Cyprus-Forum.com

[Saint Jimmy]

OK.

This is an experiment. It seems weird to me that so many people are regulars here and have so many conversations with so many others, and yet no one so far has started such a thread.

In this thread, forum members can introduce themselves on their own terms (e.g., 'I am a 6-foot burly fireman and have slept with over one thousand women so far' ), and possibly modify (improve?) the perception that others have of them, which is mostly based on subjective deductions from what they write in their posts. 'Nuff said.



My name is Angelos and I'm not an alcoholic. I am a 25 year-old (I am actually 26, but that number just doesn't ring right to me, so I just tackle the 'ringing' issue in the simplest way possible) Greek Cypriot from Kaimakli, Nicosia (Kaimakli has got to be the most under-developed part of Nicosia and suburbs - kinda hate it). My dad is a refugee (from Kato Dikomo, I think TCs call it Dikmen?) and my mother is from another village in the south - Klirou. I have lived only in Nicosia, though, as the family moved there a few months before I was born.

Right now I am in Leeds, UK, wrapping up my Advertising & Marketing Masters year - definitely the best year of my life so far.

I smoke like a chimney - Camels rule all.

I have no idea what I want to do with my life, profession-wise. I know I want to teach at a college or uni, but way more often than not, that takes a PhD, and that's not really a feasible prospect right now. So, it pretty much looks like a great catch-22.

I love sports and games, and due to my freakishly competitive nature, I force myself to excel at everything (except for Cluedo; for some weird reason, that game seems to have been invented only for girls to win. I have recently vowed never to play the game of evil again.). What I really love is basketball, both to play and to watch.

Lastly, I always sleep upside down in my bed (like, 'head-where-feet-should-be'). Not sure why. I suspect, though, that the puzzled look on your face when you read that sentence is the reason. I just love to do that.

OK, so that's about it for me.
Who's next?

[erolz]

My name is Erol Ziya - though since comming to Cyprus I now have another 'new' surname I can barely pronounce. My father 'adopted' a surname when he left Cyprus for the UK in the 50's (the ziya one) but never officaly changed in Cyprus. So basicaly I have a (RNC) 'Identity' card in a name that matches nothing else in my life , not birth certificate, not passport, not bank cards or anything else. At first I found the idea of an 'identity card' that gave me a 'new' identity rather than confirmed my existing one a bizzare notion - but now I think it's just pretty normal Cypriot appraoch to things I am not an alcoholic.

My father (now deceased) was TC from the village of Temblos / Zeytinlik. My mother is english. They met in Cyprus in the 50's when my mother was working for the NAFII (British army catering corps). They left for the UK in 58 and married there. I was born in North London in 66. I only know how old I am by counting back to this date, I never have a current figure in my head. Lived In London then Harpenden in hertfordshire and then London again and finally ending up here in NC (will have been here 3 years in september)

I have one brother (elder by 3 years) who lives in the UK has always worked in the 'family business' and is married (to a french woman) and they have two kids - a girl and a boy.

My partner is a Kiwi (not literaly you understand - that would be weird - she is a New Zealand national) and we have been togeather for what is it now, 12, 15, 18 years? Something like that. We have no kids and no plans for any kids - though since somming to Cyprus we have accumulated 8 cats and 2 dogs that are 'ours' and have a sucsession of others 'passing through' - my partner has become very involved with a local charity here called Kyrenia Animal Resuce.

Didn't really get on with 'school' - mainly due to having mild dyslexia which in those days was treated as 'severe laziness / sloppiness in written work'. Left school at 16. Did a number of jobs mainly to do with computers though also a brief spell running a cafe (the old 'family' business) which I had spent many previous years avoiding getting involved in.

I smoke like 2 chimneys working in tandem - especialy since the cost drop by about 80% when I moved from UK to Cyprus. Mainly B&H these days but had periods of Dunhill, Marlborough and camels.

I don't really know what I want to do with my life in the future but having tried sereral different 'careers' I have a good idea about some of the things I do not want to do with it. I once though that what I wanted to do with my life was earn lot's of money but after persuing that for a number of years with some sucsess I realised that actualy I was mistaken. Most of my income these days is from rent from inhereted property in the UK and most of my 'work' is unpaid 'lobbying' (moaning might be a better description) in the UK around consumer internt issues.

I like computers and always have since getting into them as a child in the days before they were a 'subject' at school but just and after hours 'club'. I think my attraction to them then as now, was unlike the real world, no matter how complex the apparent 'behaviour' there was ultimately always an black and white binary answer. I am not sporty and am not particularly competetive. I tend to read more non fiction than fiction though that is changing since comming to Cyprus as I tend to read anything 'passed around' here rather than buying books by choice as I did in the UK. I have an underlying beleif that the world is one hell of a mess and a perhaps unrealistic hope that the 'digital revolution' may end up helping us to realise what a mess it is and be a driving force for fundamental and positive change far in excess of previous 'revolutions' (industrial etc). I once joked and dreamed of a starting a political party in the UK with the slogan 'Change for change's sake'. I hate the expression 'better the devil you know that the one you don't' - on the basis that you know the devil you know is a devil where as there is at least a chance that the devil you do not know is not in fact a devil at all.

I very occasionaly sleep the wrong way round and can often be found the wrong way round on my bed or a sofa with my head over the edge reading a book.

Thats me - next please

[devil]

Brian Ellis: 73, originally from Edinburgh/Hawick. Left Scotland when conscripted and sent to Cyprus 1952/3. Was back here as civilian in 1956 for 6 months on a job for my then English employers, with telecomms network. Lived from 1963 to 1998 near Lausanne, Switzerland. Came back here to live in a house I had bought a year previously, in a village between the three main cities, at the foot of a Government forest.

Professionally, I am engineer/scientist but am now retired. I worked for several firms in UK and Switzerland until I set up my own company, becoming an international group, in 1975. I liquidated same when I retired. I acted as consultant for the Swiss Government and the UN between 1989 and continued through to 2003. Have written four technical books and hundreds of tech papers presented throughout the world (except Oz and S. America) and received a number of awards for my work, including two for technical journalism!

Married for 46 years, our daughter and two grandchildren live in Switzerland. We have a multipedigree dog who adopted us 2¼ years ago when abandoned as a 6 week puppy by some bastard.

No vices, except for a glass of wine with our evening meal. Various hobbies, including writing for technical journals and editing videos (I also beta-test one of the world's leading professional video softwares for capturing, editing and authoring to DVDs). Also interested in nature (member of Birdlife Cyprus).

I run a Cyprus: the Environment website, a Nature in Cyprus Group and a poorly supported Environment and Energy in Cyprus bulletin board (hint: members here are welcome to join the last two if the subjects interest them)

[ChomskyFan]

My name is Nikos, I live in London, my family is Greek Cypriot from Kyrenia (now in Nicosia). I am 17 years old and go to sixth form, I do the subjects: Maths, Further Maths, Politics, Economics, Physics for AS-Level, and I plan to drop one of them for A-Level. I am especially interested in Physics and read a lot around the subject because I find things like the seaerch for unifying theory between Quantum Mechanics and Relativity (String Theory) very interesting. I also take a special interest in Politics and History, as well as all the Classics.

I plan to go to the London School of Economics to study Politics Economics and International Relations. I plan to go into Politics when I am older.

I generally go back to Cyprus 3 or 4 times a year and enjoy just lazing around mainly while I am there, unless one of my Greek friends from School is also in Cyprus at that time.

I am a friendly person but I enjoy a good debate.

[magikthrill]

hey guys. excellent thread. ill post my info soon but i have an advice to give and that being maybe it is best if we keep our surnames off the forum seeing as they can be acessed by virtually anyone. just a thought.

[devil]

What have you got to hide?

[magikthrill]

What have you got to hide?

my real identity

[cannedmoose]

Well Thrill, I know that you're a big fan of Scary Movie, hated Head Over Heels, loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding and attended the pilot of My Big Fat Greek Life...

[sophisticatedbeggar]

Hello, I'm fairly new here so possibly most of you've never seen my "face" before but what the heck, sounds like a good idea...!

My name is Aggeliki Proimadi, 27 years old, got a twin sister (we're not identical twins), born and bred in Athens, Greece (by far the worst city in Europe imvho). Grandparents from my father's side from Psomathia - sometimes I wonder how my life would be like if my grandfather wasn't forced to leave Turkey... oh well, nevermind...

Occupation; Ultimate dream to open a record store in Britain or Ireland -second best (don't laugh!) but for the time being I have to settle with office work.. So, I work for a medical/travel assistance company; for those of you that buy travel insurance when travelling abroad, I'm the person who "helps in case of emergency" (knock on wood)...!

Contrary to Saint Jimmy I'm an avid non smoker. Also, unless I have to (say when I'm out with friends and such) I don't eat meat (or fish) at all. I think it's called "occasional vegetarianism" in english?

One thing I love is collecting vinyl records. Truth is I like many things from almost all genres (from rock to psychedelia to freakbeat to jazz to progressive to soul to funk to folk to blues to electronica to experimental... probably the only two genres you won't find in my collection are classical and heavy metal recordings). I've been collecting since the age of 12 so now I got about 3000 vinyl records (and about 200 cds) scattered around in the apartment...!

Other things I like; football (A LOT!), reading (not as much), movies (the boring, long European flicks are my kind of thing ;O)), riding bikes, walking (taking the piss out of frustated drivers in Athens is my specialty)... ;O)

[sophisticatedbeggar]

Oh and another thing I forgot to add; regarding my "name" (sophisticatedbeggar)... just in case someone is wondering; that was the title of the first Roy Harper record back in 1966 (Roy Harper is a classic figure in the UK folk circuit)...!