55th anniversary of Kuwaiti Independence

The sons of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Cyprus attend AISC.  I teach one of them in my World History class.  All of his teachers, as well as some other AISC staff, were invited to a big party celebrating independence.  The food was outstanding (roast lamb, spiced rice, hummus, falafel- mmmmm), and there were even goodie bags handed out upon departure.

AISC staff Christina, Panthelis, Aristea, Laura (back), Katerina and Anastasia (front

I learned tonight that a (optional) red headscarf signifies that
the wearer has completed his pilgrimage to Mecca

The Kuwati ambassador to Cyprus and Cypriot official
 giving speeches to celebrate independence and to strongly remind
us all that Kuwait is fighting against radical extremism and violence

No alcohol was served, but there were a myriad of juices and sodas available

Of course there were some mullahs at the event, as
well as some Greek Orthodox priests

Happy Independence Day Kuwait!

Valentino Charalambous ceramics

Some friends and I visited the ceramics exhibit of Valentino Charalambous.  He grew up in Cyprus, and spent years studying ceramics in Baghdad.  The work was gorgeous and colorful.

Afternoon in Kyrenia

With a valid passport, you can drive to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  There are a lot of great historical sights.  Some friends and I went there for a day trip on Saturday.  We enjoyed the 13th century Venetian architecture, as well as a tasty lunch and a little bit of souvenir shopping.

guard tower

not bad for 15th century architecture

with two Turkish flags flying above the Venetian castle

under the heat lamp- smart kitty

Wherein I visited Rome to hit the tourist attractions before 2015 ended

Fountain Trevi

the Pantheon

San Luigi de Francesca church, where a great children's choir was performing

the very famous Carravaggio painting in San Luigi- "The Inspiration of St Matthew"

Beautiful marble work in Plaza Navarro, with random child to the left

In the amazing little wine bar, enjoying some amazing Italian wine and cheese

The Vatican (but I didn't go inside, b/c it wasn't worth two hours in line to get pushed by other tourists through St Peters)

The River Tiber by night

famous Piedmontese bridge- Constantine dreamed that God wanted him to win, so had all of his soldiers paint crosses on their shield.  They won, and he and all of his soldiers converted to Christianity, somewhere around 330 CE.  

For New Years Eve 2015, we had a wonderful 4 course Italian dinner, followed by hours of fireworks set off by everyone in the neighborhood.  I could lie on the couch and see the neighbor's handiwork.  

Christmas lights in Vienna

Votivskirche

floating cylinders

Chandeliers of light

the Rathaus

huge heart lights decorating a tree

What are these?  I don't know, but they were sure pretty.  Vienna wins at the Christmas lights in public spaces.

Christmas in Wien

Christkindl Markt at the Rathaus, with so many lights

a visit to my favorite coffeehouse...in the entire world

how classy is Cafe Sperl?  This classy.  

Good Austrian breafast- cafe and schnecken

I even got to visit the Institute for European Studies building, which is a palace.  I studied abroad in a palace!!!

Hundreds of trees waiting for good homes, with the Graben Memorial behind

What would a trip to Vienna be without a visit to the Stephansdom?  

Irdalion site

Some friends and I visited the Irdalion site and museum outside of Nicosia.  Cyprus is overflowing with archeological finds.  At various times in history, Cyprus has been under the control of the: Phoenicians, Venetians, Ottomans, British, French, Turks, Syrians, and the Greeks.  We have artifacts from all of those, many of which are intact buildings, and many of which are still being excavated.

 

Old wine and olive oil vessels pieced together

Many teams of archaeologists are always digging around the sites.  They find thousands of pieces of broken pottery, and bring it back to the museum grounds to assemble.  Each of the boxes in this photo contain many shards of broken pottery, which the archeologists then piece back together.  

So many pieces

We went to hear the lecture about the site.  It was given by one of the women who sits on the Board of Cypriot Museums.  What we didn't know was that the lecture would be in Greek.

Thus, I sat in a corner and admired an old coin collection for about 40 minutes

But someone had set this up on the actual dig site.  It was a nice sight to see as we were leaving the museum.