"Staring Down the Stars, Jealous of the Moon"

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. 

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!)

Playing Racket ball game

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 1^st 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.

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 7^th grade in 2004! 

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!)

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 2^nd, 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.

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.

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 7^th 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!

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. 

"All it Takes is a Little Faith, and a lot of Heart"

I'M IN CYPRUS!!! Can you believe it? My 7th grade self would never believe me if I told her she was going to be studying here. Today is only my third day here since I arrived late at night on Friday, but I'm loving every minute so far! This post might be a little long, but I promise it's worth the read!

My full closet...

Starting with the plane: For those of you that were wondering, my suitcase was 52 pounds but they let me slide without paying the fee for going over 51. I don't know how it weighed that much considering I hardly brought anything with me. Here's my full closet picture as proof:


My total journey from Newark to Nicosia was about 17 hours. The first flight with British Airways that left at 11pm wasn't bad, but I couldn't sleep at all. Also, they fed us 'breakfast' at 12:30am, but it was Indian Chicken... Why does anyone want that for breakfast? The flight from Heathrow to Larnaca, Cyprus was horrible; there was so much turbulence that I felt like I was on a roller coaster rather than a plane. Eating lunch while the tray keeps moving is pretty difficult. I was thankful when we finally landed in Larnaca, and I am happy to report that my luggage arrived too!


Global Learning Semesters had a Taxi waiting for me and Maggie to take us to Nicosia, the capital, where my apartment is, and it was about an hour till we arrived. I couldn't see much of Cyprus outside the cab window since it was 10pm, but what I could see was the stars. They looked so bright in the sky and I could see ones that are not visible in the US due to light pollution. Our cab driver was nice and spoke enough English to mumble through small talk. When I arrived at my apartment at 11pm, I was happy with the quaint setup that I will call home for the next three months. My roommates, Anya and Lauren, already chose to room together which left me with the open room all to myself. I unpacked my stuff, met my neighbors and roomates, and headed to bed by 2am.

My Apartment (Maro)

My Veranda

Saturday morning I woke naturally at 6:45 with the bright Mediterranean Sun shining through my curtains, which means I only had about 4 hours of sleep, but somehow I felt well rested. I went out onto my veranda and was amazed by my first glimpse of Cyprus in the daylight.

My first view of Cyprus in the daylight

Then I went to orientation where our program directors told us about our program and a general overview of Cyprus' history. I knew a lot of the history already from research I did in 7th grade as well as my pre-trip preparation. I met a lot of great people during orientation! Some people who want to go hiking, someone else who will travel to London with me, and some more people who might want to run the Aphrodite 5k that I discovered. I'll keep you posted on all of those events as they happen.

After orientation a bunch of people were tired and wanted to go back to their rooms to nap, but Jessica, Katie, Kristi and I decided to go for a walk and explore Nicosia. This was a great decision because we came across a beautiful view of the city from a church perched on a hill.

The Greek Orthodox church we discovered

Walk with a view :)

Afterwards Kristi and I stopped at the Supermarket to buy some groceries, which proved to be a difficult task since mostly everything is in Greek. (Some items have English on them, you just have to find it first!)  The milk didn't have English on it so trying to figure out which one was the closest to 2% was a guessing game. I think I got a good one though because it tastes good and fresh. And the pomegranate juice here is AMAZING! Kristi and I also decided to register for a free shoppers club card in order to save money with sales. Woot!

Trying to figure out what Milk to buy

Later that night GLS treated us all to dinner at a great Greek Restaurant. It was buffet style and my favorite thing I had was the spinach pie and of course the chocolate moose cake. After dinner I played Spades with some new people I just met, and I had a great time talking and bonding over a good card game.

On Sunday I woke naturally again at 6:45am with the sun shining through my window. I never wake like this so early, so the fact that I did so two days in a row was a little weird. I wondered if the jet lag was causing it, but then I developed a theory that the sun was waking me up since it's so bright. I still felt rested though, so I didn't mind. I was able to fall back asleep until I actually had to get up for the day.

We visited the Cyprus Museum where we followed Cyprus' history through artifacts. Cypriots were known to gather influences from the various countries that controlled the island at the time which is why Cyprus has a lot of Turkish, Greek, Egyptian, and British aspects. The island is known for copper mining and specialized in ceramics and statues. I've decided that the beauty of statues in a museum is not the piece itself, but in the imperfections of the pieces as created by time and weathering. My favorite display was the collection of Theatre masks and statues that were buried with those who performed in order to honor their life and participation in the arts.

 

One of the Theatre masks

The whole group outside the Museum

After the Museum we toured the Old City of Nicosia, which is the part of the city that existed during the 1974 invasion from Turkey. We got to walk along the Green Line, which is the buffer zone that divides Cyprus into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus in the South (the Greek side). I assure you this relationship is safe for me to be here, it is just that the citizens of both sides cannot agree to form a mutual government that will satisfy the Greeks and the Turkish. Since 2003 there are spots along the border that allow people to pass freely from one side to the other, it just requires checking IDs. I could write a lot about their relationship and how this works, but I think I gave you a basic overview without confusing you. (I hope). It was really cool to see the Venetian walls that surrounded the Old City Nicosia that I read so much about, but it was really weird to feel the ominous presence of the Green Line. A lot of houses near the buffer zone have been abandoned since the 1974 invasion, but recently the Cypriot Government has been fixing these places up and giving them to couples with children in the hopes of rebuilding this area.

An abandoned house

 

A fixed up house

 After the tour, a group of friends and I went to a Greek Restaurant. We asked questions about the menu, and he decided to give us a special deal. The Meze there is usually 16.50 euros a person, but he said he'd give it to us for 10 euros each (about 13 dollars). We had learned about Meze and were really excited to try it, so we agreed! A Meze is a Greek special that is different for every Restaurant. The servers bring out whatever they feel like pretty much, and they keep bringing dishes. We had dips, warm pita bread, greek salad, stuffed grape leaves, greek meatballs, pork, sausage, chicken kabobs, lamb liver (yuck), grilled feta, sesame feta (my favorite thing out of them all!), french fries, greek pierogies, and I'm probably forgetting something! It was a crazy experience, and we were all stuffed. Everytime a new dish came out we asked "How many more are there?" and his response was "Don't worry, don't worry, just eat." Typical Greek hopitality. haha. I'm pretty sure we asked for the check before they were even done, but it had been maybe 40 minutes since our last dish was brought out, and we couldn't eat anymore anyways! 

That brings me to today. I woke up this morning at guess what time?....6:45am before my alarm. I'm definitely thinking the sun is going to keep me on schedule as long as I'm in Cyprus. haha. I kind of like the consistency though. Our first activity of the day was a presentation by an organization called Peace Players, which "uses the game of basketball to allow 11-15 year-old Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play together, learn together and build positive relationships that overcome generations of mistrust and formidable physical barriers to interaction." I thought this concept was interesting and sounded very hopeful for a unification of Cyprus. I signed up to volunteer with Peace Players while I am here, so hopefully I can fit it in my schedule and be able to observe the Turkish and Greek Cypriot children and help with the unification effort. Click on this to visit their website to read more!  This idea is also what inspired Stars by the Weepies to be the title of today's post because I feel it reflects the mission of Peace Players.

Next we went to a Cyprus Traditional Cuisine class where the speaker introduced us to all sorts of Greek favorites, and he even fed us lunch. I got to try grilled halloumi cheese for the first time, which is a cheese made only in Cyprus. It has a smokey flavor and is thicker than most cheeses, but I didn't think it was the best cheese in the world or anything.

After some free time, we gathered as a group to go over the itinerary for our trip to Greece and Italy. I leave at 5:15am on Thursday already! Woot, so excited!

Then some new friends and I went bowling, where we talked to a local 70+ year old who was fascinated by us. His English was pretty good, and he wished us well with our studies. He goes there everyday at 5pm, so we'll probably return again at that time to continue our friendly conversation. Besides, I have to beat my score. (I got a 45.....)

Speaking of conversation: I have learned 3 Greek phrases so far and I use them all the time because they are so basic! haha.
Hello: γεια σας   (pronounced yeah-sauce)
Thank you:  ευχαριστώ  (pronounced ef-cah-wris-toh)
You're welcome:   παρακαλώ (pronounced pah-rah-cah-loh)

Anyways, I apologize for the really long post, but I hope you were interested in my first few days in Cyprus. To reward you for getting to the end of this post, I will leave you with a lovely picture I caught on the way back from bowling!

Is Cyprus really Atlantis?!

Till next time!
-Courtney <3