What was going on in the past few days

Unfortunately, we couldn't come up with a more suitable headline, but we hope the post won't be too chaotic.

Right near our accommodation in Kiti, we discovered a beautiful playground for the children with an attached park for us to ride scooters. Kiti is a village in the Larnaka District, about twelve kilometers southeast of Larnaka city. The playground is located right next to the Panagia Angeloktisti, a Byzantine church from the 11th century, which was built on the remains of an early Christian basilica from the 5th century. Inside, there is a mosaic of the Holy Virgin with the Christ Child from the 6th century. French crusaders made further changes to the church at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries.

The playground is great and luckily shaded at least in the mornings. While the little ones are figuring out which of the six tube slides they want to slide down next on the huge climbing frame, parents can relax on a bench or - totally crazy - get physically active themselves. Besides the slide, swing, and seesaw, there are also six fitness devices for adults to train with their own body weight.

In terms of shopping, we're gradually exploring more options. In addition to Sklavenitis, LIDL, and Alphamega, we have now also discovered the Fruiteria and Smart, a discount store. At LIDL, someone actually approached us in German - surprise - and advised us that the fruits and vegetables at the Fruiteria were much better and cheaper. So we quickly put back half of our shopping and drove to the Fruiteria. You can find a picture of our shopping with prices in the gallery. The local bananas are particularly amazing. Small, but incredibly aromatic!

Yesterday, our boys had their first day at kindergarten and the start was a bit bumpy. Due to the pandemic, we had to drop off the children at the door, which they were not thrilled about and protested loudly and teary-eyed. The director seemed confident and promised to send us a message and photos in a few minutes. Timo was also on the verge of tears and wanted to take the two of them back immediately, but I managed to convince him to give them some time. And half an hour later, we received a message informing us that everything was fine after 10 minutes and photos showed that they had already taken over the outdoor area. The kindergarten is English-speaking, but Greek is also taught. In any case, there is already a certain focus on learning in Cyprus from a very young age, of course age-appropriate. For example, yesterday the children learned the letter 'A' by coloring and sticking a picture of an arrow. But fun and play are still at the top, and the kindergarten regularly offers afternoon programs such as soccer and tennis training and children's dancing.

When we picked them up, the staff said that the two of them did great and they wished all children could handle their first day like that.

This morning, there were no tears when saying goodbye :)))

Our company formation is also progressing. The name 'Bark Ltd' was already taken, so we chose 'TD Bark Ltd' instead. I have no idea what the letters T and D stand for, they must have been available ;-) Our lawyer with the charming name Charalambos is already preparing the necessary documents, but things will only move forward once we have found a permanent home for ourselves, as we need a rental agreement to prove our residency in Cyprus.

This leads us to the next point: house viewings. More on that tomorrow ;-)