Crafty days

What else do you do on a rainy afternoon than paint, and decorate some very overpriced pumpkins… Sophia had a playdate with a friend from her school, and Alexandra just wanted to participate in whatever they were doing.  Halloween isn’t a big holiday over here (but everyone gets Nov 1 off in Bavaria – Catholic Country) so we now have a bit of our hallway decorated. 

Falling into Fall

Daily life has taken over us all, in between the snow & freezing weather.  Troy has been traveling like the frequent flier he should be, Sophia has been doing amazing at school, Alexandra walks into her nursery school in the mornings without a glance backward at me, and I am running about in the mornings trying to catch up (in between dr appts, grocery shopping, trying to get our internet back, and the gym). 

But at the same time, the girls look sooooo cute!

(yes, those are Dorothy shoes on Sophia)

(books in French – because German & English aren’t enough!)

and more books.  Alexandra doesn’t care who is reading to her or if she is making up her own stories, she just LOVES books!

Discovering Cyprus

Troy traveled to Cyprus for business and had an afternoon to explore the capital city of Nicosia. It was a strange trip from the start, missing his flight from Athens. And this odd experience didn't stop during his stay, having never seen water on the island - arriving at night and departing at 3 am. Nicosia is said to be the only country capital in the world that is still divided. You remember the struggle between the Greeks and the Turks...well it lives on in Cyprus today. The capital is literally split through the middle, with the UN buffer zone (in some cases less than 100M) between the two sides. I'm told I can pass easily from side to side with a US passport, but I wasn't going to try it before my flight. I walked the entire perimeter of the buffer zone, and you have an amazingly beautiful city that is absolutely war torn. I'm not talking just about bullet holes in the walls. I'm talking about the sand bag bunkers still through the main streets of town, the UN officers asking me not to take photos, and much of the area within two blocks relegated to warehouses as the local government gives away the space to fund the restoration of downtown Nicosia. I believe there is a reluctance to rebuild, only to see it torn down again. The primary conflict that led to the divided city ended 35 years ago, yet it still lives on in the day to day lives of those in Cyprus. I tried to show you some of the beauty, as well of some of the conflict that goes on today in Nicosia.