Hello there! I’ve
been back in Cyprus for over a week now, and so much has happened that I’m
excited to write about and share my experiences with you! This one is a little
long, but I’m writing about a wonderful theatre experience and more, so that is to be
expected from a Theatre major. ;)
Upon
returning from Greece and Italy, I had some house keeping to do: I went grocery
shopping, cleaned the apartment with my roommates, and did my first load of
laundry in Cyprus. It cost me $5.25 for the one load and I opted not to pay the
same for the dryer by air-drying my clothes instead. It took almost 48 hours
for me to decide they were dry, and my clothes felt a little stiff afterwards.
I am already looking forward to having soft clothes right out of the dryer when
I return to America!
Katie
and I found time for a run through the city, but we got some stares because
Cypriots don’t run along the streets like we do; they only run in the gym or at
the Park.
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| Larnaca Beach! |
As
a way to relax after so much traveling, we took a trip to Larnaca Beach, which is about an hour from my apartment by bus!
I had a nice, relaxing day swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. I even got
invited to play a type of Racket ball game with a Greek soldier from Crete
named George. I learned that he is serving his mandatory 9 months of military
service by living and working in the buffer zone between the North and South
divisions of Cyprus. I tried to learn more about his situation, but his English
wasn’t very good, so we just played Racket ball. (The rackets were very sturdy
and made of wood, so I actually decided to purchase my own to bring home before
departing the beach!)
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| Playing Racket ball game |
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| McDonalds with one of my roomies, Lauren |
For
dinner we needed to grab something quick because we had to catch the bus back
to Nicosia. Conveniently there was a McDonalds right across the street, and I
have no shame in admitting we went there. Quite frankly after so many Gyros in
Greece, and pasta and pizza in Italy, we all just wanted French Fries!!
Besides, everyone needs to visit at least one McDonalds while traveling abroad
just to say they did! Haha : )
Monday,
October 1st was Cyprus Independence Day! Sadly there was nothing
extraordinary for the holiday except for the fact that mostly everything was
closed. I had a very special day, however, because I got to I spend it
volunteering at the Skali Theatre!
When I found out about the opportunity earlier that day, I spent an hour
consulting 2 maps, google, and the bus schedule in order to figure out how to
get there. I am happy to report that I successfully figured out the schedule
and map on my own! (Success- woot!)
The
bus stop left me in a weird part of town, and I am not afraid to admit I was
the tourist girl carrying my map while walking.
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| Skali Theatre |
When
I arrived at the Skali Theatre I was rewarded with a beautiful, open air,
rounded amphitheatre. I worked there, under the stars and moon, over the next four days,
which is what inspired the title of today’s post to be from “Jealous of the Moon” by Nickel Creek. I put in over 24 volunteer hours, and my jobs were
placing the props, handing out programs, stopping the entrance music, and
cleaning the dishes after the show so we could place them for the next show.
Since there was a dinner scene and a lot of drinking in the show, I had to wash
16 various drinking glasses, 4 dishes, 1 bowl, 4 sets of utensils, 2 knives, a
serving dish, and two serving utensils. Basically I did a months’ worth of
dishes in 4 days, but somebody had to do it, and I was happy to be helping out.
The
play was a premier called “A Slight Risk” written and directed by Paris Erotokritou, which was about a British
couple living in the Northern part of Cyprus in 2004. It echoed the issues of
the politics dividing Cyprus and of British people living on land that Greek
Cypriots were forced to abandon in 1974 when the division occurred. Seeing this
play was a great way to learn more about what Cyprus was like at the time I was
studying it in 7th grade in 2004!
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| The set for "A Slight Risk" |
My
partner in crime was Nikos the stage manager, and he congratulated me on my
first show in Cyprus. The cast of 6 actors (four from the UK, one from Greece,
and one from Cyprus) were very welcoming and pleasant to interact with. Paris,
the writer and director, was very thankful for my help and he considered me
part of the cast. He even invited me to go to the opening night gathering after
the show, and I had a great time. At the end of the run he gave me a copy of
the play, in which he and the cast wrote me little notes.
Here is a video circling the amphitheater so you can see the whole theatre!
Now for a few interesting stories about working at the theatre:
On
my first day in Cyprus, we were told that when Greeks talk to each other it is
sometimes hard to tell if they are arguing or just talking. During the dress
rehearsal, a woman was pacing around the theatre yelling in Greek, and of
course I had no idea what she was saying. Was she talking or arguing? I asked
around and learned she was the lighting designer and there was a problem with
the lights. I guess that’s why they worked on lights from 7-10:45pm instead of
doing the dress rehearsal. After that they did two cue-cue runs starting at
11pm, and then the dress rehearsal started at 12:45am! Yup, you heard me right.
They STARTED the dress rehearsal at 12:45am, and it ended at 2:15am. That’s a
new record for me! (And it was a school night with a 9am….whoops. haha. But I
had fun so I didn’t mind losing sleep.)
I
set up the refreshment table for the actors and crew, featuring a Frappe
station, a traditional cold coffee drink of Cyprus. I learned how to make a
Frappe because the director requested coffee and I volunteered to make him one.
I made one for myself too, and they are pretty good. (Of course I added so much
milk and sugar that you could hardly taste the coffee, but that’s the way I
like it!)
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| Me, Katie, Jessica, Kristi, and Maggie at the Theatre :) |
4
of my GLS friends came to see the show and I got to sit with them. And
apparently it’s common to pay for your program around here because everyone
asked me in Greek how much they were when I was handing them out. When I said
free, they seemed so surprised!
Last
note about my theatre experience: As I mentioned previously in my post on Wednesday,
September 19, 2012, the Turkish Cypriots display a Turkish flag on Kyrenia
Mountain. Aside from being painted on, it also lights up at night! I had a
great view of the World Record’s largest flag from Skali Theatre, and here’s a
video so you can see how it lights up!
Classes
started on October 2nd, but I since I’ve only been to 3 out of 5 classes so far, I have nothing much to report except that all of my
professors are really young and wear jeans to class. I am taking International
Business, International Marketing, Intro to the European Union, European
Cultures, and Photography.
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| Me and Katie in the garden |
One
day a group of us decided to walk to the city center, and we discovered a
beautiful garden with colorful birds, pomegranate trees, a gazebo, and pretty
flowers! It was nice to see such green grass for a change. You discover the
greatest things while walking and exploring. And guess what? It actually RAINED in Cyprus! I haven’t seen rain for
almost a month, so feeling the cold drops felt refreshing and I didn’t mind
getting wet. It rained for about 5
minutes and then again for 15 minutes.
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| The group: Ellie, Jessica, Maya, Me, Katie, and Kristi |
Yesterday
it actually thunderstormed for a majority of the morning through early evening;
the lighting against the mountains was beautiful. It was a lazy day of hanging
out and relaxing, which was really nice for a change. And I actually decided to
submit an application for a summer internship already. Woot!
I took a video of the lightning cause I liked it so much:
Then
Maggie and I went to the 7th Cyprus International Film Festival, which is held right at our University, 5 minutes
from our apartments. I decided to buy the festival pass because it was the same
price as seeing 5 films and I want to see a lot!
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| Maggie and Me at the film festival |
The
first film was from Greece entitled “Jerks”. It was in Greek with English
subtitles about three friends who are planning to “leave Athens and move to
Berlin to start a new life there. During the very last night, unpredictable
facts reveal aspects of their characters which they kept hidden from each other
all these years.” It was an excellent film and was great to see since it was
filmed in Athens and I have just returned from there.
The second film was from Indonesia entitled “Delisa”, which was a very touching story about the deadly earthquake and tsunami that occurred Sunday, 26 December 2004. It made me cry and was a beautiful film about hardship, innocence, religious values, and family relationships.
I
am looking forward to seeing more films at the festival because thorough
foreign films and traveling with GLS I am learning so much about the world
around me and soaking it all in! I
hope you enjoyed my post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wish everyone
had an opportunity like this to experience so much culture and art in one week,
and I am happy to be able to share it with you through this blog.
Till
next time!
-Courtney
<3
ps.
On a side note, the blog that I am writing for GLS is more professional and
shorter, so here’s a link to that if you want to see the writing I’m doing for
them.
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