and as you walk down the main street there is a strange sense of 'Birmingham or Manchester'-on-sea!  To give some sense of the typical demographic among the british visitors or residents, I noticed that two of the members of the legendary band Jethro Tull are playing an extended set of dates in the one of the local watering holes in Paphos.  I suspect that Status Quo would also do very well here.

Whilst in Paphos, Ross checked out a car he's interested to buy, and we also spent some time observing the locals who seemed intent on riding their supercharged roadbikes at low speed along the main promenade to show off their machines, muscle shirts and jewellry.  A mediterranean culture indeed..... 



Kids playing at the Paphos fort



Big Day

After this particular day, I have decided to make a plan and quarter it.  Living in a new country is exhausting and everything takes so long as I've usually never done it before.  For all my detail oriented female friends, I thought I'd document a day of my life here in Cyprus.  It has certainly been a struggle to get my head around some of the logistics of school start and finish times combined with Anna's sleep times and peak hour traffic.  Being our first full week here, it can only get easier.  OK, here goes my Wednesday:

6am wake up, breakfast, lunches etc..
7am ALL in the car (had to wake up Anna; she comes in her PJ's and coat)
7.15am arrive at school, take Sam in and get him settled, go to office
for admin stuff
8am back in the car, feeling a bit over confident as I haven't been lost for over 24hrs.
I take a wrong turn first up, end up in alley ways and one
way streets, get horribly lost & literally drive around in circles with no bearing on where on earth I am and then finally ask for help at a petrol station and find that I'm only 500m from home.  AARRGGHH!!!  All that took 45mins instead of 10 - what a waste of time.
9am - Anna and I both starving, make porridge, do morning house stuff
10am - realize that I've missed the ladies group I was going to attend.  No problem, so I take Anna for a walk up the street.  I need a pair of shoes (air freight still hasn't arrived so we're all living out of a suitcase still) so I walk up the street. Only 10mins walk from our house and I've got 6 different shoe shops around me including an ECCO store. Yippee.  I walk in and within minutes Anna has 4 very bored shop attendants staring at her trying to make her smile.  She bursts into tears instead (as she is doing with almost every new person she meets).  Shoe shopping is suddenly not so fun anymore.
11.30am - back home after stopping for a few groceries and discovering
where to fill up our water cooler bottles (that had been perplexing me for
days; it's amazing what one can find when on foot). 
11.35am - Had some chill out time with Anna out in the sun with a ball. (a pleasant 18 degrees).  Feel like an OK Mum again. I've missed not being around for Anna lately but I think I'm back.
12pm - make lunch and ring Mum & Dad
1pm - get in the car to collect kids from school
2pm - drive from school to Ross' office and get horribly lost again due to
reading the map upside down (derrr).
3pm - all off to inspect a few more houses to rent.  Getting closer finally. Still another month before we move in & our stuff arrives.
5pm - return home, kids all revoltingly tired, fighting, grizzly, thirsty and downright disgusting (but who can blame them?).
5.10pm - myself, Jess & Angus get back in the car on the way to Valentines Day party for school.
5.30pm - miraculously found a parking space and arrive at school on time
5.30 - 7.00pm - School party was great.  I volunteered on one of the activity tables (which was great avoidance of standing around having nobody to talk to) and the kids got into it and had a great time.
7.15pm - drive home and put kids to bed.
8.15pm - have my dinner whilst we put together a pros and cons list of the 2 houses we saw today and liked.
9.00pm - reply to an e-mail about getting a live-in maid (wow! what will I do with myself?)
10pm - de-brief on my day by e-mailing some mother buddies who might be somewhat interested in the minutiae my day!
Are you still with me? 

Mum and Jessie after the valentines day party

The Jolly Cypriot Radiographer

We need to share a brief tale about medical care Cyprus style.  As part of our local immigration and working visa process, we and the kids all need to complete some local medical tests to check that we're all healthy and not bringing any exotic Australian diseases onto the island.  Yesterday afternoon we were duly informed that our 'fixer' Kostas was going to meet us at the office and would escort us through the process which involved a round of blood tests at a pre-arranged clinic, and then a separate chest x-ray.  The blood tests were all fairly routine (apart from the fact that there were 3 staff instead of one carrying out each test...all wearing the official designated uniform of a white labcoat).  Once blood tests were complete, we jumped back in the car and followed Kostas to a non-descript apartment block and were led to the third floor and ushered into a makeshift waiting area in what appeared to be someones living room.  After a short wait (and some awkward questions from the kids about what was happening), a very jolly old Cypriot gentleman greeted us, pointed at Ross and Jessie, and in his broken english said "you and you, come with me".  We duly followed him down a short hallway and into another part of the apartment where he had installed a somewhat antiquated looking x-ray machine.  There was another young girl in the room, who turned out to be his 8 year old grand-daughter.  She was visiting grandpa for the afternoon whilst mum was having a manicure.  Whilst he was preparing the equipment for our chest x-rays, he mentioned that his grand-daughter had a touch of sinusitis and he had taken the grandfatherly precaution of taking an x-ray of her face (which he duly showed us and pointed out where the sinuses were blocked).  Fascinating stuff for Jessie as you could imagine. 

Anyway, Jessie and this girl became good friends over the next hour and a half while we were in the apartment getting our x-rays done.  One by one our x-rays were fitted in between other patients who had wandered into the waiting room with various ailments.  Each patient was greeted with a jolly welcome, and much discussion in Greek (which may well have been refering to the various chest x-rays of our family that had been taken.......a fairly liberal interpretation of patient confidentiality).  It wasn't entirely clear what the order of proceedings was, and there was no dressing room or gown provided.  When it was Sarah's turn for her x-ray, she undressed as instructed, only to be surprised when she turned around to find that the next round of patients had wandered in.   Never mind, the jolly Cypriot walked in and ushered them back down the hall to the living room/waiting area??  Meantime our four kids were moving freely around the apartment, including the main office where at one point Ross counted 12 people gathered around the radiographer's desk as he prepared the various x-ray documents.  Fortunately Kostas was on the case for us, and ensured that our paperwork was completed and all in order.  We made it out in under two hours - 6.30pm and four hungry kids, a roadmap, and 30mins peak hour Nicosia traffic to endure.  Plenty of time to debrief on the experience.

ps. did we mention that the jolly radiographer had a very stone faced dour looking wife who moved quietly through the apartment, xrays in hand constantly crossing the crowded waiting area to get access to the unfortunately placed x-ray developing room.  This is how everybody there came to know that Sarah and Angus' x-rays had to be repeated because Angus moved and apparently Sarah had an extra rib??!!   

Crossing over

Last Saturday we went for a walk in the old town of Nicosia and were able to cross the 'green line' into the Turkish half of the city.  The green line basically demarcates the border between the Greek part of Cyprus and the Turkish part.  This has been in place since the cessation of fighting between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1974, and effectively operates as a national border and divides the country in two.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the old town of Nicosia, which is divided by a UN patrolled border zone right through its heart.  Fighting between the Turks and Greeks over the country has long since ceased, but the issues that caused the original conflict remain open. 

A view of the north from Nicosia

The giant Turkish flag painted onto the mountains overlooking Nicosia serves as a constant reminder of the unresolved territorial dispute in the country.  Since 2002, crossing the green line is now relatively easy, with standard passport controls on each side. 

So off we went on Saturday, passports in hand and crossed into northern Nicosia.  The contrast is immediately striking - mosque minarets instead of Orthodox churches, turkish coffee houses instead of starbucks, and the ever present drone of haunting Turkish pop music.  We walked for a while but alas the kids were not entirely engaged with the experience and spent most of the time whinging about a) food b) tired legs or c) a notable lack of skateramps in Nicosia..........  Alas we continue to hope that they may be able to absorb some of the cultural significance of their experiences here in time!

Those of you who know Sam will be pleased (or somewhat perplexed) to know that his interest in female clothing items continues unabated.  Whilst in northern Nicosia he succeeded in persuading his parents to buy him a smart belly dancing shawl.  He's been busily dancing with it ever since.  He did want to wear it to school but we had to tell him that his classmates were not quite ready for this.

Long black boots and hard tiled floors.

The Greeks don't do things by halves when it comes to fashion.  I wonder if that started when they joined the European Union or whether it has always been like that.  Not sure what I did with my black leather jacket that I bought in Montenegro but I really need it now.  Luckily I have my black boots (which don't really cut it against the full leather black ones that go above the knee) however I really need to make more of an effort to always wear them out in public.  I got caught out today, dropping Angus at a birthday party, with my daggy red summer shoes over navy socks (bad look).  Found myself having a drink with a few of the parents with my handbag oh so discreetly over my feet.  Yes, I felt quite self-concious... My only excuse for such a fashion crime is that wearing my boots all day is so damn uncomfortable on all these hard tiled floors.

Speaking of hard tiled floors, 21mth old Anna should be wearing a helmet.  I can't even count the number of times she has slipped or stumbled on the tiles in the house.  Today was a cracker (literally) with a number of falls including a split to the head in which so much blood came out we debated taking her to a doctor for a stitch or two.  I really feel for Anna at present, the house is not so child friendly and she misses the familiarity of our Mona Vale home.  Combine that with a number of bruises and it's no wonder she's a bit grumpy.  Spare a thought for her parents also...!

Nature Abounds

Well, to be honest, my first impressions of this city have been that it's not particularly attractive.  There's a lot of concrete, a good jumble of apartment blocks, heaps of traffic in the peak hours and the streets, footpaths and parks not so well maintained.  HOWEVER, the small bit of nature that I have seen over this weekend has helped my spirits rise.  An early morning walk along a trail beside the river and, later this afternoon, some forest areas with walking trails on the edge of town both helped me see that Cyprus is very proud of the 'natural' part of their island.  There's something for me about accessing beautiful places and accessing the spirit within.  In possibly homesick times ahead, I thank God for His awesome creation and know that I will go there for stillness and solace.  I'll post a photo for you one day soon!  No doubt as we venture toward the coast we'll all be blown away by the beauty, I'll send you shots to make you head straight for the travel agent and you'll wonder what on earth I was whinging about!  Still trying to find our way through the city streets so perhaps a couple of weeks away yet. Signing out to put kids to bed.  Avrio.

From Jetlag I Emerge...

It is with some trepidation that I, Sarah, begin participating in this blog.  I am not of the generation that finds it normal for the whole world to hear my daily news.  So...given that...this is not what my blogging will be about (and please hold me to account on this).  I hope that it will be more about 'noticing'.  What I 'noticed' that perhaps struck me for some reason that is worthy of a blog entry.  Mmmm...I hope I'm not setting myself up here!  Let me get on with it.

As the title says, I am only today starting to feel normal and on real Cyprus time.  Anna has a few hours to go in the wee hours of the morning but she'll get there.  Speaking of Anna, she is quite dealy loved and admired here (as are all children).  Nobody could tolerate her tired cry at the supermarket this afternoon and many local Cypriots made great efforts to soothe her.  Unfortunately Anna won't go to anybody that doesn't have a Piper surname at present so she's not made any friends so far.

Today was a real winner in terms of progress as we saw the kids off to school. 

Jessie came home reciting numbers and days in French, Angus boasted of 2 new friends (Reiss & Rushie) and Sam was right at home taking on the Giant's voice in the re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk. All good news on that front with even a school party to look forward to next week.

As you can see in the background of this photo, there is a beautiful shady portico to sit under in the hot summer.  A far cry from that now with the temperature sitting around 8 degrees.  All the houses here seem especially designed for the heat.  Every square inch of floor is tiled, every room has an A/C and outdoor cooking and eating looks like the thing to do.  Roll along summer...

We are currently on the hunt for a more permanent place to rent.  We've seen 5 houses so far, with 2 different real estate agents to show us around.  A few things we've noted:

• why do they have so many bathrooms? It works out to almost 1 bathroom per bedroom!
• a backyard pool is hard to come by and the ones we've seen are very small and unfenced.
• no cabinet maker will starve here as every room is chockers with cupboards! So much so that I've seen cupboards tucked in behind doors and cupboards one needs a ladder to open.

Today we felt quite privileged to tour a beautiful big house with a massive garden full of olive trees, rosemary bushes, a decent sized pool and even a mini putt putt golf! Just a pity it's way out of town and way out of our price range.  We keep looking...

Just set myself up with a mobile phone today.  This will prevent the "mother with four children LOST" scenario happening again.  Yesterday, Ross needed to be on a call from home and since this tiled house is very noisy I thought I'd take the kids on our first expedition to the mall on the outskirts of town.  It started off as an everyday trip to the shops discovering the delights of IKEA (there's never one far from anywhere) and a purely Westernized glitzy shopping mall with a supermarket attendant having a very bad day. It finished off with me driving home in the dark trying to navigate a couple of massive round-a-bouts, taking several wrong turns, ending up in a village out of town, then finally asking a jewellry store attendant how the heck to get back to the city.  Thankfully not too many wise cracks from the back seat and a husband waiting at home who hadn't quite yet sent out the search party.  Yes, a mobile phone might have been handy.



And one last bit before I retire.  The Greek Alphabet above is my homework for the next week.  I am determined to be able to read the signs that are all around me.  And, once I can do that, I can start to look them up in my dictionary and translate them. Isn't learning a language hard enough without having to re-learn the alphabet?

Anyway, time to sign out.  Until next time...Kalinikhta (good night).

Arrival

Jessie, Angus, Sam and Anna upon arrival in Cyprus

Well we made it.  Arrived in Cyprus yesterday morning.  Flight wasn't too bad, apart from Anna having a reasonably major meltdown for an hour or two on the plane between Dubai and Larnaca.  Ah yes, the joys of travelling with a two year old.  Too old to sleep in a bassinet, too young to watch cartoons or be easily occupied.  The dead zone as someone once called it, when long distance travel should only be attempted with the aid of some heavy sedation (and that's only referring to the parents).  It's a bit like when one of the Apollo spacecraft rounds the moon.  There's a period of time when all radar contact with earth is lost.  A surreal moment where it feels like one is travelling in a parallel universe........but I digress.  Back to the main story.

We arrived in reasonably good shape.  The kids tested some of their elementary Greek on the customs officer at the airport, who was fortunately a good humoured chap and still let us into the country.  All our bags arrived intact and out we ventured to waiting arrivals area.  We'd been told to look for a driver by the name of Paul at the airport - Sam was on the case early and approached several waiting taxi drivers to ask if their name was Paul and was their car going to be big enough for us.  Fortunately we found Paul with ease, and were soon on our way to Nicosia some 40 minutes away. 


The first thing that gets you about this place is the light.  It's mid-winter here but it still feels like you need sunglasses for most of the day.  The countryside is greener than we expected, and the architecture has a distinct mediterranean feel to it.  Our temporary accommodation in Nicosia is a  large comortable house near the centre of town.  Nicosia is a city of approximately 200,000 people, notable for the fact that it's last divided city on earth with it's northern half sitting in a zone that has been occupied by Turkey since 1974.  Residents in Nicosia are reminded of this daily by the large 'football field sized' Turkish flag that has been painted onto the mountains facing Nicosia from the north.   

We've had a very warm welcome here thus far, including a landlady who lives next door and keeps baking cakes for us, and landlord who appears every 5 minutes with several tradespeople to stand and talk in low Greek tones whilst one of them changes a light bulb or some other maintenance task in the house.  The World Vision staff here have been fantastic, and have made sure our introduction to Cypriot life is a positive one.

The kids slept for 14 hours last night, so hopefully a fairly painless transition to the new timezone. 

Travelling lighter

Some brief reflections on cleaning up our house before leaving Australia.  Why is it that we accumulate so much stuff?  Someone once said to us that the more you own the less free you are, and I think there is some truth in this. We went through the process of sorting through what we needed in Cyprus, what we would store and what we would either sell or throw out.  Amazing how much stuff we actually threw out or passed onto unsuspecting friends whose children attended our recent garage sale and walked away with a wheelbarrow full of toys.........apologies to all, but there's always that next council cleanup! 


It feels good to be travelling a little lighter for a while in terms of posessions.  We'll see how long this lasts with four kids! 



Lightening the load at our recent garage sale