Where are we?

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We are in Nicosia, Cyprus, associated with an information and communication resourcing company. Orville works in Cultural Research gathering information for profiling ethnolinguistic groups Northern Africa and the Middle East. We work in a small company with about 6 other media specialists. We do training ans assistance in producing slide shows, presentations,brochures and websites.

Home and Hearth

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Well, we don’t actually have a hearth! But we do have a working fireplace (which we do not expect to use because wood is so expensive) in our rented duplex (called “semidetached).” In March we made good progress unpacking boxes of books and files, and getting bookshelves set up and our front room cleared out.

We sure do have a lot of books! Even after we gave away and sold several hundred when moving from Nairobi. We think we have found all of Edith’s cookbooks and sewing or craft books. Edith put up some curtains in March. The house is looking better.

See photos of our Nicosia house and community on our Webshots Albums. Inside views here.

Getting settled here has taken a lot of time and great emotional energy. The official paper work, looking for housing in the 45 degree Celsius (115 degree F) heat last summer, delayed shipment from Nairobi until October all made for a depressing and challenging transition. But we are into our work and living here.

Retreat

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We spent the first week of 1999 in Pafos (Paphos) on the west coast in a spiritual retreat with about 550 people working in countries of this region. This was a restful and worthwhile time, to get to know other people working in companies in this area. Orville contributed to some of the music and workshop sessions.

Research and Training – Orville

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In February I attended a consultation on North Africa, meeting in Malta. See several sets of my photos from Malta, along with others from Cyprus and on other topics. I met other research and media specialists.

I have been conducting ongoing research to clarify the ethnic database for this part of the world. I serve as a consultant for ethnic research and cross-cultural communication, and participate as a resource person for training sessions in these technical areas. Some of these sessions take me to the UK, where we have friends.

Creative Expression – Edith

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I have gotten my sewing room set up and begun some practical work. I have joined a quilting club and have made a lap quilt. [beautiful! And warm on cool evenings! -- OBJ] I put up some curtains in the house last week. More curtains are needed as we get more of the house in order. We have pull-down shutters on the windows, so privacy is not a problem in the interim period.

See our photo album of Edith’s quilting projects.

I found a good guest bed, which is in the sewing room. We got that in time to host an old friend who was here to help lead a conference on communicating with oral cultures. His coming gave us the incentive to empty boxes and get more things in order, converting the sewing room from a storage room into a good guest and craft area. In addition we now have some library shelves set up in a small room off the living room.

I am participating in a community Bible study one morning each week. In addition I am taking a class in Greek one evening a week. It is a terrible course, but I am learning some Greek.

Orality Workshop

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We attended an orality workshop the second week in March. This was a study of oral cultures and oral methods of communication. This was similar to components of cultural orientation programs Orville used to teach in Africa. There were some of the top authorities in the world present as resource people.

One of the presenters was an old friend of ours, Dr. Nathan Corbitt from Eastern College, Philadelphia. He and Orville worked together in Africa on many projects in cultural communication, media and music. While Nathan was here we designed web pages for Nathan’s consulting work and research web site.

Visit Dr. Corbitt’s Buildabridge Cultural Site.

Computing Central

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The hard drive on my new office computer went out before Christmas, just as I was getting it close to set up. I had an earlier partial setup backed up, so I used that to start up the new drive. There are a lot of technical matters to setting up for our needs. Meanwhile Edith’s computer at the house poofed while I was in London. I have now fixed the problem and have one remaining malfunction to solve.