March Madness, in more ways than one…

The first week of March brought some gale force winds to our little island, causing bus terminals to blow over, rubbish to go flying through the streets, the streetlights to swing precariously above our heads, and most importantly – my hair looked like some sort of large monster had been ‘artfully’ ruffling it anytime I dared to venture beyond our front door.

Work continued as usual – classes with my secondary school boys, a new crop of Erasmus (aka non-Maltese) students in my Uni class, a few new students at the refugee centre, and some NASA talks (more on those in a minute).

The second weekend was busy – GG’s wonderful uncle was visiting and treated us to a nice dinner before he escaped and we headed down into Paceville (the nightlife/bars/small piece of hell area in St. Julian’s) to a farewell party for one of the Marines and his fiancé, both of whom we are good friends with. Sometime after 2 or 3 a.m., we walked the 2 or so miles home in the crazed wind because GG refused to take the taxi…oh well, stories to tell! The next day we met up with Uncle S again and I gave a tour through Mdina (proof that I read the guidebooks a little too much prior to arriving in Malta) and then we snacked upon the famous Fontanella cakes while enjoying the views across central Malta.

I also experimented with some new recipes – made baked baby marrows (a small green squash, not some sort of inner bone material from a small animal, as we originally thought) and mini meatloaves in muffin tins with ground chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta. For St. Patrick’s Day, I made green scones, but all that required was green food dye, so it sounds more impressive than it was 
GG had somehow never seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, so we sat her down one dinner-time, fed her feta salad, and we laughed all evening. We half-joked when we got to Greece a few weeks later that 90% of our knowledge of Greek culture came from that film (the other 10% coming of course from our Greek unit in 6th grade – thanks to Mrs. Tyson, I can still sing-recite the Greek alphabet! Alpha, beta, gamma, delta….).

I also did a couple of NASA-related talks (being qualified from having taken one whole Astronomy course at WC – thanks, Dr. P!) at secondary schools across Malta. I prepared a 30-minute presentation with PowerPoint, covering a brief history of Astronomy and then moving into what NASA is and what it works on.  I really enjoyed these talks (probably because all the ones I did were at private schools, so the kids were much better behaved than the ones I usually work with! But then again, I didn’t see them in class, just for 45 minutes in a special setting…) Although I introduced myself at the beginning of the presentation, inevitably at the end when I opened the floor to questions, there were always a few that really would have required an actual NASA technician to answer, e.g. “Miss, how does the Juno Probe have enough power to get all the way to Jupiter and back?” “Great question – see nasa.gov for more details on everything I’ve mentioned here today!”

Another fun addition to my usual work was getting to substitute for a few classes at the Junior College (remember, not an actual JC but rather what they call 11th and 12th grade here). We did two sessions where we helped students who were about to take their A levels practice with native English speakers for the oral component, and then I substituted for two classes in literature, where I (attempted) to teach them Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” and explain villanelle form (note to self: foreign 12th graders barely know what a sonnet is, not to mention what ‘iambic’ means or why extra feet are significant). In case you haven’t read the poem, I’ll paste it here:

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

From The Complete Poems 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Copyright © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. Used with permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.

The middle of March, besides the ever-green festivities of St. Patty’s Day, also brought St. Joseph’s Day on the 19th. Besides being a national holiday, and therefore a day off from work, we also got to have zeppoli, a traditional Italian/Maltese dessert for St. Joseph’s. They are kind of like a cream puff, but the filling is a sweetened ricotta (irkotta) with candied fruit peel (similar to a proper cannoli filling) and then it is coated in a light layer of honey. So much yum!

The next week I also made a panettone bread pudding (how very Giada of me) and shared it with friends and teachers at school – Maltese bread pudding is apparently much different, and GC has promised to make it for me before I leave.

March 25th brought one of my least favorite days, no matter which time zone I’m currently residing in, Daylight Savings – Spring Forward. Who came up with this “losing an hour” business? I’ll take just my “Fall Back” every October, and eventually we’ll be getting up in the middle of the night or something, completely circumventing Circadian rhythms, etc. It’ll be great!

The end of March brought some of PG’s family to visit – it was fun to meet them and to see her interact with her sisters.  GG and VF also had a ‘fancy dress’ aka costume party because they had some visitors that weekend as well – you had to dress up as something that began with the first letter of your name. Rifling through what I had here, I remembered the one euro golden crown I’d bought at the second-hand store in prep for Karnival but then not used – and decided to go as a “Monarch” – I’m not named Quinn, so I couldn’t go as a queen! I used a discarded long light bulb as a scepter and LW’s BellaBall as my orb…the things I come up with on a day’s notice! I actually don’t think there’s photo evidence (I just looked in my pictures folder and can’t find it) but it was well-received.

The next day brought our first refugee centre ‘graduation’ (the next is this week – the time this term has gone so quickly!) and we proudly presented certificates of completion to the students who had attended a certain number of classes during the three month term. We aren’t allowed to post pictures online from there centre, but there’s a funny one of my looking like a proud mum while one of our best students (in his Sunday suit) gets his certificate.

Although I appreciate and have learned from all of the work that we do here, the refugee centre is particularly special because I feel that there is where we have our greatest immediate effect. I really enjoy working with my students in all of my educational positions, but working with these men is truly a new experience each time.  At times, it’s been a bit stressful and naturally challenging, and it took some getting used to, but -- these days -- I feel really good about the learning that they are doing.

These students come on Wednesday and Friday nights from 6-8PM by bus to these lessons.  They come after working long days (some in hard manual labor jobs like construction) because it’s really important for and to them to improve their English.  I am so inspired and humbled by their intelligence, their dedication, and their commitment to learning English and to -- ultimately -- self-improvement and self-empowerment (to bettering their situation, to learning for the sake of their own satisfaction and interest). Some of the guys in our class can’t even speak each other’s languages (just think about how many languages and dialects there are all over the African continent), so the main way that they can communicate with each other and with Maltese society is through these bits of English we are privileged to teach them twice a week.


Next time on the bloggity:  MHT takes her road-show to other parts of Europe: Greece and Italy!

Fotos of February Festas, Part Two

^ Knight of St. John made of cake!

^ the traditional sweet of Karnival, prinjolata, a kind of fruitcake, sitting on another tradtional sweet, jordan almonds, called perlini

^ Karnival really has nothing to do with Hallowe'en, but that didn't stop these floats from being awesomely haunting!

^ my not-so-great picture of LW's fantastic hand-made Rabbit Queen mask, complete with coffee filter ruff!

^ A detail of a carving in St. John's Co-Cathedral (sorry for the blurriness of the St. John's pics - flash is not allowed)

^An altar in St. John's

^ The gilded wooden pulpit in St. John's

Okay, the photo uploader is unhappy yet again, so further pictures next time!

Festas, Food, and Friends – Part 2 (Only a few months later!)

Karnival – coming from the Italian carne vale, “meat is allowed,” is a festival period in many countries in the days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

In Malta, this five-day stretch of brightly colored everything has many elements, ranging from parades in the capitol to all-night parties in small towns. My friend LW was still here, and I was so happy to have her with me to see all of the raucous celebrations.

The fun kicked off on Friday the 17^th in Valletta/Floriana with a large parade of floats and people in costumes. There didn’t really seem to be an overall theme, although we did see lots of floats with Disney/Pixar characters, and others with a set of Smurfs!

On Saturday, we stocked up with edible provisions and took ourselves over to the sister island of Gozo to spend the night in a rented farmhouse and attend the extra-crazy festivities in Nadur. Of course, on the ferry on the way there, the friend who had booked the house called the owner to confirm and found that she had double-booked! Luckily, albeit frustratingly, the owner had a friend with a large apartment available, but it was in another city. Not wanting to try to drag ourselves back home to Malta at some evil hour of the morning, we assented to take the apartment.

Suffice to say that many a shenanigan occurred that night, but to save the pieces of reputations that still remain, I shall name no names and only tell you some shortened versions of some stories:

-          On the bus from the apt to Nadur, some of the Americans (myself and LW not amongst them) decided in their inebriated state that it would be a great idea to start belting out “America the Beautiful” at the back of a jam-packed bus

-          Took pictures with people in all sorts of costumes, from an entire Addams Family to ketchup bottles to an overabundance of young men dressed in some form of drag

-          Nearly got run over by a police car

-          Took a bus to another bus to a taxi and then walked back to the apt freezing

-          Apparently made the best scrambled eggs, with and without cheese, and was thereafter offered a trip to the Emerald Isle to travel and cook (I accepted, but it has yet to come to fruition!)

After one of the most roundabout bus journeys (and that’s saying something here), we made it back to the vapur (ship) and finally made it home late Sunday afternoon.

Sadly, LW had to head out the next morning, but at least I had the day off from school to recover from her leaving!

That Wednesday, of course, brought Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. PG and I got up early and attended Mass at the small church just a few blocks away from us that gives services in English. On the way out, we spotted our landlady coming in for the next Mass – it is a small neighborhood!

Sunday the 26^th, PG and GG completed the half-marathon and we celebrated at one of our favorite local restaurants, Mint, for lunch afterwards. It’s funny how much comfort can come from simple food when it is prepared correctly and with fresh ingredients. I don’t remember exactly what we ate that day, but every time we go there, we enjoy the selection.

The end of February brought my other visitor (note: no one else has come to see me since, hem hem!!), the lovely Miss LD. Having washed the guest bed sheets, I was thrilled to see another good friend here and share with her a bit of Maltese life in the 3 short days she was able to stay.

Although I had to work two out of the three days, I sent LD out to Birgu, where she enjoyed the views, winding streets, and even managed to get a nun to show her around! We also went to Valletta, Mdina, Rabat, and walked along the seafront here in Sliema.

That pretty much wraps up February, finally! Now, let’s see if blogspot will let me get a decent number of pictures up to go with this!

February Fotos to go with Part 1

^ A banner in Valletta representing St. Paul's triumph over a poisonous snake that should have killed him

^ One of the marching bands, and lots of festival-goers, on St. Paul's Street

^ one of the guys with "Malta Pawlina" jackets

^ the procession that evening of this large statue of St. Paul down Republic Street in Valletta

^ a smaller model of the statue of St. Paul in Bristow Potteries in Ta' Qali

^ A model of one of the megalithic temple sites

^ examples of some of the beautiful ceramics - all painted by hand!

^ I'm pretty sure my future home will feature this tabletop somewhere...

^ just one angle of the spectacular Dingli Cliffs (which, besides being a great viewpoint, also smelled lovely - lots of herbs grow there, and as you walk, the scent gently wafts up)

^ For a place that is three times smaller than San Diego, Malta has a lot of UNESCO sites!

^ The Scorba Temples

^ red sand beach near Zebugg

^ The harbour at Marsaxlokk

^One of the luzzu (colorful fishing boats) with its protective 'eyes of Osiris'

^ One of the popular ceramic Madonna and Child figurine/door adorments in Mdina

^ one view of the Azure Window in Djwera, Gozo

^ Basilica of Ta' Pinu in Gozo (which I have seen three times now but still haven't been in - soon!)

^ Sorry for the strange angle, but this is a hill (it has a special name which is escaping me at the moment) which is adorned with a smaller version of the Christ the Redeemer that is seen in Rio de Janeiro). It was placed there in 1904.

More of February's festas and adventures coming soon in Part Tnejn (Two)!

February – Festas, Food, and Friends - Part 1

I was lucky enough in February to have two friends visit – one for about a week and a half during Karnival (Hi L/R W!) and one just for a few days at the end of the month (Hi LD!). February was a busy month even though we had some time off from both the University and secondary schools because of scheduling and Carnival holidays.

We broke down at the end of January and needed some American fast food (also, there was a coupon – and you know I LOVE coupons! – that was about to expire) so we got Pizza Hut. The pizza wasn’t nearly as good as it is at home (but there is also really good real Italian pizza here, so no complaints about pizza overall) but we did get to try something I think should be instituted at all American Pizza Huts – NUTELLA BREADSTICKS! Yes, you read that right – sweet pizza dough with a filling of Nutella spread and freshly chopped hazelnuts. MUCH YUM!

I did not stay up and watch the Super Bowl, as I had to work early the next morning, but I was surprised when some of the boys at my secondary school asked me about it the next day – there really isn’t that much interest in ‘American football’ here – regular football, aka soccer, is much more popular.

We are still working with the refugees at the Open Centre twice a week, and it is really good to see the small improvements as the weeks wear on. I helped GG (one of the other Fulbrighters) with a lesson on clothing and getting dressed vocabulary, and we got some pretty hilarious photos of the men ‘wearing’ (holding articles up to themselves) some of our clothing. Sadly, I can’t share these (one because they aren’t on my camera and two because of privacy rules) but please take a second to picture the scene mentally!

February 10^th brought the Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck. St. Paul is supposed to have shipwrecked here on Malta in 60 A.D.

This shipwreck is described in Acts: <a href="http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts-Chapter-27/">Acts Chapter 27</a>

Also here: Acts 28

¹And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. (Melita is the old name for Malta, and still a popular girls’ name)

²And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

³And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

⁴And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

⁵And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

⁶Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

⁷In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.

⁸And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

⁹So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:

¹⁰Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.

Every year, Malta celebrates the saint’s miracles on the island after he wrecked on the island. Revelers attend special Masses, there are grand processions in certain cities with marching bands and fireworks (Malta LOVES any excuse for fireworks). We attended the festivities in Valletta, the capitol city.

A large statue of St. Paul is paraded through the main streets, and they also carry relics usually kept in (where else?) the Church of St. Paul’s Shipwreck – a portion of St. Paul’s right wrist bone, and half of the pillar on which he was beheaded (the other half is still in Italy somewhere). Earlier in the day, bands and masses of people tromp down St. Paul’s Street in Valletta with balloons, confetti made out of recycled paper (it looked like someone had emptied out a very large shredder and then used that paper for confetti purposes), and slightly inebriated guys in “Malta Pawlina” jackets singing what may or may not have been the national anthem. St. Paul (or San Pawlu in Malti) is Malta’s Patron Saint, having brought Christianity to the islands, so it is unsurprising that such a big deal is made of this feast day.

That weekend, LW and I were lucky enough to be taken around by two of my good teacher-friends (Hi GC and HR!), native Maltese women who took us to the Crafts Village in Ta’ Qali, let us sample homemade mqaret (kind of like date-filled pop tarts, but better), showed us the spectacular natural beauty of Dingli Cliffs, took us to a tiny village bar where we had pasta il-forn and strange looks from the all-male customers who were watching a football match, showed us the Skorba Temples, and took us to a red-sand beach near Mgarr (I’m sure I’m forgetting some things because we did a lot that day). It was so fun and really exemplified why it is always best to be shown around by someone who lives in the area you are visiting.

The next Sunday we took an incredibly stuffed bus out to Marsaxlokk, a small fishing village on the southern coast that explodes on Sundays with a large food (especially seafood), souvenir, and random things market. We walked through the whole market (I didn’t buy any fish, but did buy some cool old EU stamps – my philatelic side kicked in) and then went for the traditional Sunday lunch at Ir-Rizzu, a popular restaurant on the main drag that was recommended by my guidebook. I had aljotta, a traditional tomato-based fish soup.

A few days later, LW and I went to Mdina and Rabat. After spending most of the day in Mdina, we walked through Rabat to get to St. Agatha’s Crypt and Catacombs. We weren’t allowed to take pictures down in the catacombs, but what an amazing and depressing sight. They even had tiny tombs for children. These date from around the 3^rd century. I’m glad we went, but spent the majority of my time down there crouched over so as to not whack my head on the ceiling– they were certainly built for people of diminutive stature! Our tour guide warned us of the low heights, and even told us about a tall lady in his last group who bumped her head three or four times, and at the end of the tour kept glaring at the guide as though it was his fault! I was determined not to be the “tall lady” in the story next time!

After the catacombs (and the museum of oddities upstairs, pictures forthcoming), LW and I continued to wander around Rabat in search of Madonna and Child house signs and other architectural features. Thus is a visit with an Art major! It was fun until it began pouring, and we sought refuge in a barely covered bus stop where, of course, we waited an hour and a half rather than the 20 minutes the schedule promised, but there was no point walking back to the main road in the downpour, because the bus had to come past us in order to get to the terminus. The joys of Arriva not arriving, thanks to the rain!

Although we were going to go to Gozo the next weekend for Karnival, we went mid-week to be able to see more of the island. We got a discount on the touristy but convenient hop-on-hop-off bus and set off towards the Crafts Village (most of the shops were closed because it is still low season here) and then to Djwera, where the Azure Window is. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you may recognize this from a certain wedding scene J

After a few moments of beautiful weather, the fates turned against us and it began to hail! We took cover, along with the other tourists waiting for the bus, in the tiny chapel of St. Anne’s, right by the coast.  When the bus finally came, we decided to be ‘brave’ (read: insane) and sit up top in the open (we got great views – but we also got hailed on again!). We headed back through several other towns and stopped off in the capitol, Victoria, to quickly grab some lunch and a few edible souvenirs for LW to take home with her.

That evening, we were invited over to a delicious dinner at one of my teacher’s homes. We had olive tapenade and toast and gbenjet (strong traditional sheep’s milk cheese) for appetizers, spaghetti with octopus sauce as a main course, and a wonderful strawberry-banana meringue cake for dessert. Thanks again, GC! It was the best meal we had while LW was here.

I’ll leave off here for now, and pick up with Karnival festivities next post J

And coming soon to a post near you - photos to go along with the above!

Is-Sena t-Tajba! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2012! Is-Sena t-Tajba!



Since I've been busy and bad about updating the blog, one of my "re-solutions" (another post in themselves, coming to a site near you soon) is to update at the very least once every two weeks, if not every week. Feel free to email and/or otherwise bother me to do so!



With a few time-turner spins or a pop into the TARDIS, let's head back to mid-November 2011.

We (my fellow Fulbrighter and flatmate PG) headed into Valletta in the rain to attempt to find the Mediterranean Conference Centre in order to attend the National Book Fair! [Was there ever any doubt that if there was a book fair, I would manage to find it? I just let my bibliophile (akin to spidey) senses tingle until we got there ;D] The hall that the Fair was held in is the ‘Sacra Infermeria’ Hall, which was once the Long Ward of the Holy Infirmary of the Knights of the Order of St. John. It is one of the longest halls in Europe and was recognized as an architectural feat in the 16th century when it was constructed. Only in Malta would you hold a Book Fair in a Holy Infirmary!

We spent a couple of hours browsing, and frequently told each other: "Remember, you can't take too much stuff home!" Drawing upon the very deepest reserves of my willpower, I managed to leave with only 5 books! I got a history of Malta from 1884 (for only 3 euro!), a new British edition hardback of HP&tHBP, and 3 small kids books in Maltese (that's about the level I can read!). It was really good to see that there are a variety of things being published in Maltese [remind me to go on a rant-ish tangent about ebooks and the Maltese language later] and it was fun just to talk to the publishers and to see what was on offer.



The next evening, we ventured to the closest (and only) Tex-Mex restaurant, hankering for some tastes of home, even though all three of us are much more used to Mex-Mex than Tex-Mex, but hey - we were getting desperate. we also brought along GG's flatmate VF, a really sweet girl from Greece who had never had Mexican food. I ordered what was termed a Chicken Enchilada, but was more like slightly soggy tortillas, some form of mozzarella cheese, and a strangely spiced chicken with small sides of barbeque beans and a weird coleslaw. The restaurant is also a bar, so we were regaled with intoxicated ladies' renditions of "I'm Sexy and I Know It" at intervals throughout dinner. The other girls' orders weren't much better, and we certainly shan't be going to that place again. The one good (and funny) thing that we did get there is that the bartender was Canadian, and in some sort of North-American-Continent-Pride-Haze decided to give us free drinks! I had some sort of strawberry and cream concoction (virgin for me, of course) and the girls tried various funny-named drinks. We tipped him for his generosity, collected our leftovers (my chicken turned into a chicken sandwich with a new sauce the next day), and vowed not to return.


This seems to happen in many "ethnic" restaurants here, but we were initially confused as to why the first two pages of our menu was burgers and pizza when this is a Tex-Mex restaurant.

In many places that we've been in (we have found some very tasty exceptions, of course), no matter what kind of food the place purports to have, they will also have faux-Italian/Maltese options, such as pizza, sandwiches on local bread, or pasta dishes. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of all three of these categories - but if I wanted a pizza, I would have gone to a pizzeria! I came into your restaurant for the specific type of food you offer! Please offer more options there rather than so-so versions of other foods.

As part of my research and involvement in the culture here, I am studying and interviewing both public figures and home cooks about Maltese cuisine.

Again, there's enough material for a few more separate posts about this, but just a brief mention here: the food is a blend of other cultures (including mainly Sicilian, Italian, French, British, and North African) with ingredients that are available on this island nation. Of course, with the increase in international trade and Malta's entry into the EU in 2008, there is much better access to foreign ingredients and tastes. Some of the most popular traditional foods include fenek (rabbit), which is often made into a savoury (note my UK spelling!) tomato stew and served over pasta or baked into a pie; bragoli, also called ‘beef olives,’ as they resemble stuffed olives in that they are a meatball-type filling wrapped with thin slices of beef; lampuki (a type of fish very similar to Mahi-mahi, see one of my older posts for my first time cooking it!); klamar, a stuffed calamari; qaqocc mimli (stuffed artichokes); majjal ghad-dobbu (boiled pork); kannoli (like the Italian cannoli); all sorts of baked pasta and rice dishes, and lots of vegetable based soups and stews. Of course, this is by no means an extensive list, just a taste of dishes.

I am in the process of scheduling a couple more interviews/meet-ups with some local chefs, so reports on that to come.

For now, it’s off to finalize lesson plans for my University lecture tomorrow and have a biskuti tar-rahal (village cookie) with some tea, as I’ve made myself hungry writing about all of this food! If you’re in CA, go have some great authentic Mexican food for me!

Promising more updates soon,

MH