Cypresians

Some people have asked me how the concert was on Saturday. It was an interesting experience, as this is the first concert I've attended in Cyprus (they don't exactly get many big names here!) Well, I was worried that we were going to miss something because the ticket said it was from 7 pm - 12 am, and we didn't get there until almost 9. But, in true cypriot fashion, when we arrived at 9, the place was empty! See, Cypriots can't go anywhere until 1) at least 2 hours have passed since the "start" time; 2) the sun has gone down; 3) they've woken up from their nap; and 4) their kids have woken up from their naps.

You might be wondering what 4 has to do with anything, seeing as that typically in the US, children under 10 don't attend rap concerts, especially ones that go until almost 3 am. But here, sure enough the kids were on their dad's shoulders, wide awake. (I take comfort in thinking that either they didn't speak english or that they were just too young to understand that every other word was a swear word, or talking about drugs or sex.)
Anyway, the only thing we missed by arriving at 9 was an opening singer or two, that we'd never heard of anyway. The other "headliner" was Julian Marley (son of Bob, but with nowhere near the talent). Unfortunately we had to listen to him for almost 2 hours! Clearly he was told to stall because Akon and 50 weren't there yet. Really, how often does an opening act do an encore…especially when the crowd didn't even want one?! Apparently someone must've filled 50 and Akon in on Cypriot culture because they didn't arrive until at least 11 pm! Needless to say the concert didn't end at midnight, but in true Cypriot fashion, it was a good 2-3 hours later!

50 Cent was wearing a DC hat, so Barb and I felt at home. I doubt anyone else in the place even realized it (why would they?) But I have to say the funniest part of the night was when Akon asked the crowd "what do they call people from Cyprus…Cypresians??" And, "what language do ya'll speak? Cyprite?" When the crowd yelled "Greek!" he responded with "Oh, so you were part of the Roman Empire! How many gladiators do we have in the house?!" But the huge gold Cyprus shaped medallion (bling) around his neck assured us that he really does love Cyprus.

bored in budapest

It is my second night in Budapest and I just bought an internet card from the front desk so I decided to take a break from my Greek homework and check my email and write a quick blog, even though I don't have a lot to say about the city so far.

I flew out of Larnaca at 4 am sunday on Malev airlines. The trip was fine, with the exception of the vomiting girl next to me and the obnoxiously loud Cypriot (surprise) kids in front and behind me. Also, I normally don't complain about airplane food (why is it that no matter what they give you on a plane always seems to taste good at that moment…boredom maybe?) but this one was a unique situation. Maybe it was that it was 5 am, but 2 hotdogs a tomato, some nasty white sauce, and a stale chocolate chip muffin with a side of jam just didn't appeal to me at the time. Oh well.

So I got in yesterday morning (6 am) and luckily was able to check in to my room early. My room, (and the entire hotel actually) is really nice. (Thank you to my fellow American taxpayers.) I've already used the pool and gym twice. My room has a kitchen in it so today I walked down the street to a small grocery store and bought some groceries so I can save my per diem money for when Barb's here in a few days. (I could only buy things with pictures on the package since Hungarian bares absolutely no resemblance to any language I've even seen!) Yesterday I walked to a fruit market and bought some fresh fruit. Seemed easy enough, until the guy asked me (I think) what I wanted. I guess the blank look on my face made it obvious that I didn't speak Hungarian. I asked the guy if he spoke English. He shook his head no and asked me "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" I shook my head no, and decided I would just point to the fruit that I wanted. I pointed at the raspberries, he asked me something that of course I didn't understand, but I thought he was just confirming that it was raspberries that I wanted so I nodded. Next thing I know he's scooping enough berries to feed the entire country of cyprus into a plastic bag. Apparently he asked if I wanted a kilo! Fortunately I love raspberries. Unfortunately, he put the bananas on top of that bag, which I didn't realize until I got back to the hotel. Luckily, I like raspberry jam.

It is nice to be in a real city again. I don't look like a foreigner (foreignator ) here like I do in cyprus because it is a real European city where people look diverse and being taller than 5' and blonde isn't weird. People are driving on the right side of the road and the left side of the car (it actually looks really weird to me now!), I can flush toilet paper, and I even went to a (gasp) mall today!
Oh, and about the training, the actual reason why I'm here…After only one day, I won't comment on how incredibly boring it was. I'll give it another day or two before I say that…oops

suicide happens you fucking idiots!

Oh my god, I hate the media so fucking much. Just because you don't understand something doesn't give you the right to make up stories. Be responsible journalists for christ's sake. This isn't a high school creative writing class. This is real life. I understand that suicide is "unheard of" in cyprus..that cypriots just can't imagine anyone "doing this to their families" and all that other shit. But it fucking happens you assholes, get your heads out of your asses. And STOP making things up. This is sad enough as it is without adding all of this false bullshit to the situation!!!!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, my colleague, Col. Tom Mooney, who had been reported missing since Thursday was found dead on Monday. He killed himself. He slit his own throat. He was not murdered. He did not work for the CIA. He was not beaten. He was not poisoned. He was not a victim of Iranian intellegence. He was not "working on the issue of nuclear smuggling." He was not connected to anything regarding Lebanon. He was not murdered by greek cypriots because he spoke fluent turkish. (These are all real allegations from the Cypriot papers over the past 3 days, by the way) AGGGGHHHHH!!! What is wrong with the world????????????????????