7/9 - Crossing the Border

Had a small nightmare last night/this morning. It was the morning of our first AAF Tailgate (apparently now referred to as "Aztec Village") and I arrived at Qualcomm (Stadium that is) to find that I had actually failed to do any of the planning for the upcoming season. So 5 days in another country and a 10 hour time difference is not enough to cure workplace anxiety... we'll see what a few more weeks can do.

As a result, I did a tiny bit of work today before we set out to cross the UN buffer zone in to what is known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus- a republic not currently recognized by the European Union or much of the world for that matter. Although we walked right through and showed our passports with little trouble beyond the blazing heat, it was an intense experience unlike any I've had before.

Our new friend and host at EMU, Houman (a graduate student and senior assistant in the International Student Center) picked us up in a small bus and took us to our home for the next 3 weeks, Eastern Mediterranean University in the town of Famagusta (eastern coast of the island).

After settling in to our dorm- a small house-like building with 9 or 10 units, we set out to the EMU Faculty and Staff Beach Club of which we are VIP members. It is just as amazing as the program advertisement showed. A bright blue pool area with lounge chairs all around, snack bar, showers, and most importantly private beach access with thatched umbrellas all around. Definitely a nice way to relax after class!

The EMU Beach Club

On the way home we had our first experience at the Kurok Market where we stocked up on drinking water and snacks for our mini-fridge. Cereal, milk, yogurt, meat, cheese, crackers, bread and of course beverages were on most everyone's lists.

At night we met our equivalent to the dorm's RA, Phyllis (I'm pretty sure that's nothing close to her actual Turkish name, but she seems to accept it and is very excited to host and entertain no matter what we call her). She took us to a great trendy restaurant called Cappuccino and although the entire street had a power outage as we arrived, we had a wonderful traditional Turkish meal of chicken, pilaf, and potatoes (french fries) plus a 23rd birthday cake for one of the girls in our group named Sheiba.