April 2, 2003

For some reason, Cyprus shuts down on Wednesday afternoon. Things are closed on Sundays, Saturday afternoons, and - for some reason - Wednesday. We had things to do, and see, and had to get them done in the morning.

Our first order of business was to find some of the icon workshops around town. We found two, one more traditional, the other in which icons seem to pay the rent but icon-inspired art is the painter's passion. We are hunting for an icon of the healing of the ten lepers, which took place in Zababdeh's neighbor Burqin, but so far have been stymied. No time this afternoon, either...

Marthame strikes a cool silhouette at the Crusader era castle.

We then headed to the town's old castle, built during the Crusader era, in which Richard the Lion-Hearted married Barangaria of Cyprus (which luckily is open every day). Now it houses the local "old stuff" museum - cannons, armor, crosses. Most interesting were the Medieval tomb coverings, etched or bas-relief life-sized full-body portraits of the deceased. (Sorry, no photos allowed, and no decent postcards either.) Many of them had been taken from Nicosia from a church that the Mamelukes had converted to a mosque - as a result, many of the faces had been scratched away, as though keyed by teenagers passing by on skateboards.

Meanwhile the messages from Zababdeh continue to come in. The Latin deacon was asked to change the school clock, a job usually reserved for Marthame: "they asked me 2 change the bellclock. talking about u. i said may be marthame himself will do it." Here's hopin'.

We met up with the other Presbyterians for a movie, a local screening of Chicago with Greek subtitles. Elizabeth had seen the stage production in New York a few years ago, so it was interesting to compare notes. Both were great fun, but there's something so live about a live performance.

In the evening, we got a call from the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Louisville. They met and agreed that it would be reasonable for us to return. We are elated! We immediately began sending messages back to town. Their joy mirrored ours: "This is the best news I hear thanks God." Yes, thanks God.