26 January 2008             

Post #17:  The Marine House Potluck

Saturday has been the day when Dave would take off to grocery shop in the morning with Mauro, husband to Joanna from the Embassy.  Since we now have a car (a small Peugeot four-door) he could go at his leisure, so DeDe asked for a little extra quiet time this morning.  Dave would go later in the morning instead of 0900.

DeDe fully enjoyed a little extra snooze-time, and then she spent time in bed reading.  Rachel brought her coffee, juice and toast in bed.  What service!  Sure was nice, with the sun shining in the sliding glass door.  With her tummy full, and her spirit refreshed, she felt more equipped to take on the day. 

All of us were moving a little slower than usual this morning, but it was nice not feeling pressed to go anywhere.  Now that we have wheels, we can go places at our leisure, and that takes some of the pressure off.  We still wonder at how we'll see all the sights there are to see even in a three-month span.   With Dave working 8-5 every weekday, we find ourselves really limited; and even more so, now, without Isabelle to help out on excursions.  DeDe's just a little tentative about taking on bus rides alone.  She is eager for her driving lessons to start, after which, she will consider how she feels about driving around with all the kids and grandparents.

Knowing we had a dinner engagement scheduled for the evening, and after the adventure we had on Friday, (getting stranded for a couple hours after the tour of the coastline) we decided to just hang around today. 

The kids are getting more comfortable going down by the pitch by themselves.  Nemanea has been joining them, and they have a very neat “fort” outside the National Gym which is the white covered building just outside our window (see earlier web albums).  There is an exterior patio of stone, which has a maze of stairwells, and they are clearly no longer used, as there is much litter strewn about.  The boys found some string, and they have wired up “booby traps” for evil-doers who might dare to attempt entering.  They proudly walked DeDe through their fort yesterday, and she was impressed, except by the litter.  She suggested they borrow the broom from the apartment and clean up the junk sometime. 

In the evening, we headed off to find the potluck supper we were invited to which was to be held at “The Marine House.”  We had some difficulty finding the place, and were quite late, but it was a very casual affair and nobody minded at all.  We met many of the Marines there, including the Staff Sergeant.  It was great meeting people from California, New York, Florida and Michigan!  Felt like we'd been “home” for an evening.  Dave was even bold enough to ask if they might be able to get the Badger basketball game on the AFN (Armed Forces Network).  The big-screen TV was largely monopolized by the group of young children, however, so Dave decided to just wait and check in on the game when we got home. 

The Marine House is quite the place.  A large, gorgeous old villa on the hillside overlooking the sea, it included a beautiful heart-shaped swimming pool on a patio area near the entrance, and then there was another raised patio off the great room on the side over-looking the water.  It included quite a fabulous view. 

As you enter the home, there is a small foyer, and then you pass a guest book, and directly beyond that we found a foosball table.  However, the players are in futbol uniforms, and the ball is a soccer ball!  :)  To the right is the great room, with a large pillar in the center.  On one side of the pillar were two planter boxes formed out of stone and on the opposite side was a fireplace.  The fireplace faced the great room side, which included a sitting area on your immediate right and beyond that a billiard table.  To the left of the fireplace pillar was a table where the buffet was laid out, and beyond that another room. 

The adjacent room opened at an angle to the great room, and through the large, arched doorway, we found many young adults socializing in front of a bar.  The room felt like a tavern of its own with an area for folks to stand around and visit, the walls were covered with autographed photos of various members of the  Armed Forces.  We didn't get a chance to spend time in there examining the photos.

We enjoyed meeting the folks from the Embassy as well.  Some of them have been here in Malta for four years and others arrived a week ago.  It was interesting to hear their opinions of the place, and learn a little bit about their career lives. 

The woman who invited us, Lisa Hamlin, (Born and raised in New Zealand, she spent her adult life thus far in Monterrey, California) is in the Public Affairs department at the Embassy.  She greeted us --- in fact, she literally got in her car and came to find us a few blocks away, because we made it to one of the landmarks she had on her map, but from there we were hopelessly lost.  She introduced us to the folks at the party, and she made us feel extremely welcome.  She was amazed at how well the kids handled the room full of strangers.  She asked why it was they did so well around grown-ups, and DeDe thought about that for a moment, and then said, “I guess because we tend to do a lot of socializing.  We have a cottage, and there are different people in and out all summer long.  That's probably helped them quite a bit.  I hadn't really thought about it until now, but yeah, I imagine that's helped them in some ways.” 

We enjoyed some interesting foods at the potluck.  There was a curry chicken pasta and an interesting lasagna that included kidney beans.  There were some wonderful little finger-rolls, (like egg rolls, only cut in small finger-size pieces) and some Greek sushi-like things, but with a sauce that was just amazing.  No idea what it was exactly, but it was fantastic!  (Upon sharing with Bob Gibbs, we have determined they are dolmathes; a rice mixture wrapped in grape leaves, soaked in some kind of mystery sauce that knocks your taste buds into a euphoric state!

The time flew by, and we packed up to leave around 10:30.  The kids were having so much fun with the Wii on the television, that we had to drag them away.  As we left the “compound” there were two guards at the entrance (they were standing there as we came in, too, but we had rushed by as we were late).  The older of the two asked, “Are these all yours?”  We said, “Yep.”  He said, “Wow!  That's fantastic!”  Then we looked up the street to the water and we could see the “Moon River” reflection of the moon on the sea.  It was so beautiful, Dave took the time to lift each of the kids so they could get a better look at it. 

We piled back into the little Peugeot, and headed on home.  As we got into the car, Ian asked, “Is it going to take as long to get home as it did to get here?”  (It took us an extra fifty minutes of wandering around lost, remember...) “No!” DeDe and Dave both replied simultaneously.  The drive was only about 10 minutes. 

We had no trouble getting them to sleep.  They were all out cold moments after their little heads hit the pillows.  Ahhh...another day in Malta in the books.

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