December 31, 2010

Holiday Season

So this year we didn't get to spend it with you, our beloved family and friends. We had a wonderful time with some coworker/friends eating a low key meal and playing some board games. We definitely missed spending the holidays with our family, especially after last year's fun time with my family for all three events. However, we are extremely grateful for this opportunity to live here and experience new things. 2011 has lots of promise for new and great things and adventures for not only us but our family and friends. We look forward to friends getting married, having babies, moving, and most of all, visiting us! As for life here on the island we look forward to taking an intro to Greek conversation class together (good thing I'm taking it with Matt, he's not the best at languages ;) ), traveling around the island more and finding new and fun places to visit, going to Paris in June to see our parents at the airshow and traveling with my parents after the show, having friends and family visit us, and most importantly, me going home to get Joey! It's been a very quiet and lonely house with out our boy! It will only really become our home when he gets here!
We are so blessed and thankful for your love and support, even though it comes from so far away. We love you all so dearly and want to hear from you! Have a very Happy New Year and we pray for only amazing and wonderful things in your lives this coming year!

ENGLAND!

So, we went to England! It was SOOO FUN! We met up with some friends (Peter and Kristi Kingsley) and had a fabulous time with them! We visited 4 areas; Peter's mum lives in Southport, Liverpool, Skipton, and of course London. Skipton has one of the best preserved castles in all of England so that was really cool to see. We saw the Cavern where the Beatles played. And the main touristy stuff in London. We are looking forward to going back when it's not so cold and there isn't some great "blizzard" to disrupt things. The weather really wasn't as bad as they made it out to be-they're just big sissies! Here is a small portion of the thousand or so pics we took while there. Remember to go to http://thecypruslife.shutterfly.com to view all the pictures!



Buckingham Palace for Changing of the Guard


So excited!


No tourist was going to get by him!


I don't blame this little one for being asleep already!


Matt's Christmas preset to me!!


Millennium Bridge connecting to St Paul's Cathedral


In front of Parliament


In front of Big Ben


London Eye at night


Peter and Kristi-that's true love there...


Beatles started out here


On England's second longest pier in Southport. It was REALLY REALLY COLD!


Sun setting by the pier


The wild "blizzard" of England. Worst December they've had in 100 years!


Skipton town and hillside view from the castle


Inside the castle


On the medieval potty!


Skipton had these sheep all over the town and the placards said "flock to Skipton"


On the train from Manchester to Southport

November 30, 2010

Sender BEWARE!!

So I thought I'd post these too-they are pics of the box Matt's mom sent to us! Seriously, this is how it looked when it arrived here! Hopefully nothing was lost in the shuffle ;)

Do I spy Bisquick??



Doesn't look so bad from here....


I'm sure little woodland critters weren't knawing at it!

Good thing the postal guy is honest!

Just thought you all would get a laugh at how badly this thing was beat up! Thankfully all did arrive and NOTHING was damaged, unless you count the corners of the stuffing and Bisquick boxes being smashed in....

"A Most Authentic Experience"

So I am well aware that it has been a little while since my last post. Sorry about that. Things have gotten a little wild around here. We moved into our new place and are getting settled nicely. It's the perfect size for just the 2 of us, and Joey when he FINALLY gets here! Matt is motoring around beautifully now on his bike! And I have started to ride out at the barn and am spending lots of time there. So needless to say, life is happening!
A few weeks ago, some of the boys down at work wanted to go to the Cyprus Ralley (cars!!) and I was not interested in the slightest. Thankfully, some of the other wives were not to thrilled about it either sowe decided to go to a little town called Lefkara. This town is famous for it's lace and sliver-wares. They even have a pattern that is recognized by UNESCO and Leonardo da Vinci came here to request a pattern that is now on display in Milan! Cool huh? This town was very lovely and as we left, Jamie, who has lived here for 3 years and has traveled extensively said "this is the most authentic experience with Cypriot people I've had while living here!" How wild is that!! Let me explain why....


This is Marina from Marguerit! She works at a co-op with something like 9 other ladies who live in the village. They hand make the lace into table cloths, runners, hankies, little bags, tiny potpourri pillows, you name it! As we wandered by her shop she told us to come in and she'd show us how they made the lace; she even said " you don't have to buy in order for me to show you." We talked with her for over an hour while she showed us the different patterns and explained how they made each one. She also explained the differences in the threads and linen used and how to tell the difference. And also why the prices are so steep-we're not paying for the end product really, we pay for the time invested. Some pieces can take months to complete and that is with several different ladies working on it at different stages. Technically there are 5 different patterns that are created here. She even told us that if we came back she would teach us how to make the lace! Of course we'd start out at the 8 year old level ;) She said that the women in the village are taught how to make the lace by their mothers and grandmothers-it's a family enterprise! Each generation teaches the next which I can only imagine requires tons of patience! She also gave us a restaurant suggestion and she did not lead us astray! Oh man was that food amazing!! I will definitely be going back to it again!

Here Marina is hard at work making a table cloth!


She's proud of her work!



After lunch, we met this guy! His family was one of the first to export the Lefkara lace; he claimed his great great, great, grandmother was one the first to take the lace to Alexandria so sell to the wealthy Egyptians! But here we learned more about the silver-smithing. He explained about the different types of silver used and how it is made. When a piece has a lot of filigree, it is so similar to the delicate lace patterns used on the cloths. He was very nice and charming to talk with-we learned a lot too. His family traveled throughout Europe to sell their wares and their first shop that opened really was in Liverpool-I think Matt and I may need to find it while we're there ;) He spoke to us as though we were his friends-it was really nice.


Now this lady-she was going in for the sale! Jamie ended up getting a beautiful (Onyx I think) earring and necklace set and a ring for a bargain price! The lady would just keep telling her "Don't think! Yes or No! Money comes and goes! Yes or No!" It was funny to watch. However, this lady also gave us lots of history from her family-they owned the shop and produced the silver products there. She definitely was very chatty! She had some very beautiful and unique things in her shop which is a huge reason Jamie was drawn in. It will be interesting to see what else she has to offer when we go back again-hopefully new things in store!



Beautiful little hillside town-you can see the sea!!


So Jamie said it was so authentic because people actually talked to us and cared to hear what we had to say! Sadly, a lot of the Cypriots don't care to hear you or know you so it was nice to have a conversation with some who were just super friendly! The first two definitely did not try to push and sell their wares on us either-we bought because we knew the story and history behind them and what they do. All of us walked away from the town happy that we had such a lovely day and had learned so much!

November 4, 2010

Apollo's Temple

So last Sunday we decided we needed to do something so we went to a ruin close by. It was Apollo's Temple. It was fairly interesting, the actual temple part was reconstructed in 1980 so this really is a replica of what it would look like. Sadly there aren't many pictures because I forgot to charge the camera battery (yet again!) and it died right after we got there. I think it could be a good spot to take my sketch book later and just sit and practice drawing some. After we finished there we went for a drive and found this cool little beach area that had a million rocks! Instead of sand there were tons and tons of shiny, small rocks so of course the obvious thing to do was to practice skipping them into the water. I am very inept at this so it took some coaching on Matt's part. We continued to drive and ended up driving through the little town of Pissouri, which is actually no small feat. This town is so tiny and has one way streets all over the place and people just hanging out in the middle of the road-it was an adventure to say the least ;)
Also, I am looking into getting involved withe the saddle club on base! I'm really excited because they are in desperate need of help in general but they really need experienced riders to work the horses, enter me :) I went out to the barn (aka yard) yesterday to meet the people and take a look around. They only have 10 horses and ponies and they are all skinny, bug bitten, need love, and need exercise. There will be a meeting tonight with all the members that I'm going to attend so I can see where I really fit in and what others are thinking. They're really trying to revamp the whole club so it's perfect timing for me to enter. And it looks as though I may be the only American there which they are excited for. Everyone there is from the UK but that doesn't mean we speak the same language. The one lady (Jenny) and I joked that we will need to put up a phrases chart somewhere since I use different terminology and phrases than they're used to and visa versa. At least I can mostly understand what they are saying and what they want ;) They were also fascinated by "American" riding, known as western to us in the states. The one lady was somewhat snobbish about the concept of western riding and didn't really want to participate in the conversation but everyone else wanted to hear about it and how it really differs from British (English in the US) riding. It was fun to be able to talk about stuff from the states and have people interested and not look at you like you're a total loon. I warned Matt that he may have to watch out, if I end up by spending almost all my free time with these people from England and Scotland (the new manager and one other lady are from Scotland and can be confusing to understand!), I may start to pick up all sorts of funny phrases and ways of talking! I think the funniest so far has been them saying "half eight" instead of "eight thirty"-that confused poor Matt at first but I got it straight. The meeting tonight starts at 6 so I'll be leaving around "half five" to get there in time to get a good seat and chat with the ladies before stuff starts. Wish me luck!

Apollo's Reconstructed Temple (or partial that is)

Another View

The rest of the ruins

Of course columns! I love them!

November 1, 2010

Halloween Party!

So the Halloween Party this weekend was pretty fun! It was basically everyone just hanging out and drinking, a normal Saturday night. Except in costumes. Half the people there were pirates, seriously. I think we were the coolest by far-Matt was a nun while I was a monk. Awesome! Here are a few pics to enjoy!


Best nun ever!!

I stole someone's '70s fro wig and a visor from someone else-it was magical!

Roy trying to decapitate Catherine. Oh yea, he's the site lead too ;)


We go together like peas and carrots (thank you Forest Gump...)

All the ladies having some fun!

October 28, 2010

Wine Tasting...You Would Think It Would Be an Instant Success.....

So this last Saturday Matt and I went on a wine tasting tour in the Trodoos Mountain. We were excited because we haven't been up there yet so it was a good opportunity to check the area out a little without getting lost, turned around, confused, or being responsible for driving. It was set up through the base so it was also a chance to meet some new people out there that weren't immediate coworkers. We did meet some interesting characters, mainly some fun Brits that made fun of the way Americans talk and only knew Maryland because there are cookies (biscuits) that are called "Maryland" that they thought were made in the state. We had to burst their bubbles and tell them no, those cookies aren't made there and we've never had them before. I saw them at the store on base (Ermes) and was tempted to try them for the sheer fact that they are called Maryland, which now I will do because they said that they are super tasty. The one fella went on and on about the different types and why they are good. However, he was also wearing a fuzzy fur vest so we can't be too sure if his opinion is a good one to take ;) We also happened to be wearing very similar shirts which was a little scary; I was cuter in mine though! Needless to say we did make some new Brit friends (YAY!) and the one actually will live fairly close to us when we move to our new place and we've already been invited out to the pub on base for the Halloween party on Friday. I kind of want to go to see how people will be dressing and to just hang out and get to know them better. They were pretty funny. Apparently, they think we say the following words oddly/wrong: oregano, basil, anti(ante) as well as call things wrong such as cookies (biscuits), biscuits (scones), pants (trousers), undies (pants/knickers), and of course soccer (football). We also talked about their dirty words that we (as Americans) think just sound cool and they freaked out a little-I told them I already knew what most words meant and that I didn't use them because I knew what I was saying and it was not nice (thank you Peter Kingsley for teaching me!!). It was a good time. They teased us, we teased them, international relations were strengthened!
The wine for the most part was absolutely terrible! Really, it was nasty! There was only one place we actually liked the wine somewhat. The first place we went to was tasty, the second the guy blew through like 12 wines so fast you couldn't even really taste them and most people ended up getting tipsy off of it b/c he went so fast (not us, we sipped then poured it out!) and the last place was gross too. Wine wise it was disappointing. But in reality we didn't expect to taste the greatest quality of stuff. We did also get to try the Cypriot version of grappa which is called Zifania. It tastes like liquid fire burning you from the inside out. We weren't too keen on it, not many people were. The first vineyard gave us a little history of the wine and the process which was great!
We stopped at this nice little restaurant for lunch and it had a great view and ambiance. Then We went to this little touristy town and walked around for a little bit. We will probably go back to it and take our time some more. All in all it was a fun day filled with lots of laughs, some pretty sites, and some nasty wine.


At the last winery overlooking the valley.

King of the Valley!
Again, a valley area with the small town we visited to the right.

The fierce protector of the stall!

Where we ate lunch-the vines gave great shade!

The lighting isn't that great I know, but the bottles are cool!

Not happy to be tasting crap ;)

Super cool chandelier-iron and wine bottles! We're doing this one day!

I liked the shadows

Lots of wine in the barrels-they are there to age for a little while.

October 25, 2010

Kato Paphos

So in continuing with doing touristy things we went to a close by city called Paphos. They, like everywhere else here, have a historic, archeological area which is known as the lower area, Kato Paphos. Matt's been such a good sport going to all these places with me, I know he hasn't been too crazy about them but he has been enjoying himself I think.

The city of Paphos is smaller than Limassol and quite touristy. We only got to explore such a small part that we'd like to go back at some point and look around some more. They offer lots of water activities on the harbor, as it gets closer to the end of the day, the prices get lower. One guy offered us a speed boat ride out to an island for 5 Euros-not bad!

Well, KP has all sorts of important history and ties to the island, blah blah blah. Just kidding. It was a fun place to visit and they had a castle-yay! It's fun to be somewhere that has these structures that are part of history and stories, even if they are smaller than what we imagine. This one was right on the coast, it was complete with a moat! I like to imagine what it was like to live in there, even if it was built for defense purposes. It wasn't a very tall castle so the view wasn't as grand as others (at least how I imagine the ones in England, Scotland, Germany, and the like look).



Kato Paphos Castle

Inside the entry way

Matt barely fits through the doorway-he's a big man ;)

On top looking out into the harbor

Right outside the castle on the sea


So close to the castle is the archeological area that is part of UNESCO World Heritage Center (http://whc.unesco.org). Basically this means that they think this site contributes significantly to the world's history and it should be protected and preserved for all to see. There are several sites on the island that are part of this program, KP being the first one we got to visit. There are several monasteries and old churches/basilicas on the list that I would like to visit; they are mainly in the Troodos mountains. I think it could be fun to try and visit these sites throughout Europe during our time here. The list for the US is pretty diverse and one could easily see all those sites which include some national parks, the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall, and Monticello.
Anyhew, we had fun wandering around and taking pictures. KP has the largest amount of mosaics recovered on the island, which is a huge reason they are part of UNESCO. It just fascinates me how detailed and time consuming each work is and would take to produce-and they were walking on them! Now there are all sorts of platforms built around them so you can see them clearly. But, they are kind of hard to photograph with lighting and shadows. I've been discovering that I love the columns that were built and am liking comparing the differences between different sites!

See, columns


He indulges me, like a good hubby!


Man-strength! Trying to pick up the cap of a column. Can we say hernia?


On of the mosaics that has been restored and well preserved.


Reflection time...


There was a lighthouse on the grounds that obviously has nothing to do with the Roman ruins, but it was pretty.

Sadly, these stairs led to a locked door on the lighthouse where I wanted to climb up to get a better view.

Cacti by the lighthouse-large and wild!

The prettiest little view. I thought it looked very tranquil and inviting.

No place is complete with out an amphitheater!

The sun was starting to give off some good light!

He's king of the ruins! If you look closely, it looks like his foot is crushing the palm trees ;)

On our way home we stopped by Aphrodite's Rock (check back to random facts about Cyprus to see info on it!). We knew the sun was going to be setting as we passed so we figured that is was a good time to stop and take some pics! The coast line is lovely and we did get some good lighting. It was a fun day all in all and hopefully this small number of pics helps to show it!

Man I LOVE him!!

He's going to kill me for putting this up but I think it's a GREAT pic! I just LOVE it!

There's her rock! We didn't go down for fear of becoming oober fertile ;)

This photo would be popular here b/c of the crooked horizon!

Sun going down on another amazing day!