Visitors, Part II

Friday we decided to take things easy, and met up for a night of dining and casino. We met up with them at their hotel and proceeded to get more lost than we should have for going from the Le Meridien to the Westin Dragonera. Ended up late for our dinner reservations at Quadro. Dinner was quite good, although none of the dishes were perfect. The fish was excellent and fresh, but the creme brulee was eggier and less smooth than a creme brulee should be. Although my dad has spent extensive time in Europe, and his wife is European-born, they were both surprised that dinner lasted more than 3 hours. Welcome to the Med.

Next up was the casino - they are open 24/7 so there were no concerns about getting there by a certain time. Unfortunately, the casino requires everyone who enters to have ID and get registered, and in Yvonne's tiny evening bag no ID had been placed. Terry and I got our registration cards, so for the next visitors who are dying to gamble we can just walk on in. By this time it was past midnight - way past my bedtime - so we called it a night and went home.

Visitors

My dad is our first visitor. He and his wife arrived Wednesday afternoon, and as they had rented a car and were staying in a hotel I didn't meet them at the airport. Although Terry and I agree my assistance wouldn't have been much assistance, if I had been with them the chances are good we would have been lost somewhat less than the 2.5 hours that they were lost. Yes, folks, you heard correctly. It is not possible to drive 2.5 hours in Malta without going in some serious circles, as well as hitting some major traffic, and I am sure they did just that!

Understandably, they were hot, tired and frazzled by the time they reached their hotel, so we kept it low key and ate dinner together at their hotel (Le Meridien St. Julian. centrally located, but has some housekeeping issues)

Thursday we met up for the "Knights of Malta - 1565" performance. It was held at the Powerhouse Theatre, which was formerly a powerhouse (electricity) when the Brits were here. Located at the Valletta Waterfront, it is of course in Floriana, not Valletta. I can't really recommend the show - there were many of what I would call non sequiteur scenes to showcase the various performer talents (i.e., belly dancing, ballet, baton twirling, dressage - yes, the cast included 8 horses) and they were pretty good. However, you leave the performance knowing no more about the Siege of 1565 than you did when you arrived, and the love story was simply annoying and distracting. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend 2 hours, but I also admit I don't think we'll go again. One interesting issue we ran against was that we were to be at the theatre at 8:30pm, yes could not find a restaurant that opened before 7pm. When I called that one, I was told we'd only make the 8:30 show if we took their recommendations on what to order, i.e. pasta rather than steak, one course rather than two, etc.

What I Did Today

I honestly didn't believe it would really happen. In fact, when Terry called me at 8:30am to tell me the movers would be at the house around 9am, I still didn't believe.

Well, by noon I was busy ..... Unpacking. My. Stuff.

WOO-HOOOOO. Tons of things we had forgotten we had even packed. Things we had been pining away for. It is amazing the things you realize you love. Butter dish. Cheese grater. Mixing bowls.

Pregnancy

June 13, 2007
I am so obviously pregnant that 2 ladies offered me their seats on the bus! Also, I feel baby kicks every day now. Baby really likes 5-6am to do gymnastics. Without fail, every day, I have been awakened at that time. Oh goodie.

We finally heard the heartbeat - on all previous visits we just saw it beating on the ultrasound but this time my doctor has the thing that plays the heartbeat. Baby's got a good strong, slow beat - it never went above 150. Baby is measuring perfectly for its age, and overall doctor is pretty happy with our health. On the ultrasound we saw it scratch its head, then it waved to us.
This stuff is pretty cool.

Oh, and I finally have weight gain. I seem to be starting on the recommended 1lb/week gain and, again, doctor is happy with the progress. Mom is less happy, because it is still a net negative from when I became pregnant. Will I become a Jewish mother when I become a Jewish mother?

June 15, 2007
I don't think I mentioned that the pregnant lady who's been in the hospital for the last 3 months finally delivered her well-over-5lb-perfectly-healthy baby this week! This means she finally left the hospital and went home this week! I went to see them yesterday and her little boy is so, so cute, and so tiny, and he slept the whole time I was there (guiltily overstaying the "guidelines" for visiting new parents, but she had so much to tell me about the delivery and what they do and don't do here with a newborn, etc). She let me hold him and it was the first time I have held a baby so young (for both of my nephews' births I was in a different state and couldn't get back quite so quickly). One good thing to know - the preemie clothes were swimming on him. I have no real idea what to expect for size for my baby, but neither of us are particularly big so I am assuming something under 7lb - which means the newborn size may be big! I never thought that would happen. I guess we'll just figure it out in approx. 16 weeks. Or less, or more, depending on how baby feels.

June in Malta part 1

June 8, 2007
I am once again being tempted by rumors, and hope that my heart will not again be broken. I have been told that the documents that have been in Maltese government hands for more than 3 weeks (instead of the usual 1 day) have been released and we can schedule delivery of our ship freight. The date set right now is next Thursday, June 14, which gives me about 4 days to unpack everything before book club at our house and then my dad showing up 2 days later. Think I can do it?!?!

This week will really be like Christmas in July, between all the stuff Terry is bringing back from his trip home and now having access to my stuff again. Who knows, maybe I'll even be more parsimonious with my blog entries :-)

June 9, 2007
Today the hospital where I plan to have my baby had an open house for mothers-to-be so I went, having no idea at all what it would be about. Turns out it was lots of vendors of baby products and some seminars on topics like banking cord blood, postpartum depression, natural childbirth, etc. The schedule of seminars was totally wrong, so I didn't know when the ones I wanted to attend were, so after accidentally getting sucked into the cord blood one (we're not planning to pay to bank cord blood and certainly wouldn't be doing it at a facility in the UK if we did want to) I stayed away from the lecture room.

The very interesting thing is that they had a lovely assortment of warm hors d'oeuvres, mini sandwiches, etc. The sandwiches had either (1) gbejniet - Maltese goat's milk cheese, it MAY have been pasteurized but that is doubtful; (2) shrimp and smoked salmon, or (3) prosciutto. In the USA, every one of these sandwiches would have been verboten for pregnant women, and this was at an event specifically for pregnant women.

I walked away with bags of reading material and goodies such as samples of formula, diapers, baby massage creme ... mmmmm.... One thing I found very interesting is that for many of the vendors, they didn't have any real offices. Everyone gave me a card and said I could call or SMS for more information or to place orders. One vendor of formula said they deliver for free and will even deliver diapers. Now that is service! I did find it interesting that in a country where breast feeding is completely assumed - every hospital that has labor wards has lactation specialists, 24-hour hotlines, etc. - that there were so many formula vendors. And even the vendors acknowledged they assume we will all breast feed, but that when people return to work or want to have a break there is formula to fill the gap. I wonder if they don't pump and store breast milk - the way most breastfeeding women I know in the USA would do - because of the apparently frequent power outages that would spoil any milk in the freezer. Something to think about.

I was also amazed this morning when I was walking Kirby in the Gardens (aka San Anton Gardens) and got yelled at by a lady in Maltese for allegedly not picking up my dog's poop. First, of course I picked it up. Second, it had happened long before she walked in so the person she thought she saw could not have been us. Third, and most importantly - NOBODY cleans up after their dogs here. At first I was greatly put out by her, then I decided I should appreciate that there is actually someone else here who wants the sidewalks and pathways to be clean.

June 11, 2007
When will I learn?!?!?!?!? Our ship freight can't be delivered in Thursday because ... are you ready for this ... IT IS NOT IN MALTA. We just pissed away 4 weeks of our lives waiting for MFA to finally give our docs back, and when we contact the shipping company to arrange the delivery, they realize they can't find our container. Oh wait, they left it in Italy.

I had been joking that they pushed the container overseas and are now stalling to avoid paying the insurance, but now I am not so sure that isn't what happened here. We'll hope to find out more today. Poor Terry, first day back after 3 weeks away and he has to run around dealing with admin crap that should have been dealt with weeks ago!

June 12, 2007
OK, our container is still in Italy (allegedly) and who knows when it will be put on a boat? Im'shalla, we will receive our container some time before March 2009, when we leave this post.

On to good news ... I am getting off the island! Although I have not felt the island fever everyone talks about, I have been desperately missing good red meat. Baby needs extra iron, so I think I am taking it harder than I would have otherwise - I didn't have these cravings when I was in India for the summer. When my dad comes to visit a week from tomorrow, he will be heading off to England before back to the USA, and through the good work of a good travel agent, I will be heading to England with him. As an extra bonus the flight home includes an 8 hour layover in London so I get to get out into the city a little, at least hit a museum and a restaurant. My wonderful husband then gets to pick me up at the airport at 1am. He's very good to me.

Other good news - baby kicked for Terry tonight. He got to feel a few good ones - it was the first time he'd felt it (the other night when I think baby had the hiccups at 5:15am I didn't think he wanted to be awakened, so I let him sleep through that one) I have heard the baby's sleep and wake schedule in utero is the same one they will have once they come out, so I have been trying to keep general track of when baby's active.

And the adventure continues

What could top Monday? But of course .... Tuesday!

Tuesday starts off with some Kirby SNAFUs - getting too close to people on the walk and having anxiety and snapping, and tripping me, causing me to land rather heavily on his paw (he didn't try to bite me for that, though, which is unusual for him. Maybe he is starting to see me as "in charge of him"?) He also had some stress because some things were delivered from the embassy warehouse and I had to shut him out on the porch while the guy was in the house.

I had to run to the grocery store - less than an hour round trip. In that time he managed to pee and somehow get my purse off the front door side table, which resulted in his eating my Luna bar mini and who knows what else. At least it was lemon and not chocolate but I really don't know, in the aftermath, if it would have made a difference.

The day passes and everything seems OK. Then around 7pm the power goes out. Given that this has happened twice so far I didn't worry too much about it, and it was still too light out for me to tell if it was just my house or if it struck the whole neighborhood. Some time before 8pm I notice others have their power, so I call my landlord/neighbor. Turns out he is away for all of 2 days but his daughter (who also lives there) comes over and together we play with the breakers/fuses/whatever they are called. She calls the electrician but he declines to come out, even after she pulled out all possible pity excuses (I'm alone and pregnant) but says he can come in the morning. She and her husband very kindly offer for me to pack a bag and come stay at their house, but at this point it is past 9pm, I have candles and a torch [flashlight] and I have Kirby to deal with, so I decline.

While all this is going on, it seems Kirby's digestive system really gets a whiff of what he's done and rebels. First come the dry heaves, then comes the grass eating, and finally the puke - we were outside at the time, for which I am incredibly thankful. Apparently that didn't make him feel better enough, because he went back for more grass. He puked chewed up grass a mere 1/2 hour later - again outside - so I decided that even though he wanted to go back for more it was time to come in for the night.

My lovely neighbor plugged in extension cords from their bedroom to mine (they are both at the front of the house and my balcony practically reaches their window) so I was able to plug in a side lamp and I read and knitted before bed, which at this point was pretty soon.

Although her tales of woe were not enough to motivate the electrician to come last night, they worked well enough that he was at my house around 7:45am. He did find the problem and I had electricity by around 8:30am. There were remarkably few casualties from the fridge and freezer, mostly because lots of things were able to become Kirby treats. Hey, if the dog can eat partly decomposing dead pigeon parts without any ill effect, he can eat cooked chicken that got cool (not all the way to warm).

I was out today for a few hours and had debated crating Kirby while I was gone, given that his pee-while-I'm-gone rate is around 50%. VERY glad I decided against it because when I came home there was waiting for me the nastiest, smelliest, watery-and-yet-chunkiest poo explosion on the floor. It would not have been nice to have to clean that off Kirby himself. Obviously, the Luna bar had not yet completely worked its way out of his system. I sincerely hope it is over now, though.

Tomorrow is a Maltese holiday, Sette Giugno. It commemorates something like the Boston Tea Party that occurred in Malta in 1919. The gist is the British raised the price of bread, the Maltese rioted, and British soldiers shot into crowds and innocents were killed.
Here are some links about it

An adventure, of sorts

Today was an adventure to top all. Mom, you probably don't want to read this one. It starts off well enough. It was a horrible rainy day – completely uncommon for June in Malta, it was raining pretty hard and flooding on the street next to mine when I drove off. The plan for today was that I would do some sightseeing with the lovely parents of the lovely lady here who is in the hospital, because they have only really seen her apartment and the hospital and I have time and I haven't seen much yet myself.

I pick them up at the apartment, and in trying to not take the long way back, we get completely lost in Sliema for a good 20 minutes or so. Remember, this is a tiny island so 20 minutes lost is a lot of time. They have a good sense of humor about it, which I had made sure about before I offered to take them out. We finally get onto a road I know and we are off to Rabat to check out the catacombs. Rather than repeat the exciting adventure we just had, we decide to park in a known area and walk to the sights of Rabat, because everything is incredibly close together. First stop: St. Paul's Church and Grotto. The grotto is allegedly where St. Paul stayed for the 3 months he was in prison when he came to Malta. It is more interesting than my guidebook led me to believe it would be. We also got to see a crypt for some important church people, which is also down there. The church itself is insanely ornate, and definitely overwhelming, but if you focus on one piece at a time (not that you would ever get through all of them that way) and focus on the skill/craft involved in creating the piece, and how long it must have taken the artisan, and then look around at ALL the ornate pieces, it is quite impressive. There are paintings, frescoes, statues, altars, tapestries ... everything you can think of is there, and all hand crafted about 300-400 years ago. It is remarkably well preserved.

Next stop, St. Paul's Catacombs. Here you get audio guides that lead you through first the outside courtyard then down into the catacombs. In several places the lights were out, and we all cursed ourselves for not having brought flashlights. The catacombs are pretty impressive, they go much farther back than we are allowed to go, and the audio guide does a pretty good job explaining how it all worked. It is amazing to think all the now empty tombs or whatever they are called were once filled with dead people. And without the electric lights it was pitch black ... back in the day they only had small oil lamps (there were some artifacts of these lamps in the reception area where you pay and pick up the audio guides) and these lamps didn't look like they shed much light.

At this point it is already close to noon. We head over for a quick walk through Mdina and go to lunch. Because Laurie's mom requires gluten free food, our options were limited. We headed to Cafe Jubilee on the Sliema strand and actually found it pretty easily. Lunch was fun, and we picked up something to go for Laurie – I was bringing her parents to the hospital before I went home. When we walked out of the restaurant it was pouring down rain. Pouring may have even been putting it lightly. Where the road seemed to have the lowest water point the water was above my ankles. Wet feet! We ran to the car, got in, and turned the ignition. Dead, deader than a doornail dead. Silent dead – not even a sputter.

I do a pretty good job not panicking. I know we have our insurance docs in the glovebox so I take them out to see if we have anything there. It is just car-crash insurance. I am thinking we didn't get roadside assistance service. We both had AAA back home and Terry is so handy I think we just forgot all about getting something for overseas. I call Post 1 and because I start my sentence with “I'm not sure if this is something I'd call post 1 about” he doesn't even listen to what's wrong, he transfers me to the operator. Luckily it was Charlie who answered the phone. Charlie works with Terry and is a really wonderful guy. I explain what is going on and that I don't know what to do. He says he can call a tow service and give me the number for getting the roadside assistance service. He takes my number and says he will find out what my options are and call me back. Meanwhile, Laurie's dad has an idea about what is wrong so he has me pop the hood and he jumps out and is playing with the battery cable. He tells me to turn the ignition. The car starts!

Charlie calls back and I tell him the car is running. We are trying to get the windows a bit defogged before heading out, and I finally put the brake on to put the car into drive from park. It goes dead again. Laurie's dad says he knows what the problem is – we have the loosest battery cable he has ever seen. He has seen cables 10 times tighter than ours that didn't work. I call Charlie and he suggests we find a store, restaurant, something in the area that might have pliers and we can get the cable tightened. Not a perfect fix but something to hold until we can get a new one. Laurie's father has another great idea, goes running out of the car yet again, and eventually knocks on my window to have me turn the ignition again. It starts. He jumps in and we drive away. He had put a pin somewhere wedged into something and it should at least hold until I get home ... and I am advised not to turn the car off until I am somewhere safe. Yes, sir!! I get them to the hospital just fine, and head out to go home. Somehow I manage to go the wrong way at one point and have to drive around lost trying to find the right way back. When I find the way back to the main road, there is no way to get to the correct side of the road except to keep going down the wrong way until I get to a roundabout. I go a distance and realize that there may not be any place to turn around until I am practically at Valletta, so when I see a U-turn cutout – meant for folks going the other direction – I check the road is clear and I take it! Meanwhile, the defroster isn't working hard enough and the only way to see is to keep the windows open, so rain is pouring into the car. At one point the rain is so hard that even with the windshield wipers going full blast I can barely see, it is like a faucet of water running all over the car. Finally, finally, I am on the way home, this time I do it all correctly and make it home in one piece. I park under our very new carport, and am home. Wet, completely freaked out, but home.

In the midst of all the hoopla, I had to cancel our stuff coming from the warehouse because I got home too late. The embassy has a certain amount of stuff available to embassy families, like dehumidifiers, space heaters, refrigerators, etc. so we had placed an order for a few things and they were to come today. When the guy comes tomorrow, though, he will bring pliers and we will try to get the cable fitted more tightly to the battery, and when Terry returns we'll probably get a new cable and he can probably put it in himself. I don't have anywhere I have to drive until I pick him up at the airport on Sunday – this is part of why we decided to live where we do – i can walk to whatever I need and a friend is picking me up and driving me to lunch when we go out one day this week.

Completely off topic but it also happened today: occasionally there is a produce vendor across the street from me. I can't figure out which days he comes and he never stays long, in fact I had thought he was just stopping for lunch or something and wasn't actually selling anything. He was out when I got home so I decided to take this opportunity to get a few things without having to leave Kirby because I was very low on fruits and veggies. Turns out this guy is sort of a ripoff, I paid way more to get way less than any other trip to the carts since i got here. Maybe there is a premium for the special trip, the guy told me he comes here because he makes a delivery to one of my neighbors.

Trying new things

May 31, 2007
I ate my first fresh fig today. Nothing like a Newton! I haven't decided if I actually like it or not. Of course, given that I bought 2, I have another chance to find out. The lady at the produce cart is very sweet and I am always asking her about things I have never seen before. She steered me toward a small melon a few weeks ago that she said was incredibly sweet, I guess the season was early because it was refreshing but definitely not very sweet. It looks like a large grapefruit with cantaloupe markings on it, if you can envision that, and has green flesh inside like a honeydew. Tasted a bit like a honeydew too. It is still there, so I imagine we are deeper into the season, so I really should try again. It is hard buying produce for one, for example I got a bunch of lettuce last week and even with having 1-2 salads every single day it took a whole week, and lots of tossed wilting pieces, to finish it up. I haven't gotten watermelon since Terry left because it is just too big for just me, even though these melons are smaller than the ones at home, and rounder, and the outside is a darker green.

I also tried an orange from our tree. There was a fruit that has been there almost a whole month and it never got orange, stayed yellowish, and I finally picked it. Very tart, like a grapefruit. I don't know if that if what that tree produces or if it was too early. It was getting soft, though, so I have to assume it was ripe.

Finally, I have been a lemonade fiend. Our tree is in full production and I recently discovered that the smaller ones are juicier and tarter so the quality of the lemonade has gone up. Some of the lemons are starting to turn yellow, as mentioned last week, but most are still green. There are not nearly enough yellow lemons for marmalade (oh yeah, and since we don't have our stuff we don't have what we need to make marmalade anyway!) so I am hoping the green ones continue to ripen in a staggered enough fashion that I can continue to find uses for them. Lately I have been less enthusiastic about water than normal, so the lemonade is helping keep my liquid consumption up. Yeah, yeah, I have to take care of myself for the baby, blah blah. I have been very good about eating well, but I admit I have added a certain amount of chocolate to my diet because mom will truly have a heart attack and die if I haven't gained weight at my next doctor's visit. At least it is heart-healthy dark chocolate!! (only found in the baking aisle. Ah, these Maltese have things to learn.)

June 2, 2007
It appears that Malta has no noise pollution laws. At 6:30am (yes this is a Saturday) there was hammering and power tools. Needless to say, Kirby wanted in on the action and I couldn't get him back to bed until I had at least let him out to potty. I am desperately hoping this is not a new, permanent trend. Even I prefer to sleep a little later than 6:30am, and poor Terry when he returns!

Other news is it seems our original beliefs that our container of stuff is either floating on the Med or has sunk to the bottom may still be accurate. The government agency that is supposed to review the paperwork for the container and historically returns the documents within one day has now had our documents for more than 2 weeks, which makes me suspect a coverup - that this whole agency-holding-our-documents story is a lie and really the shipping company is trying to have our statute of limitations run out on the claim we are entitled to make because they threw our container overboard and now must reimburse us for all our stuff.

The good news is we get what is called a "layette shipment", which is 250lb of stuff sent air freight (for some reason air doesn't seem to have a problem clearing customs). It has to be stuff for the baby, but since the things we had acquired and put in our ship freight before we left are now at the bottom of the Med, at least we get a weight limit 250lb for getting replacement stuff for the baby. We're entitled to have the layette shipment sent as early as 120 days before the due date - which is next week!!! (the 120 days, not the due date) Things are moving along. My belly is getting huge. When Terry returns we'll post another photo of it.

By the way, it was brought to my attention that I had not yet mentioned that I have been feeling the baby kick for about a week now. I never felt the "flutter" feeling people talk about, baby went straight to trying to pound its way out. I am glad baby is still small and weak, I don't think I will appreciate the jabs and elbows I expect a month from now!

Diplomatic spouses, and more

May 23, 2007
There is a program here, I am sure it exists elsewhere, whereby the spouses of foreign service employees gather and do fun things in and around where they are posted. It is for all diplomats, so (for example) at this event there were folks from the USA, Italy, Belgium, Venezuela, Tunisia, etc.

We got a tour of Fort St. Angelo, which is where the original Knights of Malta first settled when they arrived. The Fort is usually only open for tourists on Sundays; hence the wonder of the cachet of the diplomatic spouse group! Further, the tour was led by the Knight in Residence - an actual Knight of Malta, one of the very, very few who have actually taken the religious orders. It was wonderful - we got to see the chapel (normally off limits to tourists), wander the ramparts, and learn about the history of the fort.

As an aside, the view of Valletta and the water from there is amazing, but of course I didn't think to bring a camera.

May 27, 2007
Today is a gray day. It actually looks like it could rain. I didn't think such things happened in May in Malta. One week down without Terry, two weeks to go. Kirby is supposedly getting onto a plane today and heading my way - less than 24 hours from now I should have my furry first son with me!

May 28, 2007
Amazing as it may sound, Kirby actually made it to Malta alive! No heart attack on the plane, as we had feared. I (sort of) almost didn't make it, though, just couldn't find the darned cargo area. I knew it wasn't on the premises of the airport, but I thought there would be signs somewhere on or near the airport property. Nope. So I stop at the airport and ask directions from some Air Malta employees. When those don't pan out, I stop at a gas station and get directions. Again, I'm closer but not quite there yet. At the next place I stopped and asked directions (I don't even know where I was but there was a gate and guards and the very nice man who thought he was being perfectly clear and obviously had no idea at the extent of my ability to get lost) one of the guys offered to show me where to go if I'd drive him right back. As they had told me, it was truly only about 2 minutes down the road from where I was, but I definitely would not have gotten there based on the directions. In fact, when I drove the guy back and returned, I had to go all the way around the roundabout a full 360 because I wasn't sure which way to turn off. I had given myself so much time to get there, though, I still made it before the plane landed.

It took a while for him to be unloaded and brought to cargo, and when I walked into the cargo area he was quietly freaking out while what looked like every guy working in that warehouse was gathered around. He is just too cute for his own good! I went over with the food and water I'd brought and fed him through the wire part of the crate - not allowed to release him - and poured water into the dish in his crate. Once he'd been fed and watered, I guess, his energy was restored because he started barking and howling.

The vet who had to check his paperwork and microchip was absolutely wonderful and helped me through a few snags we hit but all in all, about 3 hours after I'd arrived at the airport, I was leading Kirby toward the car and home.

He actually managed to settle down in the car, as I once again managed to get lost on my way home. I can generally get wherever I want to go without problem, but for some reason I can never manage to get back without problem. He has explored the yard and the house, he has barked incessantly at the nice basset hound 2 doors down who I was hoping he could become friends with (King was being walked by his owner and we happened to be outside as they walked by), he has barked at our landlord, and he has managed to ignore the gardener (for this last item, he was handsomely rewarded). He really seems to like the carpet in the study, in the absence of any of his beds or anything else soft on any floor in the house. I did get a pillow for him to sleep on, and he is currently resting half on and half off it. I think he likes the coolness of the tile floors.

For the hell of an adventure he had over the last 24 hours, he seems very well adjusted. We'll see how things go over the next few days as he has to adjust to no real schedule and being left alone in a strange house.

May in Malta Part II

May 16, 2007

Monday was our second power outage of the month. The first reached even Sliema, and according to the newspaper this one was pretty big, although the Sliema-ites didn't seem to be complaining about it the next day. The first one was in the middle of the night, we woke some time in the night and noticed the alarm clock was black and at a later point noticed the alarm clock was blinking. This one happened around 7-8pm, as we were just finishing dinner. We had some plans for the evening that included phone calls home, but as all that was impossible we simply moved ourselves to the veranda – where there was still outside light – and continued our conversation. Our landlord/neighbor came by and asked if we had flashlights or candles, and we realized we had neither. He came by with 2 candles which we stuck to glass dishes with the wax and I felt very old fashioned, like I was in pre-electricity days walking around with my little candle in its holder. By 10pm the power had still not returned and all the light we had were these 2 candles, so we decided to go to bed. The grocery list does now include candles, since this appears to be a more-frequent-than-expected phenomenon!

Yesterday I took the car to be inspected. One of the embassy drivers came with me to give directions and do a little translating, which turned out to be a good thing. PA is one of a tiny number of states that only has one license plate. In Malta we are required to have 2 plates, and we have not yet obtained our Maltese plates – this inspection was one of the prerequisites to getting our plates and registration (obviously there will be 2 plates when we get the Maltese ones). Since we had a couple of extra plates from other vehicles we had gotten rid of prior to coming here, we just threw one of the other plates on the front. The guy doing the inspection was very confused about the non-matching plates, and we were advised it would be better to have one plate than 2 different ones, so I guess the front plate comes back off.

In driving I discovered that I am significantly more comfortable driving on my usual side of the car, even if it is the other side of the road. I had suspected this may be the case before the car arrived, and it turned out to be true. This is a good thing as I am about to be 3 weeks solo. I also discovered that living in Philly and getting all that good parallel parking experience will be handy here. Finally, the Maltese do not drive significantly differently from the Philadelphians. Terry fit right in from the start, I admit I am a bit too hesitant for the Maltese but I really don't want to crash our car and I am not always convinced people will slow down for my merge.

Today I finally wandered into Attard. We live in Attard but really we are on the Balzan line and most of our venturing out locally takes us into or beyond Balzan. I figured it would be good to get to know the town I actually live in, and it is a stunningly gorgeous day today, sunny, just warm enough without being oppressively hot (we had unseasonably hot weather this weekend, in the 80s but felt more like 90s. All the Maltese say that is more like late June weather ... Terry may not die here after all). I discovered a shop truck, which I don't need because the grocery stores are close enough to me but I hadn't realized they were as common as they seem to be. I'll try to venture out with the camera and get some shots of this. It is basically a cart, like the produce carts (I guess we should photo one of them too) but has basic grocery items like bread, juice, soap, etc. I also discovered Etienne's, which is the restaurant of the Ambassador's French chef. It is reported to be wonderful, and as our food exploring has not gone too well so far, I am sure we will try it out as a treat when my dad comes for a visit in only one month. He'll be here 4 days I am not sure I have 4-8 restaurants (lunch too!) worthy of taking visitors in my repertoire.

Oh, and I discovered this week that one of the cable channels here has Grey's Anatomy on at 4pm. I am pretty sure they are on Season 1 right now, so I can get caught up, since I never actually watched it in the USA. My first episode, I think, was the one Valerie made me watch when she helped me move, so that was back in January. I wouldn't say I'm hooked, like I am with Heroes, but I am getting into it. I hate that stupid nbc.com doesn't let outside-USA IP addresses watch the show online like I did in the USA when I missed an episode.

May 19, 2007

Terry is at the airport. I managed to make it home without getting lost – the route I took wasn't the route we had taken to get there, and it wasn't the route that kept me on the biggest roads, but it is actually technically a little more direct and I never had to ask directions or turn around, so I consider it a success. Now I have three whole weeks to fend for myself!

I think I have mentioned that I had heard when we started this whole state department thing that smaller posts tended to be a more close knit community – in fact some larger posts are completely community-free. This is certainly turning out to be true! Several people have made sure I have their phone numbers if I need anything, and I have received a couple of dinner invitations for while I am alone. My strategy is to have at least one planned interaction with other people each day so I don't become too much of a recluse (and definitely not a brown recluse). Of course, the rumor is that my stuff will be delivered to me on Thursday and I should be getting Kirby next Monday so I think I have plenty to keep me busy for the next 3 weeks (see mom, I am planning to take a good long time with unpacking. Not rushing it or doing too much at all). I really, really hope it works out this way because we have less than a week's worth of dog food for Kirby here and we were really hoping to get our ship freight before he arrived, because our boy likes to eat.

The other good news is our pool is finally clean. Our landlord is changing out the water so although I can swim this week, it will be drained at the end of the week and (hopefully) new water put in soon thereafter. There is probably still a good week or two before it is properly and permanently swimable, but if I really needed it I could jump in. The weather got cooler again – we are in the low to mid 70s now during the day – so I really don't need it quite yet.

There is a neighborhood cat who, my landlord warned, would walk in an open door and make himself (herself?) right at home in my house. It does come around and is so cute so we pet it, and it sometimes comes and meows at our back door. We are having fun with the cat for now – I can only imagine its visits will be curtailed when Kirby arrives – most cats don't appreciate the force of the loving attentions he pays them.

May 20, 2007

I should probably include an update of our garden. The callas are pretty much gone now (note to self, their season seems to be around April – May). The roses are in full bloom, some varieties are really in full swing now and some are heading the way of the callas. Also, somewhat surprisingly, we have hibiscus! The lemon tree is producing heavily – I really should go pick a bunch – a few are starting to turn yellow so I think the season may be closing soon too. The orange tree is just starting to get going, there are lots of little green balls but only 2 full grown fruit.

This morning I went on another of the weekend walks. It was very pretty, a short hike along the cliffs to the ruins of an ancient city, then further along to a defunct church. I did take lots of photos but will leave it to Terry to edit them and put them up so you will have to wait 3 weeks for that.

I was just about to take a nap in the heat of the afternoon and I heard violins. I got up and walked around the neighborhood, and it turns out there is an event at the Presidential Gardens (called Villa Bologna), which are across the street from me. It is usually all closed off and gated, but today the gates are open. I am assuming it is a wedding because the live music is interspersed with what I am assuming is a DJ playing USA sappy wedding type songs. Also, as I took a peek in, there are lots of little tables for people to sit, and tables of food, everything draped in white, everyone dressed up, lots of flowers, etc. Seems more wedding-y than concert-y, which would be the other choice. I took my tea to our bedroom balcony and sat and listened for a while.

Have I mentioned I am very happy with our choice of housing?

May 22

Of course rumors should never be trusted. Our papers are taking an unreasonably long time to clear, so now the earliest our stuff will arrive is Friday – but that is unlikely and would require the documents to be returned to the embassy today and there are only 2 hours left in the work day – so Monday or Tuesday or even later, it is. Of course, this butts us right up against the second-worst case scenario – movers in and out of the house on Kirby's first few days here, when he will already be highly anxious and uncomfortable.

Ah, the joys of our glamorous life, right?