My New Life in Malta

Apologies for such a long interval. I keep meaning to sit down and blog but the last few days have been a bit hectic.

I received a request to describe Maltese Christmas celebrations, and whether they are very different. Since my family does not celebrate Christmas, I cannot exactly say how the celebrations here are different or special from other places. I can say that it basically consisted of a family gathering with much food and a happy atmosphere. M offered to host lunch for his family celebration this year, and the whole immediate family came to our flat. Lucky for us, they brought most of the food so that eliminated a large part of the preparations on our part. A lovely time was had by all. They stayed for several hours and we all ate, talked, even danced a little, and overall enjoyed some quality time together. M's sister seemed a bit apologetic about the noise levels, but I enjoy that aspect of Maltese culture. They are a lively and outgoing people in general, and this family in particular.

One curious tradition during this time of year is the pantomime, or "panto" for short. I have learned that there are two meanings to this word. The one I knew refers to a mime performance, where the actors use no words. But there is another meaning, which I found officialy defined in the dictionary as "a British theatrical entertainment of the Christmas season based on a nursery tale and featuring topical songs, tableaux, and dances" (which I am not making up, as shown here). This year the stylish XVIII century Manoel Theatre hosted the performance of "Hercules: The Panto" which uses the ancient Greek legend as an excuse to throw in many jokes relating to current Maltese politics and society. There is some audience participation, with both children and adults invited onto the stage at certain points, candy being thrown to the audience, the audience being asked questions, and even some cheeky comments form the audience being incorporated into the act. I am sure I did not get the full effect of this cultural tradition, but it was fun nonetheless. Another interesting way in which the British legacy has been incorporated into Maltese life.

Something that I found very amusing was that since Calypso's cave from The Odyssey is thought to be located in Gozo, there were a few references to getting there with the ferry and the now-bankrupt helicopter service. A little bit of ancient history connected to modern life in Malta!

And now I would like to wish...

Is-sena t-tajba lill-għeżież qarreja tiegħi!

Yesterday we had a glorious sunny day. I went for a walk by the seaside and I could breathe in the intoxicating smell of the sea water as my lips literally tasted the salt. Some rough waves were making for beautiful scenery, with some of them crashing right onto the Sliema promenade. It made me very happy. While winter has just started here in the northern hemisphere, summer is just beginning south of the equator, and it reminded me of the Decembers of my childhood. I have no desire for snow and cold when I have memories such as celebrating the new year at the beach. So I felt transported, and happy that I might relive the experience right here in Malta. Normally it is colder here this time of year, I am told, but Europe is having its warmest winter in 100 years.

But just as I sit down to write this... we woke up to a gray and rainy day. It is supposed to rain all day today and again tomorrow. Out of nowhere, about an hour ago there was a hail storm! I can still see the little balls of ice outside. Then the sun came out for a little while, and now it is raining again.

Sigh, if we could only go back to yesterday's weather...

Currently we are celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanuka, the festival of lights. There is a religious component, celebrating a miracle, and a historic component, celebrating the freedom to celebrate one's religion. So I wish everyone a happy hanuka! Incidentally, this is actually one of the minor Jewish holidays, but due to it falling around November/December it has become one of the most popular ones, especially among the children who now insist on receiving gifts just like their Christian friends are getting. Nothing like commercialistic consumerism to unite us all!!

I mentioned in an earlier posting that the synagogue here in Malta is right next to a street where prostitutes sell their services. Normally I hardly notice them, and it took a few weeks for me to realise that these were not just women who happened to be standing in their doorways. This is because normally they are dressed quite plainly. However, last night (perhaps because it was night-time) they were all dressed up in unmistakable attire. As I was walking by, I actually received a proposition! I was waiting to cross the road, and I heard "psssssst" from a young lady in shiny tights standing across the road. I found the situation very amusing. I really wanted to say something polite, but the words did not come to me fast enough. Coincidentally, I had to look in her direction to see if there was on-coming traffic before I could cross the street, so she thought I was turning to look at her. This prompted a longer and double "pss-pssssssssst" which I found even more amusing. A few minutes later, many ideas came to mind as to what I could have said back, mostly something along the lines of "sorry, but I prefer men!"  However, a friend of mine once tried that line and he was told that could easily be arranged! On my way home I wondered why the synagogue decided on that particular location, considering that everyone in Malta seems to know that the prostitutes work in that intersection. A friend who lives nearby says he has become friendly with the ladies, and often chats with them on his way home as they discuss if they had a good day of work or not.

I came home to find our new gas heater up and running! YAAAAY! The flat is now much warmer and pleasant. I had no problem with the gas heater, but now M has put all these ideas into my head about how it could potentially explode. Well, what are you going to do, life is full of risks. At least I will die warm and cozy if it happens.

And now for more on the topic of language. Last night, the British High Commisioner (ambassador) to Malta was on television, giving an interview in Maltese. This was publicised ahead of time, as it is very unusual for an ambassador to learn Maltese, and particularly in the case of those who are English speakers. It was great to see somebody besides me struggling a bit to get the sentnces out, and it gave me courage to keep trying. What really ANNOYED me was the TV presenter. She was giving him that stupid look that I often get when I speak Maltese, a look which I could only describe as somebody watching a circus animal performing a cute trick. Bright eyes, sly smile, and waiting for it to be over so the conversation can go back to English. It is becoming a bit irritating. Just earlier that evening at the synagogue, I spoke some Maltese to one of the locals who then told his brother "diġà jitkellem bil-Malti w ilu hawn tlett xhur biss!" ("he already speaks Maltese and he has been here only three months") which was followed by his brother talking to me IN ENGLISH about the Maltese language. I will keep trying, until somebody gives me a chance...

The bell rang at 7:05am this morning. As I mentioned in earlier posts, the bell is always ringing with people having some odd reason that hardly ever pertains to me, so I tend to ignore it if I am not expecting anyone. Half the time it is somebody claiming to have forgotten the keys, and the other times I do not always understand what they are after or I realise that they have rung all the bells in the building and somebody else is answering already. This time, however, M was still at home, so he answered and proceded to buy a gas canister for the gas heater that we are supposed to buy. Electricity prices are high here, and there is a government surcharge that has made it even more expensive, so many people are getting portable gas heaters instead for the winter. It is about time that we make the change as well, because the inside of the flat is getting quite chilly lately. (It is often warmer outside during the day, but what are you going to do).

I told M that I was glad he was home to deal with this. I probably would not have understood what was going on and decided to ignore them along with the dozens of "strange" such incidents every week. M said now I will have to make sure I answer every time, in case it is the gas people again and we need to exchange the gas canister for a full one. Apparently they only last about one week. It is great that there is a home delivery service, but the whole thing feels so random. I do not suppose they could actually have a schedule, so that you know in advance when they are coming to the neighbourhood and can prepare accordingly to be at home and ready with the canister and the money? Sigh.

In other odd news, though not strictly Malta-related... I was watching the Italian news, and apparently there is a nationwide strike of audiovisual employees. Therefore, the news is temporarily consisting of just the news reader (who said he was authorised by some specific entity) and no video clips from reporters. Wow, I was quite impressed by the situation! I am sure living with such strikes must be terribly annoying, but from an outsider's perspective it actually borders on quaint. And did you know the news report takes only 8 minutes in this format?

The last few days have brought about some instances where I am beginning to feel more and more like a local.

There is a small shop near the flat where I usually go a couple of times a week for little things. A few days ago the shopkeeper called me "hon" as I was paying. How nice, I thought, she has seen me often enough to feel so comfortable with me. I had to go back the next day, and she asked me if I worked nearby as I come into the shop all the time. We chatted a bit about how I live in the neighbourhood, how long her shop has been there, etc. Yesterday I was walking past and she saw me and WAVED! It really was a special moment, as I felt that I am now seen as a local inhabitant. It almost felt like we were in a small village and people are beginning to know me.

We were invited to our friend P's house for tea on the terrace (to celebrate the fact that it is December and we can still wear short sleeves during the day). Another of the guests was an Italian friend of hers who has been coming to Malta since she was a young girl. After many hours of talking, she brought up that in all these years she had never tried real Maltese food, as most of the restaurants here prefer to serve international dishes. So it occurred to me to invite everyone to our place for a little Maltese dinner. Of course M did the actual cooking, but I did help with some chopping, slicing, etc. As we sat to dinner, I was the one pointing out the name of each dish and what it was for our foreign visitor! We started with bigilla, a spreadable paste made from broad beans, along with ġbejniet which is a local type of goat cheese, spread on galletti, Maltese crackers. For the main course M cooked a delicious imqarrun, or baked pasta, which was to die for. And for desert we had imqaret, which are date-filled pastries. Normally they are deep fried but P had the idea to bake them instead, and they came out yummy! These three were but a small sampling of the many local dishes, so I think we might have to make this into a series! Stay tuned for Maltese dinner number two.

Lastly, this morning I stood in line for a long while at the post office. I was watching the people around me, trying to listen in on their conversations, basically being immersed in a very non-touristy moment of Maltese life. Someone was trying to pick up a package for someone else but had not brought his I.D. card, which led to a bit of a shouting match between him and the postal worker. It was pretty fascinating, at least to me as I was understanding all the yelling! I was up next, and for once I was addressed in Maltese.

And before I forget, yesterday was a public holiday here to celebrate Republic Day. That is the day when Malta, which was already independent, became a republic and therefore the Queen of England stopped being the head of state. So I hope everyone had a happy Republic Day! At least most people got a holiday, the second in five days. December seems to be a relaxed month here in Malta. I was in one of the few open shops in the morning, and the cashier was explaining to an Italian tourist that everything was closed due to the holiday. He then asked where he could take the bus to Valletta, and got confused because he expected it to be on the opposite side of the road. Quietly I thought to myself how recently that would have been me.

Contrary to most people, I really do not enjoy shopping. If I need to buy something, I go in, get it, and leave. If I have to accompany someone to a clothing store, it will only be a few minutes until my "limit" is reached. However, as I mentioned before on the blog, for some reason I find it very exciting to go to the supermarket. Yes, I am unusual... what else is new :)

Yesterday M and I went to the brand new Pavi supermarket in Ħal Qormi. It opened very recently and we thought we would try it. Well, it was great! It has wide aisles and a tall ceiling, and everything is new and brightly lit. Believe it or not, we actually spent TWO HOURS going through every single aisle to see what sorts of things they had. I do not mean to become an advertising blog, but the prices were a little lower than in other places, which really added up (or should I say, down) when the final bill was totaled.

The prices there are already displayed in both liri and euros, and I did what I am now doing every time I come across that: I took out my mobile and calculated to see if the exchange rate was correct. For once, it was! I think this is the very first store I have found that actually uses the correct rate, so you can actually start getting a feel for what the prices of individual items will be once the new currency comes in.

I do not think I have mentioned that in many Maltese supermarkets, you have to use a coin in order to use a trolley (shopping cart). It remains stuck inside a little box on the trolley's handle, and it can only be released when you bring it back to its place. Well, this in this new supermarket they are already planning ahead so their trolleys require a 1 euro coin! Their customer service desk exchanges it for you, requesting the correct Lm0.43 for €1. So this represented my first official "use" of the euro in Malta! I have saved the coin, and can now use it the next time we go to buy food... or perhaps if I travel to one of the eurozone countries. Very exciting indeed!

I was about to prepare broccoli last night, when I discovered a live snail on it. It had been in the refrigerator overnight, and yet it was still alive and well. It had even done a little bit of its dirty business right on the broccoli. I found it gross, but M said this proved that the vegetables we get are fresh and come straight from the farmers. Well, he is right, but... yuck. I washed it thoroughly and then steaming does kill everything. Then I took little snail downstairs and placed it on a plant. That was my good deed for the week.

The electrician was here yesterday as well, as there are a number of things to fix around the flat. I consider myself very useful with things around the house such as hammering, putting furniture together, drilling, and the like. But I find electricity very intimidating. Perhaps it was too many electric shocks as a child (yes, I did know you are not supposed to touch plugs with wet hands nor pull on wires, but some things have to be learned the hard way). I watched intriguingly as he installed a ceiling light. I would have been afraid to go near the wires. To make it more interesting, there was no light in the room so I had to aim a steady light onto it, or perhaps risk his electrocution.

I did learn that in Malta they do not put light switches inside the bathroom. Now that this was pointed out, in retrospect I do realise that every house I have been to has their bathroom light switches outside the door. It seems a little excessively cautious. Many other countries have light switches inside the bathroom and I have never heard of any problems. I can also envision many older siblings turning the lights off as a way to torment younger siblings in the middle of a shower. Poor Maltese youngsters.

I think it has become pretty evident that I am a big language nerd. So I plan to have a recurrent series on the Maltese language from time to time.

I continue to study it on my own, and continue to make progress despite finding it hard to find people who are willing to let me practice. The other day I once again tried, at the post office, and the post office man (What would he be called? Not the postman, as he is the one who delivers the post...) did understand me but he repeated everything back to me in English. I still count that as a success, as I was able to convey what I wanted in Maltese.

As far as listening comprehension, however, I can now sit through the news broadcast and understand everything. Well, not every single word perhaps, but I do get the meaning of the news stories. The same applies to reading newspaper articles. So the listening/reading part is doing well, now I only need a way to practice speaking and writing! Any volunteers out there? M and I do try to have conversations in Maltese every now and then, but it never lasts. Once you are used to speaking a language with someone, it is practically impossible to change. I wonder if linguists have written about this.

While doing my Maltese lesson, I came upon the verb "xegħel" (shel) which apparently meant "to light"... well, it does, but according to the dictionary it means: "to kindle, to light, to illume, to illuminate, to switch on, TO RAISE OR STIR UP A REBELLION."  The first set of meanings are all related, but then it really gets interesting! I wonder if this can cause misunderstandings, and if ever the request to kindle a fire was responsible for starting a rebellion.

Wow, thank you everyone for all those comments. You make me feel very popular! I see that the little blog now has an international readership, and I am amazed and flattered. This thing is slowly taking a life of its own.

I managed to get my haircut. After much thinking and searching, a lightbulb went off in my head: the hotel nearby! Surely, tourists cannot be expected to plan ahead. So I walked in to their salon and was able to get a nice trim with no appointment. She charged a little more than the other places, but I considered it a “convenience fee” so that I would not have to wait until next week! I have now learned my lesson, that the Maltese take their hair very seriously, and in the future I will know to plan ahead. The haircut included a hairwash, and that was very nice. I think the last time somebody else washed my hair I was five years old. That little chair they use is very neat, as you are sitting but the water does not go down your back. Pretty impressive!

To match my new short hair, the warm weather is back! I was afraid that winter was setting in, but we had another glorious day which allowed the breeze to brush by the sides of my head. The combination of sun and short hair was very pleasant indeed.

It has been a bit lonely the last couple of nights, as M had to travel for work so the flat has been empty. Just my luck, I turned on the TV and the local show Xarabank, which is a sort of discussion show dealing with a new topic each week, had a special on people who have seen ghosts. Needless to say I turned it off, but it made me feel very creepy. A friend who stayed in the flat last year before we were living here claims and swears that he felt a ghost here, so of course all of that came to mind. In the end I controlled myself but the human mind can really scare itself!

In other news, the first friend I have made here in Malta has decided to move to Gozo, our neighbouring island. We will not be able to hang out regularly any more, but I wish him well, and now I can say I have a friend in Gozo! And my other friend here, whom I knew before I came to Malta, is taking up a job overseas. (Details being left out at her request, until details are finalised and contract signed). I also wish her well, and hope to visit her soon on the European mainland! Alas, this international world we live in is taking my friends away... but considering I recently did the same, life does go in circles!