An-American-in-Malta

The Dark in Malta

 

                          

      Off to a Dark Start in Our New Flat

 

It was 4 AM—the first night in our new flat.  Mr. S. was already snoring for several hours upstairs in our new bedroom.  I was still moving things around downstairs, and hating every exhausted stressful moment of it. 

I was in the kitchen which is in the interior of the flat.  I didn’t touch a thing; didn’t plug in a thing. Just moving non-electrical stuff around.  All of a sudden it went totally dark.  I swear I thought I went blind—which made perfect sense to me because I really love the new flat and am scared I’m going to be punished for being happy in the new flat. 

I had to get down flat on my stomach and haul my aging body across the floor, feeling my way around strange corners and an unavoidable flight of unfamiliar stairs.

My cat Egypt actually helped (unlike Mr. S., who I called and awakened and told to that all the lights were out. He answered with his usual supportive question: “What did you do?”)

So I relied on my cat who is very intelligent and actually led me back up to the bedroom by walking in front of me, crying—and then waiting for me to crawl up to her. She would then walk ahead again, cry and wait for me to catch up. And that’s the way I got up the stairs to my bedroom where I crawled into bed and felt like smacking Mr. S. awake because of all I had just suffered through.

By the way, it took almost 24 hours for an electrician to come (after about 5 calls and 10 SMS’s to our landlord). Turns out there was a short caused somewhere from some moisture (how the hell is there moisture in the dry season in Malta?) which fixed itself when the electrician finally showed up.

So that was our first night.  I guess I should just be glad the electricity is back on so I can write to y

Moving IN Malta

 

                          Be Back Soon

 

We used to live in a nice townhouse on the ugliest street in Malta. Now we’re moving to a very nice street—but we have the ugliest door in Malta.

Malta is known for its beautiful wooden doors and brass knobs and knockers.   I want a door like that.

Finding out more and more that this is a small island.  We went to a real estate agent when we wanted to move and ended up renting his apartment.  I’m now across the street from my great hair stylist Pat—her home, not her shop—which is where I’ll still go for a haircut.

I really liked the woman who was cleaning the house.  People who clean homes are called helpers in Malta, not cleaners.   Turns out that this excellent helper is the sister of the guy who has been doing repairs on the house before we move in.

I like this kind of thing—the family affair way of life.  See you soon. May not have Internet for a few days….because it’s Malta.

 

 

The Pope in Malta

 

           An American Jew Watching

                        the Pope Go By

 

When in Malta, do as the Maltese do.

So I did.  The Pope came to Malta today and I lined up with a lot of other people in Malta and watched him go by.

This was my first time really feeling like part of the Maltese community.  I went with my friend M, who is Maltese, and I ran into my friend Il.,—who is a German expat friend of mine.

As I said, I’m Jewish and the Pope never meant much to me from a religious point. But the event was exciting from the eyes of an expat in Malta.

The main thing that struck me was how simple, quiet and restrained the crowd was.  We lined the streets; there were just a few police around. No barricades. No police on horseback pushing crowds back. No guns in sight.  No ropes holding the viewers back from the street. 

Groups of people sang, clapped, waved flags and snapped photos.

When the Pope went by in his Pope mobile, he looked unreal to me; that’s all I can say.  I thought he was slowly waving; my friend M said he was blessing the crowd.  At the moment he went by, people stepped forward a bit into the street to take photos, and no one stopped them.

I’m comparing this to the Boston Marathon in the US when there is security around for days—scanning the crowd and pushing people back all the time—and this is for some runners in a race.

Malta may lack a lot of things.  But today I was impressed with her simple and respectful welcome to a man many people revere—if not for himself, then for what he represents as far as their religion goes.

The Pope’s visit was actually quite controversial because of several issues going on with the Church. But today, there was no sign of it as people watched.  It was a quiet but exciting moment on a street in Malta—and I was glad to be a part of it.

 

 

Reincarnation Miracle in Malta?

 

                Do You Remember The Three Stooges?

 

 

I am convinced that these guys have come back in the bodies of four—yes, four—Italian boys and one girl in one of my EFL classes.

The good part is that they have started insulting each other and telling each other to shut up in English now.  Of course, each one of these shut-ups or put-downs is followed by a slap or nose twisting.

One guy has one of those huge window-size piercings in one of his ears.  He keeps sticking a pen through it and sometimes a folded piece of paper. Every time he does this, he gets his head smacked by the guy in the group who is the “Mo” of the reincarnated.

And then there’s a girl who, in turn, whacks this guy on the head.

I almost did it myself and then I remembered that I was the teacher.

Huh, and to think I was worried about having to teach teenagers because I thought they might be too wild…

Believe it or not, there is some real English going on here.  But I have this group for four hours in the afternoon.  Normally, I would be dying having such a bunch of crazy students, but they keep things active.

One guy was doing an imitation of Robert De Niro in some movie and it was so good that I had him do it over and over. He even got sick of doing it.  But his accent sounded so good.

Monday is their last day and I’ll miss these guys.  The only thing they haven’t done is the what  Curly used to do on the floor—you know, that spinning thing on the floor; he was the first break dancer.  Remember?

Italian Students in Malta

 

                   The Italians have a Way

                     with (English) Words

 

I’ve only started teaching EFL again in Malta—and I already have some stories for you.  This is a sweet one.

I have a lot of teen EFL students now, and one of the most common topics that comes up is, of course, relationships.

I was doing an activity in which I asked each student to tell me something interesting about his/her fellow student sitting nearby. One girl said about the boy next to her:

“He started a love story in November with a girl in Italy.”

I had to correct her and tell her that the way we say it in English is, “He started going out with a girl in November.”

And then I thought—and I told the students--how much nicer it was the way the Italians expressed it.  It’s true—the Italians (and the French) are much more romantic in their way of thinking than the Americans, Germans and Brits.

Yes, something was really lost this time in the translation—something a little precious.

 

Requirements for Legal Partnership in Malta

 

            How the Maltese Know if

     You’ve been in a Long Relationship

The one route that was open to me to be able to stay and work in Malta was to be declared a NON-EU family member of a EU national (in my case that is Mr. S.).  It’s not the same at all as being married because that affords you immediate rights to work and stay, collect other benefits, etc. 

But if you can prove what the Maltese (and the rest of the European Union calls a durable relationship for more than two years), you can apply for the status that will grant you the right to stay and work for longer periods of time—without having to leave the country every three months to get a new visa.

As with everything, the Maltese government—and now I’m talking about the Department of Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs located in Castille, Valletta, isn’t there for you.  They will use whatever they can to try to stop you from attaining what you want.  It’s just the way it is.

So Mr. S. and I tried to attain this special Family Member status for the second time for me—and they tried to stop us.  But this time it worked for an embarrassing reason.

A Home and Work in Malta

             

                Papers, Sweat and Tears

 

I’m scared to even talk about it because, due to my OCD-ish and superstitious nature, I’m always afraid something bad will happen if something finally goes right…

But I owe it to you and all the others who have helped me with their thoughts and ideas to say that…I finally did get my Residence Permit in Malta and my Work Permit to teach EFL again.  Major Inshallah, G-d Willing, etc.

It’s not forever, I will always have to reapply for things and keep notes on my goings and comings, but, yes, we did it.

When I recover, I will tell everyone the steps I took to do this to help others in the same situation.  Mr. S and I almost killed each other in the process; that would have gotten me permanent residence in Malta—but not the kind I was seeking.

So good night and thanks xxxx 

P.S. Now I have to get ready for work on Monday.  (Don’t even say it.)

 

How to Get a Bank Account Fast in Malta

 

                Go for a Maltese ID card—

      And Don’t Leave Home without It

 

 

Many expats have lived in Malta for years without one.  But the Maltese ID card is very useful.  It’s a pain to get because you have to track down an obscure office in Valletta.  But it you get one, it makes life a lot easier for everything you want to do in Malta. 

The most important thing that the Maltese ID card (which is not a passport for international travel) helps you do is get a bank account immediately in Malta.

Opening a bank account in Malta is a very long and frustrating process—for EU members and even more so for NON-EU members.   Mr. S was told it would take a couple of months with all the paperwork that had to be signed and mailed back and forth to Germany—where he has his primary account.

But, said the folks at the HSBC in Sliema, if only he had a Maltese ID card, he could open up an account immediately. Naturally, while he was in the bank, Mr. S.—like anyone else—figured why not just do the paperwork in the bank and wait a bit. How could it really take a couple of months for an EU person?

Well, a few weeks later after applying, Mr. S, found out that his German bank accidentally returned the HSBC papers without signing them (which was the whole point of the HSBC sending them in the first place). So he would have had to start the process all over again.

Then he had an idea: he would go to this office in Valletta and get an Maltese ID card. I went with him and saw the process. As an EU male,****** he had to fill out a yellow form, wait in line, of course (but it wasn’t too bad), show his passport and bring in two passport-size photos—and then have his photo taken. (Why I don’t know). Then he had to go into another office, present his form and passport again.  A week later, he returned to the office to  take another photo, and then he walked out with a free Maltese ID card.  He took that to the bank—and walked out within 20 minutes with a brand new HSBC account.

*****Women—EU or NON-EU—have some more things they have to do to get a Maltese ID card—or anything else for that matter.  Fair or not, like it or not—if you’re a woman, you have to present official documentary evidence of your marriage certificate and divorce certificate (if you have been divorced or separated).  These have to be official documents, meaning that they must be notarized and have the international seal on it, known as an Apostil.  The other problem is that the certificate must be in English. If you are a German woman who has been divorced, your certificate must be officially translated by a certified translator. And it’s not cheap—you have to pay by the word.

 

 

 

Malta’s Really Bad Electricity Problems

 

                       Strangers in the

                Dark Again….and Again

 

This--or something like it--was what I was using to navigate myself to an expat meeting on Friday night in the dark.  And I mean—the DARK. 

The only light was from cars going by, hoping to hit a stray pedestrian out on the streets at such a time.  Lucky, I had my flashlight (or torch) as they call it in Europe, or I would have stepped in dog poop—twice. I had already stepped in it once on the way to the meeting. But the second time my light caught it in time.

Yes, the electricity went out Friday night—for about four hours.  And they went out only about 10 days before—for at least four or more hours.  And not too long before that.  And this isn’t even the summer.

Apparently, Malta’s power stations are totally antiquated.  And there are no replacement parts.  Experts anticipate that at some point the electricity will go out for weeks—until Malta builds emergency cables to Italy—as it should have done years ago.

So what are they waiting for?  The emergency, of course.

The first few times the lights went out, people were out in the streets with candles, chatting and drinking wine and beer.  EFL students could sneak around and do more of whatever they do in Malta.  And expats were annoyed because expats get annoyed at everything.

But this time…the morning paper reported that the power station workers are under police protection because enough is enough already.

Expat Meeting this Friday Evening at Palace Hotel in Malta

 

            

         Just Us  Expat Group Meets

              at the Talk of the Town,

                    Palace Hotel, Sliema

 

Just Us—a group of expats looking to relax and chat with each other—will meet again this Friday, April 2nd around 8 PM at the Palace Hotel on High Street in Sliema.

Just come in and join us. Don’t be shy.  Just show up—no calls, no emails necessary.  Look for a group of people chatting and complaining; listen for all the accents—German, French, British, American, Libyan, Australian and others—and that will be:  Just Us.  And Maltese are welcome, too, of course.

We’ve got a spot for you.