How You Livin' Tracy Storm?

"In mansions and Benzs! Sendin' pics to my friends and it feels stupendous!"

Lol, Okay I'm exaggerating with the mansions and Benzs bit but it really is nice out here!

I live in the city of Nicosia and my neighborhood is pronounced Mah-kay-don-nit-tissa. It's a really cute college town. There are little apartment buildings all over; some are newer than others . For instance, I live in the Intercollege Building. It looks worse than it really is and we have a lovely view of the Turkish occupied mountains as I mentioned in my last entry. The space is tight but the roomies and I make it work. I'll tell you about them and put pics of the apartment in another entry.

There are only three quirky things about living here and the issues are consistent for everyone on the island so I can't take it personal.

Quirks of Cypriot Living

1. Due to a prehistoric sewage system, toilet paper cannot be placed in the toilet. Yes, you did read that right, and now I'm sure your wondering where on earth do we put our rubbish after we've done our business. Fear not, I purchased a tiny garbage can for the bathroom and I call it the 'Doo Doo Rag Can.' We take turns removing it daily and we clean it with Lysol after every bag change. It's not as gross as one would imagine but it was definitely an unforseen obstacle.

2. Due to 4 consecutive years of drought Cyprus has developed a Water Conservation plan that regulates the distribution of Water to the neighborhoods. Sounds like a good plan, right? Maybe the U.S.A should think about doing their part in saving the world and enact a similar conservation plan for it's citizens? (All my environmentally readers should be nodding their heads right now, let's see how they feel when I tell them how it works.) In order to save water, neighborhoods only have running water for 12 hours every other day. Mackedonitissa receives running water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays we have to use water that is stored on our roof. Each apartment has their own tank and if somehow you run out of water before it's time for a refill then tough cookies! Environmentally conscience friends are you still interested? It's actually not that bad but that might because most of my roomies only shower once a day. I'll let you know if I ever run out of water.

3. Since the Cypriots work so hard to conserve water, it's only right that they save energy as well. Rather than run water heaters all day, each apartment has a switch that allows them to turn their water heater on. It takes approximately 30-40 minutes to warm up so if you need to shower it is important to factor the warm up time in as well. For instance, last night I drank an entire bottle of water before bed in hopes that I would wake up a while before my alarm to use the bathroom. Just like clock work, I woke up at 6:45am (1 hr before my alarm) and turned on the water heater so that when I really woke up, all I had to do was jump in. Will I be able to pull that off every morning? Doubt it! But i have long breaks between most of my classes so afternoon showers will have to suffice.

If you can look past the aforementioned quality of life issues then you too could survive on the beautiful island of Cyprus.

As far as convenience, I'm located central to everything I might need. And I do mean everything.

All of my classes are 5min away walking. I can actually see my school buildings from my balcony. Theres a 24hr Kiosk across the street from me which is the equivalent to a 7/11. Its stocked with snacks, school supplies, greeting cards etc. You name it and they either have it or know where to send you to get it. The staff speaks minimal English but they pick up on key words and I always thank them profusely in Greek.

(Thank you = Efharisto)


There is also a decent sized mall across the street as well. It's called the Mall of Engomi and they have a Macy's like department store called Debenhams, a clothing store called Oviesse with awesome prices but not so great merchandise in my opinion, a giant Supermarket called Carrefour which is like a super Wal-Mart (groceries on the bottom, electronics on the top) and lastly a Super Home Center which is like a small scale Ikea. All of the things I need to survive are two minutes away from my house. I'm thinking about staying. This beats being across the street from Save-A-Lot BY FAR! Kidding... I think.


Entertainment wise, theres a club called Galelea around the corner that charges 5 euros ($7) for ladies on Saturday nights and it's open bar. I went my first weekend here and it was similar to the club scene in America. Everyone was dressed to the tee and everyone was wearing black. Meanwhile, my touristy self was in there in a cardigan and jeans looking out of the loop. I swore it was an "All Black Everything" themed party but when I walked past this weekend, all the party go-ers looked exactly the same. The meditteranean music was amazing! Seriously, anyone who enjoys belly dancing would have had a blast because people were literally on the bar belly dancing and it wasn't even a big deal.

For the days when I just want to have a drink and enjoy good conversation, I can walk to Brickyard Bar which also happens to be extremely close to my apartment. Friday nights they have Karaoke (I was Beyonce and every rapper on Rapper's Delight my first night in) and on Saturday nights its Old School night (the DJ surprised me and did a 20min reggae set! Yardies get love EVERYWHERE!). They also have a pool table in the back. I plan to be skilled shooter when I get back. For now, the natives let me cheat =).



I definitely have more to share but I'll save that for another entry. Can't give you all the juice one time! Wish me safe travels to Egypt and I promise to have yummy stories for you when I get back. Literally!

Kalinikta =)