Cyprus-Forum.com

[lee lee]

just may have a contact for you eric,how can i give you my email??lee

[MACKAM1955]

Cheers lee lee ive sent you a PM, yea your right thats why we left UK we were one of the lucky ones who have not yet been burgled,or mugged and believe it or not never been zapped by a speed trap, dont get me wrong we like Cyprus and the majority of the people are fine but I have been ripped off a few times so im very wary of people, these people are at least non violent which is good because you can go out and enjoy yourself without feeling very uncomfortable as the evening goes on as you do in the UK. I even had to query my solicitors bill for the sale of the house we bought and they blamed secretery and knocked off £400 and gave us 2 free wills , so be wary. Im not even going into when I bought my car off a dealer.

Cheers

Eric

[Strahd]

I cannot understand how you people are coming to a foreign country, without knowing the local language or way of living and expect to live a decent life. The day of old collonial rule are way passed, you are now required to respect the local community if you want to go forward. Otherwise you will always be treated as second class citizens.

Most Cypriots are well educated with at least a masters degree and very active in international business. That's how money and fortunes are made, Cyprus is a very small market to offer opportunists a chance...

[rotate]

I cannot understand how you people are coming to a foreign country, without knowing the local language or way of living and expect to live a decent life. The day of old collonial rule are way passed, you are now required to respect the local community if you want to go forward. Otherwise you will always be treated as second class citizens.

Most Cypriots are well educated with at least a masters degree and very active in international business. That's how money and fortunes are made, Cyprus is a very small market to offer opportunists a chance...

There You Go Eric!
Bet you never thought of yourself as an 'Imperialist Colonial Plumber'. Old habits die hard I know, but you really must forget the lessons that the Megalos Thomas Krapper taught the Plumbers of the world and stop exploiting the natives by your opportunist heating and plumbing activities which 'divide' the population into the washed and unwashed allowing the Imperialist Colonial Plumbers to 'rule'

Good luck with your search for work, hope you find it and more importantly get paid for it

[MACKAM1955]

Cheers rotate will do my best didnt think I gave the impression that I disrespect the Cypriots looks like someone got hot under the collar seems you have to take any shit off people and like it if you come here without being educated at Oxford or Cambridge what planet was he on, he wasnt a solicitor by any chance, I came here yes because the UK has gone down the THOMAS CRAPPER ( youl only get that if your an educated Brit ) I have got no problem adjusting to the way of life and respecting the people and country WHEN you get the same respect back, ever been in a queue in a bank or supermarket I think most people on this forum knows what happens there, IL GIVE RESPECT WHEN i RECIEVE RESPECT and if recieved spelt wrong well obviosly im not that well educated SORRI.

Eric

[MACKAM1955]

just looked at strhads profile he works in IT should of guessed he has a degree.

[andri_cy]

Doesnt matter if someone has a Degree or not. The truth is that it is hard for someone no matter what he does to find a job if he doesnt speak the language. Especially I would think someone like a plumber that doesnt work in an office or an offshore company or something like that. Maybe moving to a country where a different language is spoken, that you dont speak should be planned differently. As far as your solicitor is concerned, mistakes are made by everyone I would suspect even British people and like you said he gave you the bill AND discounted you by 400 AND gave u 2 free wills. Yet you are here complaining about it and then complain you dont get respect. You are not if all most of what you have to say about the people of that country is bad. You might think they do not know that you think these things, but they are not stupid. You get respect when you give respect and of course it is a 2 way street and I am sure a lot of cypriots dont give it very easily. I would suggest you start giving it, and you would be surpised how fast it comes back to you.

[rotate]

Perhaps I've been luckier than most foreigners who live and work in Cyprus, leaving 1974 and a very bad episode with a corrupt policeman/pimp aside I've had a pretty good life here on and off since 1971.

Rip off merchants exist everywhere, my Cypriot in-laws being charged £5 each for a hot dog outside Madame Taussauds in London during the 1980's being a good example and my Cypriot neighbours national serviceman son and two other young soldiers being charged £92 for a fish meze two beers a coke and table water in Zygi last weekend being another. I've fortunately never had that experience here, but then again if I dont see a price list or if the place is over populated with tourists I dont give the business my custom.

Culteral differences exist but these differences are the things that make life a little more interesting than the normal. For sure I've had people step in front of me in queues at banks etc, but generally these have been older people who perhaps dont visit urban Cyprus that much and in any case if getting in front is that important to them let it go.

Theres certainly a love hate relationship with the British for the Cypriots, the Cypriots love the money the British tourists bring in but hate the British being here, the British either through ignorance of what has gone before or perhaps a perceived arrogance generally have little inkling of what the Cypriots really feel about them. However dispite the best efforts of the CTO hoteliers and Cypriot business the British still remain the greatest source of tourist income for Cyprus. Possibly the Cypriots would rather the tourists just sent the money and stayed at home, I feel much the same about all the foreign and home grown tourists who snarl up my home town in the UK whenever I visit.

Living here as opposed to being a visitor is a very different kettle of fish and over the years I known quite a few British ex-pats and returned Cypriots pack up and head off back to the UK, generally the reason for return has been financial as although it is still reasonably inexpensive to live here (yes I know everythings going up in price), expense is relative and no or low employment income and or no investment income can make even the cheapest place on the planet expensive. Finding a reasonably well paid job is not easy and there's plenty of well educated ambitious young Cypriots who have had to take on work that they are over qualified to do while others have had to take on an additional job just to make ends meet. Property purchase is becoming more and more difficult for the Cypriots as the traditional parental gift of a house or a plot of land to a young couple becomes harder to continue because of either cost or loss of family owned property in 74. Rising property prices can be blamed upon foreigners moving in on the Cypriot preserve but then again it takes a Cypriot to sell the land or the property to the foreigner in the first place and the building boom of the late 90's until recently is proof if it is needed that some in Cyprus saw just such an opportunity.

Respect or lack of it is something I've not experienced here in Cyprus or in my working travels around the middle east but I have experienced it in the UK. Being called an 'Old Fart' I wear as a badge of honour, after all I've acheived more than the stupid English boy who said it to me just by having lived longer. Many people who come here remark upon the lack of respect given by Cypriots, while I'm constantly surprised that Cypriot society in general still maintains a reasonable sense of respect given that at least 40% of the population were completely overturned less than forty years ago the matter remaining un-resolved to this day and hanging like the sword of whoever it was over the Cypriots heads!

As I said in the begining I've been fortunate in living and working here, I've enjoyed all the benefits of life in Cyprus while being employed by a major British company paying UK salary rates + overseas allowances etc , but as much as I enjoy my work and being based in Cyprus I have like many Cypriots maintained a home in the UK having being once bitten in 74 and again in the recent past.

Best to chill out a little, take stock of the situation and as others have said consider using Cyprus as a base for working elswhere in the region or even back in the UK, its not ideal but if you like the life and your home here it may be worth your while working away from home from time to time to finance what can be a very good life.

[avyixy]

I gather from reading the previous post that most of you writing them are British.

I can understand the way you feel but imagine being a cypriot born in the UK and facing all this when you come to live in Cyprus.

At the beginning when we came I felt that I didn't belong anywhere. They didn't accept us when we were in the UK because we were "greek bubbles" and they didn't accept us when we came here cause we were "charlies".

This feeling has slowly gone away for me because I have merged into my surroundings. However the disrespect does not only happen to the British or Cypriots coming from abroad. It happens to everyone and depends on on what job you do, what your income is, how big your house is and what car you drive.

I see this everyday. People suck up to you if you are someone well known like Shiakolas (he owns most of the department stores in Cyprus and lots more) and will not give you the time of day if you are some unknown sod trying to live your life as best you can.

This happens everywhere, in banks, in shops, everywhere. Maybe you don't see it cause you may not be able to understand the language but I see it everyday cause I hear what is said. I have been ignored many times only for the bank employee to smile or nod at someone behind me to push in. And as for thank you and please well they don't exist in the greek lanuage!! And if you dare say sorry to someone they take it as an insult for some obsurd reason!!!

I have seen plane loads of students shipped out every summer, after Christmas, and Easter, to attend universities all over the world to get some sort of degree. Parents at home struggling to make ends meet to send them money. Most of them using this money to live four years of reckless, drunken, sexed up nights, and at the end, if they manage to get the degree well that's great, but if they don't then mum and dad can pay for another one or two years till they get it, what the hell do they care!!

Competition and jealousy is ripent here in Cyprus so it does not matter IF your kid is studying, what matters is WHAT he is studying and WHERE he is studying. This rule applies to everything in Cyprus and if you can not accept it then you have a bloody tough time getting through the day. That is until you get home and see your family and then everything falls into perspective.

It's hard though living with this day in and day out.

I can honestly say that in the 19 years I lived in the UK I never experienced anything like this.

[MACKAM1955]

Christ what a can of worms ive opened here, this topic was to be a light hearted and frank discussion of actual facts that have happened to me since arriving in Cyprus, lets get one thing straight I love Cyprus and to be honest most of the Cypriots we have met have been bloody helpful and bloody friendly and will go out of their way to help you but as in all countries there are those who will take advantage of anyone alien to the new surroundings , no I cant speak the language but give me a chance 3months here have a go at me after 3 years by all means. We have made a commitment to Cyprus no going back to UK were not that wealthy enough to have two properties after all im just a humble out of work plumber ( with no degrees ) my parents werent wealthy enough to send me to university I left school 15 and have worked all my life the only degree I have is an A in bloody hard work. So lets see how clever you are pack up everything you have leave friends and family and move to a new country. BLOODY DEGREE MY ARSE.[/b]