Day Hundred Fifteen

One week

anniversary

at this place

and things have become more familiar,

the people more intimate

and the routine more workable.

Never thought I'd

jump 

into this 

capitalistic regime

so fast

and enjoy it

so soon

but here we are.

And when the going

gets tough

I think 

of the time that I'll 

be going,

travelling.

I really do

look forward to

this summer.

It has a lot to offer

and I'm sure

it holds many

surorises.

So cheers

to the people

who work summer seasons

in countries

where summer seasons 

are high

and make holidays

of summer travelers

a joy.

Day Hundred Thirteen

First day off

for the season

and I make separate lists of what

needs to be done.

I do

some chores

in a chilled pace

and decide to go out for food

and blogging.

I see the bus

passing by the bus stop on the main road

as I'm walking three minutes away.

It starts to spit 

and I'm asking the universe 

'please don't make me hate you today'.

I have a fear of being out in the rain

with no car.

It makes me feel helpless.

And it started in England

in terrible

terrible

cold rainy

weather conditions.

I snap back

what's the worse that can happen

I'll walk back home.

I get to the bus station.

No rain.

A small

confident

girl

walks by

in model mode

in her mum's peep toes

and loudly says hi to me

as she walks past.

I confidently say hi too;

appreciating her girlhood.

A surreal moment there before I take a selfies

for social media purposes.

I get to the pub.

'One table..

for one,

please'.

It's an English pub

with nice jazz music

and it ironically makes me miss the UK.

Dark brown 

wooden tables

and burgendy carpet floors.

I pick a corner where I can sit away from 

the football fans who will arrive to watch the football later.

To my right, diagonally

three British girls

considered overweight

talk about smoothies while having beer

and while waiting for

pub food.

And I'm not judging.

I'm observing life and its

beauties.

The effects of social pressures

and that

the moment you set yourself free;

you become very detached of needs

such as the need to diet.

..more so because social pressures

are what made you overeat 

in the first place.

Brocolli soup is amazing.

Day Hundred Eleven

Another bus ride

awaits

as I make my way to the bus stop

with an apple in my hand and

pieces of it in my mouth.

The bus arrives

and the bus driver speaks to me 

in English.

I respond to him in Cypriot.

He takes a second to decide 

whether

he thinks I'm Cypriot

or just a foreigner who 

has learned the language well.

'One fifty please';

was the last thing he said.

The bus starts moving and I sit.

I sit between Romanian, Bulgarian and Russian workers. 

Amongst us are some English tourists

and you can tell 

who's on holiday 

and who's not.

A Russian lady

is on the phone

complaining 
in Cypriot
about the long working hours.

I feel empathy.

Taking a bus ride that takes an hour,

for the distance of fifteen minutes,

isn't something extremely pleasant

if you're on your way to work

every day.

I consider getting a motorbike.

Then again,

I haven't driven one before.

I consider getting a car.

Then again,

I haven't got the funds for it.

This starts frustrating me

but I'm in a good mood.

I am a worker

just like the other workers.

I will take the bus to work

because at the moment it's my only

means of transportation.

30 minutes to go.

Day Hundred

Platinum Anniversary

for 100 days 

of blogging today

and only half

of the amazing

experiences I'm living

have been recorded.

In fact through blogging

I realise how amazing life is

as it puts 

a reflective element

in every day.

Just like today

for instance,

where blogging 

wasn't even part of any

thought process 

at any part of the day.

Today

we set off for the beach.

Protaras

is the land of 

promised paradise.

And on a good day,

between May and October,

it is.

But today is 

windy April

and Fig Tree Bay

has red flags on;

something I haven't

witnessed before!

Gregg asks if people

surf

and I had said

there are no waves.

Yet here we are,

standing before

a wavy Fig Tree Bay.

We move to the other

side of the coast

where it's less windy.

Gregg and Alex

go for exploration 

of the cliffs,

and Hanna 

sets her tanning game on

while I get the colouring book

the girls have bought me 

out.

I'm using some markers 

I got from the hostel

and I still wonder

if they were Sawsan's 

and if she had left them there

on purpose.

The sun

is fun

and I've missed it.

Right on time

as I finish colouring

the guys come back and

hunger strikes the group.

We set off for food.

In our lil car

with our lil familyyy.

We finish eating

gyros

right in time

for the sunset

and arrive 

at the rocks I've been

eagerly wanting to take

everyone at.

It's actually Alex's 

birthday today

and though we haven't 

been making 

a big deal

about it

this is like a gift moment.

The view is amazing 

and we have all shared

a space for ourselves

and for each other

during the long

but instant

moments

we have been there.

The time seems 

inexistent

and not even

the sunset

triggers

any sense of

movement.

We are still

and grounded.

We start to play

a tribal game

of stakkado 

singing

of repetition

of repetition

of any phraze

of any phraze

and any sOund-

and any sOund-

as the night faaa'alls

as the night faaa'alls

N we just bond 

N we just bond.

Day NinetyEight

Gregg's arrival

and we prepare our backpacks 

for road trips 

from hometown Nicosia

to airport town Larnaca

to beach town Paralimni.

Just,

we haven't got a car.

We go to the bus stop

and after waiting some hot minutes

we ask for a hike

from a guy who's stopped at the supermarket.

I find this hilarious,

a hitch hike in my own village

from one side of the village

to the other,

but good old Alex

goes for it

and we get the ride in the end.

The guy is a typical

guy from the 

area.

Speaks broken English

and hasn't practice speaking it

in ages

ever.

He turns to me for brief conversation

but he can tell how grateful

the girls are 

I love Alex's communication ways;

she is confident 

at delivering 

her message across.

She thanks the person

to their face.

The guy drops us at a car renting place

but it seems that we won't be able to

rent a car before 5pm this evening.

Thing is,

Gregg arrives at 3pm.

I call dad.

He's on his way home.

We need his car.

He needs his car.

At 4.

We need it now.

Until 4.

It's half past 2.

He's 10 minutes away.

He arrives.

We have backpacks with us.

They don't fit in the car.

Bella's in the car too.

She's excited to see us.

She's barking.

I get in the car.

The girls stay.

We drive home.

Unload Bella and dad

and stuff from the boot.

I go back.

Get the girls.

We're on the way to the airport

to possibly arrive 

10-15 minutes late.

Perfect timing 

on Cypriot time.

And it's a road trip.

We arrive;

stealing in a suspicious

white stuff dealer-like car

and find 

Gregg waiting outside.

He doesn't recognise us

cz he doesn't know what to look for.

We have no internet at home so Alex didn't 

check her phone for updates.

We have no horn 

on the dodge car.

He has no luggage

and it's a wrap,

he sees us and jumps in.

We're all eager to tell him our journey

but it seems like he has his own story

to tell us.

It's hilarious.

Road trip back home

and we arrive bang on 4pm.

These timing skills should be rewarded.

I'm starving.

My dad has cooked!

Yum.

He takes the car and sets off.

We make some calls for the car.

Looks like it's not happening today. 

At least we're all packed for timorrow.

We play UNO instead.

Cut in!

Day NinetySix

I hear plates

in the far end

coming from the kitchen.

I'm half asleep

when the beakfervention

starts.

A beakfervention

is a breakfast

intervention.

'Eleena!'

the girls open the door

to the room I'm sleeping in,

holding a tray of breakfast goodies,

smile at me and pass by

to the balcony door.

The sun is shining 

and all is good

with these two sunshines.

I make my way to the balcony

and we wake up

and breakfast

together

in the garden.

Today,

we have no car

so we make plans 

of what to do

according to bus routes

and times.

Of course we never follow

such schedules 

and more so

more things come up on the way.

Like Harrys

for instance,

who called to check if I'm back

in Cyprus

and ended up inviting us for dinner 

with the girls.

The day goes by

and the night comes.

We are all excited to 

visit Harrys

and try his cooking!

First things first;

we arrive late

and so we jump on the kitchen tall table/bar area

where he serves us the food.

Cypriot delicasies.

Asparagus in scrambled eggs,

slow cooked mushrooms

and taro in the oven.

All served with olive oil

and lemon.

Our taste buds

were dancing happily

as we combined these 

with toasted bread with oregano

and local wine.

A humble feast.

The way

it happens in Mediterranean

and Middle Eastern 

areas.

We discuss how

this is something common

for Cypriots

and Harrys insists that this is nothing.

'You should see our parents

and grandparents.

They make food for fifty people!'

'Yes we saw

Elina's dad.!'

and the night continues

with Cypriot hospitality

over a contemporary

Greek movie-

'The Dogtooth'.

Night, complete.

Mind, pomba.

Day NinentyFive

Sunday Foodday

and we start off our adventures with eating.

First breakfast,

and then the housecooked pastitsio dish

my dad made.

With mushrooms 

instead of minced meat

and all the vegetarians in the house are winning.

He's fasting for Easter

so it's a good chance for him to try

a varietion of the dish.

It's less oily too.

I hope that gets noted

for future reference.

We head out

to find a place with internet.

I know it sounds needy

but none of us is that obsessed with 

the internet

for social media.

Ok maybe Hanna, maybe a little bit,

but more so the girls than I

want to update people

of where they are

what they're doing

what they're eating

where they're staying.

It's all good and familiar for me

but 

for what their grandmas know

they could be in France 

having cheese and wine.

We get to Ifantourgio;

a cool space which has become 

a book club as of lately.

The furniture is a coordinated 

combination

of complete

random shapes and textures

and it's lovely.

We pick a leather couch

with two armchairs on each side

and spread out

like F.R.I.E.N.D.S. do.

We order our coffees and start blogging.

I love that the girls are here

and it helps me experience things as an outsider.

Truth be told,

I haven't had Finish friends before

especially not in Cyprus

and especially not two

that have been my dorm mates for 

two months.

I take a break to look around at the streets.

I recognise an alley

diagonally opposite

to my left

and I remember the day I left

without saying hi

to Y

and it's almost like his presence is sketched there

at the bar I never visited.

I switch back

post a post

and 

wonder how many of my thoughts are

self induced.

Day NinetyFour

Team Finland

are arriving today!

Super excited and feeling much better.

I have a shower,

wash off the illness 

and head to the airport.

I'm excited!

And nervous.

Hanna and I had been having these dreams in Beirut

where we felt out of place in our hometowns.

I was dreading the reality of this.

I arrive on Cypriot time;

similar to Lebanese time;

i. e. ten minutes late

and stand with a colourful

'Team Finland'

sign

at arrivals.

I can't see the girls

so I wonder if I was THAT late

that they headed outside.

Or if they missed the flight,

I don't think we ever confirmed they caught

that plane.

I sit at a distance

and observe the faces of the people who arrive.

I notice some cool pants

and an overall cool travelling style.

I make positive judgments in my head 

and then look up to the face.

It's Alex!!

Oh and there's Hanna!

Team Finland has arrived-

I slide off my seat and rush

to greet them.

We hug strongly

and 

reunite.

It's nice to see them again

and rock the girl gang attitude again.

We head to the car.

A children's birthday party is eating for us

in a forest house.

They compliment my pants

and I say I've dressed up

as a godmother

seeing that it's my godson's

birthday!

Girl gang on godmother vibes

lego.

Day NinetyThree

St.ill

and I'm still enjoying my time and space.

The soup was great

and I'm recovering.

I wouldn't have enjoyed any company

at this moment.

I occasionally turn my 3G on

and join in on the Hummozapiens

group chat.

Then I turn them off.

I half wish we had wifi

and half don't care we  don't.

I keep warm and hydrated

and do all the potion tricks

like, ginger citrus & spices tea,

Cypriot honey

onions in the socks at night

and loads of fluids.

The girls are arriving tomorrow.

I can't not talk to them.

In face I want to

 talk to them.