one of the guys on ben's team is called cico ("chicho"). he's a little older than we are, from serbia, has played in the nba, lived in canada, the list goes on... he has a pretty interesting life story. at nina's 1st birthday party on christmas eve, i met stasa ("stasha"), his girlfriend. her english was so perfect that i assumed she was canadian and they met while he was living in toronto. later, i learned that would be his ex-wife.. talk about putting your foot in your mouth! (i obviously apologized later to stasa... who completely understood).
anyway, stasa and i crossed paths again at a basketball game after eboni left and exchanged phone numbers & full names (for facebook... what else). a couple days later, our phones shut off because we left them without credit for too long and the company wanted to reuse the phone number, so it was lucky that we had thought to figure out the facebook thing too. because of the phone situation, we had missed out on a few days where we would have been able to hook up, but decided to just chat the next day at another game about what we could do to get together. we would up saying that we would meet at the gym the day after the game and head for coffee while the guys were practicing.
the next day, we met and headed off to second cup, a coffee shop, and spent two hours chatting away over frappes. talk about an international friendship made easy, the language barrier was the least of our problems. over coffee, we chatted about tons of different things and conversation came so easily.
i thought cico's history was an interesting story, but stasa's might just top it! i learned that her father, zarko paspalj, was one of the first european basketball players to play in the nba. when stasa was born, he was still playing basketball, so she grew up in a few different countries - none of them serbia. the majority of her childhood was in greece, and greek was her first language, but she went to international school and honestly might speak english better than i do. it wasn't until 6 years ago that she even learned serbian! (she's fluent in that, too, now). not quite a boring upbringing, eh?
you can imagine that with all that, we had quite a lot to chat about... the hours flew and before we knew it we had to head back to the gym to meet up with the guys. we decided to keep meeting up frequently, sometimes for shopping and sometimes for coffee, and the void of not having eboni and irie around anymore grew just a bit smaller.
what's the old childhood rhyme? make new friends, keep the old.....?
xox k
Saturday, February 25, 2012
a scavenge/sendoff
as much as i didn't want it to, the time came when we had to say "see ya later" to eboni, kev, & irie. their flight was in the middle of the night, so they didn't have to leave the apartment until 1am or so & we decided to pretty much hang out until just before they had to go.
over the course of the few months she was here, eboni had acquired quite the collection of kitchenware (whereas i refused to spend money on things that i knew we won't be taking with me when we leave). kevin had suggested that we go over with a couple bags and take everything with us that they wouldn't be bothering with taking with them. after awhile of hanging out, we decided to get down to it, and pretty much cleared out their cupboards. my spice rack is now completely stocked with duplicates of popular spices and new ones to try. we also have a large stove pan, baking dish, new knives, a cheese grater, sauces... and a comforter & two fleece blankets.
most of the night was spent talking about kevin's new opportunity in france, how excited they were, our time left with apoel here in cyprus, etc. the entire time, we were playing with irie and refusing to admit that it was going to be quite awhile after that night before we'd be able to see her again.
can i just say, if i haven't already, that irie is the cutest little muffin in the world. not only that, but she is SO smart. when the time came that we had to say goodbye, i picked her up, was giving her hugs and kisses and telling her how much i was going to miss her. irie understood EVERYTHING. i put her back down on the living room chair, and she kind of nestled into the corner of the chair with a really sad, shy look on her face, and didn't want to go to ben because she knew it was going to be more goodbyes. she wound up letting her pick him up and say goodbye, but she was not happy about it... at all.
apparently, after we left, irie kept calling for us and saying she wanted us to hold her... hearing that made me want to cry!
now that they're in france, she calls me on her barbie phone... doesn't get much cuter than that! :)
xox k
over the course of the few months she was here, eboni had acquired quite the collection of kitchenware (whereas i refused to spend money on things that i knew we won't be taking with me when we leave). kevin had suggested that we go over with a couple bags and take everything with us that they wouldn't be bothering with taking with them. after awhile of hanging out, we decided to get down to it, and pretty much cleared out their cupboards. my spice rack is now completely stocked with duplicates of popular spices and new ones to try. we also have a large stove pan, baking dish, new knives, a cheese grater, sauces... and a comforter & two fleece blankets.
most of the night was spent talking about kevin's new opportunity in france, how excited they were, our time left with apoel here in cyprus, etc. the entire time, we were playing with irie and refusing to admit that it was going to be quite awhile after that night before we'd be able to see her again.
can i just say, if i haven't already, that irie is the cutest little muffin in the world. not only that, but she is SO smart. when the time came that we had to say goodbye, i picked her up, was giving her hugs and kisses and telling her how much i was going to miss her. irie understood EVERYTHING. i put her back down on the living room chair, and she kind of nestled into the corner of the chair with a really sad, shy look on her face, and didn't want to go to ben because she knew it was going to be more goodbyes. she wound up letting her pick him up and say goodbye, but she was not happy about it... at all.
apparently, after we left, irie kept calling for us and saying she wanted us to hold her... hearing that made me want to cry!
now that they're in france, she calls me on her barbie phone... doesn't get much cuter than that! :)
xox k
Saturday, February 18, 2012
irie's 2nd birthday!
for irie's 2nd birthday, kevin & eboni decided to have a little party at papafilippou, an ice cream shop that also has a little indoor arcade area with children's rides and an outdoor playground. the gathering was intended to be the same group that we had spent new year's eve with, all the couples with kids plus ben & i, but little baby nina had an earache, so we were one couple down.
benjamin and i know how much irie loves to copy everything her mommy does, so we thought it would be cute to get her a little kitchen play set so when eb was cooking, she could make her own meals, too. we ran to the store to pick it up, and then headed over to papafilippou to meet up with them.
we spent the day playing with the kids on the playground, drinking coffee, and eating lots of cotton candy (or maybe that was just me). irie was totally into this whole concept of the day being about her... it was her birthday, and everyone was going to know it. she is already a girl who knows what she wants, but on this day, she was definitely miss diva... i loved it!
telling someone to stop doing something, i think..
eating globs of frosting off the top of her cake..
and opening the her gifts (this is the kitchen set we brought).
as happy as i was that they were going to be moving on to different things that would hopefully make them happier, i couldn't help but to be really really REALLY sad that i was losing my cyprus partner-in-crime.... and my irie :( through the time we'd spent together, eb had grown to be someone i genuinely enjoyed spending time with. i can imagine that in this lifestyle, there are probably women that spend a lot of time together because it's convenient, they both speak english, they're both basketball wives or girlfriends, or whatever it may be. i honestly think, though, that if eboni and i met in a bar in the states, we would have become friends regardless. plus, i am completely, totally, uncontrollably obsessed with her daughter! (minor detail)
in any case, it was an amazing day with friends that i'm certain will be in our lives way longer than our time in cyprus will last, anyway.
guess she wont be needing her kitchen set, huh? ;)
xox k
crossing the border: turkish nicosia
crossing into the turkish occupied half of nicosia was a very bizarre experience for me.
on new years day, ben & i grabbed our passports and set out for old nicosia, where we could walk down ledra street to the place where you can cross the border on foot. my anxiety about crossing this border was pretty crazy.. worried about all of the stories i'd read about how intense it is to cross over and how serious the hatred is between the two sides, etc. i decided to suck it up because to be in cyprus, living in the only divided city left in the world and to not venture over would be a shame.
after we passed the end of the greek side, we found ourselves in a united nations buffer zone. this is basically an area where no country has jurisdiction... empty space. as you walk through, you see tall buildings that are completely devastated from the past war when the turks invaded the island. in the past, this was an area where united nations officers were on guard with guns, patrolling the area. photography was (technically still is) off limits, and anyone caught attempting was arrested. thankfully, things have calmed down a lot since then. if i had only known that ahead of time, i would have been fine.
currently, people are camping out in the buffer zone in an attempt to unite the two sides. i'm not sure i know enough about it, but i don't really understand how they intend for this to work. regardless, it's pretty cool. there are tons of tents between buildings, people huddled around a fire in a garbage can, and reggae music playing as they just hang out, chat, and enjoy themselves. to be honest, it kind of reminded me of something you'd see in the musical "rent."
i didn't take pictures of the people or the tents because i wasn't sure how they would respond to it, but all over the walls, on the tarps separating the street from the crumbling buildings are drawings, inspirational sayings, peace signs, names, etc.
i think overall, the buffer zone was my favorite part of the day... it was a really hippie-ish and just so... cool. can't really come up with a more creative word.
after crossing through, the rest of the day was pretty strange. the clouds rolled in and it started raining on & off. not only was it new year's day, but it was also a sunday, so most of the shops and restaurants were closed, and there weren't really many people around. we decided to take it for what is was and just wander around taking things in and making the best of what we were given.
as we got down towards the outskirts of the walled city (nicosia), there were more people out in an area kind of like a town square, for lack of a better way to explain it. we were walking and checking out our surroundings, and i couldn't help but notice that people kept looking at me. at first, i figured it was because ben & i stood out as tourists. on second notice, though, i realized all of a sudden that i was the only woman in sight. the only one. as in there were NO other women.
i can't really describe the way it made me feel. i've never felt like such a minority before; i was the odd one out. here i am, in a foreign country, walking around a part of the city i've never been to, and realizing that there are only men out and about in the city. talk about feeling out of place!
i've spent hours googling and trying to research why i could have possible been the only woman out that day, but i really can't come up with any answers. are they not allowed out on sundays? is it standard that they be inside on sundays cooking and cleaning? was it just irony that at that point in time none were out?
i have a feeling this is a question i will never be able to answer, and yet never be able to fully put to rest.
any answers/ideas/thoughts are toootally welcome....
xox k
on new years day, ben & i grabbed our passports and set out for old nicosia, where we could walk down ledra street to the place where you can cross the border on foot. my anxiety about crossing this border was pretty crazy.. worried about all of the stories i'd read about how intense it is to cross over and how serious the hatred is between the two sides, etc. i decided to suck it up because to be in cyprus, living in the only divided city left in the world and to not venture over would be a shame.
after we passed the end of the greek side, we found ourselves in a united nations buffer zone. this is basically an area where no country has jurisdiction... empty space. as you walk through, you see tall buildings that are completely devastated from the past war when the turks invaded the island. in the past, this was an area where united nations officers were on guard with guns, patrolling the area. photography was (technically still is) off limits, and anyone caught attempting was arrested. thankfully, things have calmed down a lot since then. if i had only known that ahead of time, i would have been fine.
currently, people are camping out in the buffer zone in an attempt to unite the two sides. i'm not sure i know enough about it, but i don't really understand how they intend for this to work. regardless, it's pretty cool. there are tons of tents between buildings, people huddled around a fire in a garbage can, and reggae music playing as they just hang out, chat, and enjoy themselves. to be honest, it kind of reminded me of something you'd see in the musical "rent."
i didn't take pictures of the people or the tents because i wasn't sure how they would respond to it, but all over the walls, on the tarps separating the street from the crumbling buildings are drawings, inspirational sayings, peace signs, names, etc.
after crossing through, the rest of the day was pretty strange. the clouds rolled in and it started raining on & off. not only was it new year's day, but it was also a sunday, so most of the shops and restaurants were closed, and there weren't really many people around. we decided to take it for what is was and just wander around taking things in and making the best of what we were given.
as we got down towards the outskirts of the walled city (nicosia), there were more people out in an area kind of like a town square, for lack of a better way to explain it. we were walking and checking out our surroundings, and i couldn't help but notice that people kept looking at me. at first, i figured it was because ben & i stood out as tourists. on second notice, though, i realized all of a sudden that i was the only woman in sight. the only one. as in there were NO other women.
i can't really describe the way it made me feel. i've never felt like such a minority before; i was the odd one out. here i am, in a foreign country, walking around a part of the city i've never been to, and realizing that there are only men out and about in the city. talk about feeling out of place!
i've spent hours googling and trying to research why i could have possible been the only woman out that day, but i really can't come up with any answers. are they not allowed out on sundays? is it standard that they be inside on sundays cooking and cleaning? was it just irony that at that point in time none were out?
i have a feeling this is a question i will never be able to answer, and yet never be able to fully put to rest.
any answers/ideas/thoughts are toootally welcome....
xox k
new year's eve
new year's eve this year was a little different than normal. considering we're in a foreign country, i guess that was to be expected from the get-go, though.
rather than spending the night at an overpriced bar or club and running around in a tiny dress like most other years, we were invited to spend new year's eve with a few couples from ben's team at one of the cypriot players' homes. yorgos and his wife giota decided to have a small get together with the two couples other than themselves who have daughters (kevin & eboni being one of them), and the two of us. apparently new year's eve is a pretty big holiday here, traditionally more of a christmas, actually, when they give and receive gifts and spend time with family. it was a small gathering that yorgos and giota were having, and benjamin & i thought it was really nice that they decided to include us :)
we got there and hung around for a bit, chatting and enjoying a couple drinks, and then it was time for dinner. oh. my. god. was it time for dinner. let me just preface this by saying i come from a large italian family and i have seen some pretty crazy feasts before. the dinner that giota made for the eight of us seriously rivaled meals that i've seen made for holidays when 20 people were eating. there were pitas with houlomi cheese (AMAZING greek cheese). there were saladS. there were rice disheS. there were veggie disheS. there were meat disheS. and there were dessertS. did i mention there were eight of us? 8.
the thing that made it even more crazy was that the food was unbelievable! and what made me think giota may actually be a robot of some sort? SHE DID IT ALL IN TWO HOURS! honestly, something must be in the water here because it was just ridiculous.
after dinner, we relaxed for awhile playing with the kids and watching the "new year's show." quotes around it because, well, in contrast to the meal, it was subpar. some raunchy greek man singing and gyrating his hips on stage with women in little leather outfits on stage for way too long. the countdown was up in the corner and nothing really special happened at midnight. not quite the same show that we get in the states, but it's okay because my tummy was happy.
there is a tradition in cyprus that a cake called "santa claus cake" is cut following the stroke of midnight on new year's eve. in greek, it's called vasillopita. it's pretty much the same as a pound cake type dessert, in which a coin (they used a 2 euro coin wrapped in aluminum foil so it didn't dirty the food) is baked. after midnight, the head of the house cuts the cake (in our gase, it was yorgos). the first is cut for jesus, the second is for the house, the third for absent family members (still not sure if this means the ones that have passed or literally ones that are just absent at the time), then the head of the house, and then just clockwise around the room. the person who finds the coin in their slice of cake is the person who will have the most luck that year.
benjamin & i decided that it's a pretty neat tradition, and that it might just wind up being one of the things we pick up from cyprus and integrate into our lives. we were thinking about how cool it would be to gather traditions from each of the places we travel to and carry them on once we've gone... a neat way to keep our experiences with us as the time goes by, i think :)
the car ride home was an interesting one. we had followed yorgos to his house, but he obviously wasn't leading us back to ours. one of the other guys there, voulla, took the directions from him and was sure that he'd be able to maneuver back. i'm still not too clear on whether or not voulla was drunk, but with his wife and daughter in the car, i can only hope he wasn't, but his driving wasn't too convincing. i counted three times that we got to an intersection or roundabout when we went in the opposite direction than where the sign said to go to get back to our town. once, we got stuck at a red light that they had gone through, and voulla literally stopped in the middle of the road (a two lane, busy street) while he waited for us to catch up. it was definitely interesting.
at the end of the night, i honestly felt like the new years we had was an amazing life experience that not many people get to enjoy. yes, it would have been easy to find a club offering a special new year's eve open bar or something, but to spend a very important holiday in cyprus with people who live here full time, learning the traditional celebrations was a once in a lifetime.
totally relishing every opportunity to learn more about cyprus culture, and beyond excited to do the same in every other country we get lucky enough to travel to!!
i know it's a bit belated, but i hope the new year is finding everyone else as well as it's finding us... :)
xox k
rather than spending the night at an overpriced bar or club and running around in a tiny dress like most other years, we were invited to spend new year's eve with a few couples from ben's team at one of the cypriot players' homes. yorgos and his wife giota decided to have a small get together with the two couples other than themselves who have daughters (kevin & eboni being one of them), and the two of us. apparently new year's eve is a pretty big holiday here, traditionally more of a christmas, actually, when they give and receive gifts and spend time with family. it was a small gathering that yorgos and giota were having, and benjamin & i thought it was really nice that they decided to include us :)
we got there and hung around for a bit, chatting and enjoying a couple drinks, and then it was time for dinner. oh. my. god. was it time for dinner. let me just preface this by saying i come from a large italian family and i have seen some pretty crazy feasts before. the dinner that giota made for the eight of us seriously rivaled meals that i've seen made for holidays when 20 people were eating. there were pitas with houlomi cheese (AMAZING greek cheese). there were saladS. there were rice disheS. there were veggie disheS. there were meat disheS. and there were dessertS. did i mention there were eight of us? 8.
the thing that made it even more crazy was that the food was unbelievable! and what made me think giota may actually be a robot of some sort? SHE DID IT ALL IN TWO HOURS! honestly, something must be in the water here because it was just ridiculous.
after dinner, we relaxed for awhile playing with the kids and watching the "new year's show." quotes around it because, well, in contrast to the meal, it was subpar. some raunchy greek man singing and gyrating his hips on stage with women in little leather outfits on stage for way too long. the countdown was up in the corner and nothing really special happened at midnight. not quite the same show that we get in the states, but it's okay because my tummy was happy.
there is a tradition in cyprus that a cake called "santa claus cake" is cut following the stroke of midnight on new year's eve. in greek, it's called vasillopita. it's pretty much the same as a pound cake type dessert, in which a coin (they used a 2 euro coin wrapped in aluminum foil so it didn't dirty the food) is baked. after midnight, the head of the house cuts the cake (in our gase, it was yorgos). the first is cut for jesus, the second is for the house, the third for absent family members (still not sure if this means the ones that have passed or literally ones that are just absent at the time), then the head of the house, and then just clockwise around the room. the person who finds the coin in their slice of cake is the person who will have the most luck that year.
benjamin & i decided that it's a pretty neat tradition, and that it might just wind up being one of the things we pick up from cyprus and integrate into our lives. we were thinking about how cool it would be to gather traditions from each of the places we travel to and carry them on once we've gone... a neat way to keep our experiences with us as the time goes by, i think :)
the car ride home was an interesting one. we had followed yorgos to his house, but he obviously wasn't leading us back to ours. one of the other guys there, voulla, took the directions from him and was sure that he'd be able to maneuver back. i'm still not too clear on whether or not voulla was drunk, but with his wife and daughter in the car, i can only hope he wasn't, but his driving wasn't too convincing. i counted three times that we got to an intersection or roundabout when we went in the opposite direction than where the sign said to go to get back to our town. once, we got stuck at a red light that they had gone through, and voulla literally stopped in the middle of the road (a two lane, busy street) while he waited for us to catch up. it was definitely interesting.
at the end of the night, i honestly felt like the new years we had was an amazing life experience that not many people get to enjoy. yes, it would have been easy to find a club offering a special new year's eve open bar or something, but to spend a very important holiday in cyprus with people who live here full time, learning the traditional celebrations was a once in a lifetime.
totally relishing every opportunity to learn more about cyprus culture, and beyond excited to do the same in every other country we get lucky enough to travel to!!
i know it's a bit belated, but i hope the new year is finding everyone else as well as it's finding us... :)
xox k
Friday, February 17, 2012
frustrated
just in case anyone was wondering, attempting to figure out what you've been up to for the last two months living in a foreign country when it's been something new every day for about 60 days since you last blogged anything and your computer hard drive crashed causing you to lose the calendar on which you've been marking every move is not fun.
did i mention that iCal, though reinstalled, refuses to open to let me edit/try to piece my life back together? i'll get back to it soon, though, promise!
*sigh* such difficulties all this modern technology creates in our everyday lives.... life is tough. ;)
xox k
did i mention that iCal, though reinstalled, refuses to open to let me edit/try to piece my life back together? i'll get back to it soon, though, promise!
*sigh* such difficulties all this modern technology creates in our everyday lives.... life is tough. ;)
xox k
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