Hello from my last day in Lija! Sorry I have not been updating more frequently, but the internet at the dorms (although free now since I got my password - yay) is not very strong and tends to cut out at inopportune times, so I will not upload any photos today. Also, this past week and a half has been crazy busy trying to look for an apartment (aka flat) and getting my schedules sorted out for my teaching and research!
A brief overview of what's happened between last post and now, in bullet point form for easy reading (and typing!):
~~ the other two ETAs arrived (hi PG and GG, if you're reading this) and we got acquainted - they are both smart and funny ladies, and I am lucky to have them as my fellow teachers! It was really nice to be able to blather on in rapid American English to them, although I am working on speaking slowly and clearly for my work at the University and secondary school instead of my usual excited crazy fast talking.
~~ as soon as we had Orientation at the University, we began to fill out and get the supporting documents together for the many forms we need, for everything ranging from a student saver bus pass to a Univ library card to the (temporary-permanent) Residency Permit!
[Side story: they had large, regular size buses come to the dorms to get us all for Orientation, as opposed to several rides in the van that they have for the shuttle to the Univ from the dorms, and I, being the delightfully Bella Swan-esque clumsy girl that i am, managed to literally fall off the bus as we were exiting at the Univ. Yes, you read that right: I face-planted off the last step off the bus and landed half into a group of lanky Italian students and half into the sidewalk. Well, who says I don't know how to make an entrance?! I was fine, just ego wounded and knees and forehead bruised - what a lovely first impression I made, hmm?]
~~ drooled over all of the fun-sounding "study units" aka classes while they explained registration to the regular international students (as ETAs, we didn't have a separate orientation because a lot of what they were telling the study abroad students applied to us as well) and then remembered that I am no longer an undergrad and therefore cannot take any of the classes - darn!
~~ went to my first festival in the capital city of Valletta - it was called Notte Bianca (White Night) and it was insanely crowded since all of the museums, churches, and other popular sites were open and free to the public. There were of course long queues at each place, but among other places we did go into St. John's Co-Cathedral (one of the most ornate churches I have seen, it was breathtaking) and got to see Caravaggio's famous painting of The Beheading of St. John.
~~ had lunch and my first pizza in Malta with the girls (the other ETAs) at one of our main Embassy contacts' home (he lives in an amazing apartment overlooking one of the bays in St. Julian's - obviously his salary is a bit better than our stipend!) and got to finally meet him in person after having been in touch via email and also met his wife and adorable one-year-old daughter.
~~ went to some of the "Freshers Week" booths at Univ (a whole week of events, concerts, clubs fair, etc) and met up with the DESA (Dept. of English Student Association) and helped out at the Embassy table.
~~ felt like we were on House Hunters International as PG and I met with our real estate agent, saw several properties, debated about them over tea from a little shop called Chat & Chew (run by a lovely little British lady), and finally chose one in Sliema only about three or four blocks uphill from the bayfront road, so we can take our passagiatas by the waterfront in the evening when we feel like it :)
~~finally got my mobile aka cell phone (I'm on Vodafone and have free evening minutes to other Vodafones, any European-based friends!)
~~went to another festival, in a city called Birgu (also called Vittoriosa) aptly called BirguFest (not to be confused with BeerFest, though there were lots of carts selling Cisk (the local lager). It was a weekend festival, Fri Sat and Sun, but we went Sat evening which is when the whole city is illuminated by candlelight. It was so amazing to see what must have been thousands of candles shimmering against the dark sky. We were also treated to a concert by a Brit band called RUG, who played a a lot of Coldplay, Kings of Leon, and Snow Patrol, much to our surprise and happiness (we know this song! We can sing along to it!) and tried some traditional Maltese pastries called quabbajet (my spelling is off, but w/e) (small pockets of fried dough with a date paste filling - strange but yummy),
~~ had lunch with Ministry of Education officials and coordinators from the Univ who we will be working with and finally got our secondary school assignments
~~ I am assigned to a Boys' Secondary School (boys ages 11 to 15) so any male readers I need your help! How do I make learning English interesting for tween/teen guys?!?
~~Which basically [I have skipped a lot, but told you about the big events] leads us to today, where I went to visit my secondary school, got slightly lost with the vague directions they had given me, asked a policeman, 3 locals, and one man from Germany how to get into the school, and finally was rescued by the Head of the school's secretary, who brought me in sweaty and ever-so-delightful looking after having been lost for 20 minutes via the front gate, which, of course, is actually on the side of the school.
After I post this, I'm off to finish packing a few last things so I can check out of the dorms tomorrow morning and move into my flat with PG!
Thanks for reading this far; I hope you had a few laughs at my continuing misadventures, and please excuse any typos, etc. as I'm composing this on Blogger since my Microsoft Word is acting up!
Lots of Love from Lija,
MHT
P.S. I still love comments! I know a couple of people tried to comment before and they did not go through, so here are some tips ( I am still trying to figure out how to turn on anon comments, if they are off!):
Commenting works best if you have a Google/Blogger account - this doesn't mean you have to start a blog, but Blogger is run through Google and so uses Google accounts. A Google account is free - just sign up through Gmail. once you've made a Goggle account, you sign in from the top right corner of the blog, and then you should be able to comment! Yay! Sorry for the hassle - I am unsure why it has to be done this way.
Also, if you are unsure if I have your address and would like a postcard, please Facebook message me or email me at mhtinmalta@gmail.com :)
MH!!!!
ReplyDelete1. This is not a small update. FYI
2. Face planting is really a must for a good entrance. I have yet to do it, but I did walk around with black smudges on my face from the train (engine oil? who knows...)
3. I know you will find a way to audit a class, even if you aren't allowed. I suggest sticking a nanny cam in class and recording it for notes later. Although a large stuffed animal may be obvious. Spy baseball cap perhaps? Brainstorm it.
4. Househunting in another country = crazy. We are trying to find places now and though the prices are amazing, cultural differences trump cost at times. More to come on this in the blog soon (though may be censored a bit so as not to speak ill of anyone)
5. Advice for teenage boy teaching - more Lord of the Flies and less Jane Austen. Tell them to watch rugger matches in English to practice (is Rugby popular there? Here it is big!).
Miss you darlin
Bry
Oh MAN, M-H, I am so proud of you! This is all so exciting -- I can't believe that you get to flit around Malta all day, being amazing and falling out of vans (no joke: I do that stuff all the time). Also (full disclosure), I definitely had to google Malta to even figure out where you are and what's going on there, so you're already teaching the world!
ReplyDeleteOkay, specifics, though: I taught that age range this summer and they are an adorable handful. Seriously, so precocious and energetic! The challenge is just channeling that energy towards their work. I would definitely recommend letting them choose their own topics when they're practicing their English skills, as it makes them automatically more interested. And if you tell them that you know nothing about, say, basketball (or their favorite music group or whatever) and that you need them to teach you, they get super excited and talk all over each other trying to educate you. I had a bunch of Korean students this summer and when I told them that they could write me stories about video games and that they were the experts (not me), they flipped. It was adorable! So that's my two cents.
So excited to see pictures and hear more updates!
xxxx -- M
Sounds like good advice from Bry and Martina. I love the pictures and reading your adventures. They have "White Night" in Paris too! (Of course it is called Nuit Blanche). All is well here, watching the leaves fall off, carving pumpkins and buying full size candy bars for my favorite neighborhood trick or treaters. I miss you! I had an HP moment the other day and thought of you, wanted to share (listening to O Children by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). I'd like a post card! And make sure there is a return address so I can write you back :)
ReplyDeleteLots of Love
Reme