I am going to using this blog in the truest form, just like a diary. I will think out loud and hope that my thoughts are appreciated and I can get some advice or feedback.
Since this is my first post on this blog I feel as though I must include some background about myself and how I got here. I was born in Jordan, moved to the USA in 1973 at the age of 10 with my family and never left the US except for a month on an operation with the US marines in 1982. After my dad passed away in 1999 my mom moved back to Jordan and in 2002 my wife (girlfriend then) and I went to Jordan to visit her and it was my first time in 29 years. We also spent time in Cyprus where my wife’s mom has lived since 1989. My wife who was born in Kansas City, Missouri also lived in Cyprus for 9 years. I was very attracted to the easy way of life (opposite of the New York minute) but never dreamed of actually moving out of the US. I must admit though that I felt that I was missing out on a part of life that we don’t experience much in the US especially for me at the time. I owned and operated a restaurant and as many will tell you that it’s a full time job plus some.
My father-in-law and I became friends and when they came to visit us on two occasions over the next two years we talked about the opportunities that were available in Cyprus. Cyprus had just joined the EU in ‘04 and he is a successful lawyer, it didn’t take much convincing to finally decide to make the move. Our friends did not believe it at first but when I sold the restaurant everyone knew it was happening.
Since being here I have experienced the easy going lifestyle. However, I must admit that sometimes I do miss the fast pace and the crowds. I do miss a good taco, burrito, corn tortillas and salsas ( I did own a Mexican restaurant). I also miss the shopping malls and the NFL, NBA, and baseball, I can’t find a plastic baseball bat for my son so we are having one shipped from the US. We order things often actually since there are items we just can’t get here that have become necessities (Tums, Cream of Wheat, Desitin, Seasoning, etc.).
Career wise things are not what I expected, the language barrier and flaws in the the system makes it harder for a new business man to be able to find the resources needed to research a particular field and to accomplish the simplest of tasks. One example is when I submitted the paperwork to form a marketing company in October 2006, my lawyer and father-in-law said the process takes two weeks, 4 months later after numerous attempts to find out what the hold up was I received a call. The government offices in Nicosia said that they apologized for the delay and they had lost the paper work which they eventually found and will now respond to me quickly, Two days later I was informed that they rejected the seven names I submitted and I must submit a new name to be considered. We took a previously selected name, not one of our top choices and finally the company was formed on April 25, 2007, a six month delay.
My wife Charina, son Phoenix and I have had a lot of quality time together, we have made some very good friends and see a lot of both of our families and since arriving here have added another member to our family, Julian. I currently own and operate Cyprus Marketing Solutions in Paphos, Cyprus. Our primary source of work comes from marketing properties for sale in Cyprus using http://www.cyprus101.com/ and http://www.propertyofcyprus.com/ among many other forms of advertising, although we are doing well registering homes to sell and have managed to sell a few properties I am afraid that it will only get harder to sell as the market is very flat. With so many vacant homes and new builds available there does not look to be any relief in sight for those in need to sell.
I will continue to post updates on this blog about the course life will take us, I will report on all fronts from personal experiences such as the difficulty of having two babies under 2 “2 under 2” a term I use a lot now, and please share your experience because I know a lot of you parents or grandparents have been through the same experience. I will also share work related topics such as the slow trend the housing market is in now. Please share your thoughts on this subject and share ideas which I will also do in future posts.
Post on my friends.
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