American in Cyprus: Some Little News

This past weekend we paid a second visit to the Melios Zoo located just outside of Nicosia. The majority of animals are different variety of birds but they also have farm animals, kangaroos, and some deer. We had let the kids pick the activity for the day and this is what they chose. Last spring when we were there the kids spent a long time at the playground, but it had some major safety issues in my opinion. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a brand new playground is now there and it seems perfectly safe.
In local news, Cyprus is currently in the process of electing a new president. With the current financial crisis, Cypriots are just happy to have someone new coming in. The current president did not bother to run for reelection. He is hugely unpopular at this point. Last Sunday was election day. Since there is more than two dominant parties here (there were five candidates, three with a significant number of votes), there is a law that says a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote to be elected president. Since that did not happen on Sunday, part two of the election will be held this weekend with the top two candidates being the only ones on the ballot. They have a great voter turnout here, around 86%.
The weather here has continued to be very mild. During the day the temperatures are in the 60's and it gets down into the 40's at night. We arrived in Cyprus in the middle of last winter, and when we got here all the locals kept telling us what a harsh winter it was. To us it didn't seem bad, but now I know what they meant. Last year daytime temps were closer to 40-50 degrees and there was quite a bit of rain. Still not that bad. On most days I am fine with just a light jacket (and I am always cold) and when in the car we usually have the windows partially down. All the plants are green right now and there are many flowers blooming. Not too bad for February, but I still missed not being around for the big blizzard in Boston!