Good Weekend (month 2)

I guess I'm finally to the point where I've stopped noticing what day I'm on and past the point of even trying to do the math. We'll just say we're into month 2.

Well, let's see. I still don't have a job, but I DO finally have a car. It is a little silver 2000 Nissan March. And yes, the steering wheel is on the rightand I have to shift gears with my left hand. It's about the size of Jim's car, for those of you who know what that is. It's great though, I love it. It fits anywhere; it's nice and narrow so I won't be having anymore rear-view-mirror-meets-dumpster accidents. (Yeah, you know that rental car wrecking contest I mentioned before? I won.) And it can actually go pretty fast, too.

This past weekend (starting on Thursday actually) was probably the best one yet. Thursday I spent the day in Larnaca with Eleni, who woke up with a "migraine" and couldn't make it to work. So being the good, jobless friend that I am, I went down to make sure she was ok. Luckily for us, Frappes on the beach cure all. Friday night we went with three of our friends to the Cyprus wine festival in Limassol. DC people, picture the Renaissance festival (minus the costumes) meets Virginia state fair meets the Greek Festival at St. Sophia's on Mass Ave. Then add plastic jugs of free all-you-can-drink local wine that you just swig out of as you're walking around. Yup, definitely my kind of place. And since we were with Greek Cypriots, we of course had to try all the different "sweets" that we don't have back in the U.S. From there we hit a few bars/clubs in Limassol, stayed in hotel apartments that night, and went to the beach the next day.

Then Saturday night we made our weekly Saturday night trip to Larnaca to go to Secrets. Sunday night was quite amusing, as we played "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in Greek. Although Barb and I had a bit of a disadvantage, being that a) the questions are in greek; b) the answer choices were in greek; and c) many questions were of greek subject matter; we did manage to get a good laugh out of the apparently difficult question "What is Wyoming?" A river, a mountain, a city or a state? She (greek cypriot on other team) used her "phone-a-friend" lifeline and phoned me (even though I was sitting across the table from her) and asked me "Hi Tzen? What is Ouaioumink?" That was definitely the hardest I've laughed since I've been here. It was a great weekend.

100 weeks to go

It's day 25 I think, so I guess I'm overdue for an update. Time has gone by faster over the past 2 weeks, but don't get too excited; it's not because I have a job or anything. I guess I'm more or less just settling into a routine of not having a routine. We moved into our house on Thursday (30 Aug) so I'll be posting some pictures to Kodak Gallery soon. The house is big and although it's furnished, it still seems pretty empty. Our stuff should be arriving by the end of September they tell us, and I think that will make a big difference. Our own rugs, pictures on the wall, dishes, etc. will all help make it feel more like ours. The cats love the new place; as soon as we let them out of their crates, they each ran around and chose their own bedroom (I knew they gave us 4 bedrooms for a reason) before Velvet decided to go exploring outside. We have no idea how or when he got out but when I looked out the kitchen window and saw his little fat butt waddle up and over the fence. "That stray cat looked just like Velvet," I told Barb. We got him back in but I guess he liked it so much he told Luna and the two of them conspired and snuck out again together later that night. "Hey is that your cat on the roof?" my friends asked as I was walking them out to the car (they came over for a housewarming dinner that first night). A big thanks to Eleni and Maz for running around the house and up and down the street with me until everyone was back in the house safe and sound. These are two awesome Cypriot girls, by the way, who have made the adjustment to Cyprus a lot easier to say the least. A little disappointing that I met the two coolest girls on the island in the first 2 weeks of being here...doesn't leave much to look forward to, but hey, I'm still grateful. I completely owe my lifted spirits and lack of boredom (as well as my deteriorating liver and lungs) to them. Cheers guys ;) Oh, and I know they really love having me here because they are even nice enough to count down the weeks until I leave (we're at 100 at the moment).

Barb and I are still actively, or should I say desperately, looking for cars to call our own. She is probably going to go with the Peugeot307cc (a hardtop convertible) or maybe a Mazda 3. Im looking at little rinky-dink pieces of shit for under 2,000 CYP ($4,500 but it isn't what $4,500 would get you at home more like what $2,500 would get you). I was debating whether or not to go with an old Peugeot as well, but when I went back in to talk about it more seriously with the dealer he informed me that he had it parked it on the street and it was hit and totaled on the spot. If that's not a sign, I dont know what is. Someone up there really didn't think I should be driving that car I guess. So, the search continues...

Not much else to say here. Hope everyone is doing well back there. Happy Labor Day! (Someone here asked me what we celebrate on Labor Day and it was pretty embarrassing because I had no idea!) People going to Rehoboth, have a cherry bomb shot for me and give Jame Foks my love. ;)
Talk to you all soon I hope. xxx