Posts Tagged Cyprus

This past Saturday evening all the girls took Alison out for a night on the town as a leaving party. Alison will likely do a post or write something about it so I will just present a small slide show of some of the pictures

too bad we dont have any video from the karaoke sessions though, I have a feeling quite a few of the girls were feeling pretty good about that time of the evening ;)

Somewhere on this website, or one of my others is the story of how I came about the screen name of Garazon. I’ll look for the link to it… Oh. it’s on my old site…  How I came by the name Garazon is a rather often asked question. It’s kind of strange and spooky really. When I first got online through AOL I had the option of creating various other screen names to use for individual family members. I was trying to come up with something unique, (which turns out to be a very hard thing to accomplish). I went through everything I could think of, entering a new screen name only to have this blasted dialog box pop up saying “that name is unavailable or already in use” or some such nonsense.. (more…)

Day 6 found us on the way to Paphos for a mini 3 day holiday given to us by Alison’s parents, Jack and Maureen, as an engagement present. It was so nice of them to do this and it is a memory we will have all our lives. We set out Monday morning and did a little sightseeing along the way as we had to wait to check in to the hotel anyway. I have always loved antiquities and ruins, so I couldn’t pass up a chance to visit the Sanctuary of Apollo located very near to Curium (Kourion) (more…)

From my Cyprus trip in October 2007, Oct, 14, 2007 recap finally done , 6 months later! ;)

Sunday Morning, the 5th day of our holiday we had been invited to go to a tavern in one of the mountain villages that Alison and her friends frequent, Taki’s tavern, for lunch. With no rush to get ready in the morning, we had a coffee or two and a bit of breakfast out in the garden.

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I was reading the news from some of the Cyrpus online newspapers this afternoon as I often do, just to keep up with things going on where my baby lives… for now ;) Well just a while ago I went to one of them, the Famagusta Gazette, and immediately one of the headlines grabbed my eye “Hospital needs help with dead bodies”!

Well I know its a serious story as I have read it, but I get amused sometimes to see the way the headlines are written and it struck me funny, yes I have a warped sense of humour :) . At first glance of the headline, I was thinking I definitely would want to avoid that particular hospital for any kind of treatment, or even to visit someone there! LOL  Well if that one didnt make me laugh, look a little farther up! Now I don’t know about you, but I wondered right away how in the world they got inside the foreigner’s nuts to find the drugs to begin with! LOL Well the story was of a man who was hiding drugs inside hazelnut shells, but of course the title is leading one to imagine something else. or maybe its just me. I had to laugh at the last line of the story itself too… “Drug squad officers said they had never seen drugs hidden in nuts before.” Well I can honestly say I havent either! LOL   I guess with the official language in Cyprus being Greek, sometimes the editors and proofreaders dont realise the way it sounds to immature Americanos like me! Well American news site make just as many, if not more, funny sounding headlines than these.

This past week Alison finally decided to get rid of her old car. Well it was past the point of being repaired anymore as the costs would have been more than it would be to buy a newer one. We all know how hard it is sometimes to part with what after a time become something of an old friend as we spend so much time behind the wheels of these things, and I’m sure a lot of stories to tell too. Well you know she was attached to hers as she took pictures of it being loaded up and hauled away! :) Can’t blame her though, I know how it feels as I drove my last two until they wouldnt move anymore!

I’m just thankful I did get one ride in it while I was there in Cyprus. Also thankful it was JUST one ride!!!  ;) LOL

Conscription = Servitude = Slavery

“It is debasing human dignity to force men to give up their life, or to inflict death against their will, or without conviction as to the justice of their action. The State which thinks itself entitled to force its citizens to go to war will never pay proper regard to the value and happiness of their lives in peace. Moreover, by conscription the militarist spirit of aggressiveness is implanted in the whole male population at the most impressionable age. By training for war men come to consider war as unavoidable and even desirable.”

Anti-Conscription Manifesto 1926 — signed among others by Henri Barbusse, Annie Besant, Martin Buber, Edward Carpenter, Miguel de Unamuno, Georges Duhamel, Albert Einstein, August Forel, M.K. Gandhi, Kurt Hiller, Toyohiko Kagawa, George Lansbury, Paul Löbe, Arthur Ponsonby, Emanuel Rádl, Leonhard Ragaz, Romain Rolland, Bertrand Russell, Rabindranath Tagore, Fritz von Unruh, H.G. Wells

”Conscription subjects individual personalities to militarism. It is a form of servitude. That nations routinely tolerate it, is just one more proof of its debilitating influence.” :

Against Conscription and the Military Training of Youth  1930— signed among others by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Thomas Mann  http://www.peace.ca/manifestoagainstconscription.htm

Now before anyone accuses of me of being anti military, I’m not. I appreciate all the sacrifices that our service people make to protect and defend this country and to aid those in need as well. And in general I am usually not vocal at all when it comes to these sort of things. With this country not having any mandatory military service any longer, to be honest I havent even considered the idea that it still occurs in so many other countries and to be perfectly honest wouldnt be writing about it now I dont think, if it werent for the fact  my fiancee’s son, JM,  is in the midst of now dealing with this antiquated and narrow minded system.

JM is a very clever and hard studying student and has been seriously planning a career in aviation,  a pilot,  now for the last two years, having enrolled in the RAF cadets program at the UK bases in Akrotiri around 16 months ago I am thinking. He has excelled in it and has had many opportunities through the cadets, and this last year received a scholarship to go to one of the bases in the UK where he had his first solo flight, from take off to landing! How many 16 year olds in this country or any other really can say they have given that much effort to a lifetime carreer? I have to laugh thinking of myself now when I was 16 and not even thinking about the next day, much less what I would do for a living! I admire him very much for his determination and his abilities. Proud of him too!  well he is at the end of school now and at a time he should have already been applying to university and seeking financial aid, here these things are done generally at the start of the senior year of high school and the students have a very good idea of what they need as far as finances and the like. Well there in Cyprus when a young man reaches 18 and is out of school he must enroll in a mandatory military service for a certain period of time, officially 25 months according to the web site of the Ministry of Defence. Well there are shorter times of service  reported in other various sites and quotes by officials ranging from a few weeks to 16 months, depending on circumstances. Well heres where the confusion starts. Of course like anyone ready to get his life started in his chosen profession, he would love to be able to apply to a few of these schools and begin to sort the financing, but he cant do anything specific as far as setting a date as the Army wont tell him a thing other than he cant get out of service until he is enrolled is their official statement upon each and every inquiry. Well there is a long list of meetings between the army recruiters and JM and Alison, as they began near a year ago just trying to get some idea of a decision and a specific date , Well not only for JM’s sake to get into school or start to work this summer to earn some money for what is going to be a very expensive tuition for this sort of career, but also for Alison and I to have an idea when we can begin to set a date for ourselves to be together too. Its one thing to be separated by this distance but being in limbo of the time we know is coming is just a hard ache to bear. And then there is JM’s anxiety too, heres this fine young man, so very capable of being whatever he wants to be stuck in just the same limbo, not having a clue when he can even start on his journey to what should be an exciting if nervous time in his life. He is waiting for answers too. When they first approached the army to inquire ahead of time to save the wait, they were told to first write a letter to the Minister stating their case and it would be reviewed and a decision would be made, well a month later when thy said it would be, a second visit and numerous calls had them writing yet another letter and restating things a different way, giving the urgency now of Alison leaving the country in very short time. Well another month is passed and still nothing, so Alison is getting perturbed now ( oh these people just dont know how much patience Alison is giving these idiots!) Well then after that its a trip to the main  offices in Nicosia for a meeting, and they come back from that with even less an idea only being told the case is being reviewed :( Oh but now they are starting to say he can only be released from service after he’s enrolled! Oh theres universal government brilliance at work there, cant take someone out of the system if they aren’t in it! :o) Well now its seeming that is the official answer each time, well if it can be called an answer, they still have been giving no indication of a time or what length of service he may have to do.  Nor can he legally leave the country without being scrutinized like someone trying to hide from the system and they even have it if he does leave the country without proper procedures at his age, he could be arrested on returning and placed into service that very day of coming back! Well of course he wants to go back to visit Cyprus at some point, he was born there and part of his family is there. Well its just a mess all around as Alison of course would find it hard to leave JM there alone, as how would he live and where and just those simple things. Oh there is something seriously wrong when a family cannot plan to make some changes in there life such as to relocate to another country or get an education! Now this is not an attack on Cyprus, I love the country and would be there now if it were possible. Just these bureaucrats are making this a right mess for everyone. Well there are so many people who are just not even paying mind to the service and sneaking out one way or another, some going through the Northern areas to get out, some just leaving on trips and not returning, or planning to return! Well we all want to go through the proper channels to make it right, but just like everywhere the right way is the most difficult and most expensive. No wonder the world is in the state its in.

Well I will put more to this later, my baby is just getting home now from Akrotiri taking JM to cadets so I will meet her at the door and give her a welcome home kiss, ok I know I’m 5000 miles away, but the Internet is one lovely invention! thanks Al Gore! LOL

X X X X X I love you Alison <3

Well this post is going to be a bit different in a way from most on here…  Alison and I have spent the last two years faithfully writing each other each morning and night and in between too. Only the rare occasion when one of us has been on a plane to see the other have we ever missed a mail to each other! It just feels strange to not be writing one tonight so I came up with this brilliant idea to not only send my Angel a kiss,but also tell her what I am up to this evening (and in the process I have another post on my site! ;)  Well i could still send her an email but she may not get it until she is home as she’s in Protaras this weekend with JM and her longtime friend Anne, who is visiting her for a couple of weeks. They are staying at the Sunrise Beach Hotel. JM has his laptop and I can of course send a mail to his account, but I’m sure he’s not really so excited to be the middle man for mushy love mails! LOL Well i will mail the link to this post instead. I know they only may have just a few minutes online as the hotel there is charging for Internet access… unless JM can find an open WiFi connection that is! ;) Its a shame really considering the prices of hotel rooms, especially these bigger ones, that internet service is not provided in each room free to guests. I know here there are a lot of them now offering it as part of the amenities. As are a lot of coffee shops and the like. Considering now how so many other devices besides PC’s are suing the internet and are Wifi enabled, cell phones (mobiles), game consoles, mp3 players, PDA’s.. oh the list is increasing all the time, it really should be something that becomes quite common now.  Oh l’m rambling here too in the post, just as I do in the mails! See Alison, its not just you I ramble on with! lol

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JM and Aris singing “Only You”

Alison’s son, JM and his mate Aris performing at ‘Spotlight’, a small show for amateurs , run by Premiere Society, a cultural society in Limassol. They have sung together on numerous occasions before. Aris us going to be going to school here in the states in the near future and has now left to go to Canada for a while first. so this is their last performance together for a while. They did a great job on this song and they are very talented guys!

JM on YouTube, Sound of Silence
This is one of my favourite songs by Simon and Garfunkel, and a great job by JM, Alison’s son, performing at ‘Spotlight’ a small show for amateurs , run by the Premiere Society, a cultural society in Limassol.