A climb into the clouds

Part of the castle before the cloud came in

A few weeks ago we finally made the steep trek up to Buffavento castle in the north. Buffavento is one of three main castles that sit atop the main mountain range that crosses the northern part of the island.  The three castles, St Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara, date back to the 11th century, and have been used as defence and observation posts by the Byzantines, Venetians, Ottomans and various other ruling powers throughout the island's history.  All three lie approx 1km above sea level, with a precipitous drop on one side down to the northern coastline.  On a clear day the views are spectacular, with a vista all the way Turkey and some of the higher peaks of Syria and Lebanon.  Alas we were amid the clouds on our recent climb, so just had to imagine the view.

The ever present flag. It even flashes at night!

Spring is a beautiful time of year here, especially after a wet winter as the island is green with plenty of wildflowers. Over the coming months we're planning to again visit some of our favourite parts of the island, including a break over Easter in the west near the Akamas Peninsula.  All this before the hotter summer weather hits!

A few other events in our lives over recent weeks:

- A lovely dinner with friends and colleagues from Ross' work.  One of the couples, Zaza and Tikka, are Georgian and we enjoyed sampling the 'katchapouri' (cheese bread) that Tikka had made
- A shopping trip for Jessie in the north with some of her Turkish Cypriot girlfriends from school.  Negotiating checkpoints and passport control adds a new dimension to the post shopping parental pickup arrangements!
- A combined schools concert where Jessie sang in the choir

School holidays starts at the end of this week, and kids are looking forward to a break.

A few more pics of our Buffavento castle climb and other recent activities below:

A break at the top

A friend Rene with Turkish Cypriot flag in the background

Jessie and Hannah on the climb

Anna in her best climbing attire!

The long trip down

Anyone for homemade Georgian katchapouri?

Dinner with good friends

Can you spot Jessie?

Angus and 'Mr Chris', his coach at Arsenal

Jessie makes her way from the Greek Cypriot checkpoint
after a girlie shopping trip in the north

Sarah and Gus, with the old town walls nearby

It's spring, and the marching season is upon us!

The streets are cleared before the marching begins

During the few months leading up to Easter, you don't have to go far in Cyprus before you hear drumming and the practiced footsteps of students marching.  There are a number of 'national' days during this period, and each typically involves marches through cities and towns to commemorate different historic events.  The most recent of these was last Tuesday, where a public holiday marks Greek Independence Day.  Thousands of students marched in Nicosia, along with various military and other Government groups. Some good friends of ours live on a street where the marching is regularly practiced, so they have grown accustomed to wearing ear plugs through the months of March and April!

Angus out the front of the Phaneromi
Church, where the politicians gather
prior to march commencement

The Presidential cars await

And they're off!

Aside from all the marching and public holidays this month, we are all well.  Ross has had a decent break from travelling in March, so it's been good to be able to enjoy various school and social events together as a family.  These have included the International Day at the school, and Ross also managed to sneak in a half marathon in Limmasol a few weeks back (and is slowly recovering the use of his legs again as his middle-age muscles recover)!

Menaka and some of her friends were on
hand to cheer Ross over the line for the
Limmasol Half Marathon

Sam showing some patriotic fervour for International Day

The choir performs at International Day

Anna boldly perseveres with her show at International Day,
despite not being at all in the mood for a performance!

And of course the obligatory Greek dancing, which is a regular feature at school events!

A practical helping hand

As the civil war in Syria enters its fourth year, the number refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons within Syria continues to increase.  With no end to the conflict in sight, the Syria civil war now ranks as the world's worst humanitarian crisis in terms of number of people impacted and displaced. World Vision's response to the crisis has expanded over the past 12 months, with a significant scaling up of operations in Jordan and Lebanon, and also within Syria itself.      

Even from Cyprus there have been opportunities to provide some practical assistance.  Last month World Vision staff, families and other community volunteers gathered to sort and pack a container of clothing and other items that had been donated from schools and community organisations across the island.  The container has since been shipped to Lebanon, and the items distributed to Syrian refugee families.  The generosity of the Cypriot community in donating the goods was overwhelming, which is noteworthy given the ongoing economic challenges being faced here in Cyprus.

The brief clip below shows the volunteers (including some of the Piper kids) hard at work in packing the container.

Angus turns 10

Some birthdays can be a bit 'Ho Hum' but when Gus turned 10, it wasn't one of those times.  This was a birthday that lasted at least 20 days and we happened to catch a fair bit of it on film.  So, here it is: an entire blog about Gus' 10th Birthday!

Quick!  Only 15mins until the bus comes. 

Chewing gum from Anna, footy cards from Sam, a phone cover from Jessie, a bike lock from Menaka, a football from Mia & Bo, and a new bike from Mum & Dad.  Not bad going!

Meanwhile... Dad is trying to skype from London
but sadly the computer is on mute and we don't hear it.
Whoops; sorry Dad!

Off to a great day at school where his class mates throw him a surprise birthday party.  Then, that evening, it's the Talent Quest (see previous blog) and after that, it's home for CAKE.

Yum...Mum's caramel cake with edible footballs!

"Don't eat the shoes; they'll be stinky like yours!"

Then, it's all pretty normal for a week or so until we head out for Gus' family birthday dinner together whilst on holidays. It's crisp, cold and snowing as we walk to the family Italian restaurant.  Great food, funny stories about our day's adventures and the ritual birthday encouragements from all.

Last but not least was the party.  Usually in the Piper family, it's a birthday party with friends every 2nd year.  Since Gus had not had a big party ever (always choosing just to have one or two friends to celebrate) Mum said yes to inviting the whole class AND Mum said yes to holding it at "Extreme Park".

The whole celebration was made much simpler by sharing the event with his good friend Izem; a Turkish Cypriot girl in his class who was turning 11.  Here are some pics:

Rashid is the little guy to the left of Gus.  His friend in Cyprus from Day 1.

Sam had a great time hanging out with all the older girls

Thick as thieves...Gaspard and Alexander

Definitely the cake was more nutritious than the meal. 

Think cold McDonalds but worse...

"Happy Birthday to you"

A somewhat unique gift from Gus' French friend Gaspard:
2 cans of spray paint and a mask!

A night at the school talent show

A few weeks ago Sarah and the kids enjoyed a night at the school talent show.  This is an annual show, and usually includes an eclectic cross-section of performances ranging from musicians, singers, rappers, dance and drum solos (a particular favourite for Ross).  The performances are of all standards, and its all the kids are encouraged to have a go.  Ross was away travelling this year and was sorry to miss the show, but luckily some video footage was available.  See below for some excerpts of the Piper contribution to the show:

Sam was also itching to perform but alas was too young this year!

Madonna di Campiglio

Wow!  What a week.  It sounds a little indulgent but we'll probably only say (and do) it once in our lives: "just returned from a week's skiing in Italy".  Incredible.  One way to really appreciate living in the northern hemisphere.  We stayed in the village of Madonna di Campiglio, part of the Italian Alps (the Dolomites) approx 2.5hrs drive from Milan.  Our self-contained apartment was right near two main cable cars and from there we had access to 3 different ski resorts with a total of 118 runs.  The weather was a great mix of sun, snow and white-outs allowing the kids to see how changeable the mountains can be.

Jessie and Angus both do well on skis and snowboard, but for Sam and Anna it was their first experience of being on skis.  They had lessons each morning for 6 days and in the afternoons (after Day 3) we managed to take off all together down the slopes.  It was a great moment for Ross and I to see all four of our kids skiing/boarding down the mountain.  No broken arms, no massive melt-downs (except when it was truly warranted), and only a teensy bit of sibling rivalry as Sam's 'technique' tried to compete with Anna's 'speed'.  I have never smiled so much at seeing Anna gunning it down an intermediate slope in her little red ski suit and her look of confusion when I call out "turn! Anna, turn!".  Lets face it, why would she want to turn?  It seems that her skiing style is similar to the Italians....they ski like they drive!

Since all the lessons were in a foreign language and Gus and Jess were having a ball just hanging out together we let them off ski school and gave them each a private lesson mid-way through the week.  Gus' instructor was John; a big goggles, small face kind of guy who taught him some new tricks at the snow park.  Jessie skied with a blonde Italian uni student named Lara who really increased her confidence on the steeper slopes.  By the end of the week they were looking everywhere for the best powder side tracks and jumps.  Lucky it was compulsory for all kids under 14yrs to wear helmets, especially when Gus bumped his head trying to ride a rail.  Ross enjoyed cruising the slopes with all the kids, and for me it was simply great to be skiing in such a majestic place.  One of these days I'm going to get myself a lesson on how to look less clumsy on bumps.

There was one day when the weather changed and we had quite an adventure.  Remarkably we came out of it unscathed.  So memorable in fact it was worth trying to pen a few verses about it.  Forgive the lack of rhythm....and enjoy the story!

PIPERS IN A MESS

It started out fine, Day 4 of skiing,

The Dolomites, they were a-singing,

We were on the first lift, Jess, Gus and Mum,

Whilst the little ones to Dad, were a-clinging.

Our morning exploring in a brand new resort,

A snowboard and skis, all we need,

Snowflakes adrift on our gloves in Pinzola,

With Gus constantly taking the lead.

Sam & Anna to lessons with Italian friends to make,

Dad now had 3 hours on his own, 

No time to lose with the powder building up,

Get out on the slopes, forget the phone!

Cafe Viviani was the lunch spot place to meet,

All six of us together now, with stories that would keep,

The sun had gone behind a cloud and fog it was a-forming,

The afternoon's adventure was a memory in the dawning.

We took to the slopes - nice and slow

A Piper family snake

Falling snow and pea soup fog

Our 10yr old calling "you're late!"

Mr Impatient was Gus you see,

His snowboard was too quick,

"Stay on this run, don't drift away,

the snow is getting thick".

Jess was happy, leading the turns,

Sam just loved to follow,

Anna charged down on pizza skis

As if there was no tomorrow.

Whilst Sarah was there to catch the slides,

Ross was reading the map,

A fork in the run, so hard to see,

Oh no, we're on the wrong track!

Not long after that and what do we find?

The steepest, longest slope ever,

"Is that run a red? I'm sure it's a black",

Not something we'd planned to endeavour.

But there's no going back at the top of a slope,

So the little ones just had to brave it,

Between our legs, they slipped and they slide-d,

If we'd seen a skidoo, we'd have waved it.

A Dutchman came along, saw us not having fun,

And kindly offered his help to Mum,

He took Anna's skis and delivered them to Ross,

Whilst Anna slid down on her bum.

With Gus now lost, on the slope next door,

Sam & Jessie waiting - WHAT A BORE,

Dad carrying Mum's poles and Anna's skis as well,

And Mum holding Anna who was crying loud as hell.

Ross says "lets keep moving, the chair-lift is not far",

"Not far?" says Sarah, eyes ablaze,"we'll need a ruddy car!"

Amidst all Anna's moaning, Ross comes upon a plan,

He's going to drag 2 kids up hill, like Clarke Kent-Superman.

Sarah takes a minute to think these actions through,

"Our daughter's hypothermic Ross, there's only one thing to do,

I'll get Anna into someplace warm whilst you take Sam up the hill,

Jessie can join me with Anna; I'll pay the hot chocolate bill".

The cafe was more of a restaurant, a ritzy one at that,

But they were kind to Anna, sympathy they did not lack,

Ross returned from his trudge up the hill to find Anna on Mum's lap,

Wrapped in a blanket, noisily drinking, no longer in a flap.

Thank goodness for the Italian man, who drove Anna & Dad up the hill,

Jess & Mum were keen to ski home, hoping to find Gus "yes we will".

The weather was cold and the fog still around with Mum warning Jess against stunts,

But to her surprise she had gone down the slope with her skis in reverse back to front!

As the last lifts closed we found Gus outside home, 

No key and needing a wee,

In no time at all the others returned, the little ones cold I confess,

We took a hot bath and remembered the day that the Piper clan got in a mess!

Thanks for persevering right to the end.  Here's a much easier work of art to enjoy:  A short family ski video kindly produced by Jessie!

Anna and Sam receive their trophies after races on the
final day of lessons

Stunning scenery in the Dolomites

Protests and birthdays

The protesters gather in front of the embassy next door

It's been interesting living next door to a Ukrainian embassy with the current unrest affecting the Ukraine.  Whilst there are only a small number of Ukrainian citizens living in Cyprus, on a few occasions over recent months there have been protests outside the embassy.  The most recent of these was last weekend, where a group of around 50 people gathered to sing and light candles in solidarity with the protesters in Kiev. Unlike protests at other Ukrainian embassies around the world, the gatherings in Cyprus have been quiet and peaceful.  One of our World Vision staff here in Cyprus is Ukrainian, and he is not hopeful on progress towards peaceful resolution of the current situation within the country.

A birthday dinner for Sam

In the meantime life continues as normal for us.  We enjoyed celebrating Sam's 7th birthday a few weeks back.  He was delighted to receive a suit and 'fashion glasses' as his main gift.  Not being one to shy away from the theatrical side of things, he has been wearing the suit at every opportunity, and his friends were suitably impressed when he wore his new glasses to school.  Angus continues to love his football, and plays several times a week.  Jessie remains obsessed about musicals.  Her current favourite is Wicked, and we are learning the appreciate the music from this musical as it seems to be on constant repeat at home!  And Anna has just asked that training wheels come off her bicycle, and seems to be growing up too fast.  At the moment she cannot decide whether she wants to do ballet or football.  The mere fact that she has expressed some passing interest in ballet is interesting for us; she has been far more the tom-boy than tom-girl thus far!    

The ambassador speaks with the protesters

The new suit

Happy Birthday Sam!

Anna and her friend Lukas

A sleepover with some friends

First day out with no training wheels

I wonder who this could be??