Pre-paid Madness (follow-up)
I am back with my phone card. And I forgot a point I wanted to make in that last entry: all of these pre-paid cards are made of plastic, and are themselves sold in a plastic wrapping. Just imagine the amount of waste that piles up daily from these little cards.
Also I tried to get my hair cut, but was told I cannot have an appointment until next Tuesday. I was SHOCKED! Who plans haircuts six days in advance???
Posted by
at
15:46:20
Girls do! All the time!! And where’s MY phonecall?
Maybe we can skype one of these days. Look me up! Beijjos.
hehe it depends what hairdresser you call? You must have chosen a more popular one
couple of things - you can top up your mobile
1) through the internet (depending on isp - it’s either http://www.go.com.mt/mygo or http://www.vodafonemalta.com
2) through Internet Banking
3) Auto topup
so I think it’s a bit incorrect, in fact I’ve never topped up my mobile through the card means
as to haircut, well shows you chose a good hairdresser :))
Hmm, can anyone recommend a hairdresser that is maybe not so good, but can give me a same-day appointment? My hair is quite simple, really.
I’m glad to hear that not every single top-up causes a plastic card to be wasted!
!Hola Grego! K tal?!
I just came across your blog the other day & I have to say bravo - I’m a curious chap so far as countries & cultures are concerned & hence I found your posts really interesting & entertaining!
Now, I’ve been curious about Malta ever since I was 16 when these two Maltese girls at Sixth-form came up to me & asked if I was Maltese… I had to say no (I’m Basco-French but was born & brought-up in England - now I live in Paris) & I remember thinking I must go there. Well, I did go two years ago & I thought it was such an interesting place & the Maltese are great (maybe I’m biased since a surprising number of people I came across kept speaking to me in Maltese & asking if I was Maltese - which certainly makes one feel at home!). There is so much to see too (especially considering her size) & I will definately come back to see all I missed.
Your posts on the mixture of language & culture are fascinating & something I can definately relate to - being bi-lingual in French & English, & speaking Euskara (Basque) & Castillano - at home with my family, a single conversation (or even sentance!) would usually be a mixture of the above (excluding Euskara since when my mum was growing-up it was unfortunately considered as somewhat uncouth - although now there is a real rebirth of the language - even though for my grandfather’s generation it was still the mother tongue for many).
Oddly (or not) many of your observations hit home for me - in Euskal Herria (Basque Country) so many things are bilingual (you’d have fun with the street signs & TV lol) & people are at least bi-lingual if not trilingual (with the French/Spanish frontier running through).
Coming back to Malta, one instant which stays in my mind; was while on one of those fab busses to Valletta from the airport (must have been just before entering Floriana) we passed a shrine to the Virgin Mary & all the women on the bus made a sign of the cross at the exact same moment without otherwise flinching - I thought to myself “I’m definatly in Malta & NOT Paris or London” & I must say that throughout my stay Malta kept her “particularité” as we say in French & I loved it! I was there at the height of the tourist season & although I stayed away from the entertainment centres (the hotel I stayed in during most of the holiday was in Valletta lol!) at times I had trouble finding Malta through the throngs of English, French & Germans! (Must come back in a quieter month I think).
By the way(for your info), even here in a large international capital city like Paris many shops still close part of the afternoon for lunch, on Sundays just about all the shops are closed except for some in special tourist designated sectors & most shops are closed all day on Mondays too! (Spain is pretty similar) I don’t think twice, but my friends that come over from london just don’t understand - I remember once, a friend came for an extended weekend; we went into a boutique on the Saturday where she saw a great trench-coat she liked but wasn’t sure whether she should buy it or not (cost a pretty penny!) & thought she’d be able to decide later & return. Next day, although it was in one of those special areas where shops open on Sundays, it was closed (I wasn’t surprized lol) & as I warned her the next day (Monday) too. She was leavng to go back to London on Tuesday afternoon, so that morning (before the lunch-time closing) we popped-by again only to find a sign on the door saying that the shop was closed on Tuesday morning! “How can they make any money if they’re closed half the bl***y week!” was her response, (I laughed, but still found myself excusing my countrymen’s lack of enterprise…! Although it didn’t particularly surprise me & shows how different each country’s mindset is).
OH MY GOD!! My comment is like 20 times longer than your post!!! LOL!!!
Ooops! Sorry, had some free time on my hands as you can tell.
!Bueno, nada mas!
Agur! Ciao!
Thank you Hugo for the long comment
I have been to the Spanish side of Euskadi, and I could write at length on my observations about bilingualism and culture. I remember that in Donostia/San Sebastián the street names alternated: one block Spanish, one block Basque, buy my map was only in Spanish, so that complicated matters.
I’m glad to hear that Euskera is alive and well on the French side. I had the impression that it is more “alive” on the Spanish side since it is official and used in schools.
I’m curious as to how you found my blog. Let me know! À bientôt / Agur!
Ciao G?
Bueno, por lo del peluquero… puedes venir a Milano que te atienden al toke pero tienes que traer mas dinero que lo que gastas en una semana para cenar… jajajaja, claro, depende del lugar…
Me presento, estoy en Milano trabajando en una empresa consultora y un amigo Maltès, me dijo que habia un Peruano en Moooooooooolta que escribe y todo el mundo lee… es verdad, entonces, saludos desde Italia, de hecho quiero ir por Malta para visitar a mis amigos y ahora a un compatriota… ((Buhhhh… luego de Toledo, suena algo raro “compatriota”, pero bien, somos pues!)).
Ci vediamo presto!
BetToX
¡Bienvenido Beto! Feliz de tener a un compatriota de lector en el país vecino.
Hmmm… is there only one barber for the entire island?