Jack and the Beanstalk... the GIANT of all performances!

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching the Masquerade production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta with my friend Steph and her family.

We sat in a box with a perfect view of the stage and (given the intimacy of the theatre) other members of the audience!

The quality of the show was superb: the costumes were stunning and plentiful, the songs were current and well known (so we could sing along if we wanted), the actors were professional and there was a sufficient amount of audience participation.

The cultural references were interesting to see and I learnt a couple of new Maltese words...

I can't wait for their production of Aladdin next year!

Mosta Dome

Mosta Dome, also known as the Mosta Rotunda or St Marija Assunta is the 3rd largest unsupported dome in the world. On 9th April 1942 during WW2 a bomb pierced the roof whist the people were inside celebrating mass but the bomb did not explode.

Il-Milied Ħieni/Merry Christmas!

Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum

We managed to book tickets to go to the Hypogeum near Paola.

The Hypogeum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the only prehistoric underground temple in the world. It was discovered in 1902 when workers cutting cisterns for a new housing development cut though its roof.

Only 80 people are allowed in each day (10 on each tour) to preserve the temple and to avoid CO2 damage it is therefore best to book a month in advance to ensure a place.

Dingli Cliffs

Slightly windswept... 

We braved the strong winds and went on a hike in the south along Dingli cliffs.

This really shows the sheer variety Malta has in such a small place - in 30 minutes you can go from the capital to what feels the middle of nowhere. 

Another thing that struck me was just how vast the sea is, there were only a handful of vessels seen on the horizon in any direction. 

My first visitor

Bristol! 

One of my friends who I met at Uni in Bristol came to visit last week. Luckily the weather was dry and bright and he managed to see a lot of what Malta and Gozo have to offer.

Rotaract 2110 Sicily e Malta Distrettuale - Domenica

President of Rotaract Palermo Cefalu and the Pane con la Milza chef from Ninu U Ballarinu's

After getting back to the hotel in the early hours of the morning we dragged ourselves down to breakfast before going for the district meeting.

Thankfully Rtr. Etienne Fenech - President of Rotaract Malta La Valette and new Sicilian Rotaractor friends Emanuele and Alessandro volunteered to interpret the proceedings into English so that I could follow the meeting.

It was quite an insight to be on the receiving end of the interpreting process for a change.

There were some interesting presentations including a project coordinated by Rotaract Palermo Cefalù called TERRARIUM PROJECT, an international project with two parts:

1. Clubs pay a fee to be involved in the project - this money goes towards a project with Amnesty International defending human rights.
   
   
2. A symbol of international cooperation and working together is created in the form of an aquarium filled with earth from around the world, this will then be exhibited in different locations. More information can be found here.

Another international project called BBT - 'Building Bridges Together' was launched but I will write more about that soon...

After the meeting we were taken for a traditional Palermo lunch - a hot spleen sandwich served with hard cheese and lemon juice and which tasted a million times better than it sounds. The chef is a bit of a local celebrity and gave us all calendars. As a result the President of Rotaract Palermo Cefalu gave the eatery a banner. More info about the local delicacy can be found here.

Pane con la Milza

Then our hosts took us to the most popular bakery for a famous 7 layer chocolate cake before we were driven back to Pozzallo for the catamaran. 

My apologies Fontanella but I think you have just lost the chocolate cake crown!

*Although you could say that this was more of a mousse than a cake...

Seven Layer Chocolate Cake

NEWS: Interpreter shortage is not only for Sign Languages!

Maltese is an official language of the EU although there is still a shortage of Maltese interpreters.

So much so that recently a Maltese MP was forced to give his speech to a meeting in English. Ironically the meeting was about language use in member states. 

Article can be read here.

Rotaract 2110 Sicily e Malta Distrettuale - Sabato

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 3rd Rotaract district meeting of the year which was held in Palermo Sicily. It was my first time to Sicily and my first district event - I can't wait for the next one!

We left Valletta on the catamaran at 5am. It was the first time I have travelled by catamaran and the journey felt much smoother than the ferries I have been on. I tried to sleep during the trip but the excitement of a new form of travel and a desperate attempt to learn some basic Italian from a Lonely planet phrasebook kept me awake.

We arrived in Pozzallo at around 7.30am (the crossing takes a little longer in winter due to the sea being a bit choppier) and were met by a Rotarian from Modica called Filippo who kindly took us for breakfast (a deliciously frothy cappucino and a sweet ricotta-filled croissant - a 'cornetto') and then drove us the length of Sicily to Palermo (see map above).

On arrival in Palermo we went to the city's beach resort called Mondello for a delicious lunch in a seafront restaurant: fresh fruita di mare antipasta, a first plate of pasta with sea urchins followed by a second plate of pasta and part of a lobster who we had seen swimming around a tank an hour or so before!

After eating significantly more than my stomach is used to, I crawled back to the car. We were then taken to our hotel in central Palermo where the district assembly was being held.

In the evening everyone got 'suited and booted' for a delicious Gala Dinner in the city hall across the road from the hotel. It is customary for diners to wander around between courses and toast at each table.

'Cin cin!'

After the dinner there was a disco after which a group of us went for a walk around the city to see 'Palermo by Night' before heading to a bar.

STRIKE! - Rotaract Bowling Social

Last Thursday we had a Rotaract Christmas social at the Eden Superbowl in St Julian's. There was a great mix of members, friends and international guests including Rotaractors from Sicily and Spain. 

Rotaract National Project 2008-9

Every year the members of Rotaract Malta La Vallette channel their energy and efforts into both a National and an International project.

I am delighted to report that this year the members have decided to work with the Deaf People's Association (Malta) (Għaqda Persuni Neqsin mis-Smigħ) as their National project.
The association is based in Lascaris Wharf, Floriana and hosts a social club every Friday where members can meet friends and converse in their preferred language - Maltese Sign Language (also known as LSM - Lingwa tas-Sinjali Maltija).
The association is a member of the European Union of the Deaf (their mini site on the EUD website can be found here) and of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).

The aims of the project are to:

a) Raise funds to purchase

• A stairlift to make the Deaf Club accessible to those with mobility difficulties
• Air conditioning units to cool the premises during the hot summer months
• A photocopier to ease the association's administration costs

b) To raise awareness of the club, the needs of their members and Maltese Sign Language across the Maltese Islands.

AEGEE weekend in Gozo

I have just returned from a lovely break in Gozo kindly organised by AEGEE Malta. 

Gozo is Malta's sister island and the second largest island in the archipelago. It is home to 31,000 people and is known as Ghawdex (pronounced 'aw-desh') in Maltese.

Around 50 of us (international students) left the University Residence on Friday evening to go to Cirkewwa to catch the ferry. The crossing was quite rough and everyone was pleased to set foot on dry land. 

Once at Mgarr, Gozo a coach took us to our new home for the weekend: Tal Fanal apartments in Ghasri. 

The committee then organised a BBQ and drinks by the pool before bed. 

Breakfast was served at 9am and we left Ghasri at 10am for a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was Ta'Pinu Sanctuary. (www.tapinu.org)

We visited the Citadella in the capital Victoria which was renamed by the British government in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee although Gozitans still refer to the capital by its old name Rabat derived from the Arabic for suburb.

A narrow street near the Citadella.

A view from the Citadella. 

A view through a peephole in the bastions.

Gate near the Cathedral.

A Gozitan bus - Grey and red as opposed to the yellow and orange buses found in Malta.

The Azure Window - as used in the film The Count of Monte Cristo

Leaving Gozo on Sunday morning.

The Malta Experience

On Sunday afternoon I took a bus into Valletta and visited The Malta Experience.

We arrived just in time for the last show of the day which was at 2pm. 

Student tickets cost 6.50 Euro each and I must say it was worth every euro cent!

After purchasing tickets in the gift shop we were escorted to the theatre where we sat in comfy seats in front of a wide screen and selected one of 15 available languages for the commentary. 

The show began and after a few minutes (once the large group of elderly Italian tourists had worked out how to use the headphones and had settled down) everyone was captivated by the show's entertaining presentation of Malta's unique and varied history. 

7000 years of history was somehow squeezed into 45 minutes without feeling rushed. 

Walking back to the bus station up Republic Street I looked at the city with new eyes as I tried to digest the sheer volume of history and tried to imagine the stories the streets could tell...

A couple of lengths after lectures...

The cakes and pastries here are delicious and I fear I am indulging in a couple more than my jeans will allow... so, in order  to save my seams I have joined the national swimming pool (as a university student I enjoy a heavily discounted membership fee).

The national pool complex is located just off the university campus in Tal-Qroqq and enjoys a 50 metre olympic sized heated outdoor pool, a diving pool, squash courts and a fitness centre. The pool also hosts waterpolo matches during the summer months.

Linguistics Circle

A view of Valletta from the University of Malta campus:

Last week I went to a talk organised by the Linguistics Circle. The talk was given by a German translator working at the European Commission. As Maltese is now an official language of the EU he was given the opportunity to learn Maltese and now translates the few documents the commission receive in Maltese into German (he explained that most Maltese documents sent are written in English).

During his talk he outlined the difficulties he faced whilst learning the language and gave some suggestions for current students of Maltese. He highlighted a common problem students face in that whenever they try to address people in Maltese they get a response in English - I have not yet really tried to speak to strangers in my basic Maltese yet but judging from the response from the audience his point was a valid one.

Most people in the audience were from the Maltese for Foreigners course held in the evenings at the University and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of Brits in the audience. 

Fast Facts (courtesy of Lonely Planet)

3rd Edition - Published April 2007

Malta:

Population: 400,000

Area: 316sq km

Population density: 1266 people per sq km

Number of registered vehicles: 325,000

Number of mobile phone subscribers: 334,220

Inflation: 2.8%

Unemployment: 7.3%

Number of tourists per annum: 1.16million (465,000 from the UK)

Most popular name for males: Joseph (14,523 men named Joseph)

Most popular name for females: Mary (12,056 women named Mary)

Hike: Anchor Bay to Gnejna Bay

Popeye's Village (aka Sweethaven)

Ray, (one of the receptionists who works at the residence) kindly organised a hike for us all along the North-East coast. 110 of us prepared packed lunches and met in reception at 11am ready to get the buses to our starting point: Anchor Bay. 

We started with a perfect view of Popeye's Village also known as 'Sweethaven' which was built as a set for the 1980 hollywood musical Popeye starring Robin Williams which was filmed in Malta.

We then walked along the cliff tops and over the rocky terrain stopping just before Golden Bay for some lunch. Once at Golden Bay we had some time for swimming (yes the sea was still warm) and an ice cream before heading on to Ghajn Tuffieha to catch the sunset, finishing at Gnejna Bay where our minibuses were waiting.

AEGEE Halloween Party

AEGEE is one of the biggest interdisciplinary student associations in Europe; it is represented by 15,000 students, active in 232 academic cities in 43 countries across Europe! AEGEE is a secular, non-profit organisation, not linked to any political party and all projects and activities are based on voluntary work of its members.

The aims of the organisation are:

1) To promote a unified Europe without prejudices

2) To strive for creating an open and tolerant society of today and tomorrow

3) To foster democracy, human rights, tolerance, cross-border co-operation, mobility and European dimension in education. 

Here in Malta AEGEE are working really hard to make sure we international students feel welcome. So far they have organised a Maltese language lesson/orientation, a diving course, the trip to watch the football at the national stadium and plenty of parties. Their latest party was the Halloween party - we started off in Buggiba and then went on to Paceville, return transport was provided for a small fee and everyone had a great time! Viva AEGEE! 

And then there was rain...

It continues to amaze me how much of a difference waking up to bright morning skies makes to how I start my day. 

The weather has cooled down recently (but then it is almost November!) although I'd still consider it to be 't-shirt weather' and better than most British summers. As any trip into Sliema or Qawra with tourists in shorts and strappy tops reminds me - the climate is consistently warmer than northern Europe. 

The weather forecasts had been predicting rain for a while but none came until last Wednesday evening as I was leaving University, the heavens opened - It rained 

...and rained 

...and rained. 

The road resembled a river and the few pedestrians out and about (including myself) were struggling to dodge getting soaked by passing cars. The place just isn't built for dealing with rain but then again there are only 6 weeks of 'winter'.

The rain didn't last longer than a couple of hours but as one of my friends explained: "We're Mediterranean, we don't do things by halves - including weather!". 

Manoel Theatre

Last night I was invited to the beautiful Manoel Theatre - Malta's national theatre and the oldest working theatre in the Commonwealth. The show was a comedy sketch show called More Four Play. The cast of four comics both wrote and performed the variety show. Sketches were in English and Maltese and had the audience in stitches from beginning to end. See the review from the Times of Malta here.

Birgufest

On Friday night Birgu welcomed the world's biggest risotto pan to serve a huge risotto in aid of Dar Tal-Providenza - a care home for disabled people.  

The pan was previously used in Manchester in 1998. The risotto took 20 chickens, 20kg of beef, luganiga sausages, 20kg of cheese, 300kg of rice, 60kg of vegetables and 120 litres of white wine. Nine chefs from the Institute of Tourism Studies stirred the risotto constantly with long wooden oars and were supervised by an Italian Head Chef who had worked with the pan at other events. Portions were sold for a very reasonable 3Euro each and by 10pm the pan was empty and our stomachs were full!   

Malta Vs Hungary - Forza Malta!

I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the match at the National Stadium Ta'Qali. 

We were sitting in the North Stand with a large number of children and young people from local youth teams all wearing their different kits. The atmosphere was great although if I go again I'd like to sit in the opposite stand - the South Stand which was filled with Maltese supporters from the 'South End Core' boasting flags, drums and lyric sheets for songs! 

According to the Times of Malta the attendance was 4797. 

It surprised me to learn that only 3 of the Maltese national team are professionals. Both teams played well although Hungary managed

 to score the winning goal to leave the final score Malta 0 - 1 Hungary.

Unlike Old Trafford there were no meat pies at half time - instead the kiosks sold popcorn (salted) and ftiras - Maltese bread with tuna, tomato and capers. 

Notte Bianca -Lejl Imdawwal

Last night was Notte Bianca also known as Lejl Imdawwal (Lit Night).

See what the Times of Malta said about the event here.

Valletta is normally quite peaceful in the evenings and not many places are open, this all changed last night - there was an arts and culture packed programme which spread across the city attended by thousands of people and lasting all night.

Rotaractor Alison...

Rotaract Lapel Pin 

(Photo courtesy of Rotaract Richmond www.richmondrotaract.com) 

With Club President Etienne Fenech. 

The members have all been extremely welcoming and I was delighted to be asked if I would like to become a member of Rotaract Malta La Valette.

I was officially 'pinned' and presented with a shiny Rotaract lapel pin to wear at the club's meeting last Thursday.

Pens and the PM

Freshers' week is in full swing with many different University clubs and societies seeking to persuade students to join. 

As a result I think I now have enough free pens to last me until graduation!

University of Malta 'Gateway' and welcome banner.

Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi visits the campus.

Bird's Eye View:

Taking off from Malta International Airport.

A Short Trip Home

I have just arrived back in Malta after spending 6 days back in the UK seeing family and friends and picking up some winter clothes.

Whilst I was home I also travelled to Bristol to do some interpreting at Bristol University's Centre for Deaf Studies' 30th anniversary celebrations. 

Independence Day

On 21st September 1964, Malta became an independent state. This is celebrated as Independence Day or Jum l-Indipendza in Maltese. 

Feast of St Katherine - Zurrieq

On Saturday 6th Sept I accompanied some students on a trip to Zurrieq for the Feast of St Katherine: