You Win Some, You Lose Some

I'm in Nicosia (or Lefkosia--there we go with the 2 names again) and I was supposed to meet up with a local Couch Surfer for some coffee and a look around town this morning. Apparently though, we were both waiting at different locations. Then both waited at different locations again.

Oops.

But since the second place I waited for him was right next to the border crossing I went ahead and crossed into Northern Cyprus and spent the day there. (An aside: Nicosia is the world's only remaining divided capital. The northern bit belongs to Northern Cyprus and the Southern bit to the the Republic. There's a buffer zone in between that UN Peacekeepers monitor. As I walked through the crossing and was given a stamped visa, and as I walked around the buffer zone with it's posters prohibiting pictures, etc. I just kept saying to myself--This is crazy!)

Anyway, my (useless) guidebook had said that the two sides of the city could not be more different. It's cliche, but it turned out to be true.

Walking the 10 feet into Northern Nicosia feels like it takes you miles away and years back. You can see the mountains in the background, there's a gothic cathedral turned into a mosque, and children running around playing soccer alongside the buffer zone. In some parts of the city I could have sworn I was in some small town in a far away mountain. It was fascinating.

It was like all the charm of Turkey with the laid back vibe of a Greek island. The Greek side is for the most part modern and built up, but the Northern side is half abandoned in places, ancient or remodeled in others. You trade Greek for Turkish, Orthodox churches for mosques, coffee for tea, and Euros for Liyras.

I also quickly remembered that all I know of Turkish is merhaba (hello) and coke guzel (which means "very beautiful"). Those two things might not get you too far, but they do get you somewhere. In my case, they got me a bouquet of flowers from a Turkish lady's garden, a laugh from a circle of little girls making daisy chains and an impromptu Turkish lesson from the baklava shop owner.

All in all, it was a beautiful day. 

Agia Napa

Now that I am here I can see how Agia Napa could be considered tourist hell in the summer. Thankfully though, it's not summer. It's spring. That means there's wildflowers everywhere and I had the beach almost entirely to myself today. It also means that I got a 200 euro hotel room for 40 (slippers and all!). Not bad Agia Napa, not bad. 

(The one thing my fancy hotel does not have though, is free wifi. So here I am at the cafe down the road drinking the cheapest thing on the menu to use their wifi. And let me tell you, this Greek coffee has some BITE.)

Oh, and one more interesting fact before the pictures: Any idea where Agia Napa gets its name? Agia/ayia we know is "holy." Napa anyone? Think napkin. The town gets its name from the monastery here which was named after the "holy handkerchief" supposedly used to wipe Jesus' tears with on his way to the cross. Interesting, no?

OK, moving on...

My spiffy digs

My balcony. Today was divided between laying out and reading at the pool...

then laying out and reading at the beach. 

Yesterday I went on a long walk (round trip I think it was almost 20 kilometers--which is good. That's the daily average for the Camino). 

The water, the views, the flowers--it was all beautiful. 

Up until this point of my walk I had been barefoot (I just continued walking from the beach). I finally put my shoes back on (sans socks/rolling my pants back down) to look at some cliffs and then just decided to rock the look the rest of the way. Yep. (There's hardly anyone but old Germans here anyway.)

The sea caves were breathtaking

Another look at them from the return

Fields and wildflowers

Just an overall lovely walk and lovely day.  

This morning I woke up early(ish) and went to the monastery here. This 600 year old sycamore tree is in the courtyard. 

The monastery--built 1570. 

Icons inside

More monastery 

Fountain in the courtyard that predates the monastery

And some religious kitsch for good measure. 

Tomorrow to the capital! That is...unless I decide to stay. 

Baile Folklorico

By happy chance I was in Boquete during a region wide (I think) celebration that brought in baile folklorico (traditional dance) and music groups from all around. Everyone got dressed up, paraded through town and then took turns dancing in the town square. It was a misty and cool day, but I loved taking it all in.

I was amused watching all of the dances thinking back to my experience with baile folklorico. When I was in high school I got placed in a native speaker's Spanish class because of scheduling conflicts or general incompetencies, or I don't even know what. Needless to say I was not a native speaker and was lost the whole time (embarrassing myself on several occasions). I finished the class without learning a lick of Spanish (but with a decent understanding of how to put accents on words). Anyway, when it got close to Cinco de Mayo, my teacher thought we should get in touch with our roots and learn some baile folklorico. My protests of not even being hispanic fell on deaf ears and I ended up spinning around in big skirts with the rest of my class. 

More pictures:

The tiny kids were my favorite. 

Week In Review Sabbatical Style: Week 1

Now that I'm on the road again, I figured why not revive the Sunday Week In Review? You know you loved it.

• Yesterday I still wasn't feeling great, so I went to the reception desk and extended my stay a couple more days. I feel very good about this decision. 
• Despite it's sickly start, yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I've had in a while. It was finally cooler so I spent the entire afternoon swimming in the ocean, laying on the beach and watching surfers. Sunset was especially gorgeous. (Sadly, I didn't take anything to the beach with me, so no pictures!)
• Biggest decisions of the day: beach or pool?
• It's kind of strange to be so far away without a single hour of time difference from home. 
• It gets dark here at 6 o'clock sharp. I know this happens when you get closer to the equator, but it's almost disorienting that its so hot, yet the day ends so early. Long evenings are one of my favorite parts of summer. Maybe this helps explain why I have been going to sleep before 9 all week!
• I've been pulling 9-13 hours of sleep all week. I don't know if it's because I've been sick (probably) or because I've just been that exhausted, but it has been pretty glorious. 
• Costa Rica is proud of its coffee, and it's pretty tasty too. The flavor is strong, but it's not a dark roast. It's not thick or heavy at all. It's almost like what an agua fresca is to a fruit smoothie. 
• I ended up getting a kindle before I left. I give it a thumbs up!
• After basically nothing but bread and fruit all week and a day at the beach, last night I was hungry for real food. I figured I would regret it, but I found soda (local hole in the wall) and ordered a casado (picture below). It was delicious! And my body didn't reject it! (Hamdula!)
• I ordered the casado to go so I could eat back in my room (mostly so I could drink out of my 6 liter bottle of water I bought and not have to buy a drink! Yes, I am cheap!). Once I got back and unwrapped it I realized I hadn't thought about silverware. Hmm. I popped open my multi-tool and decided to use the pocket knife to (carefully!) eat. Unfortunately it was not doing me a ton of good with the rice and beans (I was actually wishing for even some chopsticks!). Solution? I used the heel of the (bitter!) orange slice as a scoop. Bien hecho Lauren. 
• About half way through I realized that the peel of the orange probably hadn't been washed. But then again, I figured I was already sick, so what is the harm? (Let's hope!)
• I have the beginnings of a Chaco tan. 

OK, so that is the week in review! A few more pictures below!

Feet, meet ocean!

This has been lunch most of the week.  

Finally a proper meal! This is my casado: rice, black beans, a piece of chicken, potatoes, fried plantains (YUM!), and some veggies. And for $4, a good deal to boot!

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

Well, things got off to a rough start. I left Tuesday evening for Costa Rica...but woke up Tuesday morning at 5 violently throwing up. Fun. Not one to let a little vomit get me down (OK, I almost did, but it cost way to much to change my ticket so I refused!), I took a cocktail of different drugs, slept most of the day (and had some crazy fever-dreams) then woke up, packed in 30 minutes and was on my way. 

It was a long way, too--2 hours to Denver, a 3.5 hour layover, a 5 hour flight to San Jose, a 4 hour wait at the bus station in San Jose, and then a 5 hour bus ride to Samara. Most all of that was spent dozing so the contrast was even greater when I finally got here. 

In a way the landscape reminds me a bit of Puerto Rico, but it's really different too. The jungle just kind of falls into the beach. And I was just complaining about the cold a couple of days ago, so I won't go too far, but the sun is intense here. (PSA: If you fall asleep in the sun, you will get burned!) 

Once I got here and found my way to my hostel though, things unfortunately didn't start looking up--they had lost my reservations. Ugh. She did help us find a place in a new "hostel" out of the city some. Unfortunately, the place lacked some of the basic amenities that I generally prefer--like a door on the shared bathroom. I was so tired that night that nothing really mattered, and I got a good 13 hours of sleep out of that place, so I won't complain too much. In the end though I walked through town, saw a sign for a place full of Germans (which I figured at least meant it would be clean) and took a room. It's a bit of a splurge, but it has breakfast, AC and a pool that feels like you are right in the middle of the jungle (which...OK, you pretty much are). Also, I realized tonight, considering I'm still not eating hardly anything (I went for my first real meal since Monday yesterday...it did not go over well), I am still more or less making my budget! (Silver lining?)

It's been a rocky start, but soon I'll be feeling better, and in the meantime I've already seen 3 or 4 monkeys, 4 iguanas, a neon green and pink bird, tons of butterflies and 3 sea crabs. As the Ticos say, ¡Pura Vida!

Week in Review: Au revoir Belgique--Hello Texas

Four different countries, lots of snow, goodbyes and reunions--What a week. Some snippets:

• My flight to London yesterday was cancelled. The computers needed to rebook us all were broken. Fuuuun. Eventually it got worked out though and 22 hours later I made it back to my house in FW. Hello lovely Texans!
• With early flights, jet lag, and lingering migraines, consider yourselves warned that I am feeling pretty filter-free at the moment. 
• British Air rerouted me onto two American flights. Hello downgrade. And BA owes me 50 bucks for the bag American made me pay for. I think they should give me a voucher for the trouble. I'm crossing my fingers...
• You know what I realized I missed without ever knowing it? Carpet. This morning I was walking around the house and thought, wow this is nice! So warm and soft. 
• Monday morning my mom and I made our way to the train station and took the Eurostar through the English Channel to spend most of the week in Bath and its surrounding areas. Roman Baths, Georgian squares, Saxon churches from 600 AD, ancient stone circles and Christmas markets. It was a fun trip. 
• Mom left from London and I was going to take the train back through the channel to Brussels. Except my train was cancelled due to snow. They decided to rebook everyone who had train tickets for the whole day on a first come, first serve basis. The line stretched from one side of the train station to the complete other side--but I did make it on the last train to Brussels. Snow in Bath, snow in London, snow in France, and when I got to Brussels? Snow. 
• Yesterday when I landed in Chicago? Snow. 
• A long train ride is the best way to think. 
• When I took the metro home from the train station I was almost relieved to be surrounded by all Arabs. There are so many white people in England that it is almost unsettling. 
• The day we went to Stonehenge we had the place almost entirely to ourselves, which was fantastic. Except for the fact that it was FRIGID. With the wind coming through I am pretty positive it is the coldest I have ever been in my life. 
• Today it was great to go to church in English. I would usually try to sing along rather futilly with the French and then just hum my way through the Arabic (except when we sang the "lalala" song...) so it was nice to sing in English today. 
• I won't lie though--3:30 PM still seems like a much better time for church than having it in the morning. Also, can we get on the Moroccan tea before church bandwagon?
• Did everyone give their kids steroids while I was gone? It was only 3 months, why are all these kids so big?
• I also didn't remember everyone having such strong accents. 
• I had fajitas last night and they were tasty! And I drove for the first time in 3 months! 
• Time to for the cap and gown in 6 days. Whoop!
• Also, now that I have a little time and some stable internet, I'll try to get up some pictures and catch up on all the fun stuff I've been seeing/doing. 

The end. 

Week in Review: Week 11

It's the next to last Week in Review from Belgium! Here goes:

• Here's the count: 13 straight days of headaches, 8 full days of migraines. I've officially turned into a vampire. I'm ready to get off the migraine-train. 
• The painkillers are leaving me relatively "filter"-free. It almost seems appropriate for this time of the semester. 
• Speaking of...I FINISHED ALL MY COURSEWORK. I'll bring back my evaluation and then walk myself across the stage at graduation. Man, this has been a long time coming. 
• I think I've gotten dumber, not smarter, but I won't be opposed to you all calling me Master Brewer. 
• I've enjoyed helping take care of Phoebe this week, but it also makes me miss my little girls in Texas. I can't wait to see Madeline and Emma and see how much they have changed over the last 3 months!
• English classes have also been wrapped up. I have to put the finishing touches on the exams for levels one and two and then give them tomorrow evening. They will come for their grades and certificates on Wednesday. Tuesday we are having a potluck/Thanksgiving celebration in my conversation class. It should be interesting to see what kind of food my students turn up with. 
• With just 2 weeks left I officially gave myself permission to think about Mexican food and Dr. Pepper. 
• This last Tuesday was the Fête du Mouton, which is one of the biggest holidays in Islam. Families get together to sacrifice and eat a sheep in honor of God providing a sheep to sacrifice instead of Abraham's son (Isaac for Christians, Ishmael for Muslims). Part of the holiday includes sharing the meat with friends and the poor. Our neighbors said they would send over their son with some of the lamb, which turned out to be an entire raw leg of lamb. 
• I rode back to Brussels from the neurologist Wednesday with a family from the church who had gone to the hospital to visit Phoebe. The husband is Egyptian, the wife is Syrian. They have two adorable little hellians. He exhibited the best steering wheel drumming I have ever seen. (He drums at the church and was a professional back in Egypt.) They ended up taking me home with them for a while and fed me mashi (sp?)--little stuffed grape leaves. Very, very tasty. Also, I realized after almost 3 months that the husband speaks English! Who knew...
• I cannot say enough for the Flemish Belgian healthcare system. Everyone was ridiculously nice, almost everyone spoke English, and they all went out of their way to be helpful--the neurologist even game me his personal email should I need more information or help filing on my US insurance.  
• The amount I paid to go to the ER, have a CT scan, an appointment with the neurologist and an EEG with no outside insurance? 108.22 euro. Let's all say it together--government healthcare is not the end of the world. 

And, that's all. It has been a long week, but when I look back, most of what I remember is just cooking, cleaning and sitting in a dark room as much as possible. Maybe I'll remember some of the more interesting tidbits later!

Moussaka Bi Zeit

So while the last week has not been full of triumphal moments, I did have a strong showing in at least one area. As I attempted to get in touch with my Southern roots and cook up some casseroles, I decided to branch out a bit. Janee has a good Lebanese/Syrian cookbook and I found a recipe for Moussaka that I wanted to try. (As an aside, Lebanese and Syrian food is almost exactly the same. Hary says that even if the people are Syrian, they market the food as Lebanese because Lebanese food is more well known.)

Lebanese Moussaka is not the same as its Greek incarnation--there's no cheese or potatoes. Hary does tell me that there are different kinds of Moussaka. Moussaka Bi Zeit, or Moussaka with oil, is what I made and it is a vegetarian variety. Making it is pretty straight forward: you peel, slice and fry a few eggplants, add a layer of chickpeas, then top it with a mixture of sautéed onions, garlic and tomatoes which have been simmered together. To finish it off you top it with a layer of sliced up tomatoes, and then bake it. It can be eaten cold, but we ate it hot with rice.

I hadn't realize that Hary was coming back to the house the day I made it, but he was really excited when I told him what I had made. I was a bit worried for him to try it because it was my first go at moussaka, and I hadn't even tried it myself, but I am happy to say he liked it. Now honestly this isn't saying much because I have been around long enough to know that Hary will eat just about anything. Yet as the days went by and he kept eating it, meal after meal, I started to believe him. And the highest praise of all? He said it tasted just like an Arab woman made it.

Triumph indeed.

Week in Review: Week 10

It's Sunday--Week in Review time!

• Phoebe is here! Janee had her early on Thursday. The whole process was complicated and scary and ended in an emergency cesarian, but both of them are now doing great--hamdula!
• My foot is a mix of purple and black, and I'm still having some headaches, but I'm not too much worse for the wear after my tumble down the stairs. 
• With all the activities of the week, I've already fallen off the whole blog-a-day November bandwagon. But hey, I tried. 
• Yesterday one of Hary's friends stopped by the house here to pick me up and take me to the hospital to see everyone. They surprised me by showing up early. I invited them up for coffee and the whole thing just kept striking me as odd. They live in Antwerp so they don't even speak French (not that my French really does me any good...) so it was just me and 4 Arabic speakers. I was trying to be a good Arab host, serving all the coffee and busting out all of the cookies/seeds/nuts/etc., using just hand motions and the handful of Arabic words I know. Everyone (except me) chatted for about 30 minutes, and then we were off. The subsequent search for a florist and 20 minute drive to the hospital didn't fail to be less interesting either.
• I played video games this week with some of my youth for the first time in probably 6 years. Unfortunately it seems my years of experience driving a car has not improved my ability to keep my car on the road in video games. 
• IT'S LESS THAN ONE MONTH UNTIL I GRADUATE. How bout them apples?! The plan is to finish my last paper this evening and get the portfolio sent off sometime this week. ELF hamdula!
• For those wanting an update...I was pretty sure Mr. Collins understood that I was not interested in marrying him. Unfortunately the hilarious/pitiful texts he sent me out of the blue this week might argue the contrary. 
• Rain, rain go away, come again in 3 weeks when I have moved back to Texas. But seriously, it has not stopped raining for what feels like weeks. 
• I've been doing quite a bit of cleaning, cooking and laundry this week. That also means I've been listening to a lot of This American Life podcasts. Sadly I've gone through almost all of the old episodes Cody gave me. 
• I got the dress ordered (after some creative measurement taking measures). One less thing to do when I get back. 
• It kind of scares me that when I tried to write in Spanish this week that all that came to mind was my crappy French.

And...that's it for today. Three weeks from yesterday I'll be back in Texas--which is kind of hard to believe. I know this last month is going to fly by, so I am trying to soak up what I can! OK, marsalami.

The Art of Saying No

As I mentioned the other day, I am horrible at telling people no. It's probably yet another thing I inherited from my dad. I just can't help it. The problem is, it gets me into all kinds of situations. For example, my inability to say no is exactly what got me tangled into spending the evening with Mr. Collins last night.

I have been joking for a while about how the Arab culture here surrounding marriage, dating and matchmaking seems like something straight out of a Jane Austin novel. Turns out, the joke was on me!

But don't you worry. I channeled Elizabeth and when marriage came up it was not difficult for me to dig up the word no.

Week in Review: Week 7!

Well, week 7 is over and it has been a doozy.

• It has been a busy week as far as classes are concerned--I gave, graded and gave back tests. Now we are on to trying to finish 4 units in less than 3.5 weeks. Ready, set, go.
• Some of my students did horribly on the exam. It doesn't really bother me because I know they understand the things they messed up on. Still, it pained me to give them bad grades...so I wrote "good" even on the test of the person who made a 50...
• The week began with a visitor who stayed in our house for 2 days. In the middle of the week Rob Nash, head of CBF's missions side, stopped in for a night. And then today, to top it off the week, Hary's brother, 3 neices and a family friend from Antwerp all came by. It's been a full house.
• I graduate in 7 weeks! I only have 5 papers and a portfolio to go!
• Maybe the weather is the culprit, but I was cursed with a migraine for 2 days this week. Not fun.
• Yesterday we got to go work with Tabitha ministries again, who work with the homeless here in Brussels. We made sandwiches for a few hours and then went to the station to feed two hundred and fifty people.
• I passed out the soup again. Even though it's pronounced the same in English and French lots of people kept laughing at me when I offered it to them. Whatever.
• After the homeless feeding we stopped in a memorial service for a close family type person for Hary. It was at our church, but involved mostly the orthodox church that meets there on Saturdays. It was like stepping into a different world. There were people everywhere and a couple of moments after we walked in the door plates of food were shoved at us.
• My favorite memory of the evening? We got to talk to 2 head honchos in the Assyriac Indian Orthodox Church (or something like that...). I spotted them the moment we walked in because their outfits were awesome (and bright red)! Turns out these 2 live in the US (in Providence and Columbus) and speak English. We chatted for a while but I mostly just stared at their robes/necklaces/fancy walking sticks/beards/rings.
• We did a little internet research when we got home (because I needed a picture of them!). See below!
• Despite being in a position to be called "his eminence" and wearing crazy costumes these guys were friendly, charismatic, and totally accessible. If being Baptist doesn't work out, I might have a plan B...
• Also in the bizarre department: At the memorial service someone came up to congratulate one of the guys I had been speaking to that evening (who happens to be 37). On his engagement. To me. Talk about total surprise! Apparently one of the idiot guys in our church spread that one around for reasons I still don't understand. Can we say awkward??
• Hary's been wanting me to cook, so tonight I dusted off my Southern roots and fried up some chicken. That with the sweet tea and little bit of Texas country music made me feel right at home.
• I also managed to smoke up the entire kitchen. Oops.

Anyway, that about wraps up the week. It was a long one, but I'm quickly realizing my time here is already on the downhill slide. It's been a whirlwind so far! OK, check out our friend below! (He was only wearing the red on Saturday and his walking stick has gotten a major upgrade since this picture was taken. But seriously, how awesome is that??)

Week in Review: Week 3

Whoa, I have been here for 3 weeks! Week in review:

• This week Hary, Janee and I went to the Syrian/Lebanese part of town. The food from these two countries is basically the same. And delicious. We had the best pizza I have ever had. And they were 2 euros each!
• I also had a bite of the worst olive I've ever tasted. One bite and I had a sore in my mouth for two days. Hands down the saltiest thing I have ever eaten.
• Syrians are a lot like the British in that they love to call everyone "love." But more so. Habib and Habbibi ("love" and "my love") get thrown around a lot. When we decided we wanted yet another Syrian pizza, Hary called to the guy--Habib! Another pizza, please!
• The greeting, Key feck habibi? (How are you my love?) cracks me up. There's not necessarily anything romantic intended, but it reminds me of some guy going, what up, baby? Which is an odd thing to say to your 60 year old neighbor.
• While in that part of town someone asked me if I was Syrian. Close, but no.
• Thursday I got to go to the biggest Moroccan market in town (pretty much just like being in Morocco) then walked down the block to a Flemish midwives office (for Janee, not myself obviously). Talk about culture shock.
• This week was my first week back teaching classes. We have about 33 students registered in 3 different levels. So far they are pretty awesome.
• As class began on Wednesday a man came by wanting to register his daughter. I was trying to explain everything to him in my crappy French (which is actually just French sounding Spanish with a few French words thrown in) when he stopped me about 5 words in and asked if I spoke Spanish. Turns out they are from the Canary Islands! Fun!
• For one of our conversation classes we talked about things that annoy you (which is a good way to get people talking!). I realized that I do a lot of things that really annoying people.
• Sorry.
• إسمي لورين
• My name is Lauren.
• We went to visit a friend in the hospital across town and randomly came across a 14th century (?) castle.
• Fanta's Red Berry flavor is not good.
• Arabic orange soda tastes just like whatever it was that McDonald's used to sell when I was a kid.
• It's getting cold. Apparently the weather report on the street is that it is supposed to rain every single day from now until spring. Awesome. We are down to low 40s already.
• Krystal: He was not TDH.
• I took a little break from using my free time to write papers and started thinking through post-graduation trip plans. Who's excited?!?

That's all for now. A few pictures below!

Clockwise: Cheese, Cheese, lamb, tomato and peppers, and olive oil and herb. The cheese was definitely the winner in my opinion.

We also picked up some Halawa--kind of like a soft, slightly sweet peanut brittle made out of tahini and pistachios. Or something.

Spices at the market

Why hello castle!

NOT recommended.