The next video from Cyprus.. Short but hopefully sweet..

Untitled from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

The North Side

For those who aren't aware... The country of Cyprus is divided up into two parts, Cyprus and "The republic of Turkey". Cyprus controls the south while Turkey controls the north. It is very interesting because the city I am in, Nicosia, is the only shared capital in the world. There is much tension between the north and south because it wasn't always a shared island, in 1974 the Turkish invasion took place and it has been divided ever since. This short excerpt about the north and south is exactly that... short. There is obviously a ton of details and controversy over the situation that I could share about, however you probably should just research it on your own because it is in fact the most talked about issue here in Cyprus.--
Now that this back story is done, me and about eight other girls traveled to the north side yesterday to see what it was like. It was very interesting at first because you have to show your passport to get into the north. However, at the same time they aren't allowed to stamp our passports because the only country in the world who recognizes them as an actual "country" is Turkey! (So they stamp a piece of paper to make themselves feel important I suppose). Anyways, the first thing I noticed (besides the fact that we stood out like a soar thumb) was that the people were a lot like the people just across the border. I realize we didn't go very deep into the north and I suppose the further we went the more differences we would see, but from what I saw it was very similar, I really want to travel further into the north in the future to learn more about it and how different the two sides actually are--
So after that we went back to the south and went to eat at this small whole in the wall place where I ordered a pork kabob that was very good! Cyprus sells kabobs in most restaurants and there pork is amazing here!--Then we just took a bus back home and I started making a video that will probably be put up shortly! I am bummed because I forgot my camera for our trip to the north side so there is no footage! You will just have to take my word for it that there was some beautiful sights to see.

-Matty J

This is a super rad video, compliments to Ted for this one

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

This Is Jonsi, The lead singer of sigur rós other band.. and this is the footage from the exact concert me and my sister Cindy went to. it was amazing

If there was ever a time to be stoked...

Well its official! I have booked tickets to head to London for spring break. In London we plan on staying at a friends house and exploring as much as we can. Once we have spent a few days in London we will take a train to Scotland where we will again explore as much as we can. And finally we will fly over to Ireland to finish off the spring break with more exploration. I like to call us the exploration team, but some people may think thats rather tacky. However, tacky is officially "in" as far as I'm concerned and if its not then I will try my best to give it a comeback. ( I'm pretty sure I won't have to though). So to conclude, if there was ever a time to be stoked it is now, and if your not stoked then find something to be stoked about! Perhaps the fact that you have legs! Go for a run yu dumb dumb! And if you don't have legs (which Im 99.67% sure all nine of my followers do have legs) then be stoked that you have a computer to read all this nonsense. Anyway, to make a long story short, for every post that I make about trips, they shall be titled "The Exploration Team, To Infinity And Beyond". ( I promise I didn't just randomly add "to infinity and beyond" to the title at the last second because it popped in my head... but then again, I might have.)

Happy Day To All,
Matty J

What Im currently listening to

Iron and Wine | Tree by the river | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

tuck it in

Just because Im overseas and Im alone in this, it shall still be tuck in tuesday folks

In the big and small

Today as I was reading in Acts it shared the story of the cripple healed through Peter by God. "With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him". Acts 3:8-10...I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if I were to act as he did in response to the big and small things God has done in my life. What would it be like if everyone had an attitude as he did? To be thankful right now for me is easy, Im having the time of my life traveling the world. This is a big thing that God has blessed me with, but I hope to have the same attitude for the small things as well. Im sure that people would be just as filled with wonder and amazement for this response today as they were for the cripple back then..
-Matty J

What Im currently listening to

Tallest man on earth - These Days (Nico Cover) - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Some of Cyprus caught through photos

just a tid bit

Untitled from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

What Im currently listening to

Excuses

the morning benders | Myspace Music Videos

In the big and small

Today in Cyprus I woke up really early because I couldn't sleep. So of course I thought the best thing to do was go for a run. I saw the sun rise as I ran and it was beautiful. I realized that this is a big thing that God does for us each and every day of our lives. It takes an immensely powerful God to rise and set the sun. We still happen to forget to appreciate the day for what it is, we act as though it is a small thing that God does when in fact it is big. At least I hope to begin to see it as something big.

-Matty J

First Day of Travels

First day of travels were filled with talking on the plane with an english woman for literally four hours. She was one of the nicest ladies Ive spoken with for quite some time now. She knows five languages, and has been all over the world. My taxi driver was very interesting too, we ended up talking about politics and religion for the whole hour drive to my apartment, it was very bazar but his views were really interesting. My apartment is really cool! The view is of the city of Nicosia and it looks like it is a fun city to live in. My roomates Jacob and Scott are really cool as well. It should be a very fun semester!