Barcelona was wonderful!  One thing about Europe - they have such great public transport.  Using Google maps, you can put in your destination and it tells you which bus or train to take.  We walked out of the airport, hopped on the bus and were soon on our way.  It didn't take long at all for us to notice how smooth the roads were.  In Malta, every road you drive on is filled with pot holes; the kind that swallow a small car.  In Spain, not only were the roads great, but the ride itself was smooth.  Not once did the driver slam on the brakes, take a corner on two wheels, throw passengers and luggage to the floor or any of the other crazy driving that seems to be the norm in Malta. I found our hotel using Booking.com.  I chose one in a central area that had great reviews and a very good price.  After I made the reservation I took a closer look at the reviews.  They were all positive, but I noticed an in...

It took 6 months and a great deal of aggravation, but I am finally a Maltese resident.  I'm still a US citizen, I just reside in Malta. That means I can now travel freely around Europe for as long as I want.  Normally, a non-EU citizen can only stay for 3 months in any EU country.  I will probably stay in Malta for the foreseeable future, but now I have options.  The day I got my ID card, I came home and booked a trip to Barcelona.  It looks like my blog will get interesting again! It's now the height of summer and just like everyone said, it is hot, hot, hot!  Europe is currently experiencing a heat wave and Malta is one of the hottest places with temps 95°+ (35 °) and high humidity.  This weekend it's supposed to be well over 100 °.  People are advised to stay indoors.  Great, I have no AC and one of my two fans just died.  The infrastructure here isn't the greatest and an islan...

There has been no news on my residency request, so I'm still stuck in Malta.  As far as being stuck, I really can't complain about the location.   Summer has finally come and it is glorious!  The sun shines almost every day and I live half a block from the sea in either direction.  On one side is the open sea.  There is no beach with sand, instead there is a huge rocky shelf that everyone lays out on.  My favorite location is the Roman Baths.  These are small square pools, just over waist deep, cut into the rocks.  There are steps leading down into them and since the water is still really cold, it's nice just to sit on the edge and dangle your feet in the cold water on a hot day.  An eel lives in one of the pools and it's interesting to watch him go about his life, along with the fish and crabs who live there also.  Since many of my friends live in the general area, it's a great place to meet and ...

I know I haven't posted in a while, but 2 months?!  I guess I felt like since I hadn't been anywhere, nothing much was going on, but in reality my life is very full.  To pick up where I left off last time:   I did my first outreach program on the story 'Call of the Wild' by Jack London.  It was a success; not only were the kids very interested, but the teachers in the back were equally attentive. I think Alaska in general is such a wondrous place and certainly very foreign to a Mediterranean island like Malta.  At the end of the talk on the book, I had some pictures of the various animals that live in Alaska and the kids just loved it!  They knew almost every one of them.  I also showed pictures of life there, like the northern lights, ice fishing, and snow deeper than the rooftops.  I swear I could have done a whole presentation with just pictures.  I'm still active with Shark Lab and...

Welcome back to Malta, and their first snow in years!  Just my luck, we are experiencing a cold snap.  I got back from Italy late in the evening and woke up the next morning to pouring rain, howling wind and reports of snow and hail.  It was still nice to be home, too bad I had to brave the storm to stock up on essential groceries. I decided I needed some volunteer work to keep me busy and as a way to meet people.  (Don't worry Habitat friends, I'm still very involved, though now mostly with the safety program.)  My ever helpful landlady Karla pointed me in a few directions.  One was raising puppies to be used as guide dogs.  Sounds great, but they want a 10 month commitment.  The next suggestion was rocking babies down the road at a kind of orphanage.  No luck there, they have a volunteer wait list.  How about the SPCA?  Went there and they also were turning people away.  While its bad for me that ...