Hard Rock Cafe - Leaving Party

American Pool Party

Boat trip to Comino

An afternoon at the beach :)

L-ewwel darba fis sena!
(The first of the year!)

This afternoon I joined my flatmates for an afternoon at Għajn Tuffieħa beach (near Golden Bay) in the North West of Malta. We also tested the underwater setting on my camera...

International Fireworks Festival

The weekend started with public holiday in aid of May Day/Worker's Day celebrations.
Valletta had various outdoor concerts going on and the Grand Harbour hosted the first day of the International Fireworks Festival.
There were stalls selling food and drinks and we had a perfect view from the roof of the Deaf Club. There were even 'subtitles' - text was projected onto the bastions across the Grand Harbour.
On our way home we met some other students from the residence and went to Zmerc pub in Balzan before heading home.

EFSLI Spring School and Ta'Marija, Mosta

With colleagues from Finland and Greece at Ta'Marija

Ta'Marija's resident musicians

Last weekend I attended my first EFSLI (European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters) event - a Spring School held here in Malta where Kyra Pollitt, an extremely experienced and well-respected interpreter from the UK delivered a wealth of training relating to voiceover skills.

It was a fantastic opportunity to meet other sign language interpreters from all over Europe and to learn about how the profession is developing in different countries.

On the Saturday evening we went to Ta'Marija restaurant in Mosta (www.tamarija.com) for a sumptuous buffet of traditional Maltese fayre followed by dancing!

I'm already saving up for the next one and looking for an excuse to go back to Ta'Marija!

http://www.efsli.org/efsli/efslischools/

Home for Easter

I went home for a few days over the Easter holidays to see my cousin who had her first child - a bouncing baby boy called Alex.

On my way back to Malta I split up my flight and was able to join my friends Steffi and James from university at Steffi's home in Heidelberg, Germany before we all came back to Malta.

Spring Awakening!

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to see the much awaited production of the new musical, Spring Awakening. The quality of the whole show was incredible and the professional young cast seemed to have a limitless supply of energy! Despite being set last century in small-town Germany the freshness of the music coupled with catchy lyrics and the rebellious personalities of the teenage characters resonates with audiences both young and old across the world.

The show is currently running in Malta and London simultaneously and the casts of each production met in London a couple of months ago.

Another outstanding production from MADC.

It was so good - I actually tried to get tickets for the following weekend although it was sold out.

http://www.springawakeningmalta.com/

RMLV Treasure Hunt

Last weekend Rotaract Malta La Valette and the Deaf Association organised a Treasure Hunt in Valletta. The proceeds of which will be split between the National projects: purchasing air conditioners for the association's premises and the District's Emergency Appeal to help victims of the recent earthquake in Italy. Our team didn't win any prizes (there wasn't a wooden spoon!) but the hunt was well attended and I learnt a great deal about the capital, thanks to one of my Maltese friends Roberta who remembered many of the answers from her history classes at school. :)

Another Mediterranean Island...

Thanks to a long weekend, a deal from the travel agent and a friend's birthday I was able to visit another Mediterranean island for a couple of days: CYPRUS!

Concerts @ St James Cav

This past month I have been fortunate enough to have attended two excellent evenings of music at St James Cavalier namely 'Acoustika:and 'Unspoken' - Simon Vella's Album Launch. 

Palm Sunday Walk

Yesterday evening my friend Steph and her sister invited me to join them for a Palm Sunday Walk followed by a Mass organised by KDZ (www.kdz.org.mt).

We walked from Tigne Point to St Patrick's in Sliema where the Archbishop of Malta celebrated mass. 

Rotaract Article in 'Il-Mument'

One of the Maltese Sunday Newspapers 'Il-Mument' carried an article about Rotaract Malta La Vallete and our current projects.
Thanks go to Ms. Doris Azzopardi, assistant Editor of il-Mument for such a well written article.

Rotaract Malta La Valette presents... Villa Francia

Another successful professional development talk organised by Rotaract Malta La Valette!

The event was held at Villa Francia in Lija and concerned the careful restoration and conservation of the beautiful 17th century building under the supervision of Perit Claude Borg.

As part of their national project, Rotaract Malta La Valette have committed to making their events accessible to the Deaf community through the provision of Maltese Sign Language interpreting. 

Members of the Deaf Association

Levi Tafari @ St James Cavalier

The British Council have brought the writer and poet Levi Tafari (www.levitafari.com) to Malta to lead a series of creative writing workshops in Maltese schools as part of the British Council's INDIE project (Inclusion and Diversity in Education). 

Tonight he performed a number of his poems at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta. His poems are deeply rooted in the oral tradition, follow a strong reggae beat and are peppered with witty observations of the world. He performed pieces covering a wide range of subjects including the environment, diversity, politics and relationships. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get my hands on a copy of his book as they sold like hot cakes after the performance!

His style is rhythmic and lyrical and has the ability to make you smile and to make you think.

Henry Normal

Some of his work can be found here on youtube

St Paul's Catacombs and Cannoli

On Saturday afternoon I visited St Paul's Catacombs in Rabat with my friend Jodi from the US. We just caught the last entrance at 4:30pm. Afterwards we went for a cup of tea bil lumi (with lemon) and cannoli (sweet ricotta filled-pastries) at a cafe in the village square.

Another University Residence Hike

Ray from the residence organised another fantastic hike from Popeye's Village to Ghajn Tuffieha stopping at Golden Bay for an ice cream.