2nd Euro Mediterranean Folkloric Festival in Limassol

This is the second edition of the Euro Mediterranean festival in Cyprus, after the one in 2007. The photo above is from the last year's show. I saw the posters for this while driving around yesterday and was surprised to know that it was starting today (Aug 4th, 2008). There was very little publicity for this event and there was not even a single place online where i could get the details. Somehow, i managed to get the phone number of the Cyprus municipality and they were courteous enough to fax me the complete schedule. If you are in Limassol for any of the 4 days below, do go to this show. It is a cultural extravaganza with different kinds of dances/instruments and for the photographer in you, it is a great opportunity to improve your skills at taking photos at a stage concert.
This year, there seem to be groups which were not present last year. Some of the highlights of this year's show are:

• Cyprus: Dionysos cultural and dancing group from Limassol, Konta Stin Paradosi Group, Alexandra traditional dancing workshop and the limassol cultural association. I hope that the Cypriots do something different from the usual sitting down, touching one leg and the hopping back thing!
• Greece: Cultural Group Arcadi
• Hungary: Folk dance group Csepel
• Italy: Folklore group Marsala Antica
• Czech Republic: Folklore group Lipina Vracov
• Latvia: Dance Ensemble Bitite
• Egypt: Floklore Group Malawi

The festival is from the 4th of August to 8th of August. The schedule is as follows;

• 4th Aug: Downtown area, District Administration Office: 19:30, parade of the groups; 20:30, performance of the groups
• 5th Aug: Performance at the courtyard of Panayia Chrisaifiliotisa church (where is this?) at Agia Fyla
• 6th Aug: Performance at the "Kostas Partasides Park" at Agios Nicolas
• 7th Aug: Performance at the courtyard ofAgia Varvara churc at Zakaki
• 8th Aug: 19:30; Parade of the groups from the Limasosl Municipal Gardens to the Old Port, 20:30;Performance at the old port and then the closing ceremony.

If you get a chance, do visit the performance on one of the days, it is really good!

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

Severe water shortage in Cyprus

UPDATE (1st June 2008): The Water Board of Limassol has announced that, as of Saturday 31^st May 2008, there will be further restrictions to the water supply during the weekend with a reduction of the duration of supply from 36hrs to 24hrs. Also, some areas have moved from Area A to Area B and Vice versa. See below for the timings/area details.
UPDATE(13th Aug 2008). Looks like the water problem in Cyprus has been solved thanks to the innovative solution of an individual. Check it out here.
-------------
For the first time in the 6.5 years i have been in Cyprus, nothing happened when i turned on the water tap. There was silence, absolute silence! Okay, it happened once before, but it was because i had forgotten to pay the water bill.

But, this time, I was in the clear. Cyprus is facing its worst ever water shortage in the past few decades. It is so bad that the usually indulgent Cypriots have been forced to accept a rationed water supply with the water coming in only 12 hours every 48 hours.

There are many side effects to this move by the Cypriot Government

• I am not allowed to practice the 4th doctrine that i learnt from my wife in spite of the fact that I was forced to put it into practice once upon a time. I am surprised as to how the concept of cleanliness can change with a change in the available resources!
• Many Cypriot teenagers went on a party rally as soon as this scheme was announced. It seems that they no longer have to worry about their moms complaining when they shower with beer instead of water.
• More and more Cypriots are becoming sea-borne i.e. they go for a dip in the sea for their daily bath as they have used the bathtubs in their houses for storing water.
• According to an article by Patroclos in the Sunday Mail (Feb 10th, 2008) , people from Paphos are supposed to be small-minded, complex-ridden, self-serving and semi-civilised. It seems that an average Paphite has the inferiority complex that makes him want to prove that he is smarter than the other Cypriots. I don't know about all these attributes attributed to Paphites, but the people of Paphos are having a ball of time now, laughing their asses off at other Cypriots , because the water cuts are yet to apply to Paphos!
• In Cyprus, as in many European countries, you may be asked for ID-proof if you are entering a bar after 6 pm. Nowadays, anyone purchasing cans of water have to prove that they are over 18 years old. This is to prevent underage Cypriots from wasting water.
• The Cypriot police have invented a new apparatus which is used in surprise checks on the roads. This apparatus attaches to the belly of the person and the person is then asked to jump up and down 3 times. This apparatus measures the amount of the water consumed by the person based on the frequency with which the contents inside the belly oscillate. The new laws state that the allowable limit is 427.5 ML of water per hour. The government passed the ruling that it should be 250 ML per hour late last year, but after the Euro conversion everything, including this, got multiplied by a factor of 1.71.

I hope that the water crisis ends soon so that i can wash my car!

On a more serious note, there is really a problem and the government is trying its best to solve it soon. The details below give the days on which a particular area will receive water.

Area Á: (the first three digits of the “Location Number” appearing at the top right-hand side of your water bill)	Water will be supplied during the following days and times: 7pm Tuesday till 7am Wednesday 7pm Thursday till 7am Friday 7pm Saturday till 7am Sunday
Water will be supplied to the following locations: 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 128, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 317, 318, 319, 928, 930, 931, 932.	These areas are located west of the Garyllis river and include the following locations: Tsiflikoudia, Agios Spyridonas, Zakaki, Agios Antonios, part of the Tjami Tjetit and the refugee settlements Makarios III, Agios Ioannis, Agios Spyridonas, areas of Kato Polemidia, Agios Athanasios (north of the highway) and the communities of Fasoula, Mathikoloni and Cherkes Chiftlik, Agia Napa and part of Katholiki area (south of Navarinou street), Agia Triada area, Neapoli area, Agios Georgios Frangoudi and Sfina area, Apostolou Petrou and Pavlou area, Agios Georgios Havouzas and Tsirio area
Area B: (the first three digits of the “Location Number” appearing at the top right-hand side of your water bill)	Water will be supplied during the following days and times: 7pm Monday till 7am Tuesday 7pm Wednesday till 7am Thursday 7pm Friday till 7am Saturday
Water will be supplied to the following locations: 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 320, 321, 322, 919, 921, 922, 923, 924, 925, 926, 927.	These areas are located east of the Garyllis river and include the following locations: part of the Tjami Tjetit, Agios Georgios, Agia Zoni, Agios Nektarios, Kapsalos, Kontovathkia, Chalkoutsa, Mesa Geitonia, Agios Nikolaos, Ekali, Agia Fyla, Panagia Evaggelistria, Kallithea, Laiki Lefkothea, Panthea, Linopetra, Agios Athanasios (south of the highway), Omonia area, Agios Ioannis and Arnaout area, Monovolikos (south of Pafos street up to the Lemesos industrial area), Apostolos Andreas area

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

Make a difference: Join the Earth hour movement

Earth Hour 2007 was a great success in Sydney. Now, in 2008, a global event is planned.

About Earth Hour: From Earth Hour Website

-------------

On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

---------------

Even in Cyprus, this movement has been initiated by the Green Party, who are calling all Cypriots to take part in the Global Blackout on Saturday night between 8 and 9 pm. Are you in ? I hope that there is no major football match going on at that time. If so, no Cypriot would participate!

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

My Euro portfolio

Cyprus moved to the Euro from January 2008. When i learnt that the euro coins of the different countries were different, my passion for coin collecting was rekindled. I used to collect coins in high school and i still have hundreds of them back in India. After i moved to Cyprus, i moved to collecting currency notes as there were many people travelling in my company.

Few weeks back, i started to collect the various euro coins and mailed to people in the various euro countries (who were returning to Cyprus) to bring back coins for me. I now have 37 coins from the various Euro countries. Given below is my "Euro Portfolio".

Before writing this post, I was readin up stuff on the net (mainly wikipedia) about Euro coin collection. I was surprised to find that my collection would not be complete if i just get the above mentioned ones. There are a LOT more, too many of them! The wiki page on the Euro coins explains in detail the history of Euro coins and I was surprised to find that:

In 2007, a new design was introduced to reflect the enlargement in 2004. The design still retains all elements of the original designs, including the twelve stars, however the map of the fifteen states is replaced by one showing the whole of Europe 'as a continent' without borders. The vertical ridges only appear over the 'sea'.

This means that the entire collection above (except the ones which started in 2008) would have to be duplicated with the older/newer version of the coins. Also, there are dozens of commemorative coins which were issued. It is going to take ages to collect all of them!

Technorati Tags: euro coins cyprus euro europe euro

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

New Year Party in Limassol, Cyprus

As always, we went to the New Year celebrations at the Municipal town hall in downtown Limassol. There was a big crowd, but where were the Cypriots ? Only a handful of them could be seen. Probably they came from families who didn't know how to make black smoke and souvlaki. The rest of the crowd consisted of Asians, Eastern Europeans and even some turkish cypriots. Welcome to Europe!

I have been here more than 6 years and the change is getting more evident by the day. 6 years back, cypriots used to dominate any crowd (apart from the half naked britishers, in the summer). Nowadays, they are starting to become a minority, in the workplaces, in the malls, everywhere. This is the effect of joining Europe, becoming a part of EU. I am sure that the cypriots didn't expect this side-effect when they wanted to join EU. For an average cypriot, rest of the world used to mean Greece and UK. Now things have changed. They are "forced" to interact with other Europeans too, those that they deemed inferior to them. I hope that the Cypriots take to this change in a positive way and welcome the interactions with new people and cultures.

The fireworks at this year's new year celebrations looked a little special, probably because of Cyprus' move to the Euro starting January 1st 2008 and they wanted to spend all the old Cyprus pound currency notes before that! But it was too cold to go out with a camera, so no photographs this time.

Happy New Year!

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

EU Laws for safety equipments in private cars

Yet another disadvantage of Cyprus joining EU! EU laws state that even private vehicles including your car and mine have to have first aid kits, warning triangles, fire extinguishers and fluorescent jackets. Just as is the trend in Cyprus, various departments in the government have totally different interpretations of the law.

According to the Nicosia Police Department, "The law does exist, but that it only affects public use vehicles, such as buses and taxis, which are required to carry first aid kits and fire extinguishers." According to the Cyprus Automobile Association, "private vehicles were also affected, but were only required to carry safety triangles".

It seems that having all four items is an EU law that has been around for several years, and that the police have the right to ask the owner of any parked car permission to search for them. So, to avoid paying the 60 Cyprus pounds fine, never ever park your car in any parking lot, as the law applies to only parked cars. As long as the engine is running, you can always argue that the car was not parked and is in fact moving forward at the rate of few millimetres an hour.

I am sure that Cyprus, as with any other law, would introduce an customisation in the EU law, stating that as an additional safety feature, the driver of the car should know to shout "help" and "stop" in greek, so as to safely come out of situations which require the help of locals.

But, I am not worried as i already have all the required safety features

• We have an old almost empty bottle of amurtanjan in our dashboard, which qualifies as a first aid medicine. If the police questions questions me on this, i shall give him a bit to apply and then explain that it burns so much that you would forget the rest of the pain you have.
• Warning triangle is not a problem, as i have the entire cricket kit in the boot if my car. I have enough bats and stumps to even form a warning hexagon behind the car. In fact, any other local driving past would definitely stop, as they would have never seen any cricket equipment in the past.
• I always keep a bottle of water in my car which according to latest scientific research done by the American Fire-Safety board is the best way to extinguish fires.
• My friends from the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh (in India) had gifted me a t-shirt for my birthday few years back. Even after many washes, it still retains the fluorescent colour, as it was so bright and clourful when i received it. I shall make it a point to always keep this in my car.

So, you also better be prepared with all the safety equipments or be ready to shell out 60 pounds.

Source: Cyprus Mail

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!