Hello, Sarah here. Whilst Ross has travelled far and wide; apart from the odd trip across the Green Line, the other 5 Pipers haven't been anywhere. A week of listening to Eurovision songs is about as International as we've got but boy do we know our 2011 Eurovision songs! Not only did the kids have their own family voting scheme worked out, they also stayed up very late to watch the Final and now, several weeks later, are giving us countless performances from their favourite entries. The pictures below are from a very spirited dance to Romania's song "I can't change the world".
Only 2 and a bit weeks to go now until the summer holidays start here. I previously thought that a whopping 12 week break with all 4 kids at home should just about drive me around the bend and became a tad fearful of school breaking up. However, not long ago I was rescued when the heavenly "Summer School" note emerged out of the kids' school bags. So for 5 weeks, Jessie & Angus will spend mornings doing a school holiday programme and then in the afternoons hang out at the local pool with Sam, Anna & myself.
Despite the weather heating up rapidly (most days around 30 degrees), the kids are reluctant to go to swimming lessons. For J & A, it's just hard work swimming laps, and for Sam he gets cold in the water and has a teacher with no kid skills. (how I miss the Aussie style swim lessons!) This makes 2 afternoons a week a bit of a drag for Mum but I keep meeting interesting people at the pool so I don't mind so much.
The driving here continues to amaze and amuse. I figure that if I don't laugh and marvel at the Cypriots' cheekiness on the road then I'll probably just ram into one of them on purpose SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY WERE ASKING FOR IT. I mean, how far can a car poke it's nose onto a main road hoping to be let in? The answer here from the average Nicosia driver seems to be "as far as I need to to make the oncoming traffic stop so that I can get where I'm going". The weird thing is that too many people do stop and let them in thus perpetuating the problem and creating a lot of strange traffic scenarios. In a funny sort of way, however, it all still seems to work and those people who stop to let people in must arrive at work feeling awfully generous. I've tried it even myself.
The other strange traffic phenomenon that I'm still getting used to is sharing the narrow roads with MASSIVE bulldozers and excavators. No flashing lights or bulldozer body guards to warn us of their presence. Quite a wake up call resulting in my becoming a much more alert driver.
All is well here on the home front and we've been pleased this past weekend to have Ross around. The kids had some friends around to play, we went to a friends' farewell gathering (Angus' best friend is heading back to USA), and then last night headed out for Doner Kebab in the Turkish side of the Old Town. We wanted to take a bit of a 'look around' walk, which the kids are never too keen on, so Ross told them they all had to count 40 cats before we would even think about buying them dinner. Lucky they spotted a full litter at one point... Today we went to church and then were invited back for lunch with a family who live in a village outside Nicosia.
Monica is with us for 6 days out of 7 and fast becoming a very appreciated element. She's great with Anna and always hard working and cheerful. She had a birthday recently which we enjoyed making a big deal of. It has been a huge adjustment for me, having her here, on many levels. More about that some other blog. For now.....Kala Nichta (good night). No, I shouldn't have written that - it makes the Greek language look easy but it's NOT! Twice a week I go to mind gym (alias Greek classes) and then have nobody to practice on except intolerant shop keepers. I'm getting too old for this....
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| Note that Sam's fascination with frocks continues unabated... |
Only 2 and a bit weeks to go now until the summer holidays start here. I previously thought that a whopping 12 week break with all 4 kids at home should just about drive me around the bend and became a tad fearful of school breaking up. However, not long ago I was rescued when the heavenly "Summer School" note emerged out of the kids' school bags. So for 5 weeks, Jessie & Angus will spend mornings doing a school holiday programme and then in the afternoons hang out at the local pool with Sam, Anna & myself.
Despite the weather heating up rapidly (most days around 30 degrees), the kids are reluctant to go to swimming lessons. For J & A, it's just hard work swimming laps, and for Sam he gets cold in the water and has a teacher with no kid skills. (how I miss the Aussie style swim lessons!) This makes 2 afternoons a week a bit of a drag for Mum but I keep meeting interesting people at the pool so I don't mind so much.
The driving here continues to amaze and amuse. I figure that if I don't laugh and marvel at the Cypriots' cheekiness on the road then I'll probably just ram into one of them on purpose SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY WERE ASKING FOR IT. I mean, how far can a car poke it's nose onto a main road hoping to be let in? The answer here from the average Nicosia driver seems to be "as far as I need to to make the oncoming traffic stop so that I can get where I'm going". The weird thing is that too many people do stop and let them in thus perpetuating the problem and creating a lot of strange traffic scenarios. In a funny sort of way, however, it all still seems to work and those people who stop to let people in must arrive at work feeling awfully generous. I've tried it even myself.
The other strange traffic phenomenon that I'm still getting used to is sharing the narrow roads with MASSIVE bulldozers and excavators. No flashing lights or bulldozer body guards to warn us of their presence. Quite a wake up call resulting in my becoming a much more alert driver.
Monica is with us for 6 days out of 7 and fast becoming a very appreciated element. She's great with Anna and always hard working and cheerful. She had a birthday recently which we enjoyed making a big deal of. It has been a huge adjustment for me, having her here, on many levels. More about that some other blog. For now.....Kala Nichta (good night). No, I shouldn't have written that - it makes the Greek language look easy but it's NOT! Twice a week I go to mind gym (alias Greek classes) and then have nobody to practice on except intolerant shop keepers. I'm getting too old for this....
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