An-American-in-Malta

Long Hours in Malta

 

           

             Losing Time with Long,

                       Unfair Hours

 

It’s 6 PM now on a Tuesday.  I’ve been teaching since 9 AM.  I’ve waited two and a half hours to teach a course from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.  But the students didn’t show up. That means I could have gone home at 3 PM.

Teaching from 9 AM to 3 PM (that 4.5 hours of direct teaching) is really enough.  And after that, there’s the lesson planning which must be done for every class.

My daughters came from the US to visit me these past two weeks.  I hardly saw them during the week because of work. I had requested that I not work the evening hours for these past two weeks. I requested that about two months ago when I knew my daughters would be here.  Note:  I didn’t ask for a day off; I asked for the evenings off.

My request fell on deaf ears, as the expression goes.  Now my daughters have gone.  I won’t have that time with them again.  My partner saw them more than I did.

For some people, their career comes before their family.  And that means if you work for them, your career must come before your family—or you don’t have a job.

Because of work, I also had to miss my younger daughter receiving her master’s degree from her university in the U.S.  I was in the U.S. at the time. But I was told that I could not get three extra days of vacation—even without pay—to see the graduation.  I was told I had to make a choice—the graduation or the job.  I discussed the situation with my kids. They told me that I couldn’t give up the job.

Well, I made the choice to take the job.  But my back was up against the wall when I made that choice.  I was told to “take it or leave it.”  I should have left it.

Now people will tell me that it is unwise to talk about this—that it’s not politically correct.   But I started this blog by telling the truth—good and bad.  And I’m not going to stop now.

The Red Carpet in Malta

Getting Red Carpet Treatment

in the Blue Lagoon

This is something you have to see to believe. There's a gorgeous bay--the Blue Lagoon--near the small island of Comino. We went there this weekend. When you arrive, you have to carefully climb up and then down the surrounding cliff to reach a small sandy beach,

The water is absolutely clear and in two shades of blue--dark Mediterranean blue and turquoise where the sand rests below the water.

It's hard to walk from the shore into the water because of large rocks and pebbles. But right in the middle of the bay is a twenty-foot red carpet that snakes itself through the water to make it easier for swimmers to traverse the rocky beach into the deeper water.

The red carpet is not one of Malta's natural wonders. But it is a wonderful thing that helps you get into the water. I joined the hundred or so swimmers that day in walking the red carpet.

The only bad part is that when you get to the end of the red carpet, you have to jump into the water no matter how cold it is. If you delay--as I wanted to--there's a whole line of traffic behind you.

Yes...Spain!

Congratulations to All My

Spanish Students!

 

Today's Lesson: The Hangover

Non-EU's Working in Malta--No More?

  New Job Permit Laws Put the Squeeze

    on Non-EU's Seeking Work in Malta

As if it wasn't bad enough when I first applied and miraculously got my EFL job here in Malta, it's gotten a lot worse since almost 18 months ago. New legislation has gone through about a month ago, making it even harder for Non-EU's to get and keep work of almost any kind. One reason is that employers must go through so much to try to apply for a Non-EU that it makes it almost not worth it for them at all.

Before I give you a link to the site which tells all--but explains nothing--here are the major differences between when I applied and when you apply now. Bear in mind that this applies only to Non EU's--not to EU's wanting to work in Malta (or their dependents):

1. Last time I was able to fill out all the necessary forms (and there are many, believe me), have my employer sign them and then and bring them to the ETC myself. I could also follow-up on them myself which an employer often doesn't have the time to do. But now, only the employer can actually send or bring in the forms to the ETC for the Non-EU he/she wants to hire. From what I understand, the prospective Non-EU worker will not be allowed to apply for him/herself.

2. Any Non-EU applicant must go through a special qualifying process through a separate organization now. Before, the ETC itself checked your qualifications--word-for-word--even though your prospective employer wanted to hire you.

3. If your application even gets this far--meaning that your VISA is good and up-to-date to the minute and your qualifications are accepted, your employer MUST prove with documentation that it had tired but failed to hire a Maltese or EU candidate for your position. The employer must actually put out ads for your position through the ETC, locally and throughout Europe for your position. It must show that it interviewed suitable candidates and that none met the qualifications or that none showed up. Before, when I applied, the employer had to indicate on the form that it had made some effort to hire a Maltese and why you--with your unique Non-EU qualifications--were better suited to the position more than anyone else here in Malta.

4. You have to go through a medical examination and get a TB chest X-ray. I didn't have to undergo any medical exam.

5. And here's the clincher, I believe. The employer must provide and pay for private health insurance for the non-EU employee before the position begins. The employer must provide by documentation that it has done so for the final permit to be granted. In my case, I had to show that I had private health insurance when I applied for residency, but not for the employment license. I think this is the final draw for most employers. How many will want to pay for private health insurance for an employee when all their other Maltese and EU employees get the national health insurance for which they contribute through their salary?

6. All this time, work and documentation must be submitted before your non-EU VISA runs out--in which case the process must begin anew after the VISA is renewed.

7. Finally, if you get the job after all this--the permit will only be granted for a year. Then you and your employer must apply for a renewal of the application and much of the process must be repeated. And here's the part that's the worse from my perspective: No matter what, your job permit with the ETC will only be renewed up to three times. That means that unless you have another way of supporting yourself from income outside of Malta--or become officially associated with an EU member--you won't be able to work again in Malta. And that means you may have to leave Malta.

This is very sad. Yes, yes, yes, I know how strict they are in the US with foreigners working there. But I think it's a sad thing in general because I think a country needs some foreign blood to increase and diversify its talents.

Here is the ETC link to the new regulations:
http://www.etc.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=2305

Scroll down to the paragraph where you can download the new guidelines.

I don't know what else to say about the new regulations. Maybe you have something to say and I'd really like to hear it, as usual.

Crime in Malta

 

How Safe is It in Malta?

A Visitor Wants to Know

 

I got this email from Tyg. Would be interested in your thoughts:

Good Evening from the States,

Given your time in Malta, how do you compare crime to that in the U.S.? The question comes in response to recent news items about bank robberies, Russian spies vacationing in Buggiba and auto arsons. Your comments, please.

A recent visitor to Malta

Terms of Gender in Malta

I Enjoy Being a Girl

In Malta, I'm still a girl. And I like it.

In reality, at my age I'm almost past being a woman. But here in Malta, there's less of a "hang-up" about what to call females. In the US, we call any female past the age of 18 a woman. If younger, maybe we call them young women. That's fine; it reflects the progress women have made regarding how society views them.

But here in Malta, many of my female EFL colleagues call each other girls when they refer to each other or female students in their classes. The girls range from age 14 to 30's or more. It doesn't seem like a bad thing. Everyone knows that someone is their 30s is a grown woman. But even women in their 40s, 50s and beyond talk about "going out with the girls." And it sounds fine. It doesn't seem degrading to me. If fact, it would sound weird to say "going out with the women."

On the other hand, everyone knows that women in Malta have a long way to go to reach the equality women have achieved in other Western societies. Perhaps a girl by any other name would be preferable.

But for right now, I'm an expat girl in Malta.