Walking the Line

Yesterday we were back in Kyrenia.  This time Chris stayed at home for sermon prep and the  Alpha course he is leading at the prison.  That left me to drive (which turned out ok.)  The trip came about because Cami wanted to stay the night with her friend that lives in Kyrenia so I said I could drive her over.  I wanted to make the most of the trip so I invited a couple of students, Pam and Junaid, to join us for the day. 

So, after an hour long wait at the border (because of the holiday, May 1st is Labour Day) we arrived safely at Kyrenia and met up with Cami’s friend and her dad.  We left Cam with them and went out for some good Turkish food.  I’m not sure why, but it is actually affordable to eat out in the north.  The same meal on this side would have cost at least twice as much. 

After lunch we visited the Kyrenia Castle.  Pam and Junaid hadn’t been before and its such a cool castle it wasn’t a problem for Colson, Cali and I to see it again. 

Of course, we took lots of photos.  Check them out on flickr.

Josh just gave me a disc of some of the photos he has taken during his visit.  I’ve posted some on flickr.

Today was Easter in Cyprus.  The Orthodox Church follows a different calender than the western church.  This year I(DeAnn) attended the Good Friday service of a nearby church.  I wasn’t able to get any good pictures but you can see some that Rick took here and some Josh took here.  Today at NIC we celebrated Easter for the second time and had a fellowship lunch/grill party after the service.  I did get some pictures of that.  Check them out on flickr.

Last night at the Place was Ghana night.  There was great food and a power point presentation about Ghana.  Because it is Easter break now the kids were aboe to attend also.

One of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome in moving to Cyprus was driving.  We were here three months before I was brave enough to get behind the wheel.  First of all, the driver is on the other side, so everything is on the other side (except the foot pedals, thank goodness.)  Still after more than a year of being here, I am sometimes gripped with feeling that I am going the wrong way on the wrong side of the street.  I am very thankful that has not been realityso far.  But I have also gained a lot of confidence and freedom in driving here.  Lets just say traffic laws are more of a recommendation (except for talking on a mobile phone while driving, which I learned first hand, unfortunately.)  I’m surprised that there aren’t more accidents.  Its like everybody understands that everyone else will be pulling out into traffic, running red lights, driving down the middle of the road parking where ever their car will fit.  So, I decided to write about all this because the other day I hit a driving in Cyrus on the other side of car milestone.  I parallel parked on a street in the old city.  I was so excited that I was successful that we took pictures.  Check it out on flickr.

Yesterday, the first day of Easter Break, we went to the north to Kyrenia.  Tinashe, who is from Zimbabwe, went with us.  It was his first trip out of Nicosia since he arrived in October.  The castle/fortress in Kyrenia is pretty cool.  Everybody was impressed by the dungeon with its graphic display of torture methods and true stories of who was imprisoned there.  There is also the remnants of the hull and cargo of a 2300 year old ship that was taken off the floor of the Mediterranean.  The castle/fortress is a great example of the architecture, etc of the various occupying forces that have been in Cyprus.

I just added a few photos to flickr of some recent events.

Last Friday night and the previous Friday night we showed “The Gospel of John” dvd at our house.  You can read about it on Rick’s blog here and see some pictures he took.  At NIC we had Domestic Workers’ Sunday.  I(DeAnn) had the honor of helping the ladies organize the service. You can read about it here and here on Rick’s blog. 

Last Tuesday was a national holiday here so we took the oppurtunity to take a trip across the line to the north.  We visited St. Hilarion castle.  It was in use during the 11th-14th centuries. The construction is amazing.  With cool breeze and beautiful views (and strategic views) and defendablity, you can see why the ruling families decided to locate on the highest mountain in the area.

After we finished there we drove along the coast for a bit.  Then we went to Kyrenia to get some ice cream. 

Check out the pix.

Because Chris was away on Cali’s birthday we decided to have the party after he returned.  It took us awhile to get organized but we finally did it.  She wanted to have her party at the bowling alley.  This was her present also.  We limited the number of guests to something that was manageable, three.  Everybody had a great time.  Chris was the champion bowler, as should be expected.  Tabea was the top kid.  Check out the pics on flickr.