Hot, Hot, Hot

Today we were going to walk around the Salt Lake, which is completely dried up at the moment, but we wanted to crunch salt with our feet. However, it was just too hot - I think we've slipped back into
summer - it was 31 Deg C in the shade at 9.30am as we set off. We investigated the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque, revelling in the experience of walking barefoot on carpet again - haven't felt that for a year now! By this time it was 10.45, and getting hotter, so the Salt Lake walk was abandoned in favour of the beach.

It was hot there too as there was little breeze - not like the day this photo was taken!

After a couple of hours we just had to head off for
ice cream.

We've been in Cyprus for one year now, and it
definately wasn't this hot when we arrived this time last year. Weird.

Stavrovouni Monastery

This morning, the electricity suddenly started going on and off - lights flashing, phone beeping, speakers crackling! Weird. Then it went off. Completely.


We decided to get out for the day, as there wasn't really any way of knowing how long this was going to go on for, and it was lovely and warm outside but chilly in the house. So we threw some food in a bag and drove off to the Stravrovouni Monastery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavrovouni_Monastery

We didn't take the normal (road) route up, we decided to try the track, which would have been perfect for a 4x4 truck of some kind, but a bit of a hairy experience in a Mitsubishi Charisma!! We did hear some scraping and crunching from underneath as we negotiated summits of hills and where there were deep ruts (yeek!). Of course there were no signs, so whenever we reached forks in the road, we just guessed. One such guess took us on a detour through a fruit farm, winding through tracks lined with oranges and lemons, eventually meeting the farmer in an olive lane. He was very friendly (probably thought we were mad), and he showed us the way to the road again, and unlocked his back gates to let us through!
The white, bare trees in the photo are fig trees.


The views from the Monastery car park were lovely, we could see from Larnaca and the salt lakes over to Nicosia and the North beyond.


The electricity was back on by the time we got home, the woman in the village shop reckons it was an accident ("usually a digger accident"). Seems like it happens fairly regularly then!!

Solstice celebrations too

Next day (Sun 21st), we greeted the sun, opened presents, and went to the harbour. Cara & Sam took bamboo sticks and made fishing rods (with no intention of catching anything of course), while Sean & Ronan got wet again.

Cara & Sam found some dead fish, and we saw a big octopus moving around under a boat in the harbour (yeeeeucchh!) before hunger drove us home for a Solstice Feast, enhanced by Sam's napkin-on-fire stunt.

We finished the day off with a chocolates treasure hunt in the dark followed by a movie, where we almost managed to eat all the chocolates!

Solstice celebrations

A beach fire seemed like a great way to mark the Winter Solstice this year, so off we went with a box full of snacks to toast on the flames.

We scrambled over quite a lot of rocks to get to this deserted little spot, where we watched the sunset and got very sticky with scorched, gooey marshmallows as our fire danced against the rocks.

No moon meant that by the time we left at 6.30, it was very dark! Hmmm... faced with the choice of 100m of clambering over all those rocks again with picnic box, 2 fishing rods and 3 children or going up the short, steep ascent to the track above, we decided to take the latter option. Sean & I took the stuff up top first, leaving the kids on the beach, clinging together for safety from the giant monster squid that was sure to slither out of the sea and grab them!

We did go back for them, and they did brilliantly well scrambling up the slope, feeling their way on hands and feet. At the top, it was declared that this evening (the first part of our Solstice celebrations) had been a Grand Adventure!

Home Education and School for the Barefoot kids.

28 November 2008:
I'm feeling the pain of no routine right now, but we just can't seem to get into the swing of home education again. I was wondering whether the kids would be better off at school. Then a strange thing happened. I heard that there were Greek lessons for kids in a nearby village, paid for by the government, and run by the local teacher in after school hours. My 3 were keen, so we decided to check them out.

I also sat in on the lesson which was 1 hour and 15 minutes long. The first 30-40 minutes went well, then I noticed that Cara (8) had kind of glazed over, was yawning and not paying any attention. Another 5 minutes and Ronan (10) was doing the same, looking at his watch, and fidgeting around. Sam was doing his own thing, drawing on his bit of paper, so he was quite happy. I was suddenly transported back in time to my own school days, attending but non attentive. Watching Cara was like looking in a time travel mirror, the glazed, 'wish I was somewhere else, but I know I've got to sit here' look on her face. It was really interesting to watch them, and REMEMBER how many hours I spent in a class, wishing, wishing, I was somewhere else, only a tiny portion of my awareness in the classroom (just enough to keep me out of trouble!!).

So, a timely reminder really. Home education isn't perfect, not by a long shot. But, for us, it's definately preferable to the classroom alternative. It's something about freedom... freedom to choose to do something else, freedom to decide how to spend a day, freedom to think about whatever you want, whenever you want.

Phew. The school experience has also given me a metaphoric kick in the butt to organise our day more efficiently, and prepare learning material for the kids. A new system!! (yep, another one, but hey, I'm enjoying the freedom of changing my mind too!!).

A new addition to the family

5th November 2008

Finally, finally, after so much waiting, Cara (8) has a hamster. We spent a mad day in Nicosia (or Lefkosia as the Cypriots say), getting some things at Ikea, then searching all over the place for a shop called Pet City.

"It's easy to find!" says the man on the phone, just turn left (or right) at the coffee shop, or further on, or we're on the main street or perhaps a back road.

After a ridiculous length of time and many, many U-turns (thank goodness I wasn't driving), we found it, and one delighted daughter spent most of her saved up money on a baby hamster and all the trappings. This is Moonsilver, and I don't know how much more love a little hamster can take.

Settling In

Early Nov: Phew, it's good to stop somewhere for a while!! This house suits us well for the moment. And there are no water cuts in this village which is strange because everywhere else seems to have alternate days where the mains water is switched off, and they use the roof tanks for supply.

We've sent for our 13 boxes (our worldly possessions!!) from Scotland.

Thoughts on Cyprus so far.....

Very dry - the island is parched after the long hot summer.

And building work! It's going on everywhere! They are definitely gearing up for a huge influx of people.

Larnaca: I love how Larnaca's beach is so accessible from the town. Here I was, shopping in the town with hot, hot feet, so I simply cross the road onto the sand and cool them off in the sea!

This picture is Larnaca promenade - shops and restaurants on right, beach on left.

Driving: well, same side as the UK, but different rules, especially around use of the horn! Honk Happy or what!!

Ah, lemon trees - I love to see the lemon trees with their abundance of fruits. Figs, grapes, pomegranates and oranges are all being harvested now.

I love the little teeny cucumbers here, they are so crunchy.

The smell of jasmine in the evenings, and the feel of a warm wind.

The pleasant temperature of the sea.

The mix of old traditional and modern - farmers in old tractors trundling along the roads being overtaken by 4x4's and BMWs. Older women dressed in black sweeping outside their modest homes only a stones throw from luxury villas with electric gates, statues and swimming pools. Souvlaki (kebab) being cooked over the coals on the pavements not so far from McDonalds, KFC et al.

Blue skies in the day and clear, starry nights. It's so wonderful to see the stars every night!!

So far, so good (nobody has asked to return to Scotland yet!).