MALAQUINHA AND KITTY (THE VERY SAD LOVE STORY OF A STREET AND A DOMESTIC CAT)

A drama inspired by a Saturday morning breakfast on the terrace.

(May Shakespeare forgive me!)

CHARACTERS :Malaquinha, the young and cool street cat of the neighbourhood;

Kitty, the young and most beautiful domestic cat of the neighbourhood;

 With the appearance of Fluffinda, the old and meanest female cat of the neighbourhood;

 

Malaquinha

(coming back from a fight)

He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

[Kitty appears above on a tree.]

But soft, what light through yonder branches breaks?
It is the east and Kitty is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious Fluffinda,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her feline fur is but sick and grey,
And none but old stray cat do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O that she knew she were!
She miaows, yet she purrs nothing; what of that?
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.
I am too bold: 'tis not to me she purrs.
(...)
See how she leans her cheek upon her paw 
O that I were some dirt upon that paw,
That I might touch that whiskers!
Kitty
Ay miaow!
Malaquinha 
She miaows.
O, miaow again, bright feline, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of cat's heaven.

(...)

Kitty
O Malaquinha, Malaquinha! wherefore art thou Malaquinha? 
Deny thy pack and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a domestic cat.

Malaquinha
[Aside.] Shall I hear more, or shall I miaow at this?

Kitty 
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Street Cat.
What's Street Cat? It is nor paw, nor claw,
Nor whisker, nor tail, nor any other part
Belonging to a cat. O, be some other name.
What's in a name? That which we call a sardine 
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Malaquinha would, were he not Malaquinha call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Malaquinha, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee, (50)
Take all myself.

Malaquinha
I take thee at thy miaow.
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptis'd;
Henceforth I never will be Malaquinha.

Kitty
What cat art thou that, thus bescreened in night,
So stumblest on my counsel?

Malaquinha
By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.

Kitty
My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words
Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound.
Art thou not Malaquinha, and a Street Cat?

Malaquinha 
Neither, fair pussy, if either thee dislike.

Kitty
How cam'st thou hither, miaow me, and wherefore?
The terrace trees are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my humans find thee here.

Malaquinha
With love's light wings did I o'erperch these trees, (70)
For wooden limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do, that dares love attempt:
Therefore thy humans are no stop to me.

Kitty
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

Malaquinha
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their brooms. Look thou but sweet
And I am proof against their enmity.

Kitty
I would not for the world they saw thee here.

Malaquinha 
I have night's fur to hide me from their eyes,
And, but thou love me, let them find me here;
My 9th life were better ended by their hate
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

(more and more miaowing is following, but we will not report it all here, since translation from Miaowish to English got lost. We will just say that the story will end up in blood, with a lot of street fights, severe injuries and death, for the delight of all the humans desperately trying to sleep in the neighbourhood).

THE END

Cause every little thing will be alright :)

It is really hard to write something when you don't know what to write about. So many thoughts running through my head. So many decisions to make. Too many roads, not sure which one to take. That sounded so poetically. It wasn't my intention.

This crossroads looks like a candy shop. Colorful. Standing in the middle. Pretty confused. Distracted. Maybe it's only me, I don't know. Why I am writing this? Well, the half of our Cyprus adventure is gone. That means that is time to start thinking for the future. Where to go, what to do? Back home? To some other country/continent/planet? Difficult one.

These past 5 months are written in our minds, hearts and souls. New people, now good friends. New experiences, now personality traits. New difficulties, now the strength of character. Each and every of those moments are big pieces of the puzzle called life.

8th of July...

Looking at this photo right now. Our first photo together :). Time goes by very fast... You realize that when you're going through your old photos, just like me now. Did I say old photos? Oh my, you see my point? Everything comes and goes. 

I don't know why I am writing all of this. It's not like we are leaving tomorrow, we still have 4 months in Cyprus... But somehow April is getting closer. Together with light panic. There are lots of opportunities out there. We are just not quite sure which one suits us best. How are we supposed to know? All of us got to this planet without instructions, it's kind of you'll reap what you sow. Fair play. 

Maybe it's because I was home for 10 days recently and it felt like I never left my hometown. That I will be back soon, too. Crazy mixture of emotions. A lot of stuff going on in my mind and heart. When you miss everything and everyone but you are still not ready to go back. Time for new project? New country? Could be... Time will tell...

Our stories are being written for us. We are on the right place in the right time with the right people. Everything will be alright :).

Modern addiction

There was a high possibility that I will write this in a good old way on a piece of paper and then just rewrite it. My laptop has some serious health issue. I do not want to talk about its conditions, because it's kind of medical secrecy, but believe me, it's bad. So naturally, I could not use it, among other things, to write this blog. Luckily my lovely roommates are always willing to help me out.

I had troubles with my laptop couple times before but it always ended up good. This time it takes more time to fix it. And it made me realise how much I depend on it. I also have a phone which I use for most of my internet stuff, but sometimes I prefer to do it on my laptop because it's more comfortable. Now I cannot. Sometimes I want to watch a movie on a bigger screen. Now I cannot. Sometimes I want to use the soft light of the screen for a romantic setting in my room. Now I cannot.

Lots of things have been written about this modern addiction and I have nothing new to add. I just found it interesting when I realized how obsessed I have become with all this electronis devices. So in the end it's a good thing that my laptop is on a sick leave, because I have time to learn how to live without it. Altough I am not quite sure it is possible in this era.

WHERE IS HOME?

I've been asking myself this question because last week I went back "home", to my biological home, the one that gave me birth, where my family is, where my mother tongue is, where I put my feet on the ground for the first time.



My parents' house, no language barriers, the familiar smell, the perfume my mum puts in the wardrobe for my clothes, the sound of my father's snoring when he sleeps on the couch, sharing secrets with my sisters, the belly of my six months pregnant cousin, my sick friend in her pyjama, my mum's pumpkin soup, the fresh vegetable from the grove, and then the mountains and the colours of the autumn, the cold air on your face, my old but loyal car, and much, much more!
Of course that's home!

But then I went to Verona for three days, for a dancetherapy meeting, and the moment I first stepped into the door, I felt home again: the familiar music, the colours of the people's clothes, the smell of the incense, my teacher and friend, the hugs, smiles, eyes, hands, tears, sweating, laughing, the weight of another person's body, the contact with another person's skin, the contact with the floor (sometimes a bit painful), the sense of fulfillness and freedom, and then dancing, dancing and even more dancing! Isn't this a wonderful home, too?


After that I went to Milan to take my flight. I woke up at 5.00 a.m. to get there on time. I survived the sleepless night, the morning cold air slapping my face, the traffic and the check-in queue with my 20 Kg suitcase (not one gram more not one less!), just to find out that my flight had a delay of more than 4 hours. Life has a wonderful way to remind you how flexible you should be, doesn't it?

Not too bad: after a 2 minutes disappointment, I chose to take it with philosophy and just enjoy my time at the airport. The most surprising thing is that, even there, I found a piece of my home: I found it in the kindness of a shop assistant, in a French family passing by, the jokes of some teenagers, a small child learning how to make her first steps, an old man falling asleep on a chair, some cypriot friends laughing together (probably flying back home?), pleople coming and going, stopping or just passing by, faces, histories, so much humanity! So much home!

Finally, the plane, the take-off, the gentle voice of a steward, the landing and...home again!

This time  it's another home, the one I've been living in, in the past 4 months. Again, the moment I step inside the door, everything is familiar: Doris, Lenka, Pablo, the miaowing of cats, Iron Man, my room, something or someone new in the house, old things, new things, presents, food, sharing, laughing, and the sense of deep relaxation and happiness you have when you can just be yourself!

I remember a poem my mum wrote to me, wich says:

"Ogni terra è la mia terra, 

ogni paese è il mio paese, 

ogni lingua è la mia lingua, 

in ogni punto dell'universo sono a Casa."

"Every earth is my earth,

every country is my country,

every language is my language,

in every corner of the universe I feel Home"  

Dedicated to all the pleope who make me feel home!

GRAZIE! THANK YOU! ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΩ! HVALA! DĚKUJI! GRAZAS! MERCI!

  

Who/What am I?

Let me tell you a story...

I am very old. Nobody knows exactly my age. But old. Very old. In my time there weren't hospitals nor birth certificates. Nowadays you have everything, so many information. You know it all. I prefer to stay mysterious. Classy. A symbol of neverending changes. Passing seasons. They think they know who I am. They tried to find my roots. You have it in your history books. With lots of names, years, wars and other "important" stuff. They don't have a clue.

I was important. I still am. They fought over me. They fight over me. Long lines of kings and queens used me. I was a symbol of power to them. Royalty. I was an honour guest at all of their parties. I saw it all. All the important events, I was there. My role was to make the atmosphere easygoing and pleasant, cosy. My role hasn't changed. I am here and there. I am everywhere. Even here, in Cyprus. Even today they are still fighting over me. Incredible. Centuries passed. Same problems stayed. Now is all about the label, even in my case. So shallow.

Not only the rich people loved me. The poor ones did, as well. I helped them make their life softer. Friendly. Life was never easy on this kind of people. I enrich their everyday life. I put some fun in their gray days. I helped them bring food on the table. They are very nice to me. Gentle. I know they love me. They appreciate me. They cannot imagine their life without me. I was at their parties, also. I participated in all of their wonderful events. Those people know how to have good time, trust me! They have big and warm hearts. There is the magic. Everything is inside of you people. Why can I see this? You can see it as well, especially with my help. When I am with you, you open your hearts, you talk with each other, deeply and sincerely. You say things you usually wouldn't. And that makes all the difference.

I came here a long time ago. I stayed. I don't know why. Maybe because I like to make people happy. I like to connect them. I like to give a flavour to everything. I come in two colours. Two colours, countless nuances. I can be sweet. Bitter. Strong. Weak. Cold. Warm. Dark. Light. Thick. Thin. It depends on how you treat me. I depend on your love for me. If you love me and treat me well, I will be perfect!

I am happy. Energetic. I love to shine. Especially with my friend Sun. Rain is also my friend. I need both of them. It is teamwork. Our shows are magnificient!

Do you know who am I?

Cheers people! ;)

P.S Inspired by our Sunday's wine tour. Dedicated to all of the beautiful grapes and wines around the world that make us happy and cheerful ;)

A jail for "illegals"

Those who commit a crime and harm other individuals on purpose or in their behalf should be punished, and a stay in a prison might help these people to get back into society and don't repeat the same mistakes.

But what about the people whose only crime is not getting a passport, a visa, or other travel documents? What about the people who are running away from opression, injustice and harassment from their own compatriots and their leaders? What about those people who just were born in a place where there are no chances to grow up as a person, to satisfy the basic needs, to live with dignity? What about the people who cross a whole continent carrying nothing but the hope that Europe will bring them a better future? 

Is it fair for these people to be in a prison? Is it necessary to treat them as criminals just because they don't have a piece of paper with them? What is the teaching they are given while staying there? Which is the profit for the society? What about history? Did not Europeans ranaway from wars and misery before? Were not Cypriots refugees 40 years ago? Is it that easy to forget? Apparently it is.

Today I went to Menoya detention centre, better said, the jail for "illegal" imigrants. It is, indeed, a jail. Even though the food is good and the policemen treat them nice "if you do what they tell you to do", "they can go outside and play basketball or football in the morning and afternoon, and they can have their phones", one might say, "it's not that bad". It's not that bad except for the lack of essential aspect of the human nature, freedom.

It's hard to describe the feeling and the emotions that arise when you enter a prison, big fences, wire with spikes, document control, eternal security control, exhaustive checking, and doors closing behind you. I don't know if it's because imprisonment is against human nature, or because of the feeling that something is wrong, something is not working in the society, in the system, in the world and in ourselves, but the fact is that being in a prison, even for a 2 hours visit, always provoke a strange feeling inside you.

It's an awkard situation when is the first time you meet the people there, a lot of questions come to you while driving there: what to say? what to ask? what to do? how should I behave? what can I do?

I guess there are no answers for that, every person is different, every situation and circumstances are not the same, nor are the needs or what they are looking for.

A person who only has one bullet left or will be deported, after seven years living here and speaking fluent English and Greek; another person who only has the Supreme Court left to appeal and try to make his life in Cyprus; and a man who is already 8 months in prison waiting for the answer for his asylum request. Different cases, common complaint: "Why do I have to be in a prison?"

However, not everything was bad today, our last visit today came into the visitors room with a big smile, despite his difficult situation, we laughed about the danger of playing volleyball in the court, about African footballers and their superhuman speed and power, about other fellows we know...

Maybe that's the key to stand it, keep positive, keep smiling, assuming the situation and don't let it get you down.
I know you can, I know you will, you are a survivor, you went through many difficult experiences that made you stronger, stay strong man, don't give up, we are waiting for you outside, we don't forget you, better must come.

To all the people in Menoya

Cats, cats everywhere

Have you noticed that Cyprus is full of cats? It could easily change its name to Catpurrs. They are all over the place. Wherever you go, look closely. Do you see it? Yes, right there, that is Mr Whiskers.

Since we agreed that this is an island of cats I think it's quite important to know your cats. I mean our cats. Therefore I decided to dedicate this post to all the cats around our apartment. I have been observing every single one of them and now I can tell you what is going on here. And yes, pictures are included.

I should definitely start with Brownie.

Brownie (or as I like to call him: Pumpkin) was the first cat we met here and from the first moment it was clear that he thinks he runs this place. And as you can see on the picture, he surely is the 'big boss' material. He is very friendly to people, enormously cuddly but kind of an ass to other cats. Expects food everytime he sees someone and then is very hurt if he does not receive any. At the beginning he tried his best to meow in order to get some food, but according to some of us these attemps were just riddiculous, since his meowing sounded more like a princess who was expecting a prince on a white horse but he showed up on a dappled horse instead.
Needed to be said that he is used to go inside the apartment. But because one of us is allergic to cats all the cats are forbidden to go inside. However this little rascal just does not care and everytime we leave a window or a door open, suddenly we can hear his meowing somehow closer... One of us could tell you a story about how he/she came to his/her room just to find this crook lying in the bed. Upon request to leave he just stretched his body and complained about disturbing his sweet sleep.

Next cat should be Soft Guy.

This guy is so soft it will melt your heart. He never fights and is very submissive. If you give him food he is happy if you don't he does not mind, because more than food he is interested in cuddling. Recently we agreed that he is probably just a dog trapped in cat's body. He does not fetch, but he is always merrily happy to see someone. Also, he is here all the time or just a call away.



Then there are cats we do not know much about.

Pirate

He does not have a wooden leg, but he has just one eye, thus Pirate. Altough I cannot imagine him drinking rum nor on a boat, I imagine he fights a lot; he looks like a typical street cat. He does not visit us often and when he does he just sits and observes. When I try to approach him he runs away, but I am sure I am close to pat him on the head. Cats cannot resist being worshiped.

Happy cat on the left

Angelinos

One day we were sitting on our terrasse and enjoying breakfast before going to our Greek lesson. And we had a lovely guest, friend from Canada who was also in the Greek class. Because she was soon about to go back to Canada and because we all like her we asked her to name a wild cat that just appeared on our terrasse. She decided to name her Angelina. Weeks passed, we did not see Angelina for a while but then we did and we found out it's a male cat. And since we wanted to keep the name our friend chose I think you will agree that the only logical conclusion was rename the cat as Angelinos.
He turned out to be quite a funny cat. He likes to play with other cats, preferably with their tails, and if you approach him slowly he will let you rub his head, sometimes even playfully uses his paws.


As you can see so far it has been just male cats. Probably because it's three women in the house the cats decided to help the only man in the house. But we do have female cats.


Ginger

Like most of women this cat is a pure mystery. We know nothing about her. And just like the Loch Ness monster or Yetti you can barely see her on the picture. But just as Nessie and Yetti, Ginger exists. She spends most of her time in the front of our house with her girl friend and she is extremely timid. My secret thought is that she is actually Brownie's sister, they had to look alike before someone put him in the washing mashine.

Fluffinda

The fluffiest cat we have around. She is Ginger's best friend and they often hang out together. Somehow she is always here, but hiding so no one sees her. She likes to sleep on our table or chairs, when she is alone here. If you are lucky enough you might get closer to her and even touch
her. But you would clearly see that she does not enjoy it much. And the moment you stop focusing on her she slips away.
It is just a matter of time when we will have some fluffy kittens.





I saved the best for the end. Sometimes you see a cat and you fall in love. To me it happens with almost every cat. But then there are special cats with which you do not fall in love, you just are (in) love.
From the first time I saw this cat I was captured. There was something in his eyes that left me speachless. But because he would never let anyone to come closer, he ran away everytime, I named him

Tough Guy.

He showed up twice a month, spend some hours and disappeared. Every effort to get closer to him was wasteful. But I know that if you want to win heart of an animal (or a man) you have to make it with a help of food. So once in a time I left slice of cheese, or a piece of meat outside. One day, not that long ago, I left bit more food and when he finished eating I stayed and offered him my hand. He just could not resist.

From this moment we became friends. He is always around, almost everytime accompanied by Soft Guy. And everytime I offer him my hand he comes and lets me cuddle him. Or they just lie on our terrasse. Often meowing loudly to demand some food. And since Tough Guy is here, Brownie's meowing has improved and now he sounds properly. So basically begging for food turned into a concert of symphonic orchestra.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is one more cat. We saw it just three times or four times so we are not even sure if it is a female or a male. It always just goes through our backyard, never stops. From Brownie's reaction it might look like it is his arch enemy, but the cat does not give a damn. I call him Capo di tutti capi. For obvious reasons we do not have a picture.


Two times there was a dog too. But it belongs to a fellow neighbour so we do not count it as our pet, and we can barely count it as a cat. Although it made a poo here and ate the food for cats (but just because the cats did not want to eat it at all).
And that's it. Now when you know basic things about them you can have a nice chat when you come. Cats always appreciate decent conversations.


I am not saying this piece was written by a cat, but I am not saying it wasn't.

Do not judge a book by its cover!

I usually do. When I go to a library or a bookshop, first thing I do is wander around in search for inspiration. I let the book call me and then when it jumps in my hand, I look at the cover, reading every single tiny detail on it, even the most unusual, like the name of the graphic designer who took care of the "outfit" of the book. Even the touch or the smell are important...is it smooth, or rough? Does it smell of paper and ink? Next step is opening the first page and reading the incipit, just a couple of sentences are enough, and then I go to the last page and read the last word. If it is convincing and awakes my curious, the adventure starts and I bring it home.

That's how I judge a book...but what happens with humans?

Last Thursday, the 1st of October, we went to a human library.
Before applying for this project I had never heard of it, but the name was convincing enough to make me do more research and when I found out what it was, I liked the idea very much. It was one of the tiny details that made me choose this evs instead of another one. It was exciting to finally take part in this event and touch with my hand what it meant and how it worked.

In the frame of Phaneromeni Square, there they were, the human-books, sitting on their shelf, waiting for somebody to be attracted by their cover and starting consultig them. None of them was left to dust, there were enough curious readers for everybody. The organization was very efficient and quick: read the description, choose your book, book your reading and here we go...half an hour of consultation and you return the book to its shelf undamaged, ready to move to the next one.
And what you share is much more than a catchy title or a colorful cover (sometimes white, sometimes black, sometimes both)!

The first minute could be a bit awkward, maybe because it is the first time you read such a book, maybe because you have so many questions that you don't know where to start. But if you allow yourself to go deeper in the conversation, this awkward minute will last just one second and you will dis-cover pages and pages of beautiful different stories. What makes them special is that they are full of feelings, emotions, welcoming smiles, eyes that look directly into yours, eyes that change with every word as the story develops, page after page.

And in the end, when the clock tics its last second, you will find yourself filled with that story, your mind open, your heart thankful, your eyes different. Maybe even your way of looking changed. After sharing somebody else' story, you may realize that in the end, even if we all are different from one another, with different covers, titles, year of publication, graphic designer, stories, ... we still have so much in common, each one of us is special and worth-reading!


Special thanks to the two beautiful books I read and to the ones I didn't read, hoping to have the chance to read them in another library.      

You are the writer of your own destiny...

“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”

What do you think about your life? What kind of people are you surrounded with? Do they make you happy? Are they there for you when you need them? Do you laugh a lot? Are you having fun? Do you follow your passions? Are you living your dreams? Are you happy? 

Do you ever ask yourself questions like these? Or you are on autopilot like most of the world. Tell me, when was the last time you did something silly, but in the same time meaningful? Something like a midnight swim, a long walk along the seaside, playing with your dog, eating tons of sweets, gardening, visiting your grandparents, watching the stars, travelling to some random destination you know nothing about or walking around without a plan... Sounds funny, right? But it isn't. It's the small things that we do that make our life sweet and beautiful. Small things that you do and share with people who mean everything to you. People who make your life path worth exploring and enjoying. 

How would you react if I told you that all that is happening in your life is your own fault? Would you be surprised, angry, sad, happy, disappointed? It's hard to acknowledge this fact. It puts a lot of pressure on you. Responsibility as well. Are you familiar with this saying: 

Do you believe in yourself? Do you truly believe that you, and only you can change your life? Think about it. Life is too short to compromise.

"Find a place in your life where you choose passion over skill, adventure over comfort, intuition over logic, and faith over fear. As you begin to break free from all the “should do’s” and obligations, your new life path will be revealed, and with it all your heart’s desires will become a reality!"

We wish you a marvelous week :)

                                                                               

Here we go!

Last Monday we all started with our weekly routine: working in the office or going to the Migrant centre in the morning, having and preparing our workshops in the afternoon.....but it seemed that we needed to energize a little bit before starting the week and....is there anything better than an African dance workshop? It was Saturday morning, too soon but....we enjoyed it so much! It's amazing the energy that the teacher had, and how she transmitted it to us! We were dancing and jumping as crazy, we didn't mind the heat...just wonderful!

And we had to chill as well before starting the week, some of us accidentally ended sleeping in a wonderful beach under a thousand millions stars, others chose to relax at home, or went to the beach, as you can see we have many ways to do it.

The week started with the language courses, on Monday Spanish, and on Tuesday Italian. It's the first time for both of us that we teach, it takes us a while preparing the lesson, decide what to do, how to explain....a lot of questions come to our heads, making us even hesitate about our knowledge of our mother tongue. But I must said that we are personally enjoying the fact of teaching our language, and we find it very interesting and productive for our personal development, and also we are getting important skills that can be used in the future, a Spanish and a Italian teacher can be requested anywhere in the world, isn't it?

On Monday we have as well the Theatre workshop, where we started with improvisation exercises and some ice-breakers, starting to prepare the field for further activities we have on mind, maybe there will be new movie stars after this workshop, there is a lot of potential!

And on Wednesday took place one of the most lovely events we have done. Despite the ammount of time it took us, the problems organizing it, the continuous change of plan, number of participants and so on; we must said that it was amazing and perfect our Veggie Kitchen! The atmosphere was great, and we discovered very skill cookers! We had three groups preparing the plate, and we cannot say which one was the best, all of them were delicious....we couldn't even take home any leftovers of the tasty and wonderful caponatina!

Finally, to finish the week, we had a special guest in our radio show, Tune your souls. We had a very interesting person in the studio, he told us about his experience in India, and how he understood that you don't need to have loads of money to be happy, even in the slum you can. We also talked about music, the first years of Stevie Wonder, the power of the bassline, the musicality of reggae music.... A very enriching conversation that ended watching a fado concert in Phaneromeni Square.

And then was Friday, time to rest and to prepare the weekend, it's Cyprus, so September is still summer!

And that was it fellas! Stay tuned for next post!

So it begins

We have been here for two months now. So it was about time to have the On-arrival training. The main aim of this trainig is to assemble all volunteers who arrived approximately at the same time and to help them know the country, the project and all the things they should know while being new in a different country. They all meet in a nice hotel, spend some time together and have fun. But...
It turned out that we are the only new volunteers on the whole island. And we will have our private on-arrival training. Just four of us. In our office. After 2 months of living together. Where is the point, right?
Well, the point is that you can always know someone better than you do now. And to really think about why did you even apply for this project and what are you expecting from it can help you to put your mind in a line. Big thank you goes to Eleni for preparing the trainig for us.

On Wednesday our daily routine started. Quite big part of our project is to go to the Holy Cross Church and spend some time with refugees and asylum seekers. We actually learn a lot about intercultural differences. Their stories are not always happy, but for sure they are eyes opening and the strenght with which the people keep going without giving up is incredible and inspiring.

On Thursday our workshops have began. The very first one was Spiritual session. We talked about ourselves and at the end we did a short meditation. The goal of these meetings is to relax and discover something about yourself not only through meditation, but also through singing and drawing.

On Friday there was the Secret event. The secret was Paladar dinner, originally from Cuba. The idea is to gather different people and make dinner for them while they are socializing. Variety of people around the table was pretty wide but still there were topics to talk about. And then we played some 'get to know each other' games. It all happened in Oliver Twist Coctail bar. Very nice place in the City Plaza Nicosia, which is a perfect place to play hide and seek.

And then the weekend came. Some of us went to move their body in the rhytm of african dance, some of us stayed in bed to not to move their body at all and some of us went to the beach. Later that day some of us went camping, whilst the rest of us sticked to their morning activity laying on the bed or being on the beach.

The best thing about this diversity is that when we meet up again we share our adventures and it brings us together. And it makes us feel home.

Dissemination of the last week, time for BORA-BORA now?

Kalispera people!

How's life treating you? We are great, thanks for asking ;).

Although I am not quite sure if the answer would be the same if you had asked us this question during these last couple of days... Oh my God, our schedule was crazy! Fun but crazy. New people, new projects, new ideas, fun, laughs, love, lots of tears, goodbyes and hope to see you soon wishes. In exactly that order. Spread the word training was an exciting and educative experience, for all of us. Now we are proud to say that we know the meaning of the word: DISSEMINATION. It's an important word, please take notes. That belongs to the formal part of the training, the informal part includes words like BORA-BORA and some other that need lots of explaining to be presented in the right context.

Now, let me show you the formal part of the training. It was like this:

We look nice, I know ;). And serious. And busy. But we really were! 

Want to see the informal part too? Ok.

As you can see we had fun, but we were working hard too, so I think we deserve to have some good time :). Basically we have more "formal" photos than informal, the thing is that our lovely Cypriot mum has them with her, somewhere in the deep depths of her memory card... If you know her then you know what I mean ;). 

So, let's also say something about the training itself. We are gorgeous on the photos, but Spread the word was much much much more than taking photos of ourselves, good-looking people ;). It was about how to disseminate (I just adore this word now! When I know the meaning and how to use it :P) project results. In normal language: how to tell people about your project, how to share and implement your ideas in order to help the community. How to engage other people and start something fabulous.

We had a lot of different and interesting activities, we were even on the radio! We spent a lovely day on CCMC with Orestis, poor guy, I think he needs vacation after that day :P. Thank you Orestis for having us there and patiently explaining us how to deal with that alien equipment. Big thanks to our trainers too, they are also on vacation now :D.

Sunday was our free day. We were spreaded around the island. Some of us went to explore Larnaca, some to Limassol, some to Agia Napa, and some stayed in Nicosia. We had some other plans for the weekend but the Universe didn't agree on that so he prepared other things for us. Unfortunately, thanks to the Universe, donkeys will stay donkeys, at least for now. Why am I mentioning donkeys? Well, you have to read our previous post if you want to know ;). 

So yes. This was our week. Heads filled with new ideas, hearts filled with love and soul with peace. Why? Because there is hope. Thank you, you wonderful people! Young people in action! Young people who are willing to sacrifice their own free time to improve our world. Together with a lot of patience, creativity and wisdom. Keep up the good job guys! You are an inspiration to us all :).

We have to end this day/session/post with something good, as we were taught, so here it goes ;)

Have a great weekend! ;)

Anna, Doris, Lenka and Pablo

SUCCESS, KATYDATA, SPECIAL NUTS, DANDELION, AND ... DONKEYS?

First of all a 10 minutes clapping and a standing ovation for us!!!
Why? Because we are very proud to announce you that we all managed to pass our Greek exam and (as some of us like saying) we conquered the Greek language...or at least the very fist step of it!
We know that the way to the top is still long and difficult, full of grammar perils and vocabulary tricks, but we enjoy the journey more than the view from the top!

It's been more than a week since the classes ended and we miss our classmates, but many other things crossed our path since then. First of all, we did not even have the time to realize that the exam was over, because we left Nicosia right after to discover Katydata.
For those who do not know about the existance of Katydata, it is a very small and very quiet village in the mountains, where the Windcraft Festival took place last weekend. Of course we were there, volunteering in the festival, meeting new people, listening to some concerts (somebody was lucky enough to work in the inside bar and enjoy all the music, somebody just sneaked in when the music was too good to be missed!).
It was amazing seeing this little village come to life, filling with colours, people, music, different sounds and fragrances...especially the aroma of the best felafel ever! (Even just the thought of it makes you feel hungry). Not to mention the warm and generous hospitality of the family we were hosted by, and the special meals they prepared for us. A huge thank for that!
On Sunday the festival was over, but those of us who still did not have enough, ended up in the concert of Thanasis Papakonstantinou in Limpia, positively impressed by this great artist and his music.

After the festival we were tired enough to enjoy a couple of days of pure relax. The second one was kind of special because we went to discover the wonders of Troodos. No hiking this time (after the last experience under the sun of midday, we prefered to leave the hiking for a cooler weather). Anyway, we had a lovely and relaxing tour by car through villages and curvy roads (thanks to the driver who held back his rally-instinct and reduced the speed just for us). We stopped to have a drink, to take a look at some interesting places such as the Kykko monastery, where the girls experienced what it feels like to be dressed as a Harry Potter character!
We also witnessed a kind of a magic, because somehow we managed to have a pic-nic without food, since we did not have the time to go shopping and our fridge was as sad and empty as any fridge could possibly be. But some special nuts made the trick, especially after the huge bagels we had for breakfast.

Adventures go on, and this week we have been in a training which has a lot to do with dandelion. Maybe more magic is coming, too: somebody may turn a donkey into a prince just by kissing him!
But I am not telling you more, if you want to know just wait for next week and you will see...

Ending of the Greek courses and........EXAM!!!!

Everybody was on holiday in Cyprus this week......except for us! Alea iacta est my friends.... This week is the last week of our Greek lessons, and it means that we have an exam.... our first big challenge in the EVS program!

This week passed as fast as the other ones, even faster, as the date of the exam gets closer....so many hours at the University have to be worth a passing grade! If you were to come to our house this week, you would see each of us studying Greek in the living room and going mad with so many papers and things to remember......να μας δώσει ένα διάλειμμα, παρακαλώ!

After our wonderful weekend in Akamas, it was back to reality on Monday to face the last stage of our course. We knew it was going to be a difficult mission, so we decided to find the motivation to do it. What is better than throwing a party with our beloved classmates? Obviously, life is not just studying.....especially in the summertime, right?

It was a great pleasure to host them in our place. We had a lot of fun and we could finally watch the wonderful play that our first teacher, Olessia, prepared for us in our last lesson. It was wonderful to share such a great night with them, and also with our lovely YEU people! About the party......what can we say? Some of us woke up the next morning on a beach, somewhere in Larnaka, anything else?

We also had a dancing lesson with our classmates! It was very fun and interesting, despite it being very hot, and it was amazing to see the professional dancers move their feet so elegantly! Maybe we will become the new Cypriot theatre and dancing stars.....who knows!

Now it's time to say goodbye to the Greek course adventure. They were four wonderful weeks, that, at the beginning we thought it was too much, but as soon as we started and got to know all the people there, we knew that it was a great idea to take the course. Apart from the language knowledge, we take from this course lots of memories, and most importantly, new people and friends who will take part in more episodes of our adventures here on this island.

August is finishing, people will go back to Nicosia and we'll be here ready to offer great workshops and activities.....all the information you need will be on our Facebook page: EVS YEU Cyprus Create your own world II.

https://www.facebook.com/createyourownworldII

We'll be back next week with a very interesting post.....stay tuned!

Exploring the island

Aaand it is August. It's true what they say, when you are having fun, time flies much faster. Except for Greek lessons. No matter how hard you try not to look at the watch, it's always just one minute more than it was when you looked like ten minutes ago. But do not get us wrong, we like our Greek lessons. Some of us may even aspire to be professional Greeks.

Truth is that we spend a lot of our time in the lovely company of Greek language. Not only in the school, but when we come home we just quickly cook something so we can finally do our homework. That takes us about two hours and after the all day with Greek you just cannot say goodbye that easily so we turn on the TV and we watch some series or movies, just to motivate ourselves that maybe one day we will understand what they are talking about.

But when the weekend comes obviously we want to have some time without Greek. So naturally we hang out with our Cypriot friends. Last weekend our mentors took us to Pafos. Finally. We heard so much about it and now we can confirm that it is about 95% true. No matter what you heard about it, it's true.
We were in Petra Tou Romiou, Akamas, Latsi and Polis. Everything was so beautiful. When we were at one of the beaches in Pafos we had the opportunity to board a small boat owned by a nice couple from California. They have spent about 4 months on that boat, just enjoying life and travelling around the world. At least something to look forward to when we retire.

Actually, the main idea for the weekend was camping. It was just for one night, be we still had a good time and we will definitely be back to explore all of the camping possibilities that Cyprus has to offer.

But the biggest fun came on Sunday. First, we had breakfast under a 170 year old tree. The energy of the tree was enormous. Like it knew what is waiting for us... We started with a bath in the Aphrodita baths. And then the walk started. We walked for ages and we still weren't there. We walked for a hundred years and we were bit closer. Then we stopped for one minute to refresh ourselves and then we walked for another thousand years. We saw lots of goats. And then we saw this.






Perfect view, isn't it.

And we walked just for fifty years to swim in the sea down there. Still it was about another five hundred years to get to the place where our cars were parked. We started our journey back, but cars were passing by and that inspired us to just stop one. So we tried. And a car stopped. We saved about one million years, which is the approximate time that it would take us to get there by walking (it doubles when you are really tired). The ride was interesting too. There was a cliff and the road was quite narrow and there were cars going the other way. But we survived. Some of us then had the best sandwich ever, and some of us had quite a good burger.

We would like to mention that all the hiking parts were only Sotiris' ideas, but we are not mad at him at all. He tried his best to kill us but he only made us stronger. And we cannot forget to say that Giorgos knows where all the best sandwiches, food, coffee and ice cream are! But we want to thank both of them for taking such a good care of us and helping us to discover another part of this island.
Oh and speaking about ice cream, almost forgot. Ladies and gentleman, we truly tasted the best ice cream ever.

And one day we will tell you where.

Taking the Highway to our Greek lessons

Kalispera everyone!

   Here we are again :). We hope that you had a great week and that you'll have a even better weekend! ;) So, this has been a very exciting week for us. We were working very hard, gathering ideas, brainstorming, preparing the materials for our first big event... Highway to our world was very busy, lots of traffic at the Home Cafe ;). No kidding, it was great! We had so much fun and we hope that people who where there with us felt the same! Thanks so much to everybody who joined us in this great adventure. But don't worry if you missed it because we will put some photos on our Facebook page so you can catch a glimpse of the atmosphere ;). Next time we want to see all of you there, do we have a deal? :)

Did we tell you that we are attending an intensive course of Greek language? I think we didn't so we will do it now. Our Greek lessons began on Monday and they are really intensive! It's 5 hours per day, 4 weeks in total... Yes, we know that is a lot! We totally agree on that. But we are enjoying it very much. It's interesting, something completely new, especially for some of us who are seeing these amazing Greek letters for the first time in their life! :)

But we are not the only ones who are having small inconvenients with the Greek alphabet and grammar. The people from our language group have them, too :P. We are a colorful mixture of cultures from all around the world. It's just wonderful how we are all different, but in the same time so similar, especially when it comes to conquesting the Greek language ;).

No need to say that we are very thankful to our YEU Cyprus family for giving us the opportunity to learn this beautiful language, thank you guys! <3 We really appreciate all that you are doing for us :). Now all we need is some language practice with native speakers, any volunteers?

That's all for today folks! Stay tuned on our "Tune your souls" and our Facebook and Twitter pages!

P.S. If you have any ideas, you are creative and willing to share your free time with us, please feel free to contact us via Facebook or Email ;)

Anna, Doris, Lenka and Pablo

unCONVENTIONal time

Kalimera to you all!


Last week it was a very unconventional one for us!
In fact, we had the opportunity to be part of the YEU Convention which takes place every year in a different country, and...guess what? This time it is based in Cyprus.
At first, it was difficult to imagine what this "convention" was. To us it sounded just as an empty word, because we didn't know much about it. But then, day after day, that empty word started to fill in with meaning, faces, smiles and much more.

Even though some people arrived during the weekend, most of the participants joined on Monday the 20th and stayed here in Nicosia until Friday morning, when they left to continue their adventure in Pedulas. Four days full of fun and new encounters and who knows what else they are experiencing right know.
We also had the privilege to host some of the participants at our house and even if it was unexpected (especially for a guy who rang our doorbell at 5.30 in the morning) and a little bit crowded (8 people queueing for the shower), it worked well. Unfortunately, we don't have a car and we live quite far from the place of their meeting, which caused them some delays and a little bit of wandering lost in the city.

But back to the convention: what is it and what is it about? Basically, it is a meeting among people who are part of the different YEU organizations in all Europe, to get to know each other, exchange contacts, ideas, projects, but also to discuss a specific topic. This year the chosen topic was youth unemployment, a very important and concrete problem in our current society. Of course, the topic was faced using non formal education with different games and activities, to involve people in a more active way.

On Thursday evening we also invited people from the convention to our radio show "Tune your Souls", and they kindly accepted to participate, answering all of our curious questions and bringing some music from their countries. So if you missed it and you want to know more about the convention, here is the link http://listenagain.mycyradio.eu/index.php?id=5029

Personally, we enjoyed very much finding ourselves surrounded by all this mixture of cultures (from the Balkans to the Iberian peninsula, from Netherland to Cyprus), taking part in this event, (even if just from the outside), feeling part of a huge mechanism which moves thanks to the hard work, the passion, the energy and also the love of pleople who made it possible.

So that is all for today...who knows what else is coming?!
Un grande abbraccio

Anna, Doris, Lenka and Pablo