How to survive the hot days!

Summer arrived and for the most people is difficult to handle with such highs temperatures like the ones we have here in Nicosia.

Too much hot can make your good mood and even your sleep go away. If it’s difficult for you to escape from the high temperatures on the street or on your way, you deserve a little comfort at home or at work.

So there are some tips that you can do for make your life easier in the summer days.

For a quick relief put your wrists under current fresh water at least 10 seconds each hand. Can be from the tap if you don’t have a colder source. Aloud yourself to have a deep breath. This will reduce abruptly your temperature at least for one hour. Try to put your forehead and back head a little wet as well. You can put a wet towel in your forehead for a bigger relief.

To refresh the place here you are staying, you can put a bowl of water with ice cubes in front of a fan pointed to you. Put as well a wet source behind the fan, like a towel, making the spread air fresher.

Put your feet in a bucket of cold water. The body spread warm from the hands, feet, face and ears, so if you refresh one of that area, all body will be colder.

Protect always your head with a hat that cover your back head as well. The temperature of the head influence a lot all the thermic balance of your body. You can use a wet scarf to protect and refresh your neck.

Use summer clothes. The ones which are fresh and light. Prefer natural textile as cotton, silk and linen instead of synthetic materials.  Don’t use tight clothes and prefer the light colors instead of the darker ones. The dark colors absorb more the hot and the light colors reflect the light and the hot, being this way fresher.

Drink a lot of liquids, especially water, avoiding dehydration. The water maintain the temperature of your body, hydrate the organism and reset the minerals. Headaches, dizziness and vomiting could be a sign of dehydration.

Eat spicy food. This one will increase your sweating, refreshing your body when it evaporate. Although that, there is also a relief of endorphins, something very good that can help you forgetting the hotness.  

Also eat food that is easier to digest like salads, fruit, food with a lot of liquids and skinnier meat.

Follow this tips and have a more enjoyable and pleasant summer! 

10 natural remedies to help you survive from the SuperCipriot Ants and Mosquitoes

Natural remedies against ants and mosquitoes

With the arrival of the two summer nightmares are starting: ants and mosquitoes.

Here, are 10 home remedies to keep them out of your house and of your body always.

ANTS

It is not unusual to find in the house a myriad of unwanted guests, ants, they arrive to colonize our house, above all the kitchen, the cuppboard rich of paradisaical foods. It is a good habit therefore to eliminate all the present residues of food after the meals and to clean well the floors, plain of support, table, sink and also the ledges of the cupboard.

Even if the ants are not dangerous for our health, their invasion don't result quite pleasant and the fastest remedy seems to use a chemical product that promises to exterminate the whole ant hill. However besides exterminating the ants, you also toxic yourself, especially if there are children and pets in the house. 

What doesnt many know, that natural remedies exist, they are effective, cheap and even good for the health. 

We will see together 5 among the most effective natural remedies against the ants.

1. Aromatic Vinegar Compound

The ants don't bear the vinegar. Sprinkle a compound of vinegar, water and essential oil of lemon in the points where it is easier for them to enter, we will create a natural barrier that is impassible for them to cross. 
You can also create a home-made detergent for floors and washable surfaces, composed by water, white vinegar, bicarbonate and a mix of essential oils with lemon, eucalyptus and mint (the essential oils are optional).

2. Spices

Another effective method to hold distant the ants is to use spices. 

You can position dried leaves of laurel, oregano, piece of cinnamon, black pepper or cloves in the cupboard, they will hold distant ants.

Make sure you cover all the corners and areas, including those of counter tops, sinks and windows.

3. Salt

Boil water and add salt to it. Pour salty water into a spray bottle and spread in places, where you usually see the ants.

4. Lemon

Squirt lemon juice along outdoor edges. This will keep the inside of your house from getting sticky, but the ants will be deterred by a strong citrus smell. You can also squirt a solution of half lemon juice, half water around the outside of your house.

5. Powdered sugar and baking soda

Put equal amounts of confectioners sugar and baking soda to make a mixture. Ants are drawn to sugar, but they will stay away from baking soda.

MOSQUITOES

Mosquitoes suck, literally. And if you are a mosquito magneto, you are probably tired of having itchy, bumpy skin. People are usually prone to bites due to a combination of scent, light, heat, and humidity.

Whichever species you encounter, you can protect yourself without having to use a DEET-based chemical repellent. Most government agencies recommend DEET products, but they can cause health and environmental problems.

If you want to keep the mosquitoes away without relying on chemicals, here are 5 natural repellent options.

1. Essential oils

Essential oils are a popular alternative to chemical filled mosquito repellents. Making natural mosquito spray through oils is also less expensive than buying some from the store. Some essential oils include: Lemon Grass oil, Citronella oil, Peppermint oil, Lavender oil, Eucalyptus oil, Lemon oil, Basil oil

Neem oil from the need tree (Azadiracta indica) in concentrations of one to two percent mixed with coconut oil was found to be effective against the mosquito that spreads malaria. Neem is a plant that grows in India.

These oils will work just as well as repellents that contain DEET but will just have to be applied more frequently. In a spray bottle, the oils can be added in any combination or you can use some of these combinations.

2. Mint and basil mixture

Boil two small bundles of mint and one of basil for 20 minutes. Filter the water and preserve it in the refrigerator. Every evening smear mixture. The mosquitoes will keep distance.

3. Vinegar and lemon

Put in a jar vinegar and add some slice of lemon. The benefits and the perfume of this remedy remain for 3-4 days.

4. Plants

Most insect-repelling plants do so with their natural fragrances, which keep annoying mosquitoes away and introduce wonderful scents throughout your garden. Place these plants in areas where guests will be often such as by a seating area or a doorway.

These are the most repellents plants: Basil, Rosemary, Citronella grass, Lavender, Garlic, Scented geraniums, Peppermint and Catnip.

5. Remedies to make mosquito bites stop itching

Do you still fall victim of a dreaded mosquito, try to resist the urge to scratch. Going after that mosquito bite will only make it worse, since all your itching adds to the inflammation. Some remedies make mosquito bites stop itching are banana peel, ice, rubbing lemons and aloe.



Follow these tips and you will survive until the next week for read the next post!!

Football Everywhere

It is everywhere, you cannot avoid it. Be calm, it will end in the middle of july, but till then you cannot go anywhere without seeing something connected to the Europen Championship, the second biggest international football tournament  

Are you walking on the street? You will see television with people chasing the ball.

Are you at home with you family? Somebody will watch it.

Are you in a pub? Impossible to avoid.

Are you on the beach? Somebody will play football, or talk about it.

If you don’t have a team to cheer for this tournament, fear not. Here are some advices, which team should you root for.

Romania: Do you like the cheer for a team which has not a lot of chance to win, but play a really nice football, or you still miss Gheorghe Hagi? Romania is for you.

Switzerland: They never have the biggest names in football, but always a really good team with a perfect teamwork.

France: Lot of talented player, with amazing players like Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann. And plus, they are hosting the EC.

Albania: Do you like to cheer for the weakest team? In their first Euros, the newcomer Albanians don’t inspire confidence, but maybe they will surprise us.

Wales: Gareth Bale.

Slovakia: You admire persistent defending. The Slovaks are a difficult team to beat and they know how to attack too.

Russia: You believe experience is important. The Russians have an aging team. Or you just like to see the hooligans destroying the hosting cities.

England: England fans make themselves known at every international tournament – not always for the better – and you won’t have any problem finding fellow fans.

Poland: They don't have a good history in the last years, but with striker Robert Lewandoski, arguably the best attacker in the tournament, in top form this might finally be Poland’s tournament to shine.

Germany:          You like a sure thing. They have qualified for at least the semi-finals in the last four World Cups and the last two Euros.

Ukraine: You’re a stubborn supporter. Ukraine should be a disciplined side, with a focus on strong play along the wings, with a good defense.

Northern Ireland:  You like your teams to hustle and fight, even in defeat. “We are going to have to outrun the opposition, as simple as that,” Northern Ireland coach Michael O’Neill said after they qualified.

Turkey: You never quite know what you’ll get from Turkey. They made it to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2008. They also failed to qualify for the three remaining World Cups since 2002 and the 2012 Euros.

Spain: Everybody loves Spain, or at least a lot of people, especially in Cyprus. Spain won the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2008 and 2012. Perhaps they will have the third in a row.

Croatia: They play with creative fire and while there are questions about their defensive approach, their offense can look inspired.

Czech Republic: You like to see teams turn nothing into something. The Czechs are a fantastically organized team run by respected Czech coach, Pavel Vrba.

Republic of Ireland: You like a hard-working team that plays with emotion. Ireland are in the toughest group at the Euros and will have to fight to make it out of their group.

Italy: They lack the big-name, game-changer of a star but this team builds incredible chemistry and until the final pitch is thrown on their season, you’d be foolish to doubt them.

Belgium: Belgium entered the 2014 World Cup with a youthful, gifted squad and a ton of promise. Perhaps this year they will even reach a better result at the end.

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Can he push the team go trough the group stage?

Hungary: You enjoy a heart-warming story. It’s been 30 years since the Hungarians qualified for an international tournament and 44 years since the last appearance at EC.

Portugal: Christiano Ronaldo. Will he cry at the end or will he be happy? This is the question.

Austria: There is enough talent on this team to think that their qualifying wasn’t just a fluke. Bayern Munich’s midfielder David Alaba leads the charge.        

Iceland: Iceland became the smallest nation (population: 332,000) to ever qualify for the Euros. Will they surprise us?

Pick one, and enjoy the game! :)

Leisure time in Nicosia

Hello everyone!!

I want to start the week talking about how people spend their free time. During the welfare time we had some years ago many people used to spend their free time doing different activities and attending to different events, and most of the times they had to pay for it. Activities like going shopping or to the cinema in a mall, or events like going to the theatre or going to watch a football match were the usual way. But with the arrival of the crisis many people had to change the concept of leisure time because of the lack of budget among other things and this changed the mind of many people.

Since I arrived to Nicosia, I haven´t stopped seeing events and activities almost everyday, most of them for free and with a wide range of topics. So this take me to wonder a thing, is it happen the same in all the cities in different countries and I didn´t realized before or is it something particular of Nicosia? Probably the first makes much more sense. I didn´t have any idea about how many things are possible to do without spending money and how interesting all this events can be.

As a volunteer in Nicosia and an active part that I am in some events, I´ve noticed that is possible to have fun and meet new people in every activity you attend. For example, in almost two months in Cyprus I´ve attend more festivals, events and activities than in all my life. During this time, I´ve had the chance to meet very nice people, to make links with them and also to know through them other ways to enjoy and to share different points of views about our culture, countries and about life in general. And one of these events was yesterday. At Athalassa park it was celebrated a Eco-festival, where together with some friends could enjoy several activities such as yoga lessons, live music and lots of stands with different craft products.

This weekend will be our turn. On Sunday afternoon and evening, we are going to organize an event called "Wet Games" in KOT Larnaca. We have prepared some games and activities both in the sand and in the water, so we expect to have a really good afternoon full of fun and good moments. So if you live in Nicosia or Larnaca especially, this is an event that you mustn´t miss. What´s more, in this event you will be able to do whatever I said before: having fun, making friends and  spending your leisure time in a different way.

To sum up, the range of possibilities to do something different with friends, with family or just alone y very large, you only have to search a bit and you will find lots of things. And even more nowadays with the Internet age, where you can find whatever you want, wherever you want and whenever you want!

See you all next week!!









  

Which steps should we do to become a local?

Hello everyone! Are you feeling good?

I hope that you are because today I'm feeling very well. It´s sunday and the sun is shinning outside. I love summer days and they are arriving, so I'm really happy with that :)

Today I want to share with you something that I learned and that I talked about it on my on-arrivel training. As an EVS here in Cyprus, every volunteer do this kind of training and in my opinition it provides you a good knockledge.

One of the subjects were "What should you do to become a local? Do you want to become a local? Which steps do you have to take?".

So for me I would like to become a local as much as possible. The things that I said in the training that were important to achieve this were: interacting; language; curiosity; sharing.

Interacting maybe it's the most easier because you just have to go outside with cipriots instead of beeing always with your EVS partners or with others outsiders. You should mix with the people from here, and until now for me that's have been quite easy :) cipriots are very friendly and they received me with open arms!

Language: that's a tricky one! For me Greek is a very different language and I will have to do a huge effort to learn it. I know that won't happen in a day or in a month. It will be baby steps but I will do my best. Until now the things that I memorized better is the names of the bars! Lololol. Common guys, you know that is important to be abble to say to other people here you are :P

Curiosity: just ask! Anything doubts that you have about everything, just ask. Don't feel shy if you think that is a stupid question and if you are concern about what the other person will think. Maybe to that person you will look like a little fool, but you will learn something and the next time that you talk about that subject, you already have your opinion and you already know what are you talking about!

Sharing: learn about the country that you are but at the same time talk about yours as well. People always like to know where are you comming from and culture things about your country. Share with them and tell everything that they want to know. It's the best way to them share with you different facts from their country as well.

So these are my tips to achieve the goal "how to become a local". I will stretch myself as far as possible to reach them :)