today I'm on Expats Blog

Are you an expat? Are you living in a country where you cant speak the language? Are you like me and have been incredibly lazy about learning? 

I wrote before about language learning here and here.  So you will know I do not have a brain the picks up languages easily. You will also know that my methods are kind of weird; yes I am the one standing in the supermarket reading food labels, not for nutrition purposes but for the vocabulary! 

Find more random tips for language learning in my Local Expert Series article over on Expat's Blog. 

the negatives of living on a Mediterranean island

It's not a holiday all the time (I promise).
After months of endless sunshine *I know...cry me a river right* you kinda want a different season.
My duvet is missing for 4 months of the year.
Air con breaks your bank balance.
The pressures of maintaing that beach body are all too real.
Everything shuts in August.
Public transport has a slowly slowly approach.
Bugs are oversized.
Small island syndrome is a reality.

I am in a particularly gloomy mood as I write this and any expat will know that this is the worst type of mood for an expat. Especially an expat who is feeling alone, is bored of the summer, wants her duvet back and a Sex and the City marathon with hot chocolate.

I am kind of hoping that by writing down the negatives whirling round in my head, I will free my brain from these thoughts. A sort of free-therapy-for-oneself-type-of-activity.

There are actually many great things about being an expat in Cyprus. Read my insiders top ten to expat life in Cyprus for some of the good bits!

expat adventures: to the mountains

Today we went to the mountains.

Although I can't tell you where we went, except we were somewhere between Nicosia and the top of Troodos mountains. Mainly because I wasn't paying attention and partly because after driving round windy mountain roads and passing through itsy bitsy villages, I lost track of our exact location. 

But I can tell you it was green. The air was clean and fresh. And the sunshine was beating down. It felt like spring and it felt good.

Just being out of the city released some sort of pressure I had been feeling and I felt free. There is such a sense of uncertainty in Cyprus (understandably) that I was craving a little escape from the everyday. 

Whatever time of year you visit Cyprus, the mountains have something to offer. In the winter they are transformed into a snow lovers paradise and skiing is a real possibility, something I am still struggling to get my head around. In the summer months the mountains offer a break from the stifling heat the rest of the country falls under. In the summer the mountains retain this cool, clean air that is so different from the hot, humidity of the city and even the coast. And in spring, the mountains are at their best; it's warm and cool all at the same time and the air smells fresh and woody. 

If I could, I would live up there.