Well I was wrong that December might be thin on photos. It has been a social month with some colder weather, either thunderstorms or sunshine, and it is also orange harvest time.  I always thought orange harvest was summer, but apparently it's winter.  It was also my birthday, which led to a long week of socialising but I am not complaining.  I am very lucky to have made some good friends since I arrived almost 2 years ago now.  If you follow the blog you will see them again and again.

The month started off with me covering some children English classes.  I was a bit nervous, kids are harder to teach than adults and you need to prepare more, but it all went swimmingly.  We had some time for photos in the break.  Very sweet children.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt©

Next up are my regular students and friends, both looked well dressed that day.  View of the mountain behind the school too.

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Next up is a disappearing rainbow.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© And then some oranges and such

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© And a self portrait (I refuse to call it a selfie)

Photos by Sin Bozkurt©

And some interesting skies

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt©

This brings me up to my birthday weekend (it was on a Sunday).  So on the Friday I made an effort to go to an exhibition of Minimal Art by Kaleigh Vosloo at the excellent Studio Oniki venue.  Thanks to Cihan for coming along. The artist hails from South Africa but has been in Cyprus for several years.  It was interesting stuff and I got to meet the artist and take her photo with a couple of the guys from the venue.  Lovely people.  I also bought a print which is proudly on display in my flat, and it is the first picture up on the wall.  I plan to add many more as the place sometimes feels like it is someone else’s. Time to personalise.  I actually went there again on my birthday after hanging out with Elias and Naci, who took me to the harbour for a walk, drinks and then a meal.  They like a bit of art and wanted to have a look.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Harbour walk.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Amy Winehouse statue on the bar at the art venue.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© My gift from Naci and Elias.

A couple more sky pictures

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Then my students decided to pay me a visit the day after my birthday and we hung out at the hotel up the road that had decent Christmas and New Year lights.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Then I covered an event, a worshop making decoration for the festive season.  It is my cousin Zarif who put on the event and it was really well done, cosy and friendly, yet instructive and fun.  They used silicone guns to stick items on their decorations.  Her instagram is @eleganceventss

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Some more skies

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Those are the mountains in Turkey above.

I went to a friend’s office party and got tipsy and met some nice people. My friend Olga runs the business which does translation services, its called Lingua Girne (its the friend that did a talk a few months ago at Studio Oniki)

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© That brings us to New Years Day.  From 1pm till 5pm I went over to a new friend’s place for home made barbecue and Zivana, the local drink which I have come to love, then a turkey dinner at Sidika to see in the new year.

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Above is a traditional Cyprus New Year cake with a hidden coin baked in it. whoever gets the coin has good luck for the year, this year it was me.

Second of Jan saw my students returned from Turkey mainland and we got drunk on Zivana again at the downstairs bar. 

Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt© Photos by Sin Bozkurt©

A few more photos in the full album if you are interested.  Happy New Year