More Beginning of November Photos...See the post below this :)

^The view down my street to the seafront

^ Our first lampuki experience!

^ Lampuki frying in front of our not quite large enough pasta pot

^ Cooked lampuki (yes, I had to take you through all of the stages)

^ The outer facade of the Italian Castile building

^View down Merchant's Street in Valletta

^ The police station and funny security box near Castile Place

^ The restoration project at St. Catherine's, one of the oldest churches in Valletta - I am looking forward to going in there once they are finished in the spring

^ Our thrill at finding bagels was surpassed only by our happiness whilst eating them (See also the glass of fresh OJ and the bottle of strawberry juice - I didn't even know they bottled strawberry juice)

^ One view from the Upper Barakka Gardens, looking out towards Senglea

^Here you can see one of the restaurants built into the side of the fortress wall - we hope to go eat there at some point.

Apparently, Blogger has decreed that I shall have to make a third post to finish showing you the pictures, as it refuses to uploadthe last few. Sorry for the annoyance!

The belated blogger strikes again---only a month late!

November Malta Updates, Part One

The first weekend of November brought our first formal event – as ‘staff’ at the U.S. Embassy, we were invited to the Marine Ball. It was held in a beautiful ballroom at one of the larger hotels in St. George’s Bay. Luckily, we took a cab there because there was lots of traffic (it was a Saturday evening) and construction in the area, so if we had taken the bus, we would have been out of luck and looked really foolish trotting around in our heels and fancy clothes.

We got through security (it was a Marine event, after all!) and descended into the ballroom via a sloping staircase straight out of a film. I felt like they should have been announcing us as we walked down! Also, the security should explain why I can’t post too many photos from the event – although we got to keep our cameras, I want/am required to protect people’s privacy.

The event began with a video/PowerPoint that was quite moving, referencing the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and all that the Marines did to help in that situation, and of course all that they continue to do. They then proceeded with speeches, and finally to the color guard and the ceremonial cutting of the cake (with a sword!) and presentation to the oldest and youngest Marines present. They also had a table draped in black set aside to represent all of the fallen Marines, and they served a piece of cake to the table in memoriam.

During the dinner, I got to chat with our coordinator at the Embassy, who was seated at our table with his wife (they have an adorable 1-year-old daughter that I may get to babysit at some point) about the Embassy’s visits to local primary schools. This is a program that goes beyond the work that the three of us do in the schools we have been assigned to. The Embassy sends out invitations to schools, and if/when they accept, we go and give a short presentation and present a gift of some books to the school. Apparently one of the topics for this year is NASA, and since I took a whole semester-long class on basic Astronomy at WC, I am now the “NASA expert” of the group! Thanks, Dr. P! I guess I will have to start brushing up on my space shuttle names and planetary factoids.

The night ended with drinks and dancing (as it is wont to do anytime you have 120 or so people helping themselves to an open bar). The bartender thought I was hilarious because I just kept getting Diet 7UP “on the rocks”. By the time we got home around 2 a.m., the girls considered heading to Paceville (pronounced Pah-che-vill, the local nightlife/bar/club area) but decided they were tired, so we all retired for the night (or morning, technically).

The following Tuesday, I stopped with the teacher who gives me a ride to my secondary school at her favorite local fish shop and bought my first lampuki! It is a very popular fish here, and is very similar to our Mahi-Mahi. I got it filleted at the shop, but they also gave me the head (eww, though I suppose you could make stock with it.). P and I had our first fresh filleted fish fry (say that 10 times fast) that night. I just dipped them lightly in flour and fried them in olive oil in a pan. Another popular way to prepare them here is in a savory pie, but I am not yet quite that advanced! GC (the teacher who kindly gives me rides and is a great cook and a lovely person) promises to teach me before I leave, which I am very excited about!

The boys at my Secondary School are getting more used to me being there, now that I have been in class with them every week for two months. I have switched out of one class where the boys are just too rowdy and having me there only makes it worse, because then they just want to act out to see if they can get a rise out of me. I know it isn’t my fault, and the teacher has repeatedly told me that they would do the same thing with any newcomer, but I still feel guilty that I won’t get to teach them. I do like the class that I have been switched into, as they are older and a bit more advanced in their English, so they are easier to work with. I am helping in that class by serving as the reader for the listening comprehension tests that they will have in the spring. It was Parents’ Night a week or so after I began in that class, and some of the boys came with their parents, and the teacher reported to me the next day that they had been ‘complaining’ about my accent. (It is still so weird to think of myself as the one with the accent, even though I know it is true here!) She said that when she had been telling the parents about me and my role in the class, a few of the boys piped up. I had done two comprehensions with them; one was fairly easy, and the second a few levels harder. “It’s too hard! We can’t understand her accent!,” they claimed. “Well, you scored well on the first reading, but worse on the second,” the teacher explained. “Yes, well the first was easier, the second one we couldn’t understand her accent!” “Her accent didn’t change between the first and second texts!” (Insert much grumbling by the boys here – they don’t like logical arguments) The other teachers and I had quite a laugh about that story.

We went to Valletta (the capitol) early one morning to finally get our residence permits submitted. The office for that here is kind of like the DMV – just take your number and wait. Once we got into the office, after waiting for almost two hours even though we had gotten there right when they opened, we paid and got our temporary permits (aka pieces of paper) fairly quickly. However, even though we asked several different people who worked there, no one seemed to have their stories straight about when or how they would contact us about getting our actual permits, and then there’s the confusion over traveling. It specifically says on our slips that they become invalid if the bearer leaves the country. Apparently there is some sort of passport sticker you have to get, but you have to have your travel itineraries, etc there with you, so P and G would have to go back another time.

After our wait, we were very hungry, so we wandered about in search of a café to have a late breakfast, and magically stumbled upon the only one (that we have found so far, and believe you me, we’ve been looking) that actually has bagels! This has surprising and funny as we had just been discussing how much we missed bagels (they have all sorts of breads here, but the bagel isn’t one of them). We quickly flagged down the waitress, and then proceeded to confuse the heck out of her as we inquired about different types of bagels (e.g. blueberry, everything, chocolate chip, etc.). There’s only one type here – plain with sesame seeds. Once we had finished confusing her, she took our order and soon after brought us bagels with cream cheese (which they-obviously- do have here, although they don’t have sour cream), tomato slices, and “bacon” (which is more like cooked pieces of ham, not the crispy stuff we have at home). Even with the variations, we were happy and scarfed them down!

The only good thing about the Residence Permit office is its proximity to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, a lookout spot that gives absolutely astounding views across the harbor to the Three Cities and lower down into Valletta. See below for some photographic proof, and there will be lots more photos and stories next post as I attempt to catch up with the entire month of November!

Lots of love (and a belated Happy Thanksgiving (stories about that coming in another post)!),

MH

^This one I couldn't resist because it was just funny :) Oh, British signage...

^Welcome to Sliema! "Tas-Sliema" means "of the peace" - slightly ironic now that it is one of the more tourist-y parts of the island

^The ballroom at the Marine Ball

^One of the gorgeous chandeliers

^ A mini-replica of a suit of armour which was a gift for the guest of honour

^ A poorly lit photo of the pretty staircase

^ Our take-home gift, a small replica of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima

Okay, for some reason Blogger doesn't want me to upload the other pictures to this post, so see the post that will be directly above this for the rest of the pictures!

One cannot mail postcards at the post office, and other Maltese Oddities

Yes, you read that title correctly - apparently, you can't mail regular mail (e.g. postcards and letters) from inside the post office, at least not the two I have been to. Maybe if you go to one of the main ones, you can? You can, however, mail packages, etc., and buy stamps and such at the window.

October Adventures & Photos

Now that it is a week into November - how the heck is it already November?!- I though it would be a great time to put up some photos from the end of October. A nice long text post (or even postS) is/are coming soon, but for now, enjoy the photos and captions.

^ One of the many stray/wandering cats at the University, giving me his best evil cat look

^ A mural on an electric box just outside of a butcher's shop near my flat

^GG managed to find some of the only Halloween decorations in Malta!

^ Our Maltese "pumpkins" which are really more like gourds in pumpkin shapes. The flesh is much thicker than the pumpkins we use for Jack-O-Lanterns in the U.S., but we prevailed! These are really meant for eating, not carving a face into.

^The adorable golden retriever, Nala, who was an unexpected but fun guest at our Halloween gathering!

Note: As you can probably tell from the hands in the picture, there are many more Halloween and other pictures, but they have people in them, and in an attempt to keep everyone's privacy, I am not posting them here. Some of them will be up on Facebook soon, though!

^This isn't the best shot of it, but one of the guys at the party decided that carving a Maltese pumpkin looked like too much effort, so he instead turned his talents to a small round potato and made a potato-o-lantern! Utilizing a corkscrew and a parking knife, he whittled out a little face and scraped out most of the inside. Some people were still in the dining room chatting while we carved in the kitchen, leading to a quite hilarious moment when the only Irish guy at the party walked in and exclaimed "What is that?!" regarding the potato-pumpkin, earning him many a bad joke about the Irishman not recognising a potato!

^PG's First Jack-O-Lantern! I still cannot believe she had never carved one before. I promise it will be easier when you are home, P! Isn't it cute with its snaggletooth? :)

^A view of Balluta Bay, near St. Julian's

^ One of the Roman Arches leading up into Valletta

^ They have these delightful old-fashioned streetlamps all over Malta. Whenever I see them, I feel like I am in the early 1800s and they are all lit each night (when I know that they are electric now, of course).

^ More luzzu (traditional painted boats) in San Gulian and some of the fancier restaurants with a bay view in the background

November pictures and lots more stories coming to a post near you soon!

Ciao (Italian spelling) and "cow" (Malti spelling) (pretend the c has a dot over it indicating that it makes the "ch" rather than "k" sound), MH

Testing One Two Three...

For some unknown reason the blog was down or removed earlier today?! I am putting up this post to see if I have fixed the problem. See the post just under this for pretty photos!

Pictures, Finally!

Hi all! This past week and a half or so since I last posted has been quite busy, but really good thus far (minus the giant mosquito bites that I am NOT scratching and the cold that my flatmate passed along!). Now that I am in my flat and have better (read: paid for) internet, feast your eyes on a selection of pictures from the beginning of Ottubru (October in Malti). I will update with another text post soon!

Sahha (a farewell wishing health upon you),
MH

P.S. I have figured out how to allow "anonymous" commenting, but please leave your first name or initials so I know who you are - THANK YOU :)

^ The main fountain in Valletta (the capitol) lit up at night

^Triq Ta' Republikka (Republic St) on the night of Notte Bianca, a festival in Valletta

^ Are we found or just less lost?

^ The beautiful embroidered banners at Notte Bianca

^ The sign describing the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, one of over 25 churches in Valletta (we went into the church but there were people worshipping so it seemed rude to take photos of the interior, though there were other tourists doing so)

^The outer facade of St. John's Co-Cathedral as we waited in the queue [It is a "co-cathedral" because it shares cathedral status with another church, I believe St. Paul's in Mdina]

The next few are all interiors of St. John's - the rather plain exterior gives no hint of the breathtaking gilding and artwork within. I did get to see Carravaggio's "Beheading of St. John," but was not allowed to take photos in that room. You are allowed to take non-flash photos in the rest of the church. If coming to see me isn't enough of an incentive to fly here, seeing this cathedral in person (and all of the other amazing historical sites here) should help to convince you!

End of the St. John's pictures

^Another church (remember, there are over 365 in Malta!) in San Giljan aka St. Julian's

^A view from the bay in St. Julian's

^some traditional luzzu boats and an Arriva bus, which rarely arrives on time unless you are going to the capital [brief explaination regarding the buses: Malta had these older style smaller British buses that were run independently up until July of this year. They then decided to transition to this new bus company Arriva, who brought in bigger, newer busses and theoretically made the routes and timetables more regularized. The buses are nicer (I have not been on an older bus yet, but have heard many a story) but the routes are apparently strange and I can directly attest to the fact that the timetables frequently lie! They are supposed to be reforming the system in early November, so we'll see what happens!]

^ A Band Club in St. Julian's - not only do they have traditional music there, but also political discussions (and even fights at times, apparently)

^the main fountain in Valletta in daylight

^the city of Birgu, aka Vittoriosa, at night

^ Birgu's town flag

^Birgu by candlelight

^some of the famous window boxes

^ The Maltese flag

^ a pretty carved window in Birgu

^ In the 'Canteen' (the cafeteria) where several of the pillars are shaped like giant KitKat bars

^ the "beach" nearest to my apartment - it's really just rocks and then water

^ The main Quad at the University

^ Valletta from the side of the University

^ Chaucer's Stationary Shop in Bay Street, St. Julian's

More pictures to come soon!

A (relatively) Small Update! Longer descriptions and photos coming soon :)

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  :)