Are you ready for some Football

On September 8th the Malta national football team (soccer for those on the US side of the pond) hosted the Turkish national team. A bunch of us went to the game. This game was held on the anniversary date of Victory Day, a Maltese holiday celebrating a victory over the Turks. In 1565 the Turkish armies came to Malta to take the island from the Knights of Malta. The long battle was called the Great Siege. On September 8th the Turkish army left. The Maltese remember this battle like it happened yesterday. The tenacity of the Maltese people is well documented and impressive throughout history.

So back to the match. The Malta team is out of contention for further playoffs but could play spoiler to the superior Turkish team. I have never been known to be a big fan of football/soccer (from this point I will refer to the game as f/s). The Maltese fans were really into the game and enthusiastic. I was impressed by their enthusiasm. There are some bizarre things about f/s that make it tough for Americans to take. The first thing is the injury time out. What is with this? When a player gets injured the clock continues to run. Officials keep track of the time that play is stopped for injury. Then this time is added to the end of each half so there is a full 45 minutes per half. As you are on the edge of your seat (as much as anyone can be for f/s) for the final seconds of the game the announcer comes over the loud speaker there are four minutes of injury time. So play will continue for another four minutes. Here is the problem with this. The clock stops at 45 or 90 minutes. They never show the injury time up on the scoreboard. So now you have no idea when the game is really ending. Absolutely ridiculous. I have a novel idea. Press the stop button on the clock during an injury so that everyone always knows how much time there is. This really is not that complex, but some reason nobody has sat back and said “this is idiotic” lets fix it.

Since we are on the subject of injuries. F/S players are some of the biggest cry babies ever. I have seen peewee football games with less crying. Diving is unbelievably rampant. Players on both sides will dive if they are so much as touched. I know they are trying to draw a foul but really it cheapens the game and not to mention slows the game down (as if that is possible). Really if you are going to go down with an injury if should be for a real injury. If you leave the field for any reason you should no be allowed back on for 15 minutes. If your team had to be down a player for 15 minutes of the game it might make the players think twice about diving.

On to the biggest problem Americans will have f/s. The Maltese were thrilled to play to draw against the better Turkish team. This drove me and the other American crazy. I want conclusion in my sports. No stupid draws. It felt hollow and empty. I really don’t understand how they are excited about that. Americans like winners and losers. A tie makes you feel like "why bother?". Americans will accept a tie on rare occasion but don’t love it. You have to at least play one overtime period first. There are lots of other quirks about that game that I find annoying but those are the big three. All in all the game was fun and people really get into it. I would certainly go to another game. The one thing me and my boss agreed on is we need teach the Maltese how to tailgate. Cold Cisk and hot dogs for everyone!

Ghar Dalam

We discussed earlier this week that if the current tolerable weather continued, we should really get back to touristing this weekend. Because all sights in Malta are either outdoors and open to the elements, or un-air conditioned, we largely curtailed our exploring a couple of months ago. (OK, there are the catacombs in Rabat and the Hypogeum ...)

So, this morning we prepare to set out. Oh, wait, just as we are letting the dog out one last time before heading out, we hear loud music and many voices that seem to be coming from the road. We walk up to the gate and are greeted by a huge bicycle procession passing on our street. We are not going anywhere until that passes, and the line of bikers passes out of sight. OK, there is a bend in the road about half a block up, but it does seem to go on forever. In reality, we are delayed about 15 minutes. We still don't know what the purpose of the bikers was, so if anyone in Malta is reading this, feel free to fill us in.

Today's trip was to Ghar Dalam, a cave at the south end of the island where remains of prehistoric animals have been found. The cave itself is an interesting geological experience too. We also appreciated the vegetables, randomly but clearly being tended to, growing in the dirt just outside the entrance to the museum portion of the facility. When you first walk into the cave, you can see the only portion that still has animal bones. The rest have been excavated. The cave is a pretty good exhibit, especially by Malta standards where at many sites all the good stuff has been removed and can be viewed at the Museum of Archeology in Valletta. Although I didn't love the Victorian display of rows and rows of hippo kneecaps and huge jars of red deer teeth, I can appreciate the volume of animal remains that were found there and understand that without any full skeletons, a recreation wasn't easily possible. The "new" part of the museum was great, though. Who knew that elephants and hippos were found in Europe during and after the Ice Age? And they reduced in size through evolution when they got trapped on Malta because this tiny island really can't sustain such large life?

After Ghar Dalam, we went to wander around the fishing village of Marsaxlokk. We had gone there once for dinner but hadn't spent any additional time there. I don't know if it is every Sunday but there was a huge flea market type situation all along the water. There was some fish for sale (although I am pretty sure this wasn't the fish market) and some produce (which was very convenient because most things aren't open on Sundays in Malta) but mostly it was the usual flea market stuff. We did find peanuts at a ridiculously low price (we snack on nuts a lot and at the store it is so expensive, for such small quantities, we have been begging parents to ship us lovely Costco-sized bags to keep our habit up). I got a little hungry grumpy after every single restaurant and cafe along a 1/4 mi. stretch of waterfront was full so we pulled out the nuts and discovered why they were so cheap. They were raw. The roasting instructions I found on the internet required removing the red papery stuff from the nut and I have to say roasting peanuts is the biggest PITA ... probably even worse than cooking Indian food, which is time consuming and a huge PITA. We have decided that the next batch of roasting will not include the removal of that stuff and we'll just deal with it.

September in Malta

Both glorious and painful. The temperature has not gotten over 30C in a whole week! That means I can actually leave the house after 8am to run an errand that requires me to be in the sun for some amount of time. This hasn't happened in about 2 months. Kirby has actually gotten a walk every morning for the last 2 weeks (although, like back in Philly, he tends to get screwed on the weekends). I don't NEED the A/C on at every moment during the day. The humidity is up, but that just means less dust in the air, in the house, and in the pool.

The mosquitoes are out in full force, and this is the kind whose bites cause welts. I got one bite right on the top of my foot, my shoes must have chafed it and now it is a little swollen. No, it is not pregnancy swelling, the other foot is fine.

In other news, the culinary adventures are continuing and I am getting pretty good. Of course, once the baby is here I won't have an entire afternoon to chop and blend and simmer .... as a cooking neophyte, I didn't realize that a good 80-90% of cooking is just the sous chef's job - all the chopping and measuring. I can't wait for a good hardship post where we can have domestic help to accomplish those chores for me. The folks who ship out next summer are going through their bid cycle right now, and it is really exciting to hear about the places they are contemplating. Our next bid cycle is still in the directed phase - the first two posts are "directed" - so it is a different process and we don't get the full list. We're only 6 months here but getting caught up in everyone else's excitement I am anxious to see our list! It will probably be good that I will soon be distracted and somewhat loopy from sleep deprivation.

Terry and I each got a treat a couple of weeks ago: a cappuccino maker and an ice cream maker (the one we shipped just doesn't like the different voltage). We're been having fun experimenting with them. We can't quite get the milk to foam properly ... my decade-plus-old experience with an industrial strength cappuccino maker doesn't seem to help (yes, when coffee shops were just starting to proliferate I worked in an independent one, one summer in college).

Baby update for those who just have to know: nothing new to report, everything is going just dandy. My OB is on vacation this week and starting next week - my 36th - I see her every week until delivery. Baby is healthy, I am healthy, tying my shoes has become a hassle and if I go too many days without swimming my back starts to hurt. I am not desperate for her to be out yet or anything, but I am getting anxious to meet her.

Rum Drinks for Philadelphia

A few weeks ago I was at the Pavi grocery store getting some groceries on the way home. Lynne gave me a list of things to get. So I am getting the fruit juice for her and I am looking around the aisle to see what other drinks they have that I may like. Then I spot the Philadelphia Eagles logo on this bottle. Instantly I thought, "How did that get here.? If that is here do they have Utz Eagles potato chips - because they rock, or maybe some Turkey Hill Touchdown Sundae. " So finally my brain comes back to the real world and I realize that this rum drink is not a Philadelphia Eagles licensed product. This is some rum drink that is made in Italy that just happens to use the same symbol as the Philadelphia Eagles. I am not sure of the story of how it got this symbol but I did feel a need to share them. So here is a photo of the bottles.

Lizards,Lizards everywhere

Something that has been going on lately is in Malta is there are even more lizards everywhere. I think the eggs have hatched in the last month or so because there are little lizards running around everywhere. Well the other night I went up to our bathroom attached to the master bedroom and there is a tiny lizard trying to hide when he saw me. This is not the first lizard we have had in our house but, up till now, they stayed in the hallways and places with easy escape routes. Not this little guy. I quick snapped some photos of him. Click on the above picture to seem some more.

Kirby's adventure with the Maltese health care system

Our poor Kirby, whose life is already so difficult (to hear him tell it) hasn't been feeling well the last week or so. His symptoms have come and gone, so we kept figuring it was all due to the heat and stress, especially because the A/C went out in the room where he normally hangs out when we are out of the house, and there is no other good room to leave him in, so when we've had to be out he's had the run of the house but no A/C. Yes, the tile floors are pretty darned cool but only so helpful when you have a fur coat.

Anyhoo, Thursday night he almost completely refused to eat. We finally coaxed him into having his dinner, but he didn't finish it. This is practically death's-door behavior for our hound dog, so we planned to call the vet first thing this morning. Our 2-doors-down neighbor had recommended a vet we hadn't yet had reason to call. On the neighbor's note giving us the vet's name and phone number, he mentioned that the vet will come to the house. Go Malta!

The downside to the Maltese vet is that he would come "in the afternoon". Could I get a more precise timeframe there? Nope, of course not. So I hung around the room that has our only telephone because I have been very bad about hearing the phone if I am too far away, and I can't reach the phone in time if I'm upstairs anyway. Our house is too big. The vet came around 3:30pm and checked Kirby out. Turns out he has hip pain, which was either caused during one of his play dates with our friend's dog Kodiak, or is just a sign of his advancing age (he'll be 9 years old in January). The vet gave me an anti-inflammatory and said if Kirby is still in pain after the pills run out, then it is likely arthritis and he'll do further testing, but if he is good as new then there was probably just some accident when the dogs were playing. What a relief! I was fearing everything from sandflies to cancer.

The kicker - for the house call, checkup and prescription, the guy charged 10 Maltese Liri. That's it! I can't even get a regular checkup at the vet back home where we have to bring him in for that little! For all the extra expense of this country, sometimes we find we can get a break.

Dentist visits should not be so exciting.

Here is my little tale. So Wednesday I go to the dentist to have some work done on one tooth. This is the third time to this dentist (the tooth required a three-part procedure) and I found him to be very good. So he is cleaning out the inside of my tooth with this solution in a syringe. Somehow this syringe breaks or the ends comes off, I am really not sure which. The solution - I think they said is bleach-based - goes flying everywhere. Most of this goes into the dentist's face, but some splashes on my cheek and dribbles down into my eye. Wow this is starting to burn. So I inform the staff of this. I don't really remember how I said this but seeing that I have in my mouth both a huge mass of cotton and the hose that vacuums away my spit I can only assume it was a mumbly form of "ouch it burns!!". But for the purposes of this story I calmly said "I think some of it got in my eye because it now burns some". So the hygienist starts rinsing my eye out like crazy with water.

One nice thing about the dentist's office it is in the basement of a hospital. Never thought about how really convenient that is till now. The dentist ran upstairs himself during this time to have his eye flushed out since he got quite a bit too. Before doing this he instructed another dentist to quickly close up my tooth and then have someone take me upstairs to have my eye looked at. So once the tooth was closed, off I go upstairs with the hygenist. Her name is Lan and she is very nice.

When I got upstairs a doctor was called to flushed my eye with sterilized water. His name was Patrick. Very nice doctor but I swear he looked so Irish he could have been throwing punches with an Italian chap in Philadelphia. So he begins to try and flush my eye out and I must say it is not going particualarly well. I never had anything done to my eyes in my life because I have always had excellent vision. So when someone tries to do something like rinse them my reaction take over and I close my eye tight like a vise. The problem is this does not help flush them of the bleach solution. I tried my best to help out but I was not very useful. They ended up having a nurse help keep my eye open as he flushed it with sterile water. Once the eye was flushed out pretty well they sent me to an Optometrist.

We had to wait a few minutes until the Optometrist could see me. He checked my eye out and said there was no permanent damage. He put an antiseptic in my eye and then put a patch over it that I had to wear till the next morning, then he gave me drops I have to put in my eye daily for a week. Till it was all said in done this was the most exciting and painful dentist visit to date. I hope I don't get another one to challenge it. Of course, I still have to go back because we never finished the procedure I had gone to the dentist to have done. They were not able to reschedule me until early October, so I may have to cancel the visit if Lynne is in labor. At least I'll already be at the same hospital!

Ugly, nasty August

We had been warned that August was the hottest, worst month of the year in Malta. This year, the first three weeks were remarkably comfortable. After July's scorcher and the one awful week in June (that coincided with my dad's visit), the high-20s/heat-index low-30s temps were completely bearable. The humidity increased, but we're hardy Northeasterners who have survived summers in New York, Philly, and everyone's favorite swamp, D.C. In fact, we think the humidity is what has helped keep some of the quantity of dust off the car - well, that AND Terry's two wonderful coats of car wax. We may only need to wash it every other week to be able to see out the windows!

Then came this week. Back into the high 30s/heat index into the 40s. This time, though, we have humidity too, so instead of feeling like an oven it feels like a sauna. Further, being now in my 8th month of pregnancy, my tolerance level for anything at all that disturbs my contentment is at an abysmal low.

To top it all off, today we had an occurrence that had been happily in remission for the last month or so - a power outage. A siren began simultaneously with the power cutting off, so I correctly assumed this was a region-wide event and not isolated to my house, as the last few outages I survived had been. When the siren finally stopped the power did not come on, so I went ahead and called the electric company to find out what was going on. The lady there said they were aware of the outage (I can only imagine, the first 3 times I tried to call I got a busy signal!) and power should be back up within an hour. To their credit, the power actually returned within 15 seconds of my hanging up the phone. Weird.

One thing this experience taught me is that the pool is 100% worth all the hassle. When it is hovering around 100F at noon even limestone can't keep you cool. The pool was the only thing that kept me from completely going bonkers.

Where is Edward Scissorhand when you need him?

Sunday was a big work outside day. The garden really needed to be trimmed back and cleaned up. When I started in the morning some of the vines were growing down so far that they were covering the swing set. So off I went with pruning shears. After about and hour and half or so of trimming I had big piles all over the yard to clean up. Then I spent another two hours or so cleaning up and bagging. Most of the garden plants are thorny so you have to watch yourself. Funny I didn’t notice that when we first looked at the place. Lynne helps some with the cleaning up and bagging. She also come by periodically with glasses of water to make sure I stayed hydrated. She knows that I will just keep working and not stop for break even though my body really should stop. In the evening I had the draft for fantasy football. What fun. I did miss the news that one of the guys I drafted was injured, but reports are it is not serious. Lets hope so.

One of the things about living somewhere is you often don’t see as much as when you are tourist. Malta that is the case for us. In dealing with the everyday events of life we haven’t had as much time to just go explore the island. Plus it is freaking hot here.

Lousy Festa

So here is the run down of what is happening in Malta from Terry’s perspective. That means it will be relatively short and probably lack sweetness. The USS Kearsarge was in port in Malta. The ship was giving tours to Embassy families and Maltese citizens (not sure how they chose who got to go and who didn’t). All in all it was fun. The ship is huge. The crazy part is that it is not the biggest ships in the fleet. Still seems really big to me though. After that we went home. I worked on the computers at home for most of the afternoon. Lately everything I try to do with the home network goes south so I am spending way too much time working on it.

Saturday night we went for dinner in Sliema. We tried another Indian restaurant. At this point I give up there is no good Indian restaurant in Malta (Lynne has not yet given up). Philly really spoiled us when it comes to food. Most food I have everywhere I go now I am always like there is better in Philly. During dinner Bruce called to tell me the Eagles preseason game was being rebroadcast on AFN. So after my good wife agreed to go with me (Bruce lives in Sliema so it would be silly to go home and back) we drive to about where Bruce lives. What a mess that was. Here is the down side to festa - when you are going to a town that has one for some other purpose than attending the festa you are surprised. Then it hits your there is nowhere to park. The streets are full of people and traffic grinds to a halt. So after driving all over Sliema looking for parking, we finally give up and went home. No football for Terry. So sad. Up until this point I have had to watch Canadian Football to get my fill.