Since I've been here for 2 1/2 weeks already, I have learned a lot of interesting things about this crazy island and the Cypriots and though you might like to hear about them! One of the first things to notice is that there are 2 flags of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus carved into the side of the mountain that faces the south. The flag of the TRNC says something in Turkish that translates to: "How fortunate is the person who can say I'm a Turk." And the the flag lights up and night!
Also, the Cypriots come off as fairly mean and rude. My European Cultures professor explained that the Cypriots are like this because they think that it is superficial to be nice to someone you do not know - this includes smiling at them, saying excuse me, etc. So they will never return a greeting or gesture because they think the person is being fake and pretending to know them. However, once you get to know a Cypriot, they (apparently) are the most hospitable and nice people you will ever meet! They will do everything from invite you to their home for dinner to take you places around the island to meeting all of their friends - crazy!
Cyprus is supposed to have 300 days of sun (they sure are wasting a lot of cloudy days on us these first couple of weeks) and thus it is also been in a severe drought for almost 10 years. Every building has a big water tank on the roof that gets filled up with water on days that they have running water (for our neighborhood it is Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). We have water every day of the week, but we have to conserve it a lot more on days when there is no "running water" because it is only supplied by the tanks on the roof. So we have to do our laundry on certain days, take shorter showers, etc. on the other 4 days of the week.
Even though Cyprus is such a small island (about 1/2 the size of Connecticut), a relatively large part of the island is not lived or built. It also has variety of trees! Just walking down a road by our apartment you can see orange trees, lemon trees, olive trees, palm trees, and pine trees! It's crazy! Speaking of walking, we walk everywhere! And everyone looks at us weird, we thought it was just because we are Americans, but our professor told us that NOBODY walks in Cyprus - they all drive (on the wrong side of the road - I'm just starting to get used to looking to the right first)! She once told a boy to walk to class because it was a nice day at it was less than 1 km away, she said he looked at her like she was crazy and said, "Only immigrants walk!" So I guess we stand out even more now. It seems completely opposite than most of Europe in that sense, and is probably why they do not have many fresh markets.
Another thing is that Cypriots are always late. Island time applies all the time (except for class); everything is very slow paced. It is customary/expected that if you invite someone over for say dinner at 7:00, that they show up at 7:30 at the earliest! It is very rude to show up at 7:00 or even 7:10/7:15.
I think the craziest thing about Cyprus is their weddings! For a typical wedding, about 4,000 guests are invited! Even if you don't know someone well at all, you invite them. They do this usually to get more money since everyone gives money to the couple; they average about 90,000 euro (~$135,000) at their wedding!! The minimum amount you give the couple (if you hardly know them is 50 euro (~$75)! And the parents pay for everything, so everything the couple gets, they keep. We also learned about traditional Cypriot weddings from the 1930s that lasted 5-6 days, very interesting also, but I won't bore you with the history of it all.
Finally, we learned today about how Cypriots value their appearance of status. Even if they are poor and living with their parents, they will buy really nice, expensive cars and designer clothes to make it look like they either a) have money or b) don't value money, and are not afraid to spend it. It's all about how others perceive them. Weird.
Even though Cyprus is such a small island (about 1/2 the size of Connecticut), a relatively large part of the island is not lived or built. It also has variety of trees! Just walking down a road by our apartment you can see orange trees, lemon trees, olive trees, palm trees, and pine trees! It's crazy! Speaking of walking, we walk everywhere! And everyone looks at us weird, we thought it was just because we are Americans, but our professor told us that NOBODY walks in Cyprus - they all drive (on the wrong side of the road - I'm just starting to get used to looking to the right first)! She once told a boy to walk to class because it was a nice day at it was less than 1 km away, she said he looked at her like she was crazy and said, "Only immigrants walk!" So I guess we stand out even more now. It seems completely opposite than most of Europe in that sense, and is probably why they do not have many fresh markets.
Another thing is that Cypriots are always late. Island time applies all the time (except for class); everything is very slow paced. It is customary/expected that if you invite someone over for say dinner at 7:00, that they show up at 7:30 at the earliest! It is very rude to show up at 7:00 or even 7:10/7:15.
I think the craziest thing about Cyprus is their weddings! For a typical wedding, about 4,000 guests are invited! Even if you don't know someone well at all, you invite them. They do this usually to get more money since everyone gives money to the couple; they average about 90,000 euro (~$135,000) at their wedding!! The minimum amount you give the couple (if you hardly know them is 50 euro (~$75)! And the parents pay for everything, so everything the couple gets, they keep. We also learned about traditional Cypriot weddings from the 1930s that lasted 5-6 days, very interesting also, but I won't bore you with the history of it all.
Finally, we learned today about how Cypriots value their appearance of status. Even if they are poor and living with their parents, they will buy really nice, expensive cars and designer clothes to make it look like they either a) have money or b) don't value money, and are not afraid to spend it. It's all about how others perceive them. Weird.
Well, that's the major things about Cyprus that we have observed and learned about the past couple weeks. Very interesting place this is, but I still love it!
you are awesome at writing about Cyprus. I think you should rent a scooter one day (or week, or month), and upgrade your status a bit. Then, be sure to take a picture of it.
ReplyDeleteHey! There are people in the streets! They look crabby. Get to know 'em.
But not enough to be invited to a wedding.
this is so interesting Marie! I expected cypriots to be like europeans, but I guess they aren't very similar, haha. i'm especially surprised about the rudeness thing. i don't think I would like it very much, but it's nice to know they're very welcoming once you get to know them! hmm.
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