Personal experience: how to live, work and study in Cyprus?

Background

A family from Yekaterinburg (mother Tatiana, father Alexei, son Roman and daughter Maria) in 2017, a few months lived on the island. island. Dad worked, mother was engaged in household and upbringing of children, son went to school.

Tatiana shared her memories with the readers of the Personal Guide.

How did you end up in Cyprus?

We arrived in Limassol in mid-August and lived there until mid-November, Alexey left Russia earlier, in June. My husband is a programmer and his employer offered him a job, so we moved in. Remote working conditions were not provided.

Our family rented the first floor of a private house. I immediately had to buy a car, because in Cyprus you can not live without a car - it is very hot there and you can not even walk to the store. We rented accommodation in half an hour walk to the sea, but in the heat of + 40 C to get to it with two children is unrealistic.

Features of Russian Cypriots. How does their life work?

If we are talking about people who, like us, moved to Cyprus from Russia and lived there for a long time, then, of course, we communicated with such people. We arrived in mid-August, and Romochka had already gone to the fourth grade, and it was necessary that he did not forget the school curriculum.

We didn’t know how long we’d be there, for six months or a year, and we didn’t want the kid to miss school. There was no distance education in Russian schools at the time, so we went to school in Yekaterinburg and joined a school in Cyprus.

Adaptation

I talked to mothers of classmates of the child, they helped me to settle down. On the island, communication is common through Facebook - you can register in special groups, write that you are new - you immediately make friends. And whenever I had questions, even at night, I could chat and the girls would give advice.

There were many difficulties in adapting. Starting with the fact that the school planned physical education in the mountains, and you could only go there with a hat, and it urgently needed to buy. For example, in Cyprus, there are no notebooks in a cell, but in a line, and mathematics is taught in them. But since my child went to a Russian school, and his mathematics was conducted in Russian, it required notebooks in a checker, and to find them in Cyprus - some quest.

If I needed, for example, soda, my children's slippers broke, then these problems had to be solved on the fly.

Of course, over time, I figured it out. For example, you need to buy vegetables on the weekend in the market - there began some crazy discounts. For euros you could buy a kilogram of vegetables or fruits, except for some delicacies, for example, beets. Everything else was inexpensive because, firstly, we were partly in the tourist season, and secondly, we made purchases in the market. In the store, the same products can cost many times more expensive - a kilogram of tomatoes will cost five euros and more.

There are many unemployed women in Cyprus. I judge by the programmers - in the morning all men go to work, and come back late at night. In Cyprus, the practice of hired housekeepers is common (services cost about 10 euros a week), that is, if my husband is a programmer, then I can not get away with cleaning the apartment. Cleaning is necessary constantly, as it is very dusty (dust storms), windows and doors cannot be closed, as it is unbearably hot. I didn't hire a cleaner.

Separately, we need to talk about repairing something. One day our washing machine broke down, and we had a long bargain with the master to come and see the breakdown. On the appointed day he did not appear, but arrived much later, a few days later. He said he couldn’t repair anything and took the car with him. After that, he did not return her for several days, and said that one day he would return her, take your time.

Eating habits in Cyprus are different from Russia. For example, on Fridays, a pizza sale begins, and the husband’s employer ordered a huge pizza for everyone to eat. On weekends we went to the market to buy fruits and vegetables – their choice in Cyprus is huge: several types of eggplant, squash, plums, etc. They have a strange pricing policy – that is, the cost of fruits can change within one hour. You can never guess and you cannot know in advance what and where it will cost.

What do Russian women do in Cyprus?

As soon as social issues have been resolved, and the children have been taken to kindergarten, Russian women begin to be bored there. They go to different meetings - meet in cafes, drink coffee and have conversations.

What do mothers who have long lived in Cyprus do? The first month is an adaptation: you need to rent a house, buy a car, arrange children in schools and kindergartens (there are entrance fees, this is very expensive). Then the children should be dressed in kindergarten schools.

People who are just coming to Cyprus start to see the sights, because there are a lot of interesting things on the island. Every weekend we drew a map and decided where to go. We saw interesting churches, villages, castles. We could devote weekends to travel – in the morning we went to the market, and then went on a trip.

Car in Cyprus

A car is necessary, because with children in the heat is not long to pass. When people come to Cyprus, they have no special income and have to buy a used car. We had a 10-year-old Mazda. Since the car is not new, it always had to be repaired.

Unfortunately, the Cypriots are not very well versed in car repair, and they simply did not have high-quality car services. At the gas station, the owner often goes out on his own, personally refuels the car and pours oil. That's the service. My car was washed by hand at the wash because there were some problems with the automatic wash.

It is interesting that at local gas stations you can buy water – come with your container, which will be filled with water for one euro. In the shops, water prices are very high. The low price is explained by the fact that when buying water in the store, a person purchases plastic, which in Cyprus is disposed of with great difficulties, and it becomes more and more every day, so everyone tries to buy water at gas stations.

Cyprus is left-handed and we have right-handed and it took me a while to adjust. At first I was afraid to drive around the city, and then I got used to it.

In Cyprus, people are respectful of motorists and have a good attitude towards women behind the wheel - Cypriots are friendly. And even if you go on a meeting, the Cypriots will smile at you, calmly help you to leave. If you are stuck somewhere across the road – everyone will help – no one will call you, scream or offend you – even help to park.

At the same time, the Cypriots themselves drive in the same way, for example, if they meet their acquaintance on the road, they can leave the car and go to communicate with him. They don't care that you're standing behind and you want to pass.

Large traffic jams in the city are formed at 17-18 hours when men return home from work. If you go to the sea at 17.00, you can find a free space in the parking lot, and already at 18.00 you will have to drive for a long time and look for free space.

Medicine.

After the mother has decided social issues, you need to take the children to the pediatrician, because without his certificate, your children will not be allowed to attend classes.

The first thing doctors are interested in is the tuberculosis vaccine. For some reason, pediatricians in Cyprus believe that Russians are carriers of tuberculosis. When I gave the doctor certificates that my children do not have tuberculosis, certificates about mantoux samples, the doctor said that she could not read the documents in Russian, and she needed to examine the children herself. I had to pay 50 euros for each child just to listen to them, which was enough to determine that my children did not have TB.

Any visit to a doctor in Cyprus costs a lot of money.

One day my husband broke his leg in the evening, and after 12 p.m. almost everything closes and the hospitals don't work. We had to go to a round-the-clock hospital - there my husband took a picture and put a tire - for these manipulations we were charged about 500 euros.

Differences between Russia and Cyprus: mentality, way of life, traditions

There are many families in Cyprus where there are only women - men often go to work in Greece, and leave their other half with children. Russians who come to the island live in families: dads work, and mothers sit with children.

Cypriots have fewer children than Russian families. Village Cypriots give birth to many children - when you come to the market, you can see that the whole family is standing and selling fruit.

And Cypriots in Limassol are not particularly eager to have offspring. Frequently, when Masha and I were walking down the street, cars could stop, of which the girls shouted enthusiastically: "Oh! Baby, baby!"

In Cyprus, everyone pampered Masha, showed her signs of attention, smiled. Cypriots love toddlers, but it can be seen that they themselves or not have children or one child. Russian Cypriots usually have two heirs.

We managed to catch the end of the season. At the end of October-November it became cold, the rainy season began. It rained all day, and the streets were very dirty, it became rainy, wet and cold. We continued to go to the beaches and see the sights - walk. All locals have their own calendars, in which they note: where, where to go and what to see. For example, they noted that in September they go to the salt lakes to look at flamingos, when the heat goes to the mountains to their favorite pine trees. They all have favorite habits that have developed over the years.

I have never been to the mountains... it is easy to get there – only a few hours by car, and it is cooler than on the coast, comfortable in the heat. The fact is that for a trip to the mountains, the car must be specially equipped - you need chains on wheels, then they do not slide. We had a simple low Mazda, not adapted for such trips.

Russians living in Cyprus often travel to the mountains to remember Russia. There is a forest that is similar to ours.

Features of the life of Russian Cypriots

We lived in Limassol – it is a city of IT specialists, and there is very little resort environment. There are several stalls with the paraphernalia of vacationers on the coast, but mostly the city residents work in restaurants - feed programmers, are busy in pharmacies, schools, kindergartens: there is the same ordinary life as in Russia.

As soon as people decide that they are staying in Cyprus for a long time, they start planning their family budget differently, they don’t care about events, they don’t dress, they stop being interested in what is happening in Russia.

How does their life work? About 800 euros per month will go to rent, 400 euros for taxes, 400 euros per month for each child in school. Approximately 800 euros will be spent on food. Clothing in Cyprus is very expensive.

They arrange children in paid schools (by the way, paid schools cost about 400 euros per month, Russian kindergartens in Cyprus are difficult to find and they are expensive, and Greek kindergartens are free, but work until 12 p.m.). The average salary of a programmer in Cyprus is about 4,000 euros, and it turns out that a significant part of the family budget will be spent only on the education of children.

A monthly salary of 4,000 euros in Cyprus is just the beginning. It is better to earn 4000 euros in Russia and live in Russia. Therefore, when people make incomes of 12,000 euros or more, they try to withdraw this money to Russia or other countries and buy real estate there. Because in Cyprus, even with a salary of 12,000 euros, it is unlikely to be possible to buy a house - it is very expensive.

Cypriots are not very eager to have children, the family often does not have children or one child. And when I met the Cypriots on the street with my two children, I was looked at as a little bit crazy to have two children was irrational, very reckless in their opinion.

School

There are three types of schools in Cyprus:

English (training is expensive (1000 – 1500 euros for classes and additional expenses), it is difficult to get, classes in the English program). Children study for 12 years and come out prepared to study at universities in England.
Greek (training is free, teaching in Greek, after graduation, a state certificate is issued).
schools for people who move from Russia and other countries (teaching in English, Russian, Greek). Graduates receive a certificate that can be confirmed in Russia. There are many Cypriots in the classes, as a good knowledge of English and Russian for a young person in the future means a successful career in tourism.

Roma attended the international school L.I.T.C. Russian-English Private School in Limassol. Most of the time our child studied in Russian, but in a week he had four lessons of Greek and four lessons of English. Some of the subjects were taught in English.

For example, our school required a special uniform, which was sold only in one store in the city. It usually looked like a shirt and shorts. It was only possible to attend classes in her and nothing else. Then it became clear that such harsh conditions are explained by the climatic features of Cyprus - there in August the air temperature is about + 40 C, and if I dressed the child as I wanted, it would be difficult.

Physical education lessons in Cyprus are different than in Russia. Every two weeks, children are taken to the mountains on special buses because it is cooler.

There are no hot meals in schools in Cyprus like in Russia. If a child goes to school in the morning, he needs a lunch box with him, where you need to put something that does not spoil, does not leak, is not sweet or too fat. It's a big quest for all moms. Many parents often put fruit, waffles, candy, and the child ate it all day.

I was worried that before 15:00 my son was hungry at school, so I did something like our shawarma, but without the spicy spices. In lavash you can put roasted meat, fries, cottage cheese with a banana. Give your child a bottle of water because you can’t get water at school.

In the morning, the children study, and at 12.00 go outside, sit down at tables, each takes out his lunch box - they begin lunch.

The education in Cyprus is very good. There are nuances. I live in the Academic district of Yekaterinburg, and in my house there are four sports sections, in the next house – four more sections, etc. in walking distance there is a music school, art, etc. That is, in the Academic district, parents have the opportunity to develop almost any skill in the child.

In Limassol, there was one robotics club on the other side of the city, and in order to get there, you had to go out at two in the afternoon and come back at six in order for the child to study for an hour. There are practically no clubs in Cyprus, there are teachers to whom you can take children. You can take your child to French, etc.

Finding additional classes for children is difficult, but excellent lessons are held at school. For example, if a child attends an English lesson, you can be sure that English is wonderful there and you do not have to take the child separately to the teacher.

Even the Russian language my child studied in Russia and learned on the island is very different. He went to Russian lessons two days a week for an hour, but he was taught to write an essay and an essay. When we returned to Russia, the results were better than those of children who speak Russian five times a week.

Photo: Family archive
Recorded by Pauline M.

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