Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days

The middle of the week passed at an understandably slower pace as we slowly geared up for another weekend excursion (this time to Agia Napa by way of Larnaka).

Tuesday morning, Emma and Kim needed to pick up some souvenirs from the Old City, so I tagged along for the adventure.

 You know the morning is going to start of great when you find a Starbucks unexpectedly, shortly after getting to the Old City!  This time, rather than go through the hassle of trying to explain my iced starbucks doubleshot, I simply asked for a venti iced Americano with skim milk instead of water and sweetener. Yum!

Emma was craving a chicken biscuit from McDonald's and there happened to be one right next door to Starbucks, so she ran in.  Can you believe that McDonald's restaurants here don't sell breakfast??  They are open in the mornings t so serve coffee, but that is all.  I'm in shock.

From there, the three musketeers decided to bravely and boldly cross the Green Line on our own, vowing that we would only stay in the tourist part of Turkish-occupied Nicosia.  So, without giving ourselves a moment to talk ourselves out of it, we crossed over.  

We encountered a man working at a clothing store who spoke decent English, so I asked him where we might find the souvenirs Emma and Kim were looking for.  He proceeded to tell us about a guy who lives outside of the city who might have what we were there for and that it would only be a short taxi ride.  

Um..... this did not seem like a good idea at all to the three of us.

So we stuck with the area we'd already visited with Dr. Legg.  Fortunately, Kim and Emma found the perfect souvenirs that they had been looking for and we headed back to the part of the Old City we were comfortable in.  Since we didn't have any specific plans at this point, we took our time to enjoy wandering through various shops.

When we finally got back to Engomi (the area we are staying in), it was an afternoon of editing footage from the confectionery and not much else.  

Wednesday morning, the group woke up bright and early to attend a tour of Dias Media, which is a multimedia company here in Cyprus and, if I recall correctly, the largest.  I mean, they really cover every type of media you can think of.

We visited the sets where they film television news shows and talk shows, the radio area where live broadcasts are made, the print journalism area (which doesn't specifically handle magazine writing.  The magazine writing takes place in a separate building, but Dias Media has several magazine publications), and the offices where web journalism takes place.

I suppose Dias Media could be viewed as having a monopoly, to an extent, on the media in Cyprus since they cover all aspects.  But on some levels, I think it would be really nice to work in a place like this.  It really made me think of Scripps Networks in Knoxville, actually.

Participating in the WICT/Atlanta - UT Mentorship program this past year enabled me to get more familiar with the operation of Scripps Networks, particularly because my mentor works there.  While Scripps is far more focused in the content they create and send out, they too cover all the aspects of media that Dias Media does.  

In case you don't know, Scripps owns Food Network, HGTV, DIY, etc.  For each individual network, there are magazines, websites, and television series that have to be produced regularly.  While some elements may not be considered as journalistic as others, I think that having journalistic skills would only serve to help if one were to get a job in a company like Scripps.  

I just felt very grateful that I had seized the opportunity to participate in the WICT mentorship program because it made me see Dias Media in a far different (and somewhat more familiar) light than I would have viewed it if I had not been familiar with such an operational system prior.

Wednesday afternoon and evening was again spent editing so that my team could present the confectioner's segment of our documentary at our group dinner Thursday night.

Baklava for Breakfast

To kick off our week, we headed into the Old City to film at a confectionary where the gentleman makes baklava.  It was my group's turn to film again and this time I (and I think the rest of my group as well) were determined to be more organized, efficient and share responsibility more evenly during the filming.

Sunday evening we had our preparatory meeting to discuss the best way to alternate the operation of equipment, taking of notes, etc.  We also took this time to make sure the equipment was ready to go (making sure batteries were charged, and the equipment was packed).  This higher level of preparation beforehand meant that, when we arrived Monday morning, we were ready to start filming far more quickly than we had been the first time.

The way we divvied up responsibilities also enabled Lance and Whit (our team leader and producer) to have freedom to move between cameras and audio, making sure that the shots were framed properly and that the audio was clear.  I, personally, feel like everything went so much more smoothly than the first film shoot and I think that also made editing easier.

I'm sure that part of the successful execution of the second shoot was the fact that we had worked with each other before, whereas the first shoot was our first time working as a team.  Added to that were the varying levels of familiarity with the cameras (which are Sony HDV cameras), which tends to make things more complicated initially.  But it's all part of the learning curve and a great experience that simulates a frequent real world scenario.

The confectionary we visited was run by a father and son and, as we have learned all too frequently on this trip, the family business will likely end when these gentlemen retire.  But the care that they put into making their baklava was amazingly apparent in the final product, which happens to be the best baklava I've ever tasted.

This may be because they take the time to apply the filo dough (which can be spelled phyllo or fillo as well) one thin sheet at a time.  According to one of the bakers, many people apply several sheets of filo dough at a time, but if you take care to apply them individually, the finished product will be flakier and lighter. When a sheet of baklava came out of the oven, the gentlemen let us experience their baklava by giving us generous portions.

It is the best breakfast I've had in Cyprus yet.

When we finished filming at the confectionary, my team headed back across the square to Mattheos' restaurant so that we could reshoot our interview with him (this time taking Constantia as our translator, so that Mattheos wouldn't have to try answering in English).  This second shoot of his interview turned out much better than the first; now all we have to do is edit the individual sound bytes we want.

Our professor, Dr. Legg, pointed out that we are experiencing the beginning of a cultural shift on this island and it's really sad to see.  Cyprus is an island with under 900,000 inhabitants and families earned wages and provided for themselves by means of a skill that was passed from generation to generation.  For some that skill is bread making, for others it is hand embroidering lace, making haloumi, or baking desserts.  Most of these skills were perfected in the small villages that Cyprus is comprised of, where there is very little (if any) commercial activity.  Where people leave their doors open and sit outside talking with everyone.

But their children want more.  These younger generations bide their time growing up on the island, dreaming of the day they can leave Cyprus for someplace bigger, somehow grander, tired of being imprisoned by the Mediterranean.

So these children don't take the time to learn the trades that have helped their families survive for generations.  Meaning that their family traditions will end with their parents.  Even if this older generation teaches these skills to someone else, it will somehow be diminished because the tradition has now left the family.  As if the family secret has finally been revealed or exploited.

How many times has this happened in our country's past? Being a child of the 80s, I entered this world at a time when many such traditions were already gone.  But being here in Cyprus now makes me cherish the traditions I know even more.

My grandmother's homemade applesauce.  My mother's homemade sour dough bread or hand sewn items.  Things that we've never really used to pay the bills, but traditions that have brought us closer as a family.

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

~ Pericles

The Third Weekend in Cyprus

View of the northern territory from the observation deck.

Things in this part of the island were quiet over the weekend, so this will be on the shorter side of my blogs.

Friday was a quiet day of editing for both groups of students.  I have to confess that I have begun to enjoy this slower pace of life.  I'm not so fond of everyone opening and closing their stores whenever they feel like it, but a nap in the middle of the day is nice when the heat outside is oppressive.

Friday was a big day for editing because we had our first group dinner Saturday night.  The aim was for teams of two to bring traditional Cypriot dishes for a potluck dinner, this way we could hopefully experience dishes that we haven't had the opportunity to try yet.  Then, after we enjoyed the meal, we would view each group's video and kind of discuss where the project should go from there.

May of Nicosia (Lefkosia) as it was, many moons ago.

I was tasked with bringing a salad of some sort, so I figured it would be fun to create what is known in Cyprus as a village salad.

A village salad is very similar to an American house salad.  It contains romaine lettuce, sweet peppers (which I took to mean green bell peppers), radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, black olives, capers and fresh coriander.

Now, I have to admit that I don't know when I've had capers (if ever).  So, in looking for capers and black olives to purchase, all that I could find were black olives in brine and pickled capers.  Needless to say, both had a very strong smell and flavor.  So rather than add them to the salad, I meant to put them on the side and let people add them at will.

Another scooter, I just can't get enough of them.

Naturally, I forgot to bring them over with the salad.

I did however discover that I enjoy the taste of pickled capers because it's very similar to pickles (which probably has a lot to do with the "pickled" aspect and vinegar).  I have yet to actually try the olives.  Most of the olives here have pits in them, which I'm not a fan of.  And cutting them just seems tedious.

We also had a layered pasta and meat dish that was not unlike beef stroganoff, but had less flavor.  We had baba ghanoush, which is comprised of diced vegetables much like pico de gallo, bread from a local bakery, and baklava for dessert.

When is the last time you saw a palm tree
when looking into a window from the
outside?

The videos turned out fairly well, considering it was just the rough cut of each.  My group included music in ours, even though we haven't decided on a specific soundtrack yet.  Nor have we found any free, royalty-free music either, but we are getting closer.  We are specifically looking for traditional Cypriot music which is heavily influenced by Greece and an instrument called the bouzouki.

I've never really understood why I love bluegrass music so much, though I think it has a great deal to do with the sound of a banjo and memories of listening to it at my Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house in the mountains.

The best I can explain it is that bluegrass makes my soul happy.  It makes me feel carefree, as if nothing in life is really worth the stress or the worry that I often carry. And bouzouki, surprisingly, has the same effect.

So many books in the museum.
I'm in heaven!!

On Sunday, a group of students paid for a 5 hour cruise in Larnaca, during which time they fished, swam and snorkeled.  I, not wanting to spend the money involved in such a trip, opted for a quiet day in the Old City with Kendra, Chelsey and Dr. Legg.

Initially, we planned on doing the full walking tour of the Old City and stopping whenever the urge struck.  We would up, however, starting at an observation tower that provides a 360 degree view of Nicosia, even across the Green Line into the northern territory.  This observation deck reminded me a great deal of the Sunsphere in Knoxville (the big golden ball from the 1982 World's Fair) because around the windows are historical photos and blurbs about how Knoxville has grown and changed.

This picture is for Jeremy.
Plus, I've grown to love old keys :)

There was also a 6 minute audio history of Nicosia with a map that would light up in various places when mentioned.  I find this type of history lesson to be the most effective for me because it is visual as well as auditory.  As our day in the Old City continued, we discovered that this level of interactivity is fairly common throughout Nicosia when it comes to teaching about the city's history.

The next stop for us was the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia which was located in the most unprepossessing building imaginable.  It looked more like a typical house in Nicosia but when you walk inside you find yourself in a tiled foyer on the first of three floors of artifacts.

This is for my mom, a Singer sewing maching
In the Municipal Museum of Nicosia.

On a couple of the floors there are video presentations about various points in Cypriot history, but the best presentation was on the second floor.  On one table there was an embedded touch screen that would show you what the city of Nicosia looked like during several different periods of empirical control (Byzantine, Ottoman, Venetian, etc.).  Once you selected which period you wanted to view, you could rotate the angle, zoom in on the buildings and pan across the landscape.

Then there was a video screen that you could sit in front of as you "toured" an animated reconstruction of Nicosia during the Ottoman empire.  The video was presented as if you were walking through the city, in the first person point-of-view.  Occasionally the animation would give way to sepia-toned videos that showed different aspects of life during this period.

For the women in my family, who are reviving
the art of hand-sewn items.

There was such an amazingly diverse array of artifacts in this particular museum compared to the archeological museum and the medieval castle museum I'd visited previously.  This museum contained anything and everything you could imagine including, money, jewelry, religious icons, clothing, fabric, furniture, and pottery most of which spanned across the last 600 years.

Part of me feels like I was meant to live in Europe because of the rich history that exists here.  I know that America will one day have as colorful and diverse a history, but for now I find it hard to compare 240 years of history with a story that extends several thousand years.

I may not know the language they're written in,
but I still want to read all of them!

You always hear the cliche phrase: "broaden your horizons."  Of the numerous times I've heard the adage, I always associated it with physical experiences, going new places and seeing new things.  I feel like now, however, my mental horizon is broadening so rapidly that it's incomprehensible to me.

So I apologize if I ever sound like a broken record, I'm just trying to take everything in.  This is a history and life lesson that I never want to forget.

Haloumi Cheese and a Holy Cave

Who knew, waking up at 6:30 AM, that Thursday would be such an amazing day?!

I was a bundle of nerves when I woke up because I knew I had to be on camera as we examined the haloumi making process. Deciding what to wear on camera is no easy task. Particularly when the pants you'd planned on wearing have a lovely spot or two on them thanks to beet juice from another meal.  Then there's the issue of what shirt to wear: blue, pink, grey and blue checked.... it's really stressful!

When we are on camera, we are supposed to wear the same outfit that we will later wear to our group Meze (which will also be filmed), this way it appears that we visited these various places the same day that we participate in our Meze.  But the actual Meze isn't for another week, so you really have to think ahead.

No one was really sure what to expect when we headed to the cheese maker.  We had vaguely heard about the haloumi making process and, to my understanding, we would be going to a place that has goats, whose milk is used for the cheese.  But when we arrived at the location, we were surprised to see that the cheese was made in a converted garage next to a lady's house.  There were no goats to be seen.

Now, I have a confession to make.  Initially I was petrified at the thought of potentially having to milk a goat on camera, to get fresh milk for the haloumi.  But after psyching myself up for this possibility, I was ultimately disheartened to learn that I would not, in fact, have the opportunity to milk a goat. :(

Constantia, who has turned out to be our translating savior on these excursions, was on hand yet again to mediate between Kendra and I and the cheese maker.

I am so incredibly fascinated by the amount of tradition that exists on this island.  And that so many skills are passed from generation to generation with the intention of becoming one's way of living.  While a skill such as making cheese has been passed from generation to generation in the past, Elpida (the cheese maker we visited) did not learn this trade just from her mother.

Elpida was actually a nurse before and during the war.  But when she and her husband decided to start a family after the war, she needed a job that would enable her to stay home with the children.  Since she had learned a little about making haloumi from her mother while growing up, she decided to attend a few classes so that she could fine-tune her cheese making skills.  Since that time, she has been making and selling haloumi to the residents of her community from the garage in her backyard.

As you approach the garage where the haloumi is being made, you notice the smell, first and foremost.  It's potent, to say the least, especially on a hot Cyprus summer day. Entering the open garage, you see a long, metal inclined table that narrows to a funnel at one end and, behind that, two huge cylindrical containers full of a milky white liquid - this is how haloumi begins.

Elpida has an assistant who has been helping her make haloumi for about 8 years now and, when we arrived on location, these two ladies were elbow-deep in goat milk.  Haloumi can be made two different ways: it can be made strictly from goat milk or from a combination of goat and cow milk.  Since Elpida has such a small operation, she cannot fulfill the legal requirements for using cow milk (mostly meaning she is unable to fully pasteurize the milk to the required standard), so her cheese is made solely from goat milk.

There is a gas furnace beneath the cylindrical containers that hold the milk, so the milk must be stirred almost constantly to prevent burning.  As the milk heats, it begins to solidify from the bottom, this is the haloumi.  This cheese making process actually yields two different types of cheese, haloumi and anari.  While haloumi is used in many Cypriot dishes, anari is a softer cheese that would be more comparable to the type of sliced cheese Americans use on sandwiches.  There is also a third product that comes from the haloumi process and that is trahanas. Trahanas is a traditional Cypriot soup that contains crushed wheat cooked in sour milk.

The sour milk is taken from the beginning stages of the haloumi process, is mixed with crushed wheat and is molded into what looks like miniature rice cakes which are placed in the sun to dry, resulting in a sour yet salty cake.  When trahanas is made, one of these cakes is dissolved in water.  We were informed that, as Americans who are unaccustomed to consuming sour milk, trahanas will likely make us sick but that we should try it at least once on this island.

But haloumi was the specific process we were there to observe and learn.

After the cheese product solidified at the bottom of the containers, it was removed in buckets and dumped onto a cheese cloth laid over a square metal frame.  The purpose of the cheese cloth was for draining the liquid from the cheese and the metal frame helped shape the cheese into a square.  Once all the liquid was removed, the cheese cloth was folded over the cheese square, a metal tray was placed on top and remained covered for about 15 minutes until the square solidified into a solid block of cheese.

From here, Elpida cut the larger square of cheese into 24 smaller pieces and placed each one into its own plastic bag.  The bags were then dumped back into the now boiling milk so they might absorb more flavor.  When the bags are removed from the boiling milk, the cheese is taken out of the bag and covered in an herbal mixture that contains mostly salt.  Then the cheese marinates until cool.

Haloumi cheese can be eaten while it's still hot or once it's cooled, Cypriots also occasionally enjoy eating it in the early stages while it resembles cottage cheese in texture but has no discernible taste, like tofu.  I tried the haloumi while it was still warm and I think that it's my favorite way to enjoy this cheese. However, haloumi is very high in fat, so you really shouldn't eat too much of it (if you eat any of it at all).   Anari is actually a lot better for you, as far as cheese goes, because it has much less fat.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay and try anari.  Maybe I will get the chance to try some before I leave Cyprus though.

Elpida seems very happy with the life she has led and continues to lead.  She says she misses having goats, like when she was a child, because the milk for the cheese would be a little fresher and easier to obtain.  One of her daughters lives next door and her grandchildren were running around and playing in her yard while we were visiting.  Unfortunately, none of Elpida's children seem particularly interested in carrying on the cheese-making tradition in their family.  She sells her cheese from her house and at the market in the old city as well on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  While her assistant enjoys making cheese, she also has no desire to start making cheese on her own. so when Elpida retires, that will be the end of the family business.

After we departed Elpida's house, we made an unexpected stop on the way back to our apartments.

As we pulled into a parking lot in an area we didn't recognize, we looked ahead of us and saw what looked like a church literally built into the side of a mountain.  This is a site that Constantia felt we should see while in Cyprus and I'm really glad we got to.

The backstory, as best I understood it, is that years ago the villagers saw a light coming from the side of the mountain.  When they were able to get a closer look, they discovered several caves in the side of the mountain. Inside these caves was an icon (painting) of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus.  On the walls were some painted frescoes.  No one knew how these things came to be in these caverns and it seemed to be a miracle, so the site was turned into a museum of sorts.

Upon further examination, the paintings were dated to around the 1400's and, after finding the tombs of several monks in the floor of the caves, it was determined that this site had been used for religious purposes as early as the 2nd century AD.  Now, on every August 15th, Cypriots from all over the island travel to this location to pray for the blessings of the Virgin Mary and to pass under her icon so that her blessings may pass down on them.




I am still in awe and feel very humbled when I am around such faith.  I feel that there is a spiritual connection to religion here that is lacking for me, personally, in America.  Perhaps it is because we are such a new country in comparison and have no such direct ties to the formation of modern Christianity.  But being here is giving me a new point of view.

I guess you could say, I've seen the light.

Wednesday, the Hardest Working Day in the Cypriot Work Week

As Monday was a holiday here in Cyprus (commemorating a flood that I still need to learn the details of), this past week really threw me for a loop. After experiencing a half-closed Lefkara on Sunday, and arriving to a shut down neighborhood around our apartments, I woke up Monday to the continued illusion of a ghost town.

All I can say is that Cypriots apparently take their holidays very seriously.  Virtually all stores and restaurants remained closed for the majority of Monday, making it very difficult to buy groceries or any type of food for that matter.

To further throw off the rhythm of my week, the film shoot we had planned on for Tuesday was moved to Thursday.

So, since not very much happened on Monday or Tuesday (other than playing cards and reading), this blog will pick up on Wednesday.

One of my classmates has figured out the Cypriot work week and I like his explanation...

Sunday, which is typically the end of the weekend for Americans, seems to be the start of the end of the weekend for Cypriots.  It's almost as if they have two Saturdays and Monday is more like their Sunday: the day they start getting their mind readjusted to the thought of working.  So, while businesses are open on Monday, not a lot gets accomplished and sometimes they close early because they're just getting back into the swing of things.

By Tuesday, the work picks up a little bit and on Wednesday they work really hard.  But because they work so hard Wednesday, they decide to take half a day off.  On Thursday, everyone starts preparing for the weekend, so the level of work decreases.  As Friday rolls around, the weekend is beginning all over again and businesses might take a half day off work to start the weekend early.

Keep in mind that some of these businesses open as late as 11 AM during the week and and almost all businesses shut down for a siesta between 2 and 5 PM.  Everyone eats dinner around 9 PM at the earliest and that is an event that can last for three hours, easily.

Sometimes it seems as if store owners just decided they don't want to operate on any given day for any given reason.

All of the aforementioned is merely allegorical, but the truth remains that it's very difficult to figure out a steady routine here because it really does seem like an erratic schedule to a foreigner like me.  I suppose it doesn't help that, in America, many businesses are open 7 days a week and some for 24 hours a day.

Wednesday was a really productive day for me overall.  Especially compared to my lack of activity on Monday and Tuesday.

At 10:30 AM, my film group went over to the University of Nicosia (which is about a block and a half away from our apartments) to film an interview with Ioannis.  I think I mentioned Ioannis before.  He is the culinary teacher at the university who gave us a cooking lecture on Cypriot cuisine, so we thought he would be perfect to interview for our documentary about the Cypriot Meze.

Ioannis is originally from Pafos but received his culinary degrees in America before coming back to teach in Cyprus.  He is a really nice guy who has some very strong opinions about food (particularly the way Americans eat and what their food consists of).  I have to say that my opinion of food has changed too, even in the short time I've been here.

We were discussing homemade bread, because we had filmed at the bakery by this time, and he explained that Cypriot bread gets hard after a few days because it has so few ingredients in it.  While he was in America, he read the nutrition and ingredients on a bread label.  He counted 93 ingredients.

I'm sorry, but that's not normal.

He said American bread stays soft and edible for so long because of these 93 ingredients (preservatives and the like).  Cypriot bread, which is homemade, has the very basic ingredients (flour, yeast, egg, herbs, etc.) so it gets harder more quickly.

The thing that I've noticed about food here is that vegetables are an integral part of every meal. As they should be. Always.

Yes, there are some fast food restaurants (and yes, McDonald's has the most location of any fast food chain here).  But it seems that the majority of Cypriots would rather eat chicken, pork or lamb that is grilled with some type of vegetables.  Meals might be served with condiments (ketchup or mayonnaise mostly), but it's served on the side so that you have the option of using it or not.  It just feels like a much cleaner way of eating, and this change in my eating habit has made me feel so much better overall.

Anyway, after we interviewed Ioannis, we had a couple of free hours before we met Laura and Constantia (our Global Learning Semesters Coordinators) to interview them for our documentary as well.  We thought that these ladies would make great additions to the video because Constantia is a local Cypriot, born and raised, while Laura is a Texan who moved to Cyprus a few years ago and got married.  So we believe that both women would have interesting perspectives on the Cypriot Meze and the role that food plays in this culture.

A few hours later, we crawled into one of the fun taxi vans (which are in severe need of better shocks) that have been taking us to all of our filming locations and headed to the ANT1 television station.

As a journalism graduate student, I probably shouldn't admit that I'd never been inside a television studio before.  But I was really excited to see a working studio and to see how it might differ from the little bit I know of American television stations.

Overall, I learned that a television station is pretty much the same in Cyprus as it is in America.

ANT1 wasn't a very large building in the grand scheme of things, but they made great use of the space they had.  In the newsroom there were three different sets that were utilized for different shows with cameras and lighting that could easily be adjusted for each.  The control room was exactly as I expected, just a little smaller than I anticipated.  There was a wall of monitors so that the newscast could be monitored alongside other news programs and media packages.

I was at least proud of myself for recognizing the server room and knowing why the temperature was cooler in there than the rest of the building (thanks to my mentorship with Melissa Sykes at Scripps and my internship at NorthSouth).  For those of you who don't know about server rooms, they are simply rooms with massive server machines in them.  But these machines emit a lot of heat while they are running, so the temperature has to be kept fairly low so that the machines don't overheat.  Because crashed servers are bad.

The thing that I found the most interesting at ANT1 is that every news channel in Cyprus has someone at the anchor desk who delivers the news through sign language alongside the speaking anchor.  The signer is part of the news due to media regulations in Cyprus, much like we have closed captioning in America.  I just found it to be unique and interesting (though I admit the news might be delivered in a similar manner in other countries and I'm just unaware of it).

I called it a night fairly early on Wednesday because we had to visit a lady who makes cheese on Thursday morning at 7:30 am and, since I found out I was going to be on camera, I needed my beauty rest. :)


By the way, these photos are just fun photos from around Nicosia.  I love trying to be artistic with my photography here, even if it doesn't work so well. Hahaha :)

Lefkara Lace, Leonardo Da Vinci and Anthoula

Sunday marked our last day in Limassol (Lemesos) and our return journey to Lefkosia (Nicosia).  Kendra, Chelsey and I decided Saturday night that we would wake up at 5 AM to watch the sun rise over the Mediterranean before we left.

However, when my alarm went off and Kendra texted me, I couldn't make myself actually get out of bed.  So Kendra and Chelsey watched the sunrise, which wasn't exactly over the sea since we are on the wrong side of the island, and got some pretty good pictures.

There was a Starbucks located a block over from our hotel so, naturally, I had to go (I've been having withdrawals, I think).  I've discovered (between an experience in Heathrow airport and now Cyprus) that European countries don't know how to make my favorite drink!  I typically get a venti, non-fat, sweetened Starbucks doubleshot.

In America, this is an iced drink with five shots of espresso (six, if the barista is feeling generous and doesn't want to throw away the extra shot).  Europeans apparently haven't discovered this drink as they kept trying to sell me two shots of hot espresso.  So instead, I order a venti iced Americano which has the same number of shots in it as a venti iced doubleshot.  But, whereas an Americano has water added to the espresso and isn't sweetened, I asked for nonfat milk and classic sweetener (which is a sugar syrup for those who are unfamiliar).

Voila! I have now introduced the venti, non-fat, sweetened Starbucks doubleshot to two European countries.  :)

After enjoying my American obsession, we boarded the bus for Lefkosia (Nicosia) by way of Lefkara.

The village of Lefkara is located in the Troodos Mountains and is known as the Lace-making Village in Cyprus.  I was actually excited to visit Lefkara, particularly after my local pottery encounter the day before, because I love handmade things.

I thank my mother for my deep appreciation for handmade items.  My mother is one of the most talented people I know.  She can pick up a piece of fabric and transform it into a beautiful hand smocked, knitted, sewn, appliqued, cross-stitched, or embroidered work of art.  When we were visiting the baker last week, she said it takes love to make bread.  Well everything that my mother creates has her love sewn into it.  The hours, days, weeks and months that she might spend on a project are evident in the quality of her work. And while most children might have been embarrassed or ashamed to wear clothes that their mother made, I am grateful that I have a mother who loved me enough to make clothes for me.

So, needless to say, I was excited to see the handmade lace in the village of Lefkara.

Sadly though, when we arrived in Lefkara, we discovered that the majority of the town was closed.  Not only was it Sunday, but it was also a holiday weekend (Monday was a day of commemorating a flood that struck Cyprus years ago).  Regardless, we were given two hours to wander around and get some lunch before meeting back at the bus.

Wandering the streets in Lefkara, I meandered into a lace shop that looked a lot like my mother's sewing room.  There was fabric everywhere. White, cream, silk, cotton, linen of all shapes and sizes with varying amounts of lacework stitched into them.  From somewhere behind a stack of tablecloths I was greeted by a small-framed elderly lady named Anthoula.

Anthoula has lived in Lefkara her whole life.  She works with a small group of ladies who get together and make lace to sell.  These female lace weavers are referred to as "kentitrias." These kentitrias will spend multiple days hand sewing napkins and many months hand embroidering tablecloths.  This is her livelihood. This is the life of a kentitria.

While handmade lace is impressive, Anthoula took time to explain some of the different styles to me.  The three most common styles that were present in Anthoula's shop were the Margarita, Rays of the Sun, and Leonardo Da Vinci designs.  All Lefkara lace designs are based on nature, whether by name or by shape.

The most popular Lefkara lace design (and therefore the most expensive) is the Leonardo Da Vinci.  The story goes something like this:

Leonardo Da Vinci visited the village of Lefkara and purchased a hand embroidered piece of lace that he took back to Italy, where it remains to this day as an altar cloth.  To further make this particular design infamous, Da Vinci forever captured the likeness of the kentitrias' work in his depiction of The Last Supper.

The Leonardo Da Vinci design is also known as the Potamos (or River) design.

I have never seen so many hand woven works of lace in my life and I could never have gained my newfound appreciation for the hard work that goes into them if it had not been for the kindness of Anthoula and her willingness to talk with me.

If you wanna know more about Lefkara and it's lace-making history, I found this article online:

Lefkara Lace: A Brief History