36 Achaion Street, Flat 201,
Agios Andreas, Nicosia 1515, Cyprus, Europe.
Home is a concept which we grow into without really knowing it. We are born into one and we have no concept of what it is. But with time, home comes to be extremely important to us as a place of safety, where we can let our hair down, and where we get nourishment, have fun with siblings and learn from parents or grandparents. Often, if our family stays in an area for an extended time, we come to associate home with a house. But in reality, that is not always true and for Marian and me, our home goes with us even when we change houses. Please, we are NOT turtles or snails!
Our current residence is a flat (apartment) on the third floor of a newer building - only a few months old. Our flat is number 201 and on the third floor because here the first floor is designated the ground floor and 1 is our 2 and 3 is our 2. So although we are on floor 3 we are in flat 201.
It has a living-dining area which is L-shaped. The whole apartment has very high, probably 10 foot ceilings due to the concrete structure of the building. This area and the kitchen is ceramic tiled as are the two bathrooms - one a two piece and the other full. There are two bedrooms that are floored with laminate flooring which is so popular now. As I just awoke from a rest in our bedroom I was looking at the ceiling and realized we sleep in a virtual cube each night! I am not superstitious but there has to be some mathematical consequence to spending so much time in such a unique place. Colour scheme - everything is cream coloured so it is easy to match our expensive furniture!
Did I say expensive? Well, the Lord knew that furniture was needed for this apartment and here is how he provided! At the Academy, the Polish embassy had been storing a whole room of furniture in a storage room rented from the Academy. I guess one ambassador’s great furniture turned out to be ugly for the next one! There were living room sofas, chairs, tables and office furniture. Dr. Worsham knew that the embassy owed the Academy some rent so he asked them if he could have all the stored furniture for rent that was owing. When they heard the offer they were excited and said that they would gladly give up the furniture! So, the Academy got about ₤5 000 ($12, 5000 CDN) worth of furniture in place of ₤300 of rent! Not a bad deal at all! So we are enjoying the reddish furniture in our living room. Thank you Lord!
The kitchen has lots of cupboards for storage and Marian and I have not filled them up to any extent whatsoever! The cupboards go all the way to the top of the 10 foot ceilings, so we can’t even get into some of them. There are a few pots and pans, dishes and cooking pots and we are not anxious to go and fill up the cupboards with things we may only use occasionally. Just the other day, if you checked the blog, you saw the purchase of half a rather large squash! Well we decided to make some pumpkin pie with our squash and baked it in a bundt pan since we have no pie plate! We left out the crust since we don’t need the calories and you know what? It tasted just like at home - almost!
There is a front loader washing machine under the granite counter in the kitchen and no dish washer which is OK since there are just the two of us here. The dryer is on the balcony outside the kitchen where there is also a rack for drying laundry. Marian only uses the dryer to fluff up the wash, since the HOT sun dries everything very quickly.
The building we are in has five floors of flats and so it is a six storey building, if you get the earlier drift! The hot water is heated by the sun which is on the roof. As a consequence, in the morning for some hot water, we have to let it run for about three minutes until the hot water gets down this far! Not complaining, mind you, just letting you know the idiosyncrasies of this flat and living in Nicosia! When the water does arrive it is quite hot so we are thankful! The water here is really hard and forms lots of scum on the fixtures - do you clean it off since it will be there with the next shower? Much of the water in Cyprus is now produced from desalination plants and there seems to be no shortage but it is carefully used to irrigate any crops of plants which need the specific moisture to keep growing.
The two bedrooms - well what can I say? In ours there is a queen sized bed and a cupboard which we would call a closet but it is divided into one section for shorter things like shirts and skirts while a second section is for longer dresses and then in the bottom there are two drawers for sox etc. Very compact and yet efficient. The second bedroom has a similar closet and a large single bed.
We have computer access to the internet and while talking with Michael recently he sent some pictures and they were here within 30 seconds! That’s fast communication.
There are no curtains on the windows and we don’t feel they need to have any, unless we stay for longer than the one year originally suggested! No pictures on the wall - how do you hang pictures on a solid concrete wall without losing great chunks of the concrete which they landlord would not look on kindly? By the way, the landlord is British and works for British Airways so it is a rather long commute to pick up the rent! Seriously, I have yet to find out about how the rent is paid since the first month was paid directly by the school, I think! Rent is ₤320 which is equivalent to $800 CDN then there is a common fee of ₤15 = $38 per month. The utilities on top of that amounting to approximately ₤125=$310 per month so you get some idea of the expenses here. Yes, utilities are expensive throughout Europe and this is no exception. I will include a few photos and hope that together they will give you an impression of our home during our stay in Nicosia!
We have a television, and can get some Cyprus news in English each day at 6:45 pm, and in the mornings there is European news. If we want to hear Canadian news we get it off the internet, or read the KW Record on line. Marian checks every morning to see if David is still living.
Our flat faces south west , and from the corner balcony we can see the mountains of Turkish Cyprus to the north, and the Troodos mountains to the south-west. Across the street is a little supermarket next to a very busy Taverna, which spills its tables out on to the sidewalk every night of the week except Sunday. It is a popular place for the people to come and eat and meet friends to visit. They are still at the tables when we retire for the night. We are getting used to all the noise of our neighbourhood. We often hear sirens for the ambulances going to the local hospital.
We enjoy our corner balcony, and often eat our meals out there, as well as sit out there during the evening. It always has a nice breeze in the evening, and sometimes Marian needs a sweater to keep warm when the temp gets down to 26 or so! We bought a little thermometer to keep track of temperatures. During the day it is usually over 30* and cools down to 25* at night.
The good thing with a small apartment is that it takes a lot less time to clean it. Marian likes that!
Well, thank you for taking the tour and we hope that if you have time to visit that you too, will enjoy what God has provided for us. Thank you for your continued prayers, they are more powerful and meaningful than you will even know this side of heaven.
If I could make some very specific requests to help in your praying they would be:
1. That you pray for the spiritual safety of the students and staff at the Academy. Not all know the Lord and so there is the foothold which could become divisive quite easily and thus ruin all of the progress to date.
2. Pray especially that I will have the wisdom and discernment for all of the decisions which I have to make. It seems that so many requests come with a history of which I am ignorant and so do not want to fall into pits if they can be avoided.
3. Pray that God would bless us financially because it seems that everywhere we turn there are needs - computer access to the internet for staff; salaries for staff which I believe are too low compared to other institutions, paint for old classrooms, past loans which need paying, and on it goes. To give you some context which will help you understand:
This school is known as an evangelical one and so stands out from those which the Orthodox church supports. I recently heard from a Board member of the school in Larnaca which is not evangelical that parents had made some sizable donations: One for ₤250 000 and another for ₤30 000 and is going to make another one of the same size. If anyone did such things for our Academy, there would be church and political repercussions. Perhaps that explains why the great need for God to supply our needs out of abundance.
Thank you for standing with us and of sharing so bountifully in prayer, writing and friendship.
David
posted by David & Marian Sloss @ 5:43 AM
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