Cyprus

Yesterday I had some errands to run, I needed to get out to Costco and we had an accident with the French Press and we cannot go without our coffee, so a trip to the Kitchen store at the outlet mall was also in order. Asa was in the office, yet again, so I suggested we go to Panera for lunch which would be on the way for both of us, and I could pick up my free birthday pastry which was about to expire. 

I'm telling you all of this, because that meant we had to postpone Cyprus, which was meant to be a lunch. We can double up on meals during Asa's weekend, but I have a strict one lesson a day rule, so the boys don't get confused. I decided to go ahead with Cyprus and we'll just add in the meal later. Because I'm also OCD about things like keeping the blogs in order with the number on the board, I'm going to do my Cyprus blog now so it is in the 'September' blogs, where it belongs, and in the correct order, and I'll just add in the meal as an addendum later. 

Cyprus is only 3,572 square miles. It's a tiny little country in the Mediterranean about 50 miles off the coast of Turkey. 

Cyprus has been a country since 1960. But, after the Turkish invasion of 1974, this country ended up becoming like two estranged siblings. 

Basically what you should know about Cyprus is that it is a '2-fer' country. You get two countries here for the price of one. The north is like stepping back in 1975 in Turkey, while the south half embraces it's Greek heritage, and is more of what you'd expect from a classic island retreat in the Mediterranean. 

The official langues is both Turkish and Greek. 

Religion is both noted as Sunni Islam and Greek Orthodox. 

And then there's the 3% of the island that is officially part of the United Kingdom, thanks to two sovereign army bases. 

But, no matter what area you're looking at, there's 402 miles of coastline to enjoy. Part of that coastline includes our landmark, Cape Greco. It's a headland, which is characterized by high breaking waves, rocky shores, and steep sea cliffs. It's also full of holes, like much of the coastline that is made out of limestone. 

But there's more to Cyprus than it's gorgeous beaches and limestone cliffs. Cyprus is actually a great spot for winter sports. You can even ski on the highest peak in the country, on Mount Olympus (The Aphrodite run is a great spot to ski for beginners). 

Way back during Greek week, the boys learned all about Mount Olympus and Aphrodite. So, when they came up here, their ears perked up. I've noticed lately that when we repeat things we've seen before, they get a little more interested. 

In fact, Calib told me the other day it was cool in his Philosophy class he was learning about all kinds of things I had already taught him. 

And I've noticed, through this whole project, they seem to care a lot more about  what's going on in the world. They were the first to tell me that Saudi Arabia was going to allow women to drive, and were very concerned when Barbuda was getting hit by Irma. I feel like if you have any frame of reference on this stuff, it really does help you pay attention to the world around you, and that's never a bad thing. 

*Gets off soapbox** 

Anyway, Cyprus is home to Mount Olympus, but also to Aphrodite's rock, the exact spot where legend says Aphrodite was born.  

Cyprus emerged from the sea 30 million years ago, and it will forever be linked to the goddess of love. The island was a gift from Roman Emperor Mark Antony (not to be confused with previously married to JLo singer Mark Anthony), to his Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. 

Of course no lesson is complete without some weird animal mention. 

On Cyprus we have the mouflon, a type of sheep with distinct horns. The very shy mouflon is thought to be the ancestor of all modern sheep. They're so popular in Cyprus, they are even the symbol of the national rugby team. 

Cyprus is also believed to be the first place people had pet cats. In 2004, an archaeologist discovered a cat that had been buried with a person 9,500 years ago. Although, the cat was buried alive, so there's that. 

The boys made their postcards, and we already voted on them. 

Calib's featured a house with a terra cotta roof, someone frying halloumi cheese, and Aphrodite. 

Peyton included the cat who was buried alive. 

And Hayden, of course, featured the mouflon in his. 

Like I said, we haven't had our Cyprus meal yet. I am hoping to find Halloumi Cheese. It's a mixture of sheeps and goat cheese, and they grill it and love it in Cyprus. But, that might be tricky. The EU recognizes Halloumi as a traditional Cypriot product, which basically means it's only really Halloumi if it is made in Cyprus. I'll probably have to come up with something similar. But, we are planning on having grilled cheese. I'll update as soon as we get it in. 

--UPDATE---

Ok, so we finally got to our Cyprus meal. We decided to go with a lunch as opposed to a dinner. Since we had already had our Cyprus lesson, that left the rest of the day open for another country (I'm REALLY trying to get them in during October). 

Our efforts to find Halloumi cheese was unsuccessful (although I did find it on the menu at a Disney restaurant). We decided to go with Queso Blanco, because from what we researched it would fry up similarly to Halloumi.  We used this recipe for Halloumi cheese fingers, obviously substituting for Queso Blanco. You can tell the pictures look fairly similar. (Asa was a little nervous about this one, but it was SUPER easy, he had no trouble at all). 

 Since Cyprus is half Turkish, half Greek the rest of our spread was split as well. We found product of Greece Olive Tapenade at Trader Joes, and got some little bread slices to go along with it. Then we picked up some items from the Sprouts olive bar, included roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, cornichons, and blue cheese stuffed olives. 

We also picked up some dried Turkish Apricots at Sprouts this week (on sale for $2.99 a pound!) and 'Product of Turkey' Melon Juice at Trader Joes. 

We threw in some grapes and Mediterranean hummus for good measure (along with pita and carrots for dipping). 

It earned four spoons up. 

It was a really awesome lunch spread for most of us, and we mixed and matched. The fried cheese was yummy, but we really liked it with the roasted garlic on top. The melon juice wasn't sweet enough for the boys, but Asa and I really enjoyed it. (I even had some for dinner that night). 

Peyton wasn't thrilled with it. He doesn't like Mediterranean food as much as the rest of us do. Plus, lunch meals are hard to get him on board. He doesn't seem to want to eat anything until 3 pm, so take his opinion with a grain of salt.  

Cyprus got a purple line out in the Mediterranean, off the coast of the green colored Turkey, and near light blue Syria. 

That's 124, down 72 to go! 

Next Up: Namibia