Expats in Malta

Ooops! Please, forgive us!

2009-01-26T23:31:00.007+01:00

Yes, we have been terrible. We have received dozens of emails from old and new friends wondering if the island had swallowed us in a hidden cave or the wind had taken us away...

Sorry, sorry, sorry! We have been so terribly busy that we couldn't find the time to write or post photos or just think about this blog.

Yes, please accept our apologies. We didn't think that actually there is people out there willing to read our erratic memoirs.

Lots has happened since Sept. 29th. We will now post a few photos and try to fill the gap.

Please, go back to 2008 in the Blog Archive and you will see some new posts about the missing months! :-)

November Highlights

2008-11-29T01:20:00.001+01:00

Here will will have som e November shots... please, wait :-)

October Highlights part 2

2008-10-31T00:58:00.000+01:00

The house started to get a little more homely feeling...

we still went to

swim...

and we visited Edward's 200 years old farm.

Then we went a few days back to feel Rome in Fall and...

Just in time for Halloween!

October Highlights part 1

2008-10-29T00:43:00.001+01:00

Here a few shots from October, let's see...

Our mornings start at 6.30, we wait for the schoolbus...

and the day starts for all of us.

In October we met Geraldine. A lovely new friend from the health shop in Balluta.

New school start!

2008-09-29T22:09:00.007+02:00

Here we are again with a new first school day this year. And a good one, finally!

After our previous incident with the Verdala International School (or to be more correct with the Dinosaur Lady Mrs. G.) we had to start looking for a different solution for Delfina's schooling.

Basically, Malta has three types of schools: public schools, church schools and independent schools. We quickly opted for finding an independent school which would suite as much as possible our idea of a modern place for learning, with lots of activities, an international flare and a solid curriculum.

We then started driving around and around visiting most of the independent schools on the island. This was also extremely interesting because of the unexpected variety of institutions we could find on such a small territory. Many to choose from, really.

Another amazing discovery was that, being just a few days before the beginning of the school year, all the schools in Malta were actually very busy painting their whole facilities anew.

Now, we don't know what the praxis is in other countries, but you can rest assured that Italian schools are not painted every year, nor every other year, nor every fifth year or more. Sincerely, we don't even know if they ever re-paint their facilities after ten or more years. You can imagine how surprised we were when we were told that this was a normal yearly routine for all Maltese schools!

So, after quite a few days of running from one school to another, we finally decided to enroll Delfina to the Chiswick House School (CHS). A very nice school just a few minutes bus drive from our home.

Founded in 1905, Chiswick House School originally catered for children of British families stationed in Malta. In time, the school also extended its teaching to Maltese boys and girls and established itself as a so called ‘elite educational institution’ in Windsor Terrace, Sliema. Since then, the school has kept a fine educational tradition while developing into a very modern and open minded institution.

In 1991 the school moved to an award winning, state- of- the -art premises in San Gwann specially designed for them by a leading architect firm. Indeed one of the best facilities we have ever seen.

The Junior School Program offers a variety of educational experience through: The Core Areas (Maltese, English, Mathematics, and Science), The Humanities, Geography and History • Religious Education (as an optional course), The Expressive Arts (Art, Music and Drama), Physical Education and Sport, Personal Social and Health Education, Information and Communication Technology.

The facilities include, very nice, large classes, outdoor recreational areas, art rooms, a large, fully equipped theatre, IT labs, a fine music room and a large very well furnished library.

One extra good reason for us to apply to CHS was the fact that they hold different kinds of interesting projects and collaborations with other schools abroad. Among these, the school also carries an Italian curriculum which Delfina can join in part, instead of taking classes in Maltese and Religion.

Having her enrolled has not been an easy task at first, though. Since this is indeed one of the best (if not the best) schools in Malta, the classes are completely full long before the school year starts. Nevertheless, here also we have been very fortunate and thanks to the staff's helpfullness and the unexpected moving of one of the children, Delfina could finally enroll in the Year 3 class with Miss Louise.

And you know what? No sunglasses here, no special semantics, nor dinosaur-ladies either! Amazing, isn't it?

So, here is our little treasure on her way to school with her new uniform!

A little nervous, may be, but it went fine all together.

Have a nice school year, Delfina. This is going to be a good one! :-)

Who can beat this service?

2008-09-21T23:21:00.004+02:00

Hi again, here a little example of how things can run here on this little island in the middle of the Mediterranean...

So, we got a home, then we need a phone line and an internet connection. We cannot hide the fact that coming from a country where contacting any telecommunication service is at least the beginning of a two months long nightmare, we were quite worried about the solution of our problem.

We started a little research, interviewed a few about their experiences with their providers and we decided to jump into the waves and apply for a contract with GO, the former national telephone company which has gone private a few years ago.

On the afternoon of Sept. 17 we drive to the GO shop in Birkirkara. A very nice, modern boutique, all white counters and walls, bustling with at least 15 young sales persons in full swing with about 10 other customers. After a few minutes we are serviced by a charming young man in a white polo t-shirt with a small elegant orange GO logo embroidered into it. All we need to do is to give him our Italian ID Card number and the address where we live. In less than 5 minutes he opens our new account and redirect us to his colleagues at the internet counter. There two young women at the speed of light process our request for a 8Mb adsl connection, give us a complimentary modem and send us home with the promise that we should be up and running within 10 working days.

Now, used to the abyssal waiting times and the absolute mendacity of telecom service personnel in our country, we knew that this could not be true. We are requesting a totally new line, new wires connecting the house from the central, a new number, AND adsl connection all at once. These young people must be joking. They cannot just smile and send me home saying that within 10 days I'll be sending emails and writing blogs to our friends!

We have nothing else to do but hope and wait. Ten days are going to be very long. More hours spent in a loud internet café sharing a chair with a teenager interpreting a 2008 version of James Dean on Second Life is not a nice perspective for your future, no matter how short that future may be...

Sept. 18, 2 pm. The cellphone rings: ”Mr. M? hello this is so-and-so from GO, I would like to ask if it is OK for a technician to come at 3 pm tomorrow to set up the new phone line at your address.“ I can't believe my ears! Here we are, less than 24 hours after we have stepped out of the shop some charming young lady is asking me permission for a technician to come and install my phone?! Is this a joke? Permission? A real human at the phone is asking me to authorize another human to set up my new phone line less than 48 hours after my request? It can't be true. Nevertheless, I compose myself and reply that I will be very happy to meet the person at the requested time.

Sept. 19, 3 pm. With the precision of a Swiss watchmaker, a 45 year old human sporting the same outfit of the young man at the shop rings at our door. I show him around the house, explain where the sockets should be installed and stress the fact that the owner requested the cable to enter the house in a specific way, avoiding damages to the walls etc. This is itself means at least to double the amount of work required. In Italy the guy would look at you, say ”hmm“ and would start drilling a hole into the nearest wall so to put your socket on the other side, no matter if that is in a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom or whatever.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures documenting the next two and half hours. The man went out, calmly picked up a 6 meters ladder and started looking around the house. He then called another guy for support, then they went up on the roof, then down next door, then to the next one again. Finally there they are: jumping with cables on the roofs and terraces from two buildings over to our terrace, crawling up and down into air-shafts to reach the second and then the first floor.

At 5.45 the phone is working on both floors of the house. We test the adsl, but then it's not functioning. The guy is getting worried, we only have 1 hour and 15 minutes to solve the problem before the weekend. By now, he knows that we work with internet and that other two days with the teenager maniac on Second Life would have brought me to a serious nervous breakdown. He's a family man and he knows the importance of parental sanity. He knows that Delfina needs her daddy.

”It is an administrative problem, Sir. You should drive down to the shop where you made the contract and talk with them. Only they can solve the problem, we are OK from the technical point. You only have about an hour before the weekend, can you go now?“

”I don't have a car anymore. I just returned it to the rental place.“ I cry.

”Yes. But look, I know this is important for you. I'll drive you there. Let's go.“

Sincerely, I am absolutely certain that when the Archangel Gabriel appeared announcing that she would bring the Saviour to the world, the Holy Mary was far less surprised than I was after hearing the words ”I'll drive you there. Let's go.“

We are there in a flash. He leaves me in front of the shop and he even apologize for not having the time to help me explaining the problem! He has another call to attend and he's already late.

At the shop the charming young man realizes that he was a little too self indulgent and that probably while thinking about his next girlfriend, he actually had made an administrative error which made impossible to open the adsl on my line. He deeply apologizes, gives me a complimentary extra adsl filter and promise that next morning, Saturday, the whole thing would be solved.

Now I have to return home. Got to take a bus or a cab and I'm in unchartered territory on a foreign island in the Mediterranean Sea. I head toward the nearest bus stop when my cellphone rings.

”Where are you, Sir?“ The heavenly voice of Gabriel announces to me again... ”I've just finished the job on that call and if you are still near the shop I could drive you back home.“

Now, during our lives we have all met some guy from the telephone company, Most of the times they are even nice persons trying to balance a stressful, badly paid job with the anger of terribly treated customers. Some of them have grown a certain rudeness which protects them from the more violent attacks, some others are more the in-a-hurry type, who leaves even before you realize they have been in your home. In any case, I mean, in any case you wouldn't think of them as the Archangel Gabriel, would you? Well, he was, I swear. And he did come to the bus stop and did drove me home!

The next morning, on Sept. 20 - believe it or not - the heavenly being called again checking if the guy at the shop had kept his promise. Hearing that we were still out of connectivity, he asked to wait a few minutes that he would call back the central.

A few seconds passed and then Gabriel announced again: ”You have a connection, Sir. Have a nice weekend!“

The three little green lights on the modem led up and they have been on since. The time was 11.45, much less than 72 hours after our original request of a phone line.

Now, can you beat this kind of service?

We got a home... and what a home!!!

2008-09-08T23:08:00.000+02:00

OK, it's a few days now: this is our home!

It is a long story, but let's just say that we met an angel and he decided we should stay at his family house. This wonderful villa from 1863 had been left empty for over twenty years. Incredibly well kept, it just needs some loving care and... a good dusting!

It's simply incredible, and we are simply so honored to be able to experience this piece of Maltese history.

Come and visit us! We definitely got some room for you as well! :-)

School start... and end

2008-09-03T21:00:00.000+02:00

Here's a little chronicle of one of the shortest enrollments in the history of primary school...

Sept. 2, 8.30 am: Delfina starts her first day of school at the Verdala International School in Pembroke.

The nice, old (a little austere, may be) building was actually a British fort dominating one of the hills over Malta's eastern coast. The school is part of the IBO system, highly recommended and known as a very open and progressive institution. Learning through projects, experiencing knowledge through pleasantness and warm, individual support. An ideal place for a young expatriate far away from her comfort zone!

“Were you also nervous on your first day of school, daddy?” Asks Delfina stepping out of the car. “Of course, sweety. We are even a little nervous now as well. Don't worry, it's normal and everything will be lovely.” We readly reassure our treasure while entering the yard, stepping into a complete new world.

The teacher Mrs. G. arrives shortly after to greet us with her British accent, slightly showing her South African years and her long time on the island.

“Oh, yes, she will be perfectly all right. We will have lots of fun in my class!” Announces Mrs. G., firmly holding our little girl under her arm.

Personally, I do not really appreciate people wearing dark glasses at a first meeting. At any meeting, actually. You can't see their eyes and something in the signals they give doesn't come through as it should.

“OK, come on! don't be such an old fashion guy! Relax! The lady said that they will have lots of fun and that your daughter will be perfectly all right!” Says that voice inside, sorting out the semantics of the encounter. Ok, I'll be fair and just think that the slight overcast gives the sky a glare which can disturb the sensitive northern eyes of the fine educator we have just met.

A couple of hours pass quite easily. We quickly come back to bring Delfina some water we had forgotten to give her for lunchtime. The door is open and while quickly putting the bottle on the desk, I can see Mrs. G. and her assistant comfortably sitting at their chairs explaining something to a class of 18 children who are quietly looking up at them while sitting on the floor. ”Hmmm: chairs/floor. Up and down. Interesting placement of levels. Semantics again?“ I noticed with myself.

The first day goes by. Our little treasure comes out of school, but, as she does at times, she's quite thin with comments. We are eager to know, “How was it, dear? What did you do? Was it nice?” But we get the pragmatical “Hmm, it was OK, it was just the first day of school, we didn't do anything special, how can I say anything about it?”.

Next day the early morning ceremony repeats itself as the day before. We then return at 15.10 as expected. This time our dear one is crying her heart out running into our arms.

“Mrs. G. has thrown away my picture! She will not give it back to me! She throw it in the bin and doesn't let me have it! It's a dinosaur I made... and I really like it! Daddy, please, can I have it?” Cries loudly Delfina, as she has rarely done before.

“There must be a misunderstanding, dear. Let's go and talk with Mrs. G. and see what happened.“ We say, trying to calm her down.

So, here I am. A crying child in my arms, stepping into the class of Mrs. G. I'm not able to say a word when I get immediately addressed by the excited fine educator of the previous day. No sunglasses, fortunately: the semantics are all there in full bloom.

”AH! Now SHE returns with HER daddy, thinking that SHE can win over the situation! NO! she canNOT have her drawing!“

”Hmm, sorry... there must be a misunderstanding... I would like to find out what happened... My daughter would just like to bring home a drawing she has made... I can't understand...“

“AH! I told her to make the dinosaur as full body picture and she continued doing it as a close-up! I told her that if she continued I would throw it away! She didn't do it immediately and so I HAD to throw it away! You see! ... And NOW! SHE EVEN COMES BACK WITH HER DADDY THINKING THAT SHE CAN WIN OVER ME! NO! SHE CANNOT HAVE THE DRAWING! Even if after she has done it again as I asked!”

”Hmm, I understand...“ I reply trying to make some sense out of what it was just said to me. ”Well, as you see, Delfina is very distressed about her drawing. You say that at the end she has actually done what you had asked and she just would like to keep a drawing she likes... May be... we could try to work around this...“

”OH NO! NEVER! You see, if I now give her her drawing, I will loose all my authority in front of the child! Then, she will think that SHE can do anything SHE likes because then HER daddy comes and let HER be as she pleases! You see, I surely cannot loose my authority with a child! I will surely not give her that drawing!“

”I see... thank you very much for today Mrs. G.“ I replied while walking out of the temple of purity and wisdom which should mold the minds of the future of our countries.

Now, looking back at any recent pedagogical method (let's say since early 1900) you cannot really find any mentioning of this way of acquiring authority with children in primary school. Specially, on their first days of school, if you like. Definitely the IBO Primary School Curriculum does not comply with this kind of practice and, actually, even dog-trainers have not so recently realized the value of reward as a learning incentive in contrast to the old punishment-based teaching methods.

Let's say that if somebody needs this way to assess his/her position with a child, she/he is not worth the paper of her teacher's degree and definitely will not be allowed to treat our daughter in this way again.

It's a pity, the Verdala school seems to be a very nice institution: highly recommended, with very fine teachers and a high standards. We truly looked forward having Delfina at this school.

Well, not this year, for sure.

Back to square one, again. The good thing is that all the other schools in Malta start at the end of September and Delfina will get almost an extra month Summer holidays! :-)

Learning about people and places...

2008-09-02T00:01:00.000+02:00

We thought we had found a nice place to live in. Well, we didn't tell you about it before because first we wanted to be certain that everything was in order...

This morning the first cold shower came when Nick (our young wonderfully British real estate agent) called us to say that the owner not only didn't want to lower the price, but actually he wanted it raised from what advertised!

Taken by an urge of generosity, the landlord then proposed that we could actually pay a little less (let's say 50 euros/month) if in the contract we committed to fix at our expenses the water damages from the roof and the wooden beams eaten away by the woodworms.

So, let's see... about 100 square meters of roofing times the price of reparations/meter plus the new coating... plus repairing and treating the beams (may be even replace one or two)... plus discovering and fixing a few other problems while doing the original job... Well, that should be a very good deal! We would probably spend around 2-3000 euros while saving 600 on a one year lease. Fantastic!!!

Or not?

Back to square one. OK, fine, no problem, that's part of life.

We like the area, though. Just a few miles North of the main action, about 6 minutes drive from the school, walking distance from a lovely bay of crystal clear water, a very quiet neighborhood and a charming (unreadable) name: Bahar ic-Caghaq, pronounced more or less Bahar itch haar (please, don't ask how they got those sounds out of those letters we don't have a clue, of course). The name is also evocative: ”sea of pebbles“ is the translation, nice.

At this point we decide to start searching for similar properties in the area, possibly featuring a landlord with a less developed sense of humor than the first one, of course. We are quick and determined and we immediately start calling all the agents sending out the tam-tam: “Please show us all the properties you know in Bahar ic-Caghaq! We love it there!”

We finally got to the afternoon and on the way to some errands, we thought it would have been nice to have a little swim in our new found paradise, the lovely bay mother of our dreams of a new home, a new life and a new peace...

”Oh NO! you don't really want to swim THERE! Do you?“ said with terror the 19-years-old young woman who had joined us on our innocent mission...

”Humm... why?... is something wrong there?...“ we asked with a slight sense of premonition.

Now, you know that if you invite the young daughter of some friends to a swim with your family on a Sept. 1st hot afternoon, just a few miles North the coast of North Africa, the young lady should be happy about it and definitely not be too choosy about time and place. You just know that she's been raised well enough not to put up a tantrum for no reason in front of a couple of grown-ups friends of mom and pop... You know that. So, what's going on here?

”But everybody knows that you cannot swim there!” - she cries - “There are even the signs from the Health Department! It's because of the dump! You see that green hill over there? That's not just a hill, that's the huge pile of trash of the old landfill! This whole area is not a good place to be in! When the winds blows in your direction you can definitely smell where you are! You CAN'T really think to stay here, can you?“

”Sea of pebbles“ what a wonderful euphemism!

Strange enough, we just decided to start looking for properties in a different part of the island...

Aug. 31: finally a few hours at the beach!

2008-09-01T23:15:00.000+02:00

Yes, finally we also got a few hours of Summer holidays this year. WOW!

Francesca and Hannah took us to Golden Bay on the West Coast and we had a lovely afternoon at the beach.

Well, judging from these first few days, it does seem that this ”starting a new life in Malta“ looks more like ”having a fun holiday in Malta“, but... hey, after all what we have been through, we do deserve some rest don't we? :-)

Just to top it off, here's the sunset we saw from the front terrace today:

Aug. 28-30: the hunting days

2008-08-30T21:03:00.000+02:00

Hi again,

three days have gone hunting down places to live in. Not an easy task considering the different factors involved: hundreds of cheap tourist accommodations in 1970's style with golden anodized aluminum window frames, outrageously priced apartments with badly kept furniture from 1965, enough fake Louis XIV to make Ikea look like the MOMA and much more: help!

One interesting aspect is that more often than you can imagine, the outside of the buildings and even how the roads look have NOTHING to do with what you'll find inside the apartments. One good example is when we got to visit this apartment in the heart of St. Julian.

The old little street crawling up the hill is shaped by the traditional Maltese family houses with their typical limestone brick walls and enclosed balconies.

Here we are thinking about the British Colonization, the arab influences, the fishermen, the wooden boats with the fortune bringing eye carved on to them, the Knights et all when we stop by a front door. Golden anodized aluminum and darkened glass greets us again! We try to hold our breaths. Up three steps and we are in a dark, little hallway where the handmade leaves of an iron rail of a staircase winds up and around an elevator shaft made by the same maniac who made the front door. The walls haven't seen the kindness of a brush since WWII.

Voices of elderly women. The squeaking of a door opening in the darkness casts some light on the hallway. Two figures risen straight out of an Middle-Eastern version of Psyco look at us and shut the door again with a loud BANG!

“Hello and welcome, come right in!” says the middle-aged man from the door on the opposite side of the landing. “Please come in” encourages us the young lady from the agency with her leopard high heels sandals, red fingernail polish, a tight black skirt rapped around her prosperous waist and a white shirt on the verge to explode.

We step in and we find ourselves in a brand new I-would-like-to-be-a-New-Yorker's-penthouse ground floor apartment with halogen spots built into the ceiling, custom-made furniture in exotic wood veneers, floor-to-ceiling windows opening on the central courtyard, central AC system, hi-fi, a 36 inches flat screen TV and white leather couches!!!

How about that? What will we see next? We are ready, now. Or not? :-)

27/08: Arrival's surprises

2008-08-27T14:30:00.000+02:00

We are welcomed by Francesca at Luqa airport. After a little running around to Delfina's school, we meet Nicholas, our real estate agent and drive to the apartment we had booked for a few days while looking for a more permanent address...

Surprise nr. 2: the placeis a dump! :-(While Nicholas is feeling terrible about it and brought us to his very home to rest and eat some sandwiches (how many real estate agents would do that?)...

Surprise nr. 3: Francesca and Tom invites us to stay at their place!

We are just in awe. Francesca, Tom, Rebecca and Hannah are so wonderful and warm. The house is just fantastic and welcoming. We couldn't dream anything like it!

So, here we are in Melliha, having a little swim before having some well deserved sleep...

Thank you guys, you really made our day! :-)

27/08/2008 day one!

2008-08-27T14:23:00.000+02:00

After a sleepless night preparing all the bags and finishing closing the house we head to the airport just to discover that Massimo left one suitcase at home! Fine, we'll get that one another day. It's time to go!

So, here we are on our opening day of our new adventure. Bye bye Rome!