D156 -- Fun with Finn & Rita

Despite being sick, Thomas still went to the final day of his SCUBA class today. His cousins, who are already SCUBA certified, went with him so that they could all go on the dive together... leaving me at home alone to sleep in. What a shame! When they got home we set out for another lunch with the neighbors, this time a barbecue with Rita and Finn, an English woman and her Irish husband. They have a lovely cottage. The great thing about the village of Karmini is that all the houses are beautiful in a "harmonious with their surroundings" kind of way and although they have amazing views they're not at all ostentatious.

We'd met Finn briefly at the pub and he was in fine form today. Quite the character and he kept the wine pouring. I think I had four glasses. Yikes! Rita is wonderful – very sweet and sociable. We had lots of fun hanging out with them and they fed us a huge meal. We definitely feel fortunate that we've had so many people in so many countries welcome us into their lives.

After lunch we went “down the mountain” to do some shopping. Most of the items for sale were from Turkey – too bad we aren't going to Istanbul! I really liked the tiles and other crafts, especially the glass evil eye amulets. I picked up a couple of those... couldn't hurt!

When we got home we all decided to take naps so we could stay up all night instead of having to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to head to the airport. Of course, the Mendoza/Sims family is much more accustomed to nappy naps than the Cashion family, so they didn't sleep. When Thomas and I got up around 9 the computer gaming fest continued and I caught up on some blogging and made us fajitas and rice for dinner. Aaahh, Mexican food fix!

We half-way watched a move while packing. Packing went fine except for a 5-minute period when we thought we'd lost our passports. That'll get your adrenaline pumping. Thomas and Caitlin went to bed but Colter and I stayed up all night. This is actually nothing new for me, as I've stayed up until 4 or 5 several times here in TRNC catching up on e-mails and blog entries. Besides working on the computer we watched Crocodile Dundee to pass the time. So bad it's good!

-Elva