You know how when one day it's beautiful, warm, and sunny and the next day it is freezing and cloudy and probably snowy, we tend to say something like, "Well that's Michigan for ya"? Well, they have something similar here.
It's becoming obvious here that most things here... well, they just don't work at all. We mention that our hot water (which you have to turn on with a switch a half hour before you shower) does not work, and they say "Welcome to Cyprus." Our washing machine goes on and on forever, in an eternal cycle of never ending clothes washing, without ever getting anything clean. Welcome to Cyprus. Not a single person in town can tell you where the post office is, and not because of a language barrier- just no one has any clue. The response is, "Welcome to Cyprus.
"That last one played a large role in my latest adventure. Yesterday, we had to to a large scale scavenger hunt in which we ran all around the immediate town and university, and then were supposed to take a cab to the Old City, finding landmarks and various places. Well one of these places was the post office, AND NO ONE IN TOWN HAD ANY IDEA.
Finally a local bartender gave us directions to a post office about 2 km away... pretty far to be the local one, but we were determined to win so we set off. Needless to say, we got horribly lost. We got so lost that we could not even call a cab because we didn't know where to say we were. We tried to follow our noses to the Old City. Fail. Finally we found a young man who spoke English (turns out the older generations are not so good- welcome to Cyprus) who got us a cab.
We took it to the restaurant on our list where we were all supposed to meet in the end (as we were exasperated and had given up on winning hours ago). We got there and it was empty. We sat down anyway, and before we knew it they were bringing us food. We realized... this is so not the right place. But the food... it was just so good. So, we just decided to go with it.
It turned out awesome, we couldn't have been happier to have gotten so lost. The place served traditional Cypriot meze. You don't order anything, they just bring you course after course after course of traditional Cypriot food. It is as if you ordered the entire menu at a normal restaurant. And it's wonderful because you get to try everything without trying to decipher from a menu what everything actually is, let alone how to pronounce it to a waiter.
Here are some 
pics!That's not even all there was. It was all so wonderful... except the snails. They look the same alive as they do dead and cooked, little eye nubbers and
all. SICKKK. An
d they taste like pond.Thinking about it...
BAD DECISION!!! Welcome to Cyprus.
Was that orange stuff squash???? Your getting lost reminds me of a time I was lost in one of the Scandinavian countries I was visiting....all I remember is getting on a bus and we didn't know where it was going! It can be a pretty insecure feeling. Good thing you have friends! So...how much does a dinner like that cost? You never did mention how you finally found your way home. Was anyone worried about you? Please tell me yes.
ReplyDeletefaja said... what kind of beer do they have there?
ReplyDeletehaha yes, we called our program coordinator when we realized we were at the wrong restaurant to meet everyone and told her we would just eat there and would take a cab home.
ReplyDeleteThey brew KEO and Carlseburg here in Cyprus. Not a big fan. I think they like their wine more.
That dinner cost 18 euro and was worth every penny and then some. Plus you are not supposed to tip here. And no, it was not squash, it was flavored cous cous.