An-American-in-Malta

                     The Life

 

Ah...Malta.  Finally, a place where I can take a nap in the afternoon and it's considered normal...

 

The Mediterranean Lifestyle

I know I'll be complaining about things once I get there, but this is what I love so far:

1. The Cafes--There's always a place to sit down and have a Diet Coke.  And you can sit there for as long as you want.  No one says you have to leave.  (This did happen to me and my friend Lucy in a Boston restaurant once, when we were dallying a bit after our meal.)
2. You can take it easy every day.  Even when it's not really hot, the shops in Malta close for a couple of hours--maybe from 2-4 PM.  And that just happens to coincide with my nap time (whether or not I get to take it--in America).  It makes you feel like resting is a normal thing to do.
3. People are friendly.  Generally, they go out of their way to help you.  I watched, one time in the square in Valletta, how a tourist was limping along because of her blistered feet in her sandals.  I was glad I wasn't her (for a change).  To my amazement, a Maltese woman noticed her limping and walked up to her, holding out a Band-Aid to this poor woman.  I couldn't believe it.  Naturally, being an American, she wouldn't accept anything good from a stranger.  Instead, I went and accepted it for the next time I would be limping from blisters.

 Do I know What I'm Doing?

 

I'm scared right now because I think I know what I'm doing.  That's not a good sign.   I don't have a date for moving to Malta right now.  But I'm starting with the banking process.  I have my bank here--Bank of America (BOA)--and I think I'm going with HSBC in Malta.  The HSBC International Banking people have been quite courteous so far.  They say I can call them early enough in the day (six hours difference between Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the US and Malta, and they will link me up right then and there with someone from the bank in Malta so I can ask questions.  I've got to hear this to believe it...

                             So Where is Malta?

Never heard of it?  Here it is:  It's south of Italy and north of Tunisia in northern Africa.  It's very tiny; you might miss it unless you know where to look.  See that red "push pin" on the map?  Look to the  right and down; there's a very tiny, faint white spot.  That's Malta.

 

 

And here's a better view of the islands.  Malta actually consists of three islands--Malta, Gozo and Comino (which is very tiny and almost uninhabited).

                               I love Valletta

It was just an ordinary day in Valletta's Square: A troupe of folk dancers from Greece, Italy, Ireland and Poland pranced down Republic Street to entertain lunch-goers. This was not something that happened in Hudson, New York, or Boston or Dover, New Hampshire--a few places I've lived in the Northeast.  So it was this day, several summers ago, that I decided I could live here.  I hope I'm right.

                                      Writer at Work

 

What you see is not what you get!  There's a lot more to come here--everything from getting your cat ready to come to Malta--to what kind of appliances you should buy when you get to Malta.  I am working hard to get to all the topics I want to present, and I've got a lot of research to do.  One of the problems is that I have been spending too much time on the web design (I guess Lexapro doesn't cure everything).  But I hope, hope that I can finally leave it along for a day and continue getting the information about moving to Malta that you want to know.

         

 

                      X'hemm u Merħba        

 

Hello and Welcome.  This web site is for expatriates living in Malta--and for people  anywhere considering or planning to move to Malta.  If you're about  to retire, work or study in Malta, here are the facts you need--which I dug up for myself when I decided to make Malta my home. Please join me on my journey.

(By the way, what do those ancient Egyptian symbols have to do Malta?  To find out, click here.)

                                                                                              I.S.