Movie Night

Here is a short conversation I had with Alex a few days ago:
Me:  Would you like to go to the movie Toy Story 3?
Alex:  Is it in Greek?
Me:  No, it says it will be in English.
Alex:  Will they be talking in funny English?

At first Demetris though he meant they would be saying funny things, but Alex was wondering if they would be speaking with a British accent. In Cyprus almost all native English speakers are British, and I have to agree, it does sound a bit funny.
After a day at the beach yesterday, we quickly cleaned up, ate dinner, and once Sofia strapped on her party shoes we were ready for movie night. This was the first time our kids had been to a theater for a movie.  It was held at an open air theater in a residential area of Nicosia. It was a medium size place with patio style chairs set on steps. Nothing fancy but being outside was nice. Sofia was shy at first and wouldn't face the screen until I held her on my lap, but in no time she was laughing along. The surprise was that it turned out to be in Greek after all. It didn't matter. We enjoyed it anyway. There was even an intermission to allow us to get more snacks.  Alex said it was a great movie!

Before the movie

The big screen

Engrossed in the movie

Village People

Lots to catch up on today.  We have spent the past week and a half at the village and there is no Internet connection there.  It makes us realize how much we depend on our computers.  A week ago this past Thursday we made our way to the village.  On our way, we stopped at the airport to pick up Aunt Margaret who was arriving from Athens.  She is married to Uncle Yiannis who is Electra's brother.  Uncle Yiannis had arrived the previous week, but Aunt Margaret had to pay a visit to her mother before coming.  Margaret is originally from Holland, and she and Yiannis have spent most of their married life in Athens.  They have a house in the village next to Electra's.  Demetris' siblings and families were also at the village because during this time of year pretty much everyone in Cyprus goes on vacation.  There happens to be a holiday on August 15 (Assumption of the Virgin Mary) and everyone plans time off around this.  We did our best to make the most of our time there.  One day we took the kids to a water park and they had a great time.  Alex and I went down some pretty big slides many times.  Sofia liked just playing in the water and floating down the lazy river in a tube with me.  The day ended with a bang.  As we were leaving, someone ran a stop sign in the parking lot and hit Diana and Michalis' car.  Quite a bit of damage on the front end.
Demetris and I like to search out new places to see.  One day we were planning to head to a beach, and on the way there we saw a hand painted sign that said, "beach this way."  It pointed down a rough dirt road but we chanced it and found a bit of a hidden jewel.  It was a beach in a small cove with only about twenty other people.  There weren't any amenities there, but the water was clear and the scenery beautiful.  On other days we enjoyed driving through the mountains and trying to squeeze in a bit of exercise when possible, including taking the kids on walks.  During our down time we watched the Olympics.  Cyprus won a silver medal in laser sailing, the first Olympic medal ever won by a Cypriot!

Picnic under the large cypress trees in Salamiou

An aqueduct we discovered on one of our adventures

This is all that remains of the river during the dry summer months

Aunt Margaret joined us on a hike on the Caledonia trail

Scenery at our newly discovered beach

The boys had to climb the rocks at the beach and Demetris ended up with another scraped leg.

"Little" Electra and Sofia

The ancient bridge, the last bridge we saw

 Alex asked to be the guest blogger tonight.  I'll give a bit of background so that you understand what he wrote a bit more.  There are three Venetian bridges in Cyprus.  We have visited the first two, but the third is more allusive.  It is shown on maps, but there is only a dirt road to reach it, and of course they aren't really named.  We did quite a bit of exploring one day and finally ran across the bridge.  The pictures are dark because it was late afternoon when we got there and it was a very shaded area.  Here's what Alex had to say:
It was the best  bridge that I saw.  It was a pretty big adventure and we finally found it.  We had to hurry home because it was going to get dark.  I went over it.  It was freezing freezing water and even little rocks made a huge splash. I don't know how they make a huge splash and if I throw rocks and they don't make a splash that means they don't go in the water.  I think it was a pretty good bridge.  The End.

From far away it looks like you can't walk on it, that it's just a decoration, but you can walk on it. `

Daddy is so cool in this picture

Me and daddy by the bridge and there was a big drop if we walked some more

It's pretty cool that it has so many trees. 

Birthday Boy

Alex turned five yesterday.  We had a day full of celebrating, beginning in the morning with opening presents.  He liked everything he got.  For lunch we went to his favorite spot:  McDonald's.  Aunt Maria was nice enough to make the cake for him, and I spent part of the afternoon decorating it with the symbol for the Apoel soccer team.  While we were out doing some errands, it started to pour rain.  It is much needed around here, but really flooded the streets.  In the evening, we met the entire family (except grandma who is still at the village) at a place for the party.  Alexis and Stephanos came home from the army for the weekend so they were also able to join us.  Alex loved the party place.  It was quite large and all outside.  There were tables for dinner in the middle and they were surrounded by bounce houses, a playground, ball pit area, etc.  All of the cousins had a blast running around and playing.  They really didn't want to stop to eat.  The food was quite good, served family style.  We had our cake and Alex received even more presents.  We got home around midnight with two exhausted kids.  Today we went to a park to test out his new remote control car, airplane, and skateboard, and he was excited to wear his new fast running shoes.  Here's to many more great birthdays for him.

Now he can do some more work

Opening the airplane

Alexis and Stephanos arrive home and join the celebration

The "big" kids

The little sister

The finished product

Officially FIVE

The past week

Last Friday we once again headed to the village for the weekend.  Themis and Maria and kids brought grandma up the following day. We did some work around the house, but one of the main goals was to have air conditioning installed!  It is a couple of weeks late for my family to enjoy, but still much appreciated by us.  Since we needed to move furniture in the room we use to make space for the workers, we took advantage of the time and also cleaned out the room and rearranged the furniture.  We now have more space to move around and also made a small sitting area.  We went to a beach that is fairly close to the village one day and other than that mostly took it easy.  On Tuesday morning we picked up Uncle Yiannis at the airport.  He is Electra's youngest brother and lives in Athens.  His wife will be arriving next week.  Prior to their planned trip to Cyprus, her mother, who is 98 years old, fell and broke her hip.  She had it operated on, and is already at home and moving around.  Sounds like she is a feisty lady.  We then drove Yiannis to the village, and he will stay there with his siblings and we will join them next week.  This is the time for birthdays in our families.  Yesterday was my moms and today is Curt, Grandma Electra, and Stefanos and Alexis.  Happy birthday to all of them.  Stefanos and Alexis are currently in the army but were able to come home for several hours today. They entered the army a few weeks ago, as is required of all males in Cyprus.  They will need to serve for two years and as Alexis said to me today "I'm already tired of it."  It was nice to see them, if only briefly, and we wish them well. 

Still Red Sox fans

Sofia, Electra, and Evelina

Playing BINGO in our sitting area at the village house

Making "cakes" across the street from the village house

Goodbye to the family

My family is back home in the US now and have finally received all of their luggage. We had a great visit with them and the time went too quickly. Thanks to all of the guest bloggers for taking the time to share their perspectives.  Here are a few more pictures from the time when they were here.

Kadi wearing a robe to be modest in the church

Sofia and Andrew making a friend

Beach bum

Grandma with her two granddaughters

Picnic in Troodos on the way to Kykkos

At the Nelion Winery

After Sofia's bath

July 18

Today is July 18th, 2012 and today's guest blog is written by Andrew Fauble. I have already done a blog on this vacation, but I guess they prefer one that doesn’t  involve my amazing escape when I first got to the island. Anyway, I will be writing about the events that took place today. We left the village at around 10:20 in the morning, only twenty minutes past our desired departure time of 10:00. We started the drive by going through several small villages just like Salamiou. The curvy mountain roads led us to our first destination, a high medieval period bridge that passed over one of the few places of running river water right now in Cyprus. It was a refreshing sight to see something like that again. We continued driving for a long time past amazing views of the mountains and continued winding roads. We traveled up, down, and all around the Troodos Mountains until we reached the much anticipated monastery. It looked like a large building from the outside and the entrance was covered with mosaics of some of the most famous people from the Bible. The inside was incredible to say the least. It was a very large complex with rooms and corridors in every direction. There was not a wall that wasn’t covered in mosaics and paintings of every possible bible story, character, or saint. A church was also located inside that was truly beautiful. Connected to it was a room that contained all sorts of bones from famous religions leaders, saints, and even John the Baptist. Unfortunately, the church was the only place pictures were not allowed, so I couldn’t capture this amazing sight. Personally the monastery was my favorite place we visited on the island. The artwork was beyond words I could use to describe it. My camera took a picture of as many of the murals and paintings as I could. Still, only a small fraction of the amount of artwork there. I took about 800 pictures on this vacation until my camera ran out of memory at just the right time not to miss anything. A short drive from the monastery was a massive statue of Makarios, the famed Archbishop who later became president of Cyprus. From there a path lined with mosaics lead us to his burial place. Two guards stay there at all times, and their ability to keep a straight face astounded me. We were back on the twisty, narrow, up and down roads until we reached a tourist city by the name of Platres. There were many shops to look at and almost everybody bought something. After leaving there and passing more spectacular views we came to a nice modern winery. I tried a view sips and almost threw it up every time. The long day left us too tired to cook food once we got home so we decided to go to the village’s local restaurant. I made friends with the cats and we all enjoyed our time there. All and all Cyprus has been a wonderful vacation that came and went much too fast. There was so much we got to do and so much that we could have done if given more time. Cyprus offers so much for the amount of space and I hope someday I will get to experience this all again.

The high up medieval bridge. Five hundred years old!

Awesome view of the mountains

That is one big statue

Beautiful pictures everywhere

Close up of the mosaics

Not a wall that didn't look like this

Amazing artwork everywhere you looked

The kids and me