Category: Cyprus

I live in Cyprus for many years now. It is a beautiful little island in Mediterranean Sea. It features warm weather for most of the year, sea, very kind and hospital people, plenty of jobs in IT industry, good food and plenty of alcohol, stable currency, and more. It’s really a nice place to live if you can handle small towns and villages. It’s also a great place to raise the kids.

Not much happens here. It is a quiet and simple place. Yet, when something happens or when I write about it, I post it to Cyprus category.

Minimum salary in Cyprus

Living and working in Cyprus, I am often asked by people from other countries what are salaries like in Cyprus.  I never had a good answer to the question, because the answer depends a lot on the company you’ll be working for and your position.  Even the range for the same position across different companies can vary 3-4 times easily.

Cyprus Mail reports that the government had decided to increase the minimum wage (salary).  Gladly, the article provides a reference for average salary across the island.

THE MINIMUM wage is being increased to €887 from €840 effective from Thursday, the Labour Advisory Committee announced yesterday. Final approval for the 5.6 per cent increase, which will bring the minimum wage to 50 per cent of the average national wage, rests with the Cabinet.

So, this means that the while the minimum wage will now be €887, the average is twice that much – €1774.  That’s good to know.  Now I have an a better answer for all those people who are asking.

Support Cyprus rugby team in the game against Azerbaijan

A co-worker let me know that there will be a rugby match between Cyprus and Azerbaijan teams this Saturday, March 6th, 2010.  The game will take place in Pafos at Paphiako Stadium, which is opposite the McDonalds restaurant.  The kick off is at 14:30.  The entrance is free!

The weather forecast is warm and sunny with scattered clouds, which should make for a good day outside and easy photo opportunity.

Drug use doubled over last three years in Cyprus

Cyprus Mail runs an article with some statistics of drug use in Cyprus.  It is said that drug use doubled over the last three years.  That’s not too good.  But the report itself is hard to understand – quotes say one thing and numbers say another.  For example:

“Cannabis is not so fashionable anymore among young people,” said EKTEPN head Neoclis Georgiadis. “The United States and Europe had their [cannabis] peak in the nineties, our peak was in 2004. We are ten years behind Western Europe.”

That’s on one hand.  And on the other:

THE PERCENTAGE of cocaine and cannabis users in Cyprus doubled between 2006 and 2009 with more women using, and a hike from zero to 1.6 per cent in the 55-64 age group taking up cannabis, it emerged yesterday.

Judging by what I can only see around myself, cannabis use more than doubled.  People who were occasional users before seem to do it more often, and those who wouldn’t even think about smoking pot just a few years ago, seem to welcome an opportunity now.  Also, on a few occasions where I could observe the high-school generation, I was rather surprised as to how familiar they are with the drug, how easily they can access it and how integrated it is with their culture.  I obviously can’t compare it to my own high-school years, but I’d says that even during my college years in this country the situation wasn’t the same.

And for the record, since I did mention cannabis, I have to say that I was pretty much neutral on the legalization issue for a long time.  Now I am more inclined towards legalizing it.  However, it should be clearly separated from the rest of the drugs, which should remain illegal.  And I do think that there is a whole lot of education to be done if legalization is to be considered.  Here is a place to start – real facts about drugs.

Unemployment in Cyprus

Cyprus Mail reports that unemployment rates are through the roof and kicking all previous records in the butt.

By the end of November, there were almost 21,000 unemployed people in Cyprus, representing a 73 per cent rise compared to the same month last year.

That’s mostly due to the downfall in construction and tourism industries.   On the other hand, pretty much every company I know is looking for IT people.  Accounting, management, and marketing seem to in demand as well.

SPAM : It should be opt in, not opt out

Cyprus Mail reports that environmental commissioner turned his attention towards piles of SPAM – advertising leaflets distributed by numerous companies to people’s house, mailboxes, and cars.  The initiative to regulate this is very welcome.  However:

Theopemptou insists that a law should be passed to regulate leaflet distribution in streets, cars and post boxes in order to protect the public and prevent the pile-up of waste. One possible measure he recommended was the creation of a special stamp that people could put on their cars, which would indicate that they do not wish to receive advertising material.

I think that SPAM should be opt in, not opt out.  In other words, it’s the people who WISH to receive the advertising leaflets should indicate that they want to, not the other way around.  You can see how well it works in email vs. RSS and Twitter.  In emails, people just send you loads of junk with an option to unsubscribe from it.  First of all, you already received the junk. Secondly, you need to receive the junk to get an option to unsubscribe.  That’s just not fair.   It doesn’t work.  Opt out.  In RSS and Twitter it’s the opt in.  You don’t get anything until you actually subscribe or follow.  Which is all up to you.  And that’s how it should be.