When we moved to Cyprus, at the end of 1997, we thought we would need to learn Greek. I had the advantage of having studied Ancient Greek as far as A-level, so I could at least read the alphabet and understand some basic words when I saw them.
I had to totally re-learn all my pronunciation, but modern Greek is phonetic, and it wasn't too difficult. There are plenty of books available, and we bought a good dictionary to enable us to 'decode' (as the boys put it) labels on food, or junk mail, or other documents in Greek.
However, we apparently look English. So we found that people in shops, or neighbours, would automatically speak to us in English. And Cypriots, by and large, speak extremely good English. Perhaps if we had lived in a small village in the mountains, we would have had to learn at least some Greek to be able to communicate at all, but in Larnaka it isn't necessary.
Still, I thought it would be good to speak the local language. We had no funds available for lessons, but there's an excellent free online course called Learn Greek. It was originally a radio course in the 1960s, so it's a bit dated. But it was made in Cyprus, and seemed like a good way to get started. There are lessons with Real Player audio files to listen to, about fifteen minutes each. There are also complete transcripts of each lesson, and a discussion forum for each.
There were some technical problems in our early years in Cyprus, which made us use this course less than we might otherwise have done, but the boys and I got through the first few lessons. Tim then learned some Greek at Cub Scouts, and Daniel at the Municipal Band, and both of them picked up some Greek just by mixing with bilingual and Greek-speaking friends at the church youth group, at the theatre, and elsewhere.
I kept thinking perhaps it would be good to learn a bit more too, and managed to get to about lesson 24 in the Learn Greek course. But it always seemed to get so complicated. All that vocabulary... even though only a few new words are introduced in each lesson, and one can listen to it as many times as one wishes.
I tried - half-heartedly - several times to get back to it. I would back-track to around lesson 18, and listen to it with confidence. Then I'd move forward, over a couple of weeks, until I got to lesson 23 or 24, but somehow I would feel defeated, and give up again. Or else some new technical problem would arise, making it impossible to listen.
About four months ago I decided to try again with Greek. I felt bad that I couldn't communicate at all with Greek children, and my new hairdresser was shocked that we had lived here eleven years without learning more than a few words. I agreed with her, and determined to try once more with the Learn Greek course.
I went back to lesson 18 again, and decided to listen to the same lesson every day for a week. That way, I thought, I could move through fairly fast.
I haven't succeeded in my aim. However, I did reach a milestone last week when I completed lesson 30. That's further than I've ever got before, and it's the end of what the Learn Greek site considers 'elementary'. Lesson 31, which I have now started, is considered 'intermediate'. And, indeed, it introduces past tenses in all their forms, which are new to me. It's beginning to feel a bit overwhelming again, but I'm determined to keep going.
The trouble is, when I listen to people speaking Greek, it's so fast that I don't pick up more than the occasional word. It doesn't come naturally to me to speak in anything other than English, and even when a shop assistant says words which I do know (such as 'two euros' in Greek) I don't 'get' it if I'm not expecting it. I look blank, apparently, so they repeat in English.
Moreover, I'm not an extravert, and I don't naturally speak in Greek to anyone. I find it hard even to say 'thank you' or 'hello' in Greek, for some reason, although I'm quite capable of doing so. And a couple of times when I have attempted to answer a simple question in Greek, to my embarrassment, I have spoken in French instead. It's as if my brain things 'foreign language'... and while my French is far from fluent, it's still more advanced than my Greek.
It isn't necessary to speak Greek here at all. But having lived here so long, I feel as if I should have at least a basic understanding of the language. I don't want to take lessons - quite apart from the cost, there would be a time commitment, and probably homework assignments which would make it feel like hard work. If I could get to the end of the Intermediate level of the Learn Greek course, I would hope to be able to communicate a little better - if only the Cypriots would speak slowly, using vocabulary I already know!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Rain in Cyprus... again!
The early part of March was Spring-like, sunny and starting to get warm.
On Sunday this week, however, it turned distinctly chilly. I set out for church wondering whether or not to take my fleece, in addition to wearing a sweater. I was very glad I did. I wondered if I should have taken an umbrella too, since by the time I arrived it was somewhat overcast. But it didn't rain on Sunday.
I checked the temperature, and found it was only 16C. Pretty cold for Cyprus at the end of March.
I was mildly amused to read that the UK apparently had a heatwave on Sunday. People were flocking to beaches, and shedding their sweaters to go out in their gardens for the first time. The temperature? 15C. Evidently I have acclimatised more than I had realised.
It's stayed chilly here all week. Today was even colder. I put an extra thin sweater on under my warm hooded fleece, and by mid-morning had added a fleece too, and that's without going out of the house. All morning the sky became increasingly greyer, and it's now pouring with rain.
All good stuff from the point of view of the reservoirs, of course (assuming that there's also rain in Limassol and Paphos) but not much fun for visitors to Cyprus.
On Sunday this week, however, it turned distinctly chilly. I set out for church wondering whether or not to take my fleece, in addition to wearing a sweater. I was very glad I did. I wondered if I should have taken an umbrella too, since by the time I arrived it was somewhat overcast. But it didn't rain on Sunday.
I checked the temperature, and found it was only 16C. Pretty cold for Cyprus at the end of March.
I was mildly amused to read that the UK apparently had a heatwave on Sunday. People were flocking to beaches, and shedding their sweaters to go out in their gardens for the first time. The temperature? 15C. Evidently I have acclimatised more than I had realised.
It's stayed chilly here all week. Today was even colder. I put an extra thin sweater on under my warm hooded fleece, and by mid-morning had added a fleece too, and that's without going out of the house. All morning the sky became increasingly greyer, and it's now pouring with rain.
All good stuff from the point of view of the reservoirs, of course (assuming that there's also rain in Limassol and Paphos) but not much fun for visitors to Cyprus.
St Helena's Church website
I haven't blogged for ten days. Partly because nothing out of the ordinary has happened; partly because time seems to fly faster than ever; partly because we've been involved in setting up a basic website for St Helena's Church. After a fairly long period of trying to find local people who would produce something reasonable, the Chaplain finally spoke to us, having heard that we knew something about website design and maintenance.
They only wanted a few simple pages, including one advertising their wedding ministry as well as information about the congregation. Richard found a suitable free template and made some adjustments, and I dealt with the content. It didn't take long and we were glad to help: this is the church that Tim attended for two or three years, before he moved to the UK. He was their organist for his last two years here.
They only wanted a few simple pages, including one advertising their wedding ministry as well as information about the congregation. Richard found a suitable free template and made some adjustments, and I dealt with the content. It didn't take long and we were glad to help: this is the church that Tim attended for two or three years, before he moved to the UK. He was their organist for his last two years here.
Monday, March 09, 2009
The lengthy process of paying duty in Cyprus...
Richard has been away for the past three-and-a-half weeks. Mostly in Australia, at various meetings. Then he was able to spend a couple of days with Daniel in Manila on the way back.
He arrived in at 2.30am this morning. I am very happy to have him home again.
He slept pretty well, then this morning we went out... to the airport. No, we weren't meeting anybody. Nor had he lost any luggage. But when he was in Australia, he saw a rather posh camera that he had been going to buy for the office, significantly less expensive than it would be in the UK. So, after discussion with his colleagues, he went ahead and bought it.
On the way out of Australia, he was able to claim back the 10% duty that he paid on it. And, on the way into Cyprus, he declared the camera, expecting to pay 15% duty on his way in. Since it was the middle of the night he could probably have walked straight through the green channel without question, but he likes to do things ethically and honestly.
In the past, it was reasonably straightforward to pay duty on equipment brought into Cyprus. An estimate by the guy on duty after looking through the paperwork, a deduction depending on what we were allowed to take in, a rounding down because it's for a registered charity... and a handing over of the relevant cash.
But now we're in Europe, and things are much more complicated. In Cyprus, they seem to have complicated considerably further than anywhere else in Europe. And it was totally impossible to deal with duty in the middle of the night. So they took the camera from Richard, wrote him a receipt, and told him to come back this morning. They said he would need to pay 14% duty.
'It'll be pretty quick,' he assured me, as we went out.
I was dubious. Nothing ever seems to be quick, in Cyprus.
We got to the airport at 11am. We went to the place where he was told to go last night, only to be informed that the camera had been sent over to the customs office, and that we needed to go there. The man on duty explained where to go - not far - and drew a little diagram. We could have walked, but he said it was better to take the car, as there was free parking outside the customs building.
So I suppose it was quick at the airport. We were under 20 minutes in the car park, so didn't have to pay for parking.
we got to the customs office by about quarter past eleven. We went into the first office, to be told that we MUST have a customs clearing agent. Why? Well, we can't possibly fill in all the forms ourselves. There's no other way. The girl shrugged and held out her hands. If we wanted the camera, we must have a customs clearing agent, and pay him as well as paying the duty.
Where can we find a clearing agent? Ah, she told us, just speak to Mr C..., who is out there.
We spoke to Mr C. He wasn't a typical laid-back cheery Cypriot. Rather the reverse. He insisted we needed to pay duty on the gross amount, not the net. He said it was 15% duty, not 14%. When we queried anything, he became quite belligerent. We had no choice but to accept all he said, which was punctuated by calls on his mobile phone, which he answered abruptly, and then - mostly - started shouting at the person at the other end.
After much filling-in of forms, we were instructed to follow Mr C upstairs, to another office. Richard signed a piece of paper, photocopies were made, and there was considerable discussion in Greek. Then to another room, where a complex computer page was filled in, and then back downstairs, where we were told to wait thirty minutes while the information went through the system.
By then it was ten past twelve. We had been there nearly an hour, and had still not even seen the camera. The outer office was very smoky, so we went and sat in the car for twenty minutes. When we got back, we hung around waiting, wondering if we would get the camera at all, since the customs office closes at 2pm.
We got chatting to a woman sitting there, also waiting. She does this regularly, importing equipment to Cyprus, and says it's unbelievably slow, but there's nothing anyone can do. We just have to accept what we're told.
We watched as a FedEx van drew up outside the customs shed, and men started throwing boxes from it onto the ground. Including some clearly marked FRAGILE. So much for the guarantee of safe delivery from FedEx!
Around one o'clock, Mr C returned. Our documents were now ready, he said, and we had to pay €500. That was €150 more than Richard had expected to pay, but it included his fee, and I suppose it could have been worse.
He took us upstairs again, to sign more paperwork. He tried to give Richard a photocopy of the original invoice. Richard insisted it must be the original, since it's for a UK registered charity, and the UK tax office needs to see the originals. Mr C wasn't happy about that, but fortunately one of the girls in the office told him to give us the originals. I've no idea why he wanted them....
Then we were given a receipt for the duty, and a piece of paper that would enable us to retrieve the camera.
We went into the customs shed, a large airport hanger kind of building with random piles of boxes and bags all over the ground. I wondered if the camera had been chucked around like the FedEx boxes. We spoke to three different men before we found someone who seemed to know what he was doing. And it took a while before he handed us over to a man who actually knew where it was.
To our surprise - and some relief - the camera had actually been locked away in a large safe. So, at last, we had it in our hands.
By the time we left, it was quarter past one. We had spent two hours of tedium and considerable expense (albeit not our own personal expense), in order to be legal.
I can quite see that someone with fewer ethical considerations would not want to bother to declare something like this. It hardly inspires honesty.
He arrived in at 2.30am this morning. I am very happy to have him home again.
He slept pretty well, then this morning we went out... to the airport. No, we weren't meeting anybody. Nor had he lost any luggage. But when he was in Australia, he saw a rather posh camera that he had been going to buy for the office, significantly less expensive than it would be in the UK. So, after discussion with his colleagues, he went ahead and bought it.
On the way out of Australia, he was able to claim back the 10% duty that he paid on it. And, on the way into Cyprus, he declared the camera, expecting to pay 15% duty on his way in. Since it was the middle of the night he could probably have walked straight through the green channel without question, but he likes to do things ethically and honestly.
In the past, it was reasonably straightforward to pay duty on equipment brought into Cyprus. An estimate by the guy on duty after looking through the paperwork, a deduction depending on what we were allowed to take in, a rounding down because it's for a registered charity... and a handing over of the relevant cash.
But now we're in Europe, and things are much more complicated. In Cyprus, they seem to have complicated considerably further than anywhere else in Europe. And it was totally impossible to deal with duty in the middle of the night. So they took the camera from Richard, wrote him a receipt, and told him to come back this morning. They said he would need to pay 14% duty.
'It'll be pretty quick,' he assured me, as we went out.
I was dubious. Nothing ever seems to be quick, in Cyprus.
We got to the airport at 11am. We went to the place where he was told to go last night, only to be informed that the camera had been sent over to the customs office, and that we needed to go there. The man on duty explained where to go - not far - and drew a little diagram. We could have walked, but he said it was better to take the car, as there was free parking outside the customs building.
So I suppose it was quick at the airport. We were under 20 minutes in the car park, so didn't have to pay for parking.
we got to the customs office by about quarter past eleven. We went into the first office, to be told that we MUST have a customs clearing agent. Why? Well, we can't possibly fill in all the forms ourselves. There's no other way. The girl shrugged and held out her hands. If we wanted the camera, we must have a customs clearing agent, and pay him as well as paying the duty.
Where can we find a clearing agent? Ah, she told us, just speak to Mr C..., who is out there.
We spoke to Mr C. He wasn't a typical laid-back cheery Cypriot. Rather the reverse. He insisted we needed to pay duty on the gross amount, not the net. He said it was 15% duty, not 14%. When we queried anything, he became quite belligerent. We had no choice but to accept all he said, which was punctuated by calls on his mobile phone, which he answered abruptly, and then - mostly - started shouting at the person at the other end.
After much filling-in of forms, we were instructed to follow Mr C upstairs, to another office. Richard signed a piece of paper, photocopies were made, and there was considerable discussion in Greek. Then to another room, where a complex computer page was filled in, and then back downstairs, where we were told to wait thirty minutes while the information went through the system.
By then it was ten past twelve. We had been there nearly an hour, and had still not even seen the camera. The outer office was very smoky, so we went and sat in the car for twenty minutes. When we got back, we hung around waiting, wondering if we would get the camera at all, since the customs office closes at 2pm.
We got chatting to a woman sitting there, also waiting. She does this regularly, importing equipment to Cyprus, and says it's unbelievably slow, but there's nothing anyone can do. We just have to accept what we're told.
We watched as a FedEx van drew up outside the customs shed, and men started throwing boxes from it onto the ground. Including some clearly marked FRAGILE. So much for the guarantee of safe delivery from FedEx!
Around one o'clock, Mr C returned. Our documents were now ready, he said, and we had to pay €500. That was €150 more than Richard had expected to pay, but it included his fee, and I suppose it could have been worse.
He took us upstairs again, to sign more paperwork. He tried to give Richard a photocopy of the original invoice. Richard insisted it must be the original, since it's for a UK registered charity, and the UK tax office needs to see the originals. Mr C wasn't happy about that, but fortunately one of the girls in the office told him to give us the originals. I've no idea why he wanted them....
Then we were given a receipt for the duty, and a piece of paper that would enable us to retrieve the camera.
We went into the customs shed, a large airport hanger kind of building with random piles of boxes and bags all over the ground. I wondered if the camera had been chucked around like the FedEx boxes. We spoke to three different men before we found someone who seemed to know what he was doing. And it took a while before he handed us over to a man who actually knew where it was.
To our surprise - and some relief - the camera had actually been locked away in a large safe. So, at last, we had it in our hands.
By the time we left, it was quarter past one. We had spent two hours of tedium and considerable expense (albeit not our own personal expense), in order to be legal.
I can quite see that someone with fewer ethical considerations would not want to bother to declare something like this. It hardly inspires honesty.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Green Monday and a walk by the Salt Lake
Yesterday was a public holiday in Cyprus. Yet another one! This time it was for Green Monday (also known as Clean Monday), the first day of Lent for the Greek Orthodox and other Eastern churches. Eastern Easter is only a week after Western Easter this year, so their Lent begins the week after the Western Lent - except that it begins on the Monday, not the Wednesday.
According to Steve, a Greek Orthodox friend in South Africa, Clean Monday is a day for forgiveness. However, I have not come across that tradition in Cyprus. This is a country where over 90% of people call themselves Orthodox... However, as a friend in Paphos explains, Green Monday is when everyone goes out on a picnic. They don't eat any meat, and the children fly kites. I did hear, some years ago, that people traditionally clean the house from top to bottom before the picnic, and I did notice some neighbours extensively cleaning their patio in the morning. But the main focus here is the picnic, even when - as happened yesterday - there's not much sunshine, and a distinct chill in the air.
I didn't go on a picnic. I've only done that once in the eleven years we've lived in Cyprus. However, in the afternoon I did join a friend for a walk around part of the Salt Lake. She hadn't done that before, and I hadn't been for a couple of months. we were both amazed at the abundance of the wild flowers:
I haven't seen such an amazing display of wild flowers in many years. The large amounts of rain we had in February are no doubt responsible for their size and splendour.
Most of them are yellow - as I've said in previous years, March is sometimes known as 'yellow month' in Cyprus. There were many other colours too, however.
The Salt Lake was looking pretty good, too. More water than I've seen in a while, although it will probably go down if the sun comes out in the coming weeks.
It might have been on the chilly side for a picnic - although evidently most people didn't agree. We saw several families who had been picnicking and kite-flying in the Salt Lake Park - but it was, from my perspective, a perfect day to go for a walk. There was enough chill in the air that I didn't feel too warm, and there was no sun to give me a headache.
According to Steve, a Greek Orthodox friend in South Africa, Clean Monday is a day for forgiveness. However, I have not come across that tradition in Cyprus. This is a country where over 90% of people call themselves Orthodox... However, as a friend in Paphos explains, Green Monday is when everyone goes out on a picnic. They don't eat any meat, and the children fly kites. I did hear, some years ago, that people traditionally clean the house from top to bottom before the picnic, and I did notice some neighbours extensively cleaning their patio in the morning. But the main focus here is the picnic, even when - as happened yesterday - there's not much sunshine, and a distinct chill in the air.
I didn't go on a picnic. I've only done that once in the eleven years we've lived in Cyprus. However, in the afternoon I did join a friend for a walk around part of the Salt Lake. She hadn't done that before, and I hadn't been for a couple of months. we were both amazed at the abundance of the wild flowers:
I haven't seen such an amazing display of wild flowers in many years. The large amounts of rain we had in February are no doubt responsible for their size and splendour.
Most of them are yellow - as I've said in previous years, March is sometimes known as 'yellow month' in Cyprus. There were many other colours too, however.
The Salt Lake was looking pretty good, too. More water than I've seen in a while, although it will probably go down if the sun comes out in the coming weeks.
It might have been on the chilly side for a picnic - although evidently most people didn't agree. We saw several families who had been picnicking and kite-flying in the Salt Lake Park - but it was, from my perspective, a perfect day to go for a walk. There was enough chill in the air that I didn't feel too warm, and there was no sun to give me a headache.
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