Looking pregnant

A few folks have asked about how far along I am and how it looks, so here is a photo of me and my pregnant belly.

bringing the dog to the rock

More on the Kirby front

I am so, so grateful that modern technology has given us Vonage. After the discouraging Monday of last week, I spent hours on the telephone with various agencies, veterinarians, and airlines. Having a USA phone number for them to return my phone calls was a huge help in getting the communication flowing. At the end of the day, there are still various moving parts to getting Kirby into Malta but they are starting to come together. He has an appointment with a vet down the road from Terry's dad to get the health certificate filled out, and the USDA office in Harrisburg knows our Fedex will be on its way. I ended up getting in touch with a whole new set of people at Lufthansa who actually had a clue, and Kirby has a reservation on the day we wanted to ship him out. I had decided to give Lufthansa another chance because there is no other airline that flies from the USA to Malta, and keeping Kirby on one airline is a priority for avoiding me having to go to Europe somewhere and get him.

Finally on the Malta side of things, I had gotten in touch with the lady in charge of the Bureau of Pet Importation before we left the USA and she had been very helpful and friendly. So, I contacted her again and this woman is amazing! I sent an email Sunday, she had replied before 9am Monday morning. She had me scan and send our application for a permit and I explained we needed the permit issued before Friday so Terry could go home with the original in his hands – she returned a .pdf of the official permit with her signature within an hour or two. I have never in my life received such service from a government worker in any country in the world.

The permit allows us to bring Kirby into the country but to get the folks at airport quarantine to release him to me I need a customs form signed and stamped by three different agencies. The first place I went was in Valletta, after a long, windy path that seemed to go nowhere (turns out lots of government offices are located in “you really need our services if you are going to find us” locations). The very nice man there told me he can't stamp our documents until the other 2 places have done so, and that his office is normally only the first stop if people don't already have the forms they need. I did get his name and direct telephone number, though, which turned out to be essential later, so it was not a wasted trip.

The next day I wandered over to the MEPA office in Floriana (about a 10-15 minute walk from the embassy, so very convenient) and after going to the wrong building first, was soon walking out of the correct office with the proper stamps and signatures. The next office, Veterinary Services, is located in an abattoir, along the dockyards. I took my first solo car journey, figuring it would be only moderately difficult to find this place. I actually did manage to get myself to within a mile or so of the office on my own, then spent a good 20-30 minutes, and 4-5 stops for directions, getting myself to the correct place. This guy saw my forms, told me they were the old ones (the MEPA lady had also said that) and that he was uncomfortable signing it. He called some folks in his office, nobody had an answer, then I gave him the nice Trade Services man's phone number. He was in (thankfully!), they spoke, and in the end the forms were signed. I only got lost once on my way back to Valletta, and it wasn't really my fault.

By the time I returned to Valletta, the Trade Services office was closed for lunch and I had to get back home in case I got a phone call from the vet regarding Kirby's health certificate – the appointment was at 2pm my time. Amazingly, nothing went wrong at the appointment, and the really amazing lady at the vet's office called me to let me know the visit was over and it had gone well. She even offered to overnight the forms to the USDA office so Terry's dad could get back to work!! And she told me about an interaction between Kirby and one of the dogs in the vet office and it made me miss him so bad. We'll be sending this woman flowers next week, she really went over and above her job for us. I think she really loves pets :-)

The next day, I went back to the Trade Services office to get their final stamp on the document. The guy there said it was good, gave his stamps, then said “What about the customs form?” Aaarugh! Because we are diplomatic neither he nor I knew whether I had to do anything with Customs, but he gave me the phone number so I can verify. Nobody at the embassy has said anything about a customs form, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Every time I think I am done something new pops up.

At the end of the day I got a message from the nice vet lady back home saying the documents went out overnight to the USDA and that she's asked Terry's dad to call her to let her know when the docs are returned to him because she was as anxious as we are that everything is in order. We had asked her to wait a day before sending the docs because she said the USDA routinely stamps the docs right away when they get them, and we couldn't have a stamp reading May 16 because the airline only accepts the form 10 days in advance and Kirby is flying out on the 27th. Such stupid, tiny little details. And it is only the airline – the USA form is good for 30 days and the EU form is good for 4 months. But airlines get to make up their own rules, more stringent than even the accepting country!! How insane is that?!?!?

So today's agenda includes calling the Customs office to find out if there is anything else I need to do to satisfy them. I really want to be sure I can bring Kirby home right away rather than have him languish in Quarantine ... the whole reason we didn't bring him with us in the first place was we didn't want him hanging out in Quarantine so it would be stupid if he has to now.

Each day we get on step closer to actually having Kirby in our home.

touristing, finally

May 12, 2007
An auditor came to the post to do … well I am not sure what exactly his purpose was, it was something to do with Terry and the tech stuff. He is a pretty cool guy and Terry and I had planned to do something on the weekend that would be difficult or impossible to get to without the car, just because we could. We invited him along, and ended up going to the Blue Grotto, Hagar Qim and the Mnajdra Temple.

As tourist sites go, the blue grotto was OK. You get down there and get on a luzzu (the Maltese fishing boat that, if Terry gets his way, will some day grace the waters of Harvey’s Lake) that takes folks into several caves along the way before entering the Blue Grotto. The water is clear and beautiful and the caves are, well, caves. Terry took some wonderful photos and it was nice on the water. You can click on the above photo to see the Blue Grotto photos.

Just up the road are two World Heritage sites, ancient megalithic temples that were built around 3000-4000 BC. The construction feats of getting some of these huge blocks of stone into place is a wonder. Between the tourists and Mother Nature the sites have taken a beating and now we are not allowed to go inside either of the sites. You can see a decent bit from the outside, but some of the informational plaques describe features that no longer exist. At least for these sites the trouble is not all caused by humans – the stones are limestone, so they are soft, and the air and water are salty, winds are high, and erosion can’t really be stopped.
Photos from Hagar Qim
Hagar Qim from Google Earth
Photos from Mnajdra
Mnajdra from Google Earth

For more information about the temples click here
Hagar Qim
Mnajdra.

For more information about the Blue Grotto click here
Blue Grotto

When you add in the time it took us to get lost several times on the way there and anticipating the time it would take to get lost on the return, by the time we had visited these sites it was time to go home.

New House

Our house is semi-detached (as it is called here, also known as a twin in Philly, and in some places a duplex [although I thought a duplex was when each floor was its own apartment, whereas ours is a side-by-side]). When you first walk in, you see the hallway to the rest of the downstairs and the stairway upstairs. We were first struck by all the Maltese tile, which is original (1920s, we are told) and throughout the house. The hallway goes the entire length of the house and it to the left, with all the rooms to the right. Immediately to your right is the den/causal living room. It is where our TV lives, as well as the phone and internet for now. There is a small fireplace in the corner and beautiful stained glass windows. All the furniture is leather although it is not quite as comfortable as one might wish.

Next down the hall is the formal dining/living room. On one side of a huge room are two couches and a large coffee table, on the other side is an antique dining room table, glass cabinet for dishes, and marble and solid wood sideboard. This is a room we expect to use rarely, and it is only of two rooms where we compromised with our landlord to not get A/C (we had first requested he install A/C in every room, he had been expecting something more like only 2 rooms. We are NOT Maltese!)

The next room, our kitchen, is roomy enough for a casual kitchen table. This is where we eat when it is too dark or cold to eat outside. Although it looks like we have spacious cabinet space, it is surprisingly inefficiently designed. However, given that we expect our stuff is floating in the Med, we won’t have trouble fitting our kitchen items in the space we have. At the end of the hall, just past the kitchen, is a set of glass doors that lead to another small hallway. About 1-2 steps beyond the glass doors are the heavy security doors to the outside. The hallway goes the entire width of the house, so if you step into the hallway and turn right you see glass doors to the kitchen and at the end of the hall is a small bathroom with shower head, although we don’t really plan to shower there. The bathroom will be very useful when we are in the pool all the time, as you don’t have to go into the main part of the house to get there, and it is also the only bathroom on the first floor.

Beyond the small hallway is the outdoors. You step out to a veranda where the grill will live if it ever gets off the floor of the Med and finds its way to us. We also have a couple of outdoors tables and chairs, and our landlord has promised us an awning once it is fixed. It isn’t too necessary, though, as it does not get sun in the early morning (breakfast) or by mid-afternoon (dinner). From the veranda you look out over the rest of the yard, and the pool. The stairs to the yard are at the end of the veranda and we had the landlord put a fence so when baby starts walking and crawling we can keep it from tumbling down the stairs if we turn away for a minute.

The pool butts right up against the neighbor’s property. Just to its right is a grassy area and a garden, including a Maltese lemon tree. We made lemonade with the fruit and it is a little sweeter and not as tart, as juice, or quite as flavorful as the traditional lemon. However, it is super cool to have the tree and we will likely find good uses for its fruit. In fact, our landlord told us when the fruit gets a bit more ripe and turns yellow it gets a little sweeter and is good for marmalade. We also have an orange tree back there but I am not really sure what it is doing or what its best season is.

There is also a little shed where the grassy area meets the tiled area, and it is where the lawn mower and gardening tools live. It is very pretty, ivy covered, and will be tons of fun to keep in shape! The side yard includes a swingset! In the front is enough room to park several cars – our landlord has fit 4 in there.

The upstairs has 3 bedrooms, the laundry room, and study. There is the same kind of layout as the downstairs, where the rooms are along the right and the hallway to the left. Also, there is the same strange small hallway at the back end. In the upstairs, however, instead of a bathroom the end of the hallway has the laundry room. Also, directly to the right of the laundry room is a tiny room we will use as the study, assuming we can fit the study furniture in it, assuming the study furniture arrives from its current watery home at the bottom of the Med. Working your way back up the hall you’ll see the big, fancy bathroom with the bathtub. Next is the smaller guest room, which is the other casualty of our compromises with the landlord. Let’s just say we hope not too many folks visit at the same time during the deep summer, because there is no A/C. The next room back up the hall is the main guest room, with ensuite bathroom. Lastly, at the front of the house, is the master bedroom. It is ridiculously large but that means enough room for baby stuff like bassinet, glider chair and changing table. It also has an ensuite bathroom, and stained glass windows. There is also a balcony.

Finally, there is the third floor. It is really just a hallway that wraps around the house. There is plenty of space up here (we think/hope) to store all the extra stuff we either don’t need because we had no way of knowing which things we would or wouldn’t need here. Also we have roof access , which has a lovely view.

May in Malta Part I

May 4, 2007
Moving day! After Terry heads off to work I rush around the apartment and try to pack up all the last minute things, which always seem to take as long as packing all of the not-last-minute things combined. I sadly disconnect the phone and internet and pack things away until next week (hopefully) when communication will be reinstated. The movers arrive early and they seem confused. They don’t speak much English, they ask if the things are being transported overseas (no, just to Attard!) and they ask if I am riding with them in their truck. I had understood that someone would be driving me in a real car and the movers would follow, but since the someone had not arrived I was no longer certain. I was proud of myself for being so calm as I called GSO and asked what exactly was going on. He clarified that yes someone was coming but he hadn’t arrived yet – I was being fit in between two other official embassy events – but I would not be riding in the moving van. Relief! The move itself is rather uneventful as is the unpacking, except that each time I couldn’t find an item where I thought it was supposed to be I panicked that a box had been left behind. At the end of the day all the essentials had been located and I had unpacked all but 3 boxes. I had also refilled several of the plastic tubs that Terry made me buy with things to be stored, such as winter clothing or anything that fit me as of 2 weeks ago (yes, Terry was right, you can never go wrong having lots of plastic storage tubs in the foreign service. See, I admit when I am wrong)
I decide to take a walk because I need to get out of the house and the unpacking. Wandering around hoping to eventually be able to find my way back I stumble onto the local grocery store! And there is a produce truck right in the parking lot across the street! How easy is that? I get a few essentials – not too much because I am not really sure how to get home – and ask the nice checkout lady how to get to San Anton Gardens. I am grateful to live so close to such a well known site. Clocking the return trip, it takes me 6 minutes. At 9 months pregnant, it will probably be 15. Not too bad.

May 5, 2007
Cinqo de Mayo and farewells to a couple of embassy folks who are finishing their tours and heading into new worlds. This is my first trip to Marine House, party central and housing to the USA Marines on the island. The view is amazing – better to spot invaders by – and the digs are quite nice too. There is a chili cook off and I have to admit only one of the chilies really got my attention at all, and none of them were hot enough.

May 6, 2007
We rearranged the living room furniture as we’ve been dying to do since we moved in (yes all of 2 days). Mom, don’t read this part … there was an old desk in the living room that we decided not only did not fit in to the living room, but also that it would be great to put it in the study as a second desk so when we are both on computers we can be in the same room. So we haul it upstairs and into the study, where we realize that it is larger than we thought and the study is smaller than we thought, and not only will the desk not fit once our stuff arrives but also we are pretty sure the bookcase that used to live in the study will also not fit. It is good for now, though, as a place to set up the desktop while we wait for our stuff to arrive.

Our lovely friend and CLO (Community Liaison Officer, an embassy position involving lots of different things but mainly - for my life - helping the spouses navigate the new country) Lisa invited us to brunch at her place, where she treated us to amazing French toast made with Maltese bread (note to self to pick up Maltese bread) and real brewed coffee (that one is more for Terry than me). She drove us home because she needed to stop by the San Anton Gardens, where there was a flower show this weekend and she had made a submission on behalf of the USA embassy – she had been a florist in a past life and it really showed! She was also picking up some folks she had dinner plans with, and ended up leaving Kodiak (her dog) briefly in my care. Big mistake on her part. I was walking along the edge of the pool to check out a couple of the trees on the far side of the garden (they hang over the pool – the only access is along the pool’s edge) and behind me hear a splash. Dog overboard! Because the pool it not yet fit for swimming I panic, when I see he is struggling to get out I panic some more, reach into the water, grab his harness, and haul him out of the water. I run him out of the pool area and close the gate. Wouldn’t you know it, he returned to the gate time and again to see if it was open because he clearly wanted to go back in! He was only damp as opposed to soaking wet, and slightly smelly and slightly green, by the time Lisa returned. Each time I am left alone with this dog the chances of him ever becoming Kirby’s playmate and being left in my care alone all day become more and more remote.

We then all went to the flower show and wouldn’t you know it – two different people asked to get Kodiak’s photo because they thought he was such a pretty dog! Apparently swampy slimy pool becomes him.

May 7, 2007
Today was our first work day at the new house. As post-pregnancy usual, when Terry got up to get ready for work I stayed in bed a bit longer. I heard strange thumps and water going on and off during what was meant to be his shower in our ensuite bathroom and when he came out he announced that there was no hot water. Good morning! (strike 1 for today)

We discover that the downstairs has plenty of hot water and figure that as a last resort we could shower in the tiny, ship-like bathroom on the first floor (ship like because there is just a shower head, no actual sectioned off area, so showering there involves soaking every other item in the bathroom.) I had several things to accomplish at the embassy so I decided it was time to get up and I’d try to catch our landlord if he was around – it was too early to call him – and I’d run to the grocery store before heading to the embassy rather than after.

At the grocery store that is conveniently a 6-7 minute walk from our house, I discover that several very basic items are not to be found (we are talking red wine vinegar and frozen chicken). However, I can find shredded parmesan cheese and Haagen Dasz, neither of which I was able to find at the huge supermarket near our former home that carried things like oat milk. Apparently, each grocery store can only stock so many items that I need. I really want our car. (strike 2)

After hanging out hoping to spot my landlord and finally submitting to the freezing and oh so short shower I decide to try the rubber band – button trick with my biggest pair of pants, rather than submit to another day of maternity jeans that fall down because they are too big. The other maternity clothing I have are either too cool for this weather (skirt, dress, capris) or too big (nice black pants). Having no rubber band, I use a hair elastic which is a bit too small to really make much of a difference. Heeding the words of a mother who advised me that any pants I stretch out to try to avoid maternity clothes will not revert to their previous size even after I do, I give up and put on the jeans. I really need to do laundry.

As I am in the bedroom, I notice that the toilet seems to still be running from quite a long time ago. I take the lid off the tank and see that the water is gushing into the tank as it should to fill it, yet none of the water is staying in the tank. I can’t figure out where the drain is but the water is clearly going straight down the drain. Have I mentioned that water is a precious and rather expensive commodity in this lovely land of no natural sources of water? (strike 3 – you’d think I’d be out by now, but wait … there is more) I lift the bubble/bladder thing that makes the water stop running when it is lifted and think about what to do. I try to shut off the water but no dice. Complicating things is the fact that the toilet is British style, where you push a button in the middle of the top of the tank to flush, and that button is connected to a piece in the tank itself so it is not possible to simply remove the top. I can appreciate that I looked comical with the top of the tank in one hand, and the bubble/bladder thing in the other hand. I finally run downstairs where a load of outdoor trash was waiting for the trash collectors, grabbed a brick, and just in case also grabbed a plastic bottle waiting for recycling. I figured one of these things could prop up the bubble/bladder thing. After several awful attempts to wedge the brick in, it was just too big to fit the space. I was able to crumple up the water bottle enough to get it in and prop up the bubble/bladder thing so that it shut off the water. This is clearly a very temporary solution.

Finally, I head out towards the embassy. At the embassy my lovely friend and CLO, Lisa, had planned to help me sort through what I need to do to get Kirby into the country, as she had jumped through all these same hoops only one year ago to get her fluffball Kodiak in country. Before we begin I head down to the GSO office where one of the GSO staff was supposed to have copies of the form I needed to get signed by various people for Kirby’s customs and vet clearances when he got to Malta. Turns out the form he gave me is old, and not the right form. (strike 4) I was very lucky that lovely Lisa had an extra copy.

We started going through step by step everything she had done to get her dog into Malta and she’s showing me all the forms she got signed and stamped, etc. One form is essentially the health certificate; it is filled out by Kodiak’s veterinarian and it is stamped, signed and sealed by the USDA. My heart sinks. According to this form a USDA certified vet is not sufficient, we do need to get the paperwork to the USDA itself which is of course only open on week days and only located in Harrisburg, Annapolis and Richmond for the states Terry might pass through while he is home. (strike 5) Lisa had shipped her dog from California, where there is a USDA office just outside the San Francisco airport. I double check the list of USDA agents online and yes, there is one at JFK but none at any of the other remotely local airports. I could call the vet where we have made Kirby’s appointment for his health certificate and ask them what their process is for USDA certification, but since we have moved I have neither phone nor internet (and therefore Vonage phone) at the house, and anyway it is only 7am in the USA.

I also learned from the GSO staff that although we had expected our car to be cleared and available for pickup today, it would not actually be available until tomorrow. (strike 6) Further, our household goods that had been ship freighted and were meant to arrive a week ago would arrive tonight and not clear customs for at least five more days, although we had been led to believe by others the customs process was a 1-2 day event. (strike 7) The five days would expire on a week where Terry was unable to take any time off, so we would be unable to receive the ship freight until the two days before Terry left for training in the USA, and we were not sure his boss could spare him those extra two days.

At this point I lose it. I actually start crying. I hope I can convincingly blame pregnancy hormones, lack of sleep due to a persistent mosquito last night, and hunger (it is past my second breakfast time and almost rounding the corner to lunch). Lisa handles it and me beautifully. We sum up today’s troubles – no hot water, no car, no stuff, no dog. I then add that my pants are falling down and she starts laughing, which gets me laughing too. Part of the frustration is that I have lived overseas in more difficult circumstances than this before and managed, for example I NEVER had a car any other time I lived overseas, so why am I getting so upset now? Again, I hope to blame pregnancy, low blood sugar, and fatigue.

Soon after I finally pull myself together Terry comes in with my Maltese driver’s license. I even manage to make a joke about having nothing to drive.

(This is the part where I warn everyone against ever using Lufthansa cargo – pet shipping). I called them last week and after 5 transfers was allegedly connected to a woman who handled pet shipping. She asked me to send the documents I had as well as some basic info about Kirby, his crate, etc. I sent the email and the reply I got from her contained a thread of her and a woman who is alleged to be THE one who handles dog shipping for Lufthansa. We’re not just talking pets, she was specifically referred to as the DOG shipping expert. This woman indicates that I need to obtain a transit permit for Kirby to go through Frankfurt airport and also that I (yes I) need to figure out with Frankfurt what to do about the fact that his rabies shot is a 3 year shot and the old rules required the shot me no more than 12 months old. Why THE dog shipping expert does not know this answer herself is a mystery to me, and how it is possible that she does not have a copy of the transit permit to send me is another mystery. Lisa kindly gets on the phone with the Frankfurt embassy, which actually has a whole customer service line (wow!!!) and after some research and even a conversation with Lufthansa in Germany, it turns out nobody in all of Germany has ever heard of this transit permit. It is moderately unfortunate as I had been told by Lufthansa in the USA that it was one of the documents they needed before I could even book Kirby’s flight. (strike 8)

Did I mention that Lufthansa is a German airline? I mean, yes the people I was dealing with were the USA office, but shouldn’t they know something? Anything at all?

Did I also mention that it is only 1pm at this time?

(This is the part where things turn around) I go home, an on the way field a phone call from Lisa that she has started researching Northwest Airlines – apparently they have always had the best pet cargo shipping reputation in the airline business – and needed to know Kirby’s crate size. I didn’t have it yet but promised to call her back with it. When I got home I ate (finally) and rang my landlord’s doorbell (he’s my next door neighbor). He came out and went with me to check the hot water situation. He determined that the hot water in the laundry room and the bathroom that only has a bathtub was operating properly, but the hot water that leads to the 2 showers were not. He promised to get the plumber out as soon as possible. As we walk downstairs I ask – as Terry and I had been discussing over the weekend – if he would mind if we put in shelving in the tall pantry area (there is a closet-y thing in the kitchen that is about 5’ high and maybe 2-3’ wide, and just one large space). He thought I was asking him to do it, agreed to do it, and said his workman would come by some time this week. Yippee!

May 8, 2007
After awful Monday, today was a day of getting things accomplished. First the air conditioning folks came to do something with the units outside, then to check the last 2 units they hadn’t been able to check when they were installed. One was fine, the other needed a new fan so they said they would return Thursday morning. Next, Lisa arrived with Kodiak, who was going to spend the day with me and give me some furry company as I fielded various workpeople. My landlord came by to tell me the electrician would be coming late afternoon to fix the hot water heater – only one day without hot showers – not too bad. I ran out to Smart (a grocery store, further explained below) to get Terry a coffeemaker and a few other things before the cable guy came, thinking the cable guy would be early because they had been early when they came in our previous apartment.

I have already mentioned the grocery store that is a 6-7 minute walk from our house, that doesn’t carry such basic items as red wine vinegar. Well, there is also a big fancy grocery store in a nearby village, and when we aren’t getting totally lost and wandering in circles it only takes 10-15 minutes to get there. When I say big and fancy, I am talking a patisserie in the store, a whole aisle of one kind of fruit juice (conveniently, the kind I like best, although the kind Terry likes best takes up half of another aisle). In the same complex is a café, a toy store, a phone store where we can get cards for more minutes on either my cell or our home phone - once we get the home phone installed. After only going once the straightforward way with Terry I managed to find my way there on my own and felt like I might actually find my way around this country some day maybe.

After I returned home I got a call from the telephone guy to schedule getting that set up and he will come tomorrow. I got through four loads of laundry – not as much as it sounds like, European machines are smaller than in the USA – and read and relaxed. The cable guy showed up at 4:30 (he was scheduled to come between noon and 5pm) and the electrician some time later. Terry showed up in the midst of all this and informed me that he had in fact obtained our car today and Malta is now our oyster because we have transit that won’t make him sick. While the workmen were doing their work, our landlord came by so we could go over the inventory and sign off on it. It turns out there are a few items he plans to give us that we haven’t received yet, so we can look forward to them. He also showed me the pool pump and where the lights and Jacuzzi function switches are. Summertime parties at my house!

Interesting factoid – in Malta, what we would call a dustpan is called a shovel.

May 9, 2007
It is amazing how small setbacks can send you into tears but small victories can also completely make one’s day. I ran to the produce vendor to get some parsley, which we have been needing for about a week now, and she gave it to me free! Now I am just waiting for the telephone guy to show up and get that installed, then I am off to the embassy to try to get things moving on the Kirby front.

May 10, 2007
Sometimes my own naiveté amazes me. The telephone guy showed up only about 15 minutes late, not too bad … about an hour and a half later he came to ask if I minded if he went out for ½ hour to have something for lunch. I can’t say no to that! So almost an hour later he returns, and finishes about an hour later. Yup, I spent almost the whole day with this telephone guy.

One thing I do need to note. Before we came, even Maltese people told me that nobody would ever be on time. If an appointment was for 10am, the person may arrive around 11:30am. So far, the people I have dealt with have uniformly been punctual. The telephone guy was all of 15 minutes late, and you can’t even get better service than that in the USA

We have a car.

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Here is the big stuff. We moved into our house last Friday. We then spent Saturday at the Marine House for a Cinco De Mayo party. Lots of fun. Sunday we went to the San Anton Garden for a flower show, and had brunch with some people from the Embassy. Monday was back to work for me and really busy. Monday morning is also the morning that we figured out that the hot water heater for our shower was not working since there was no hot water in the morning when I went to shower. Landlord was good about getting someone on that to fix it. Monday evening we walked to the slightly farther but much bigger grocery store to check it out. Pretty impressive. One thing Malta has is an awesome selection of fruit juices. There is an entire aisle of just one brand in about 30 or more flavors [Lynne edit: there are just many rows of about 15 or so juices]. Yesterday (Tuesday) two Marines, two local hires from the embassy, and myself went to a boys school to teach the kids dodge ball and kickball. The embassy also may a donation to the school's library with books about sports. It is part of an outreach program to the host country. For me it was a chance to get outside. It was loads of fun and the kids really enjoyed dodge ball. The school administration was extremely nice and happy to have us there. One of the local TV stations had a reporter there. They were filming during the event. There is no word if I was on the local TV. I figure I will hear about if I was. Lastly, we got our car last night. So all we have left is all of our stuff. That should be here this week and then up to a week to clear customs. During the last 3 days Lynne has been really busy letting workmen in and out of the house to fix things and setup phone and cable. This meant she has been very busy as well.

Another day off

Because Malta is full of holidays, we had another day off today. May 1 is Labour Day here. We celebrated by taking another walk, this time close to our "home" in Sliema. We started at the water park and walked along the coast toward an old watchtower. Terry of course took lots of photos of the water and rocks and flowers we saw along the way. One thing we have noticed is that there are many flowers and plants that are similar to the ones back home, but not. Some examples we photographed:

• Tiny iris-looking flower, but blooming among sand and rock and seriously tiny
• A white flower that looks nothing like a hyacinth but smells exactly like one
• Wild thyme, that smells exactly like thyme but doesn't look like it
• a small flower in white and in pink that looks like a morning glory

Another interesting point about Malta is that, much like Ford's comment about the Model T, you can build your house with any color/material as long as it is limestone. Malta could be renamed "Beige"

More Photos

Here is the latest update from sunny Malta. Sunday we went with some other people from the embassy for a little hike/walk (depends on your definition of a hike). We went to a bay on the western part of the main island called Gnejna Bay ("Golden Bay"). You can click on the photo to go our online photo gallery. It was a nice little walk along the sea. The wildflowers are really in bloom now and it is very lovely. The weather is still decent - not too hot yet. In the near future we are expecting the heat to really pick up and make these types of walks really difficult to do. Check out the walk on google earth.

Yesterday we went to the house we want to rent for the next two years to check on the progress of the work there and to make sure all of the air conditioners are there. Everything was coming along nicely. With that inspection we signed the lease last night and have a current projected move in date of Friday May 4^th. We will see how that works out for sure but hopefully next week I will have photos of the new house to show. Here is where the Attard house is on google earth

Pavi

Today Terry's boss and wife very kindly brought me to the embassy-personnel-preferred, most-like-a-US-grocery-store grocery store. All I can say is wow. Although items were not quite as conveniently arranged on the shelves (why mustard had to be in two different aisles, with different foods surrounding them, I will never know) it was pretty amazing. The meats were prepackaged and both the cooler they were in and the store itself were cold enough that they were still cold when we checked out (this was sadly not the case at a different grocery store I tried last week, and we were very sad when it came time to make dinner). There was plenty of parking and it seemed to be free (not sure, we were dropped off and picked up, which made sense given we ended up spending an HOUR at the store). Being a Saturday, it was particularly crazy, so in the future I will probably go during the day after dropping Terry off at work. OK, so I prefer to walk to my grocery store, but for this I will likely make an exception.

Draft Day

It is Saturday morning and so far a very lazy day. After getting up I spent most of the morning so far watching the highlights on espn.com of last night's games. God I love the Internet. Later today I will going paint balling. I went once before and it was a lot of fun. The little balls actually sting when they hit you. So hopefully I will not get shot up too bad.

After a long day of getting shot we have the draft tonight (day on East Coast). So that means I will not be going too far my computer. I realized last night as I was reading a message board about who the Browns should draft at number 3 that I really love the NFL draft. I will get into why in a minute. I need to rant for a second. I love the NFL style of you draft based on how well you did the season before. I really hate the NHL and NBA style of the ping pong ball lottery. If you are the worst team in the league you should go first and if you win it all you go last. Period. It is so ridiculous that a team can be the worst team and pick 3^rd in the draft.

Some may argue that I am just pissed that the Flyers got the second draft pick when they were the worst team. Fair enough argument but I never liked that style. I think it is an idiotic way of doing things. There are few things that the NFL does really well: length of schedule, draft, and salary cap. All the major sports league should more closer to that standard. Obviously a hockey season should not be 16 games but 50-60 would be more then enough with the current playoff schedule. Let not even get into the utterly ridiculous 162 games of the baseball season. 80 games would be more than enough. Maybe then the games in April would not be a total waste since they don't count for anything anyway.

Ok I will move on slightly now. Here is why I really love the draft. Because no matter where you finished last year it time to start anew. There is large pool of young talent that is available to take. Nobody really knows who will be a bust (and someone will). It is a time of hope and anticipation for all fans. You can look a the draft and dream about how good these guys could be. Most of the players taken this year will not see any significant action or play time for a few years. An even smaller amount will ever be stars, but you can always hope. It's so much fun. The format is a bit slow. I tend to come back and forth every half hour to hour and see who was taken and read up more on some of the guys I don't know, but it is really fun none the less. So as I read Browns fans argue back and forth about whether the Browns should draft Quinn I realized that all fans have their teams and everyone is looking towards the new year hoping to see the team improve and win it all. For the record I think the Browns should draft a linemen since what good is franchise quarterback (especially one that folds in games that are not against division 2 teams) if you have no line to protect him. It all starts in the trenches.

Lynne started asking my what I am doing. I explain what I was writing about. Her response is what does this have to do with Malta. The answer is nothing really, but I am in Malta and it is what is on mind. So I will write what I like. Now I will move on to some of the updates.

Monday we are going to the new house. If all the air conditioners are there and all the inventory of the furniture looks correct we are going to sign the lease. At that point we will be moving in withing the next week. I will take some photos once we are in and post them so people can see our crib before they come to visit.

Next Tuesday is Labor day in Malta so the Embassy is closed. I do love the fact that Malta has holidays coming out the whaazooo. I also looks like very likely that I will be going to DC in late May for some training. This means that Lynne is probably not going back to states to get Kirby. I will do this on one of the weekends that I am in the states. Once things are a little more confirmed I will let people know who are in the DC area. I have babbled on enough for now. So more should come later.