11-14 March 2008

Post #40:  The Malta Experience

Another week almost passed, and the days are just zipping by. Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and we are realizing we need to treasure the weather here, as we'll likely not enjoy such consistently sunny, warm days at home.

This is going to be a sketchy reminder of what we did this week. No waxing poetic, and no philosophical or theological ramblings today. I know ...you're disappointed, aren't you? (wink)

Tuesday, we enjoyed another day with Eve, Johnna and the kids at Eve's home in Siggiewi. This time, we provided some pizzas from Mr. Maxims Take-away.  Eve provided more fresh fruit and veggies, and we ate like kings, since some of the ladies couldn't make it, so we had plenty of food.

After lunch, the kids played, while the ladies sat around the table and discussed chapter one of The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life.  The book brings up such great questions. We had a wonderful discussion.

Leaving their house is always difficult.  I relish the time with the ladies, and the adult conversation, and the kids are so happy to be there to play. This time, the children made quite an effort to collect snails from the front garden area.  They had a bucket full!  They were less enthusiastic about returning the snails to their cozy homes in the greenery, so the bucket was left on its side, allowing the poor snails to find their way back home. Poor things!

We made it home in time for soccer practice. The boys are getting more and more gutsy, attacking the ball, passing, and even skidding for a block! We look forward to getting them into a program when we get home.

Tuesday evening, Dave spoke at the University of Malta. Friends from the Bible Baptist Church attended, and Dave came home with John, one of the men we'd met there. John dined with Dave, as the kids and I had just finished our supper, and we enjoyed getting to know him better. He's got a great sense of humor and a beautiful heart. We felt like we'd had a brother to visit.

Wednesday, DeDe and the kids had a lazy morning, we watched a video that had to go back that day. In the afternoon, Dave left to give another presentation. This time he was back at MCAST, sharing his research on speech technologies. The response is always positive after these talks. He is coming home encouraged, and excited that folks find his presentations provocative. He is frequently receiving emails from audience members, including one from a journalist from the Times of Malta. We expect there will be an article to share sometime soon. (I'm pretty sure he was from the Times...if not, Dave can correct me later...there is an “Independent” paper here as well.)

In his spare time, Dave has been preparing our itinerary for our week in Italy. We leave on Monday, March 17. We fly into Milan, and from there we'll rent a car and explore first a little north to Lake Como, and then back south to the sea and Cinque Terre. We hope then to meander south along the coast as much as possible. Our return will be by ferry from Sicily, so we will have a lot of miles to cover. Not sure at what point we'll resort to public transportation, as we're told driving in the south of Italy can be hazardous. I'm voting we catch the ferry at Naples, and skip the rest of the boot. I already feel badly that we'll miss Addison's birthday and Easter with the kids!

It's been around 63-67 degrees and sunny, and Wednesday the only time I spent outside was 30 minutes in the morning, when Rachel and I went to jog around the track. I challenged her to power walk one lap while I ran two. She's experiencing some growing pains, (achy joints), so running isn't an option for her. She's getting so tall! But she was excited to go jogging with me, as I caught her “warming up” in the long hallway before we left.

Ian and Addison had gone with Dave just prior to our going out. They, too, feel like “big kids” when they get to do this sort of thing. Ian said the other day, “I feel like a big kid now, because I've flown on airplanes, and ridden on big ferry boats...” These experiences should provide them with a new perspective on the world.

Thursday morning, the kids worked double-time on school work, as we'd skipped a day, so they had twice as much material to cover, and the reward was a trip to Sliema, to a seaside park.  They succeeded, but before going, I drove to Siggiewi and met Johnna for a jog. It's so neat to have not only new friends here in Malta, but a new running friend who is like-minded in faith! God is so sweet to bless me this way! 

When I returned, and showered, we took the trip to the park, as promised, and the kids loved it. An hour later, we came back, picked up Dave, and went to the airport for Nichole. The kids were SO excited to see her. They were jumping with excitement, and as the passengers came through the door from the gates, they were peeling their eyes for Nichole. The expressions on their faces were so funny...anticipation, disappointment, anticipation, disappointment...as each passenger came through the door from the baggage claim area.

After awhile, I said, “Boy, you guys aren't making these people feel very good. If they're not Nichole you give them such disappointed looks. What kind of welcome is that?” A few minutes later, Ian was jumping up and down in front of me, and they were all chanting quietly, “Ni-chole, Ni-chole!” Then Ian muttered, “I can't wait till she gets here, even though I barely even know her!” It's true! They've met a few times, mostly at Christmas. But it's been a couple years, because Nichole got married four years ago, so she's not been with her parents when we've visited them recently. So his memory is mostly based on old photos! It was so funny, though, for him to breathe out that honest observation, and yet, maintain his excitement all along!

We came home once we welcomed Nichole, and I cooked up a quick pasta meal, with some fresh, steamed, carrots. Between the un-napped Nathan (2), and Nichole, we weren't sure who was going to make the nose-dive into their dish first! It was so funny. Nichole did her best to eat, but had little appetite. So she went to call her husband and her father and let them know she was here and well. Skype is so great. We're able to not only phone loved ones, but we have live video as well!  After connecting with home, she showered and headed off to bed.

We have a few days to allow Nichole to recover from jet-lag, and show her around a bit, before leaving her with the five older kids. We'll be taking Bobby (9 months) along with us to Italy.

Friday, we tried to keep real quiet in the morning, while Nichole rested. Dave ran off to MCAST to say his good-byes to the staff there. Their spring break begins today, so his job is done, and he's finally on vacation!

The kids worked at the table on their school work, again, hitting the books doubly hard, as we don't want Nichole to have to feel pressed to cover the material while we're gone. The kids are amazingly right on schedule with their work. They have a couple subjects to do some catch-up work on yet, but we're keeping on pace in math and language arts, which is surprising with all we've been trying to do on the side!  All the credit to them; they're good little students.

After Dave returned and Nichole had breakfast, we all ate an early lunch, and drove to Valletta to see The Malta Experience. It's a large screen (like an IMAX) presentation on the history of Malta. Each seat has it's own headset with a switch that allows you to select the language of your choice. The theater is located underground, in a former part of the old bastions.  It's the coolest place.  You walk through a long, arched, stone, tunnel under the street to get to the gift shop and theater.

The video was very well done, and informative, although, Nathan had trouble staying interested, as it was his naptime. A grumpy old man sat in front of Nathan, and he didn't care for Nathan's feet kicking the back of his chair. Then Bobby needed a bottle, and we forgot it in the car! So I left quickly, with David, (4) who needed a potty-break. All the while, I was thinking, “Why hadn't I thought about the fact that this might not be a show for the little kids.” Duh!  We made it back in time to catch the end of the WWII era.

Following the show, we drove to Pretty Bay at Birzebuga, (also spelled Birzabuggia or B'bugia) where we let the kids play on the playground, and then they put on swim trunks and waded in the sea a bit, and played in the sand. Bobby insisted on tasting the sand, so I spent most of the time keeping his hands out of his mouth. Near the end of our time on the beach, Nichole found a miniature sand dollar. That led to a major search for these cute little things. They're about the circumference of a pea! So amazing!  Have to add them to our super, seriously-small seashells!

We cleaned up and had dinner at our favorite little restaurant there, The Bite Size Cafe. Then the kids played a little “Monkey in the Middle” with the football, by the park, with Nichole. I joined them at the end. Fun! Fun!  We hated to quit, but we knew they'd need baths, and Nichole had to be wiped out.

We returned to the flat at 7 p.m. Kids got baths, to remove the sand from their little bodies. Now they're cozied up on the couch next to Nichole, enjoying Ratatouille, the animated film. Dave had a Skype chat with Paris Jones, Nichole's father, and now he's out cold after his busy first day of vacation.

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