Hi Steem, I'm Christine

Hi everyone, I’m Christine, and I live in Limassol, Cyprus.

I was introduced to steemit by my son, @deimus and his friends @patrickm and @starkerz

My father was a character and a half and he ran a small boutique hotel (auberge) – if you can deem to call it boutique, with concrete floors and iron beds – but it still had an amazing atmosphere none the less. One of his clients painted this beautiful picture of the outside of the place.

This is a picture of me and my father outside the auberge - Hmmm a tad younger - and looking like my beautiful daughter.

Only 7 rooms in total and a grass verge before the sand and sea, birds waiting on the branches to be fed as the old man came out with his bowl of rice and crumbs.

He spent most of his days in the sun - so he was seriously tanned as you can see from the photograph

So coming from a background of hospitality we fell into the hosting like a sail takes to the wind and I started an airbnb with my son in Cyprus.

This is our space for those of you who might be interested
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/18335715

Our first client in Limassol – a four bedroomed penthouse with amazing views from 3 patio’s – was a rather large fellow (and here I’m being kind) He came from Greece and was very uncertain about the “living in with other people situation” and said that he had not experienced anything like this since his college days.

He was very easy going and no trouble at all until he needed to add data to his phone and called us repeatedly whilst we were watching a very exciting football game, expecting Jack to set him up when we weren’t even at home.

Needless to say he was really enjoying his stay with us and asked me if I had another available room (which we did) – so that evening a colleague, whom he was in the process of employing came to stay. She arrived quite late at night and bounced in – with loads of personality. She separated herself to have a cigarette and Jack, my son joined her. Later in the evening they were having some shots of Zivania, a Greek liquor and 6h30 the next morning Jack was up to cook them an amazing breakfast – Egg and Bacon for him and a continental breakfast for her consisting of cold meats, boiled egg, cheese and fresh tomato. All of this served with delicious filtered coffee. She left 2 days before he did and when his 9 day stay came to an end he asked to remain for an extra day.

He was very kind and friendly and brought home desserts for Jack and I to share with him.

Third up was a Russian, who came to attend an English school nearby. His English was of an excellent standard but perhaps just needed a refresher. He stayed 12 days. He was a very quiet and considerate client and cleaned up after himself when he cooked his own breakfast. Mostly spent time on his computer. He was selling a product on line and he occasionally asked for some information on the island and directions.

During his 12 day stay, I went off to London to stay with my other son and attend a one day property course. I arrived back on the Sunday and he left on the Monday and a new guest from Poland came for a four day stay for an FX conference.
He arrived a little frustrated because he had been searching for our place for over an hour. Also pressed one floor below and walked up the last flight of stairs. Not a good start but even though it was after 9pm he chatted to us about the online trading company he works with. He had verbal diarrhea and eventually I had to leave him chatting to Jack and excused myself to go to bed. He continues to talk non-stop and came home quite late on his second night with us. It is extremely difficult to communicate with him as he is from Poland and has an accent, besides talking so quickly. He brought me a gift of two magnets – very sweet.

The following day two English guests, arrived for the same conference.

Our two English guys arrived in the afternoon and chilled at the apartment until it was time for them to attend the opening party and receive their badges.

Certainly these are easy clients, only drank water when they arrived and we offered a welcome beer which they declined. Also never took any coffee or tea and it is readily available in the lounge. Once again, so interesting to see how different people are and how easy some turn out to be.

They left after the conference and were disappointed that they hadn’t stayed an extra day to go on a boat trip. Left us a lovely revue and they were by far the easiest of clients.

Our Polish guest finally left at about 16h40 ignoring the check out time of 11am. I finally asked if I could prepare the room for the next guest. Luckily no one has booked in yet.

So far all the clients have left their rooms in a very good condition. It’s been an absolute pleasure to go in and just have to change linen and towels. With all the dust in Limassol the rooms need to be vacuumed almost every day.

A new client also Russian arrived for a 10 day stay – and did I say our English clients were the easiest – well – this one tops that. We hardly ever see him since he works most nights and sleeps almost the whole day. In and out of the apartment without us evening noticing.

Another Russian, living in the UK came for just 3 nights and so far a wonderful gentleman. We made him a full English breakfast this morning and he will check out tomorrow.

So six clients done and dusted, good reviews and gratefully a good time had by all. Two currently on the premises.

We have some interesting clients booked in for later in the month and July and August but more of that in my next post.

So, this is only part of what I do for my keep. My other son is starting a property portfolio in the UK and venturing into Cyprus. He is also doing some work online so I help where I can. I am immensely proud of what he has achieved in the UK in the last two years. I spent 17 months with him and we both worked incredibly hard. He has bought a property up north and has a share in a property in Cyprus. This is a picture of my son and I two years ago on a property tour in Cambridge.

What I have been doing for the last three years is being a social media manager to artists of a varied nature. My daughter is a singer, songwriter, producer, videographer to name a few of her attributes. Her name is Eden Michelle and I run her social media. She WILL be the best producer this world has known – as told to me by the producer of her album – Jon Buckley

http://www.singproductions.com

Lizz, an up and coming DJ arrived in London and besides landing an amazing job has also been DJ’ing on a regular basis and not two months of starting out was already playing at Ministry of Sound. No mean feat for a foreigner arriving in the UK.

One of my daughter’s artists, a young rapper named Owen Kay needs special mention too. He will undoubtedly be a super star one day. I’ve also had the privilege of managing his page.

Also very proud to have managed the page of an amazing dancer MicciT, who has performed at shows organized by my daughter and appears on a few videos for us. She was always an outstanding dancer and has won many accolades and awarded top dancer in several categories in International competitions. I will speak more about her in future posts.

Other pages on which I am an administrator include Rak Events, Shae Webb, Darryn Burts, Sharon Nicholas, my amazing American friend who is always busy and always active and has published several books and created her own magazine Empowered Woman amongst a few others. Each one will deserve a post in my future blogs

I can't leave this page without giving thanks to my beautiful late mother who made me the person I am today and to my beautiful children - did I mention that I made beautiful children!!

So glad to be here, follow me and I’ll post more about all the musicians I manage! Go Steem!