Halloween

Halloween is big here. At least in the American/British/International school. Danny and Issy were out of their skins in anticipation for the Halloween party that was held at Danny's school today. Poor Issy. They didn't have a party at her Turkish nursery school and she felt somewhat left out. No wonder she sometimes says: "When I grow up to be aboy like Daniel..." Daniel is wonderful and included her in all the planning, also for his upcoming birthday party (December), for which he has been planning for the last six months. It will be a Monster Party - not like the Monster Parties we had at Chris Froelich's house as students - but it will feature monsters of all descriptions. Daniel offered to Isabella that she could be a ghost. She started wailing, and through the tears and sobs she said: "But I want to be a 'Walking Dead'". A frightening thought, this congruous image!

This morning on the way to school I had to tell the usual Batman story. I am running out of ideas because, as you know, Batman is not the most versatile in terms of plot lines. I decided to combine it with the theme of Halloween. The story went something like this:

Batman was driving through the streets of Gotham City one Saturday morning when he realized that there was no one about. Suddenly, rising up in front of his car was a hideous creature that said: "My name is Nosferatu!" Batman looked around and saw a motley crew of monsters all around the car. There were zombies, the walking dead, skeletons, witches, vampires, and ... HEFFALUMPS! Issy interjected. Now how does one keep a straight face? I did suggest that Batman an Winnie the Pooh join forces in the fight against evil and crime, but Danny rejected the idea in a flash.

I wonder why!

At the end of today, Danny had a great party at school. They had tea in the Dungeon and Slime, Puss and Mud Jelly. He said he passed on the Spider Cakes! He won a prize for his ugly costume. Being a very courteous boy he greeted me with: "Thank you daddy for making me so ugly". I wanted to say it's in the genes but the joke would have been lost. Anyway, he is a beautiful child. He also won another prize - a bangle and brought it home to his troubled sister. She was delighted!

Well, enough about our little family. Just a last bit of news. I hear that Frankenstein was a bit bothered by the fact that he wouldn't be scary enough for Halloween anymore. Too many Frankensteins around. He decided to dress as Jacob Zuma and now he is happy again. Scary thought...

Have a fun Halloween

Gerhard

The last stretch

Today (28 Sept), in three months we will be touching down on OR Tambo. Imagine touching down on OR Tambo! The poor man must be turning in his grave.

(I have written a whole post from here on, posted it, and lost it, so here is the second attempt. I am sure it will be totally different from the first attempt, but you will never know...)

The wheather is getting better her. Days are still warm (upper 30's) but they are a little less humid. Evenings are great and power cuts do not bother one when you have a large full moon rising over the mountain, and you can sit outside by the pool, talking the night away with or German friends, Wolfgang and Julia, who have come for a 10-day visit. I am a social animal and I became aware of how lonely it can be in a different country, when you do not have an establishd social network. I suppose that a lot of the negativity in the previous post was a result of me feeling isolated here.

I realized that my last post was a little negative, so I hope this one creates a little balance. I suppose things get better when you have less uncertainty about your future, even if the future is a little bleak at this point. I will always remember Mrs P, a remarkable patient I saw in 1 Mil, the first year that I worked there. She was diagnosed with brain cancer, but for years doctors couldn't tell her whether it was terminal or not. This caused her to be anxious up to a point where it affected her day to day functioning. She was a very intelligent, high functioning woman. She was refered to me to help her cope with the diagnosis. A humbling experience for a novice with little real life experience at that stage. I think it was during the third session that she mentioned that the doctors finally confirmed that the tumour was malignent and that she was probably going to die in the next three moths. i was shocked and scared that I might not have the skills to deal with such heavy news therapeutically. But, my fears were unfounded - not because I was a 'great natural therapist', but because Mrs P anxiety was gone. She knew what she could expect from life and she could live it to the fullest within the limitations set by the disease. Mrs P is one of the many remarkable people that I have met as a therapist and from whom I could learn a great deal. I suppose the trick is to be able to apply their teachings in one's own life. Not an easy thing to do. But befor I digress too far, lets get back to the business of getting back to South Africa. Certainly this is one area where a few life lessons could come in handy.

Having finally realized that there is no possibility for us to stay longer in Cyprus, we can now start planning our new life in South Africa. It is quite important for us not to return to exactly the same life and lifestyle we had there. I think on a philosophical level that is impossible and on a financial level it is totally out of the question. I sometimes wonder wht SA will look and feel like when we come back. I asked my American colleague, Bob, via email, after he returned to Iowa in June, how Iowa and Cyprus have changed for him, based on his experience in Cyprus. His rather boring, bland American realism answer was that neither had changed and he loves both. If theat were true, it is rather sad. Why travel, live, experience anything then? I suppose one does not only look out for changes, but also for the things that remain the same. Those could proof to be the biggest surprises!

As some of you may know, one of the biggest challenges would be to redefine our working lives, so that we feel less trapped and earn more money. Exactly how it will work, we are not 100% sure, but we are trying to put plans into place to make the balance sheet work out better than it did before. (I will not go into the details of our plans on this forum, but we hope that something meanigful will emerge for both me and Jenne-Marie.)It will obviously take some time, because, for example, just getting (a) car(s) will set us back initially. So, all, start looking out for cheap and reliable runabouts for us!

In the mean time we will make the most of our last three months in the Med. Charl and Gene, Jeanne-Marie's parents are coming on Thursday for about two weeks and the children are reallylooking forward to it. Like Selma's visit, it will be a little disrupting for them, especially Danny, but I can see how he blossoms when he is among friends and familiar people.

Danny and Isabella, mercifully, both love school. Danny is in reception (Gr 0) for this semester. We have registered him for Gr 0 in South Africa for next year, but if he does well and pass the tests and so on, we might even send him to GR 1. The problem is that his birthday is on such an impossible date (21/12)for going to school!

While I am chatting away about Daniel, he is a remarkable boy. He thinks deeply about things and sometimes I fear he can become too philosophical. Where he gets all his ideas about good and evil from, I don't know. Perhaps one shouln't read Narnia to children before they are at least 12. But we've stoped that now. The other day Danny said that perhaps he was not going to grow up to be a man. instead he is going to grow up to be a deck of cards, and each card will have a new idea on it and these cards will just come out of his head. Weird! I also love to listen to Daniel talking. He is very eloquent and tries out new big words on a daily basis. Its amazing how much he has grown in a year and I am sure that those of you who knew him, will see a huge difference.

Same with Isabella. She has a remarkable talent for music. She sings complex songs and tunes that she heard only once before. I really hope we can harness her talent. She loves drama and acting. She started ballet classes yesterday and loves it. She is also extremely stubborn and can be very naughty at times, but she is a little hero! At three-and-a half she is becoming "one of the guys" and we have to see that the slightly older children don't exclude her from their games. Daniel is usually very good with this, but sometimes the bull in the china shop approach of Isabella's is a little disruptive for games where rules are important.

I often wonder how much the kids will take with them of this adventure. Danny will probably remember more. He doesn't want to go back, but I think he will adapt quite quickly again. Both of them have become great travellers. We spent 9 days in Turkey and despite being dragged to ruin after ruin by their nerdish parents, they complained very little. The visit to the Toys-R-Us in Istanbul may also have helped a bit.

I will write a bit more aqbout Turkey some other time and also post a few photographs. Suffice to say, it is a wonderful country and everyone should visit it. Wow! what an experience.

Till next time,
Totsiens

Catching up...

I have been berated from certain quarters (people known for their eloquence) for being a k*k blogger (quote - unquote) because of the inactivity on this blog for the past two months. Suffering from high levels of Calvinistic guilt, I have taken the feedback to heart and made a resolution to write more. That is what I do best - make resolutions. I've even made a resolution not to make resolutions anymore and that is why I'm writing this short note to keep the blogging thing active. I have great plans to catch up on a few very memorable experiences such as our Kappadokya trip etc. and I hope that these will be documented soon. Perhaps I should write less and let the photographs do more of the telling. No photographs in this blog though.

Since my last posting the Viljoen family has gone through a torrid time. If you think its hot in South Africa, think again. Or, try to think while your brain is simmering and little clouds of steam whistle out of your ears and other orifices. We've had temperatures in the 40's and sometimes up to 51 degrees in a humid climate. We haven't seen a cloud in about four months (how I miss those wonderful Highveld thunderstorms) and Cyprus does not seem to have any shade - think West Coast. We have tried to have a picnic or two in some olive groves in the mountain, but were met by scores of vicious flies, mosquitoes and gnats whose sole purpose for existence is to rid the island of homo sapiens sapiens. (They have been unsuccessful for the last 10 000 years, give or take a few centuries – but they persist! Got to admire that.) Add to this that large parts of the 'country' is a rubbish dump, and that it is hard to find a spot with shade and without heaps of plastic bags and broken and plastic bottles lying about, the summer presented quite a challenge.

But I shouldn't complain - we came for the adventure and an adventure it is. I should also not complain because I believe that you in South Africa experienced a very cold uncharacteristic winter and I am not sorry that we've missed that. And I know how well South African homes are equipped for dealing with Arctic conditions. My informants tell me that it is getting a little warmer there now and I sincerely hope you get some nice rain soon.

If you thought that just being stung by the little blighters mentioned above was the end of our trials, that is not the case. Some of these things carry nameless viruses that give one intense fevers, joint pains, lethargy, personality modification and the temporary growth of a second head. All of us except Isabella at various times were platgetrek by the virus. But wait, dealing with a virus on its own is a piece of baklava! Add to this that they (the Cypriots, not the gnats) decided to upgrade the overburdened local electricity network in July/August then you have things really cooking. Although our abode has four air conditioners, we couldn’t use them during the day, because we had power cuts from 8 - 8 each weekday for six weeks. Fortunately that seems to be something of the past now. Another spin-off of this delightful situation is that our Internet and computer do not work when there is no electric – as Vince, my English neighbour calls it – electric. (He also says things like “we was...”)

Those of you who know me well, will know that I do not subscribe to a flowery, every-dark-cloud-has-a-silver-lining type of approach. So I’ve decided also to include some bad news in this posting. Lets put it like this – if you and your family decide to go on an overseas adventure, make very sure that the remuneration offered can sustain you and your family. It is painful to dig into SA money to merely survive here. I’ve just read on News24 that a survey found that the fear of not being able to pay debts has overtaken the fear of terrorism. All of our experiences could have been much different, not if we had more money, but if we had less uncertainty (or if we encountered some random acts of terrorism).

Our way of dealing with the incredible uncertainty, other than drinking heavily, is to manufacture our own certainty as far as possible. This means that we do not believe that the GAU will ever honour their promises to improve our situation. To their credit, I must say that they did offer Jeanne-Marie a job, and when she finally gets paid a full month’s salary by 15 October, our last stretch here (2 months) would be a little more pleasant. I may be promoted, and get a salary increase, but at the moment these prospects seem to be no more than empty promises. Tulin, my HOD really wants me to stay on, and had they responded to her and our requests sooner, and more decisively, we would certainly have considered staying here for longer.

The result of this is that we have made a decision to go back to South Africa next year and stay there for some time, before we decide to go on another adventure. Next time we will be better prepared and these ‘school fees’ we are paying this year will hopefully help to make another overseas sojourn less stressful. Jeanne-Marie and I will be going back to TUKS. (Or should I say TURKS?) Both of us are seriously pursuing augmenting our sources of income. We realise that returning might even be a little more difficult than coming here has been. We will need a car (or cars), get used to the rush of city life, get used to the incredible aggression of South Africans (on the roads, for example), see what we make of the crime situation. We will certainly miss many things about this sad little ‘non-country’. Jeanne-Marie feels that this phrase is a little bleak, but to me it seems that things have to collapse here in the next few years. Turkey is between Iraq and a hard place politically. It wants to be party of the EU, but has a strong Islamist component who do not seem to like the idea a lot. North Cyprus always seem to end up as the step child that can be sacrificed. But, I will paint a brighter picture in posts to come. The property market is impossible. There are endless stretches of newly builds – holiday homes scarring the landscape. Overextending the resources and infrastructure, that are not occupied. Tourism is down, the environment is a mess, and the government does not seem to get their act together to sort these issues out. One day I will write a piece about the psychological impact on a nation that is not recognised...

We have a much better understanding of the impossible situation that the Turkish Cypriots find themselves in. (If you are interested to learn more, read the Turkish view - click on
INFORMATION NOTE ON THE CYPRUS ISSUE.) The Greek Cypriots will give another view, but it seems that they base their moral high ground position mainly on the invasion (to the Greeks)/intervention (to the Turks in 1974). They do not talk much about kicking the Turkish Cypriots out of parliament in 1963, ethnic cleansing and genocide and a few minor problems such as these. Other sites attempt more balanced views. In my humble opinion it is quite clear that the official Greek sites are much more emotional and irrational.

Furthermore, the mistake the EU made to admit them give them even more attitude regarding the so-called Cyprus problem. We’ve had, and are having great times, despite the fact that some of you may have noticed some subtle hints of negativity in my writing. But as they say in the classics, it helps to blog. We wanted to go to Germany, Paris and England this summer, but can’t afford it. Travelling with kids does put quite a strain on one’s wallet, although in Cyprus and Turkey, most things (excluding food and travel) are free for kids. We are stretching our Lira to go to Turkey for nine days in the beginning of September. We’ll be going to Istanbul for three days (where we hope we can find a chemistry set for Daniel – there seems to be none in Cyprus, North or South). We will then travel down to Çanakkale (pronounce: Chanakale). By coach to visit the ruins of Troy and the Gallipoli battle sites. (By the way – we saw Enemy at the Gates and if you are into war movies, this is really a good one.) After that we will go further south to Selçuk (Selchoek) near the city of Izmir. There we will relax, visit Ephesus and go on a few day trips. We’ll fly back to Cyprus from Izmir.

When we get back, we will have visitors from Germany – Wolfgang and family. Then, in October, Charl and Gené, Jeanne-Marie’s parents will come for a couple of weeks and also during that time, Jeanne-Marie’s cousin and family will come visit for a week from England. We are really looking forward to see all of them (you) and I am sure the Cyprus experience will be great for all of us. When everyone has left, we will have two more months left. The next posts will be a bit more up-beat and will hopefully give you a glimpse into what our great Mediterranean experience is also like.

I close with words of Atatürk on a memorial at Galipoli. I found it quite touching.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives…
You are now living in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours…
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears;
your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace,
after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Ataturk, 1934

A children's story

Hi All,

Thank you for all the great replies and comments. Some were sent by email and I think I should ask the authors' permission to place them on the blog. Linda, I heard similar comments about the Andy Carcia movie and I believe there is no reason to NOT see a movie because the plot is predictabble. After all, plot is but one aspect of a great story. Shakespeare is rather predictable, but we still watch his plays, sometimes more than one version. (By the way, I have an English colleague by the name of Breakspeare. Make your own inferences!) Ilse, our time seems to be running out in Cyprus, so, make a plan... Gertina, Great to hear from you! And, do write a blog. Its fun and it keeps people connected.

I had a Pakistani Yank colleague, who is an author. He writes very good short stories for adults and admires Hemingway. He lived here with his Kryzykstani companion, Anoor, more than half his age. He has now returned to California and she has gone back to her country. Before they left they wrote a little story for Isabella that I put in here. This is for your use only, because I don't know how copyright and things like that work. Enjoy!

Peter Pigeon’s Great Adventure




“Wheeee!” Peter Pigeon cried, as he flew fast around the Almond tree in front of his house.

“Be careful, Peter” said Polly Pigeon, his mother.

“Watch out!” shouted Paul Pigeon, his father.

But Peter did not listen to his mother and father.

He flew as fast as he could to the top of a tall Cyprus tree.

Peter was happy and excited.

The Mr. Carrier, the Mail-pigeon, had brought a letter from his uncle who lived in a big city called Kyrenia.

Uncle Walter had invited them to Kyrenia.

Peter had never seen a big city. He lived in a small village called Karmi. It was a quiet, sleepy old village. It sat on top of a high, green mountain. Peter’s house was tiny, white house. It was surrounded by trees and flowers and sweet-smelling bushes.
Peter spent all day chasing bees and butterflies.

But Peter wanted to see the big city. He wanted to play with his city cousins.

Peter liked to show-off. He thought he was the fastest pigeon in the world. He wanted to show his cousins how he could twist and turn in the air.

So, on Saturday morning, Peter, his mother and his father, all flew down the mountain to Kyrenia.

Uncle Walter was happy to see them. Peter’s Auntie, Peggy and cousins, Jenny and Billy were also happy to see Peter.

“Wheeeeeee!” screamed Peter excitedly, as he flew fast between the cars and busses. “Looooook! Look at me! I am a jet plane!” Peter called out to his cousins.

“Hey, slow down,” said Uncle Walter. “You could get hurt.”
But Peter did not listen to his uncle.


“Look at me, look at me!” Peter shouted to Jenny. He flew fast between two cars. He was showing off in front of Jenny.

His cousin Bill said: “Peter, be careful. You are not in a small village. This is a city. The traffic is very dangerous here.”

Peter did not listen to his cousin Bill. Instead, he jumped on top of a moving bus.

“Look at me Jenny, he shouted. I am a bus driver.”

“Be careful” Jenny shouted. “You will get hurt.”

But Peter did not listen to her. He jumped off the bus and jumped on the electric wires.

The wires started to swing and sway.

“Wheee, whee” Peter cried. “Look at me. Look at me.”

Uncle Walter shook his head and said: “Peter will get himself into big trouble if he keeps on behaving this way.”

But Peter was very excited by everything in the city.

He did not understand that the city traffic can be dangerous.

Suddenly, he saw some pop-corn on the road.

“I want to eat pop-corn,” Peter said. “I am so hungry now.”

He flew down and started eating the pop-corn greedily. He did not hear or see the cars passing close to him. Then suddenly a car hit him and knocked him onto the sidewalk.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Peter moaned in pain.

His head hurt. His legs hurt.

His mother screamed: “Peter! Look what you have done. You mustn’t show off like that. Now, look at you. You could have been killed!”

“Mamma,” Peter said. “I’m sorry. My leg hurts but I think I can fly. I want to go home now.”

“Okay,” Mr. Paul Pigeon said: “Let us all go home now. The city is a very dangerous place. We are better off in our quiet, little village.”

“Good-bye, Walter,” Paul Pigeon said to his brother.

“Good-bye,” Paula,” Aunt Peggy said to Peter’s mother.

“Bye-Bye,” Peter said to his cousins, Jenny and Billy.


Then they all said good-bye and flew home to their quiet, little village.

Summer in Cyprus

Hi All,

I'm a poor blogger and there is a bit of a backlog (or should I say 'backblog'. Jeez, JM can be funny sometimes!) that I am slowly trying to get to. We are in mid-summer here - went to the party in the village and all - and it is rather hot. The last to days we had some respite. It was only 38 degress Celsius. So, we dress down a little and spend a lot of time in the water at various beaches and in our swimming pool. When we come back from the beach, we immediately swim again. Daniel has become a dolphin an Isabella is slowly becoming more confident. We are rapidly getting brownwer and hope to land some lucrative affirmative action posts when we return. Our apartment has airconditioning and although we don't like to use it, we have no choice. Poor Jeanne-Marie had a cold because of that in the middle of this heat. Fortunately one can buy antibiotics over the counter. I entered the pharmacy with te usual exchange. "Merhaba, how are you", said he pharmacist's wife. "Fine, just very hot." "Not to worry," she said, " it only lasts for two months." Hell! By that time we'll be kaiings.

Other news is that I teach summer school, Isabella starts school tomorrow, Jeanne-Marie needs work, Daniel is an inventor. He wants to invent an "electric" toilet seat that can register when you get up, so that the toilet can flush automatically. Bright boy! I hope his wiring right.

I took Daniel to a vintage car rally at Bellapais and you know you're getting old when all the vintage cars were around when you were Daniel's age. I didn't think the cars were old at all!

This week will be the first that Jeanne-Marie and I can spend together without the children. We're going to Lefkosia where we have to do a few admin things. We'll venture to the south to look for a chemistry set for Daniel. We hope, like most parents who buy chemistry sets, its the start of great things.

Next Wednesday evening we're going to the Alagadi Beach where the turtles are currently nesting. They have a conservation project going. They will show us a movie, give us a talk and then we'll go down to the beach. We hope to see some of the giants coming out to lay their eggs.

Next weekend its the orange festival in Guzelyurt (Umlaut on the 'u' - the name means Beautiful/Good place/country). The town is about 50km west of where we live. We are learning more and more Turkish words and things are starting to make more sense. There is, however enough English around to get along without Turkish, but one must be careful not to only relate to the British ex-pat community. Nice people, but that's not why we came to Cyprus. I must admit that its good having them here because I can follow the Tri-Nations on the big screen. Go B-team, Viva Jake etc. etc., ra, ra, ra...

Now that the exams are over we are catching up on movies again. Liked The Illusionist, thought Closer was exceptional, nay, masterful - Natalie Portman is a genius, check out any of her movies like, Beautiful Girls, Garden State and V for Vendetta -Bridge to Tribithia was an excellent, small movie (for those of you interested in literary controversy, read the entry in Wikipedia, Adaptation didn't work despite understanding what it tried to say - too contrived and I don't like Meryl Streep anymore - Pan's Labyrinth was hard to watch but great, I know now why everyone goes on about Paris, Texas, liked The Island with Ewan McGreggor and Scarlet Johansen, but its flawed, Agent Cory Banks was a great watch with the kids, still havn't seen the whole of Shrek the Third - will wait till I get a better pirated copy - getting into the Barbie movies - and please challenge me on that one, Little Miss Sunshine is superb, History Boys utterly dissapointing - contrived, poor screen adaptation, what were they thinking? - and Spongebob Squarepants will always be my hero!

I have initiated a huge action research project to attempt to address the massive litter problem on the island. Lets hope something comes of it. It is very exciting and apart form cleaning up the place, I might get a few publications out of it. Let me know if you're interested and I'll tell you more. I might tell you more anyway if I find the time to write and catch up with my other postings.

Well, for now, here are a few pictures of our mostly aquatic lifestyle.

In our swimming pool

The oldies at Bellapais (see an earlier post for Hyperlinks to Bellapais)




Some restaurants at Bellapais. One is the Tree of Idleness where Laurence Durrel wrote his book Bitter Lemons about his experience of Cyprus in 1957

When Issy saw this add in a paper she said:"Wow, we must take a picture of this!"

Our beach club - Camelot

The harbour wall in the background was apparently built by the Romans

Lastly, Alagadi beach, or, The Boertjie that went up the Koppie, but came down the Mountain (with his daugter on his shoulders). Parenthood! What joy...

In March we went to Mount Olympus in the South. It was the time that my camera was broken, but fortunately I could take a few pics with my phone. I only managed to downloadd it now. This was the first time ever that the kids saw snow. We didn't build the snow men, because, by this time we had frostbite. But the whole pine forest was populated with snow men of all descriptions. Enjoy!

Working at the GAU

Warning: The following may be quite boring to some, but read it at your own peril.

I promised that I would write a bit on my experiences of work, the university and so on. Well, here it is. Looking back on the writing below, it seems a little incoherent, stream of consciousness in places, but perhaps it’s informative.

Girne American University is a relatively young institution (est. 1985). The Psychology Department is even younger. The first Psych Graduates (4-year B degree) are finishing off now. (Our academic year, of course, ends in June.) There are four other universities in North Cyprus, with its population of about 260 000 people. All these universities’ reason d’etre is to deal with the surplus of school leavers in Turkey that want to pursue tertiary studies. Although there are students from all over the Middle-East and Eastern Europe, the majority of students are from Turkey. As the University purports to be ’American’ in style and presentation, the language of instruction is in English, and English, she is not big with the students, ja? This presents severe challenges is the classroom where there are students with varying degrees of command of English. The problem is particularly severe on the first-year level. It seems that the one’s who make it through the first year either do so because they have better English, or because they managed to learn English sufficiently in their first year. Fortunately the classes are very small and one can approach the work with baby steps. Similar questions that I had at Mamelodi come up here. What is the minimum one can teach to make this count as a legitimate university course? How does one balance the needs of the University and the Community for a quality education, with the limitations of the learners? I suppose one can go into complex arguments about the place of a University education in society. Should it be for everyone, or should I be elitist? Is the knowledge that people leave with useful for society, or, should it be? I suppose in something like engineering it better be useful because these people build bridges and skyscrapers. I suppose in the Humanities and Languages it is not so easy to tangibly define usefulness. Despite all the assessments of knowledge and skills, one is never sure what students really know when they leave. I have opted for a reduced content, more process oriented style of teaching. This means that I believe if they know how to engage properly with three out of twelve chapters from a textbook, they will know how to relate to the other content, should they be called upon to do so in future. For these students it is of no use to overload them with facts and content knowledge. As in other academic settings, we have learned that the 18 to 24 year old brain can memorise vast amounts of facts for long enough to vomit them out on a piece of paper during the exam. After that, they might not even remember the name of the subject.

Another factor that makes teaching difficult is the very rigid Turkish educational and social system. It reminds a bit of South Africa 20 years ago. The society is patriarchal and thus prescriptive. Students do not seem to have an internal locus of control – even less than at TUKS. Combined with their lack of confidence with the language, it is quite difficult to get them to actively take charge of their learning. I must say that, despite my misgivings, some of them surprised me when I assessed their work.

It is not too bad to be part of the Psychology Department. The HOD is Tulin Bodamyali, a Turkish Cypriot who spent many years in England. She is not a psychologist, but a biologist. She has however done a number of counselling qualifications in the UK and is registered as a counsellor. (For now, the British system will take too much explanation.). Tulin is a very dynamic and energetic person with a great sense of humour, but, by her own admission, lacks some assertiveness. Both the students and the management exploit this inability to say ‘NO’, which results in her being over committed to the students and the institution. The problem is that we hardly get time to sit down and discuss important Departmental matters such as the expansion and development of the programmes we want to offer. Currently there are only undergraduate courses on offer (A B degree is four years and leads to a Masters). There is one Masters degree registered, but it is dormant at the moment. Part of Bob Boyer’s (my American colleague) job is to do curriculum development. This proves to be a major administrative challenge, and as in my previous experience of this sort of thing, there is a lot of bureaucracy involved. This involves educational bodies in Turkey and professional bodies in Europe. Bob is very optimistic about getting all these new programmes up to Ph D level in place. I am more sceptical. (I have worked with optimists before like Linda and survived it. In fact, its amazing what Linda achieved in organizations despite all the odds – including my pessimism - being stacked against her) My pessimism may be a result of systemic thinking. There just seems to me to be too many possible constraints outside of our sphere of influence, to make it work. One of the biggest problems is that expansion may need continuity of staff. This brings me to question many have asked, here and back home.

Will, I be tempted to stay on in Cyprus? The answer is an unequivocal ‘maybe!’ In terms of institutional politics, the biggest challenge is that the power that be might no see the value in expanding the psychology curriculum. Because of this, they may not necessarily put measures in place to retain staff. GAU is a private university, which means it is a business. Bottom line is profit. The problem is that the owner might not see the profitability of a bigger Psych curriculum and department. Traditionally universities are very old-fashioned, conservative institutions that resist change and innovation – quite ironic, isn’t it? What does all this have to do with me contemplating staying on? Well, to make it viable for me and the family, I will have to earn at least double my salary and Jeanne-Marie also need employment. (I believe that teachers are paid much better than faculty.) I need to be able to maintain my financial responsibilities back in the good old R of SA and I need to purchase the trappings of any permanent resident, such as insurance, medical aides, pension provision etc, etc. Currently my salary only barely pays the rent and the food. Why would I want to stay? First, it is great to live in a country without any crime to speak of. The only crime here is the world’s continued isolation of Turkish Cypriots. Second, for people who always wanted to travel and who have an insatiable interest in recent, old and ancient history, there is no place on earth more interesting than the Middle-East. From where we are it is about four hours from Moscow, not very far from India, Europe is within reach, Egypt, Israel, Tunisia, Central Asia (Countries with amazing histories that we hardly ever hear of, talk or think about in out Anglo-American way of life in SA) and so on. Third, the children are very happy here. Daniel never wants to go back. He says we must go back just to get a toy that he forgot in SA (a stupid little McDonalds toy which he calls “double swingy”). If, on the odd chance, we can stay, I do not see it as a permanent or long-term option. We will probably then look for other overseas opportunities in the next 5 years.

On the downside, if I want to pursue an academic career further, I am not too sure whether this University is the right environment for it. It is primarily a teaching university and it doesn’t have a big research culture. But then, I am not sure whether I am able to play the academic publish or perish game anyway. Too many ideas and too little structure to sit down and get the work done. Further, one may ask what the future of North Cyprus as a place holds. For the foreseeable future it looks stable, but it is still awkward to live in a non place. Also, outside of my university employment, I do not see many other opportunities. I think there are many more opportunities in SA. Bob wants to start an institute where we can provide psychotherapy and consultation services to the public. I listen with interest, but I am not sure how viable this is. Lastly, I miss many things in and about SA. I would have loved to watch the Super 14 games with my mates. Instead I had to listen to it on radio and I had no one to share the immediate excitement with. There are more examples. What we are certain of is that we do not want to go back to SA and resume our lives exactly as they were when we left. If we do that, this year may have been wasted in some respects. I will have to find ways to supplement my income. This may mean moving out of academia anyway, or I must find ways to consult outside the university, while staying in my job. Jeanne-Marie does not want to stay in her oppressive job.

But, then I often read South African news pages, and not a day goes by in which someone is not murdered in a most horrible way. I suppose it does look worse from far away.

Nothing is cast in stone. At the moment it does not look as if we’ll stay. We shall probably be back at the end of January next year to reinvent our lives in South Africa, unless…

(The opinions expressed above are Gerhard’s and are not necessarily shared by Jeanne-Marie)

The Birthday Party

Isabella had her third birthday on the 16th of April, or Nisan as it is called here. Poor girl! Because she only turned three then, she could not go to school when we got here. Subsequently she has been a little short on peers to make up a birthday party for her. We decided as a family to go on a boat trip down the coast and she, (and Danny) was very excited about the prospect. Isabella gets excited in a sort of serious, quiet way. She was anticipating something quite momentous, and I think she was not disappointed. (When I booked trip, the owner of the ship, hearing that I was Afrikaans, immediately got on the phone to his South African girlfriend – from PE – who works in Istanbul. We had a nice chat in Afrikaans. They were planning to visit SA in the next ten days or so.)

We started the morning with a party at home including balloons, a pink Little Mermaid cake and many presents – more than we could actually afford. This is because Daniel found out that we bought Issy presents without consulting him, and that it was important for him to choose his own present for her. He was very mature about the whole thing since I pointed out that we didn’t have a lot of money to spend. “Here’s the deal…” he said. “You show me all the toys in the shop we can afford and I will make the choice.” I was quite relieved when he chose an “affordable” little stove, and even more relieved that Issy loved it. Isabella also got a Little Mermaid, Special Edition, two-disc DVD set from Connie. This may not sound too exciting, but it was nice for all of us to watch an original DVD from which we could access all the features. We have gotten used to pirated DVD’s of fair quality, but that start immediately when you put them into the player.

(The frenzied opening of presents)

(Danny, Issy and the Stove)

(In the harbour, before we left and on our way out)

(The castle from the sea)

(Girne downtown with St Hilarion in the background)

(Another, similar yacht races us)

Since being here, it seems that the sea is calm in the week and choppy over weekends. This Sunday was no exception. We set out on the boat with great expectations. Isabella had the look of a Columbus ready to discover India on her face as we headed into the wind and waves. Although it is a sail boat, they never used the sails. Soon the butterflies in Jeanne-Marie’s stomach made way for other, less pleasant sensations. I also started feeling a little queasy and we were in for a long day. Apart from seasickness, there is not much to do on the boat as we sailed down the coast in the direction of Lapta, where we live. So I proceeded running about, keeping the children from falling overboard while they seemed to have boundless fun. Jeanne-Marie was very brave, and despite not being able to share in the great lunch spreads they provided, she claims to have had a great trip. I, on the other hand, rarely let an opportunity to eat good food pass. I think the food settled my stomach and I imagined not feeling so fragile after lunch.

(Issy staring into the Blue Yonder -wish I had a better photograph!)

(Girne dissapearing)

(Happiness is...)

(...Danny on the yacht)

(On the way back - the swell is bigger than the photo suggests)

On the boat we met a Family from Latvia. The woman (can’t remember her name) spoke Russian with the shipmate and cook (also a lady) who was from Khazakstan (She hasn't met Borat personally). Although these countries are worlds apart, they were both part of the Soviet Union pre 1990. When we anchored in a bay, there was an opportunity to swim in the Med. Just after I declined the opportunity strongly in my mind – it was still Spring – the children demanded that we swim. What can a father do? I reluctantly climbed down the little aluminium staircase lowered into the substantial swell and had visions of what it might have felt like to walk the plank. I got into the burning cold water first so that I could help D & I into the water. I clung to the staircase for dear life with frostbitten digits and helped Isabella into the sea. She didn’t like it! Danny tried twice and then also decided against it (Hurray!). I got out and managed to get the circulation going again. Fortunately it was it a sunny day. Unfortunately it was windy. I got dry eventually and sat down to speak to the Latvians. They thought the water was fine.

(Late afternoon - back in the harbour)

(The castle, still there)

(Part of the old harbour)

At about 4 O’clock we returned to beautiful views of Girne – the harbour and the castle. Danny was getting a little wild and I had to be strict with him. Although he can swim in a swimming pool, I realized that if he fell in and I went after him, it might be impossible to see him in the one-and-a-half meter swell. Who knows how long he would have been able to stay afloat had he fallen in. A frightening thought. Isabella spent the whole day like the princess that she is. She went for an afternoon nap in the cabin below and enjoyed the day thoroughly. The brave girl really deserved it!

(The end of a great day)

(Happy birthday Isabella)

One knows that the kids had a good day when they fall asleep in the car on the way home. Our kids had a good day. All-in-all the parents had a good day too. Nothing like a bit of seasickness, frostbite and heart failure to spice up one’s day. And look on the bright side, it could have been worse. We could have been on a two-and-a-half hour ferry ride to Turkey on a choppy sea! I’ll tell you about that later…