Failure

I hate "Annie"! The doll we use for the First Aid Course...we tried CPR today and I couldn't make her breath!

We have the exam on Tuesday and I think I will fail :(

Son todas esas pequeñas cosas

Mirarme los ojos en el reflejo de las gafas

Peinarme las cejas con los dedos

Ir a la perfumería para probar nuevos perfumes

Almorzar bajo el sol de primavera

Ordenar mi guardarropa los domingos

El te de la mañana

************************************************************************

To look at the reflection of my eyes in the glasses

To brush my eyebrows with my fingers

To go to the perfume shops to try new perfumes (and get the perfumed sticks too)

To have lunch under the spring sun

To sort out my wardrobe on Sundays

The morning tea

Smile :)

“I wish to begin by saying a few words about Sir Watkyn Bassett, C.B.E. May green fly attack his roses. May his cook get tight on the night of the big dinner party. May all his hens get the staggers.”

“Does he keep hens?” I said, putting a point.

“May his cistern start leaking, and may white ants, if there are any in England, gnaw away the foundations of Totleigh Towers. And when he walks up the aisle with his daughter Madeline, to give her away to that ass Spink-Bottle, may he get a sneezing fit and find that he has come out without a pocket-handkerchief”.

P.G. Woodhouse, “The code of the Woosters”. 1976. Page 26.

On Saturday we watched a Spanish movie: "Los Borgia" at the cozy flat of our friend Anna. We had a great time there! I lied down next to the gas heater, behind the wine and the delicious snacks...Lovely evening that was...

My pick of the week: “Tea with Mussolini”.

Red Coat

I love bright colours. In fact my favourite colours are red, orange and yellow. But I also love blue, pink, green, etc. as long as they are very bright. And so, I have a red coat.

Today was supposed to be a day to relax and spend at home doing nothing except for the usual house chores and cooking a bit. That was all very nice and then we switched on the TV. There were going to be two mass meetings: the PN one at Sliema and the MLP one at Floriana.

Red wanted to go to both, just to have a look at the events but I was not so enthusiastic myself. At the end we headed for the PN one because it was very close to where we live. I must admit all that political passion could be felt in the air and there were many people wrapped in PN and EU flags.

Then I started to notice some weird glances directed towards me. I wondered why! And then I realized it was…guess what? The red coat! (the MLP colour is red). I was feeling kind of strange when many people were looking at me at the same time. And at one point I wished I bought one of those PN flags to wrap it around me LOL but then I remembered what I always do in these situations, wise words of one of my aunts: “Si no te dan de hartar…” meaning more or less: “Well, if they don’t feed you...what’s the point in pleasing them?”…so I was not bothered anymore and didn’t buy the flag LOL

All of a sudden two guys started to follow us while telling me: “Viva Labour” “Viva the reception class”. God knows what the reception class is but I just smiled back and kept on walking...faster of course... LOL. In any case, I grabbed our camera and hang it up from my neck to look a bit tourist like.

At the end we got out of there and found Arnold Cassola who was reading the paper on the Sliema promenade. We chit-chatted a bit and I gave him my best wishes for this campaign.

Here it is: the red coat :) Not my best picture BTW :)

Then we walked a bit on the Strand.

Under pressure

I have been under a lot of pressure lately because as many of you know, we are renting a very nice place and have been renting places since we met three years ago. Every time we have moved has meant a lot of stress as you can imagine and we have lived in six different places since we started living together.

The thing is that we have found (to buy) this very nice place in a good area: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a box room, a living room, a kitchen and a dining room, a small terrace and lots of light! The place is beautiful and given the price it is a very good deal.

The not so great points: it doesn’t have any furniture nor a bathroom or a kithcen, and well, it’s not like we have any savings.

Of course everything is complicated given that we have just come back from our trip to Rome (which was necessary because I needed to request a new passport), and thus our finances…well, I won’t elaborate but you can imagine!

For you to have an idea on prices and cost of living just picture this: Minimum wage: around 585 euros. Flat prices: approximately 116, 000 euros is almost the cheapest you can find (finished).

I have noticed that many Maltese couples receive a lot of family support when they decide to start their own lives apart from the nuclear family unit. Some of them receive help with the deposit, or furniture, or for the wedding gifts they have lists that would help them get the basics such as cutlery or dishes. I think that most Maltese people live with their parents until they get married. And even then, they can count on their parents to give them a hand with the babies if the mother can’t stop working to repay the home loan.

Well, that’s all very nice, but it is definitely not our case and that’s what has caused a lot of the stress. We didn’t have wedding lists or gifts, no help with any deposits or legal fees and in a nutshell: we are on our own. Well, I have been on my own more or less since I was 19 but of course, I couldn't expect myself to save lots of money while surviving and while studying something that my parents insisted on but that was clearly not marketable (that story is so long that it would be good for another post). So, the point is that I am not too hard on myself simply because I can't possibly understand why I should.

Now I understand why some people have told me that the first five years of marriage are the toughest! One would tend to think that “all you need is love”. Of course that is the most important thing but there are so many stressful events that would almost unavoidably happen during those first years that it is tough to keep up with love; tough but not impossible of course. And these events have helped us to be more mature and responsible with our finances, to appreciate our little sacrifices and how much we enjoy being together through thick and thin as they say.

Of course, it has helped us grow but I won’t lie, I would have liked to have some wedding gifts or some sort of family support, but anyway, that’s the past and though my parents help from time to time, well, the exchange rate: dollars-euros doesn’t really help much!

Anyway, the place is really nice and we have managed to get very far with the negotiations. I feel very happy with this house project because it is your own house! and I am also very enthusiastic about the decoration and furniture. Of course, we would have to repay the loan for the next 35 years of our lives and that makes me wonder if we could ever have a kid given the circumstances. In fact, that’s one of the things that the bank manager has pointed out, how to repay the loan with only one salary if we had a kid. We could not possibly afford to have a baby sitter. You see? All these things seem to be bombarding my head at the moment but anyway, I am confident that we will manage. In the meantime I can only think of my perfum that I need to replace. I am tired of having one of those sticks that they give you for the tester, in my bag :)

This is all very tough, so at the moment I feel a bit like this. I think I will start reading my Tao book...I really need it! :) Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

The bell chimes

Every day I have that sensation that I am in some Sicilian movie because of the church’s bells. There are more than three hundred churches in Malta I believe and most of them (if not all) chime their bells very regularly.

There is a church on my street and I think it chimes every fifteen minutes. I think it chimes even at night as I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and have noticed more than once that the bells have chimed.

This morning I would have wanted to sleep till midday if possible. But I had many errands to run and was up at about 9. I listened to the bells but I did not only listen to them, I actually paid attention to the sound and that’s why I said before that I have that sensation that I am in some Sicilian movie…everyday…it is so…peaceful.

First-Aid course

This month some of my colleagues and I have been attending a First-Aid course. At first I thought that perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea in my case because I shudder at the thought of blood or broken bones.

Now I think that I am very lucky that I am attending because I have realized how important it is to know how to react and what to do when facing an emergency. I am also learning how to avoid accidents (especially when dealing with babies) and in a nutshell I wondered why these courses aren’t available to everyone!

Receiving a course like this should be as important as learning biology or chemistry. The knowledge of anatomy and the tools that would allow you to save your life or that of your loved ones is a very important issue that should be really prioritized at school.

Of course, I have also learned that it is important to know exactly what you are doing or else you will cause more harm to the casualty and this could end up in that person suing you afterwards which is very scary. I am just learning the basics here and I don’t think I would be able to practice CPR on someone or the Heimlich Maneuver for instance. I would be too scared of not doing it right.

I still have three lessons to go and unfortunately I missed the first two lessons (Rome). This last bit is also one of the reasons why I don’t feel that confident when it comes to the course but I am already very happy with the many valuable things I have learned so far.

Talking to myself

I am amazed at the amount of arrogant people I have met lately (on-line or not). So I have decided to give them a gift:

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it”. Robert Frost.

Al que le quede el saco que se lo ponga which is more or less, “If the cap fits, wear it”

Note added on February 20th: Not only people I have met lately mind you, it's like arrogance is in the air. Could it be due to the elections?

Poster

Shameful

Disturbing and very sad. The most worrying thing is that nobody has been brought to justice. There are some more vandalism acts mentioned here, like the 3, 000 trees that were uprooted and sawed at FORESTA 2000.

Delicious!

Eve’s lungs gave me a good idea: to post about the food we ate while in Rome. It is a pity that one of our biggest mistakes was that we forgot to take with us the wire to download the pictures and the memory of our camera is not that great so we missed the chance to take as many pictures as we wanted. I wanted to take a picture of one of the many gelatti we had but it was not possible.

However, we took a couple of pictures of the food we ate there. One of them shows a couple of “tortillas”, a typical dish of my country. If I had stayed there for many days more I would have certainly tried the pupusas. You see, there are some Salvadorans living in Rome as well as Milan too.

I don’t want to bore you with the description of the places we visited the last two days we were there, so I will just quickly list them:

Vatican Museum.

Sistine chapel.

Latin American-Italian institute (the Ambassador of El Salvador is the president by the way)

Trastevere: A bohemian neighbourhood.

Via Venetto.

Raphael’s tom (Pantheon)

St. Luigi dei Francesi church where we saw a Caravaggio: The calling of St. Mathew.

St. Pietro in Vicole church where we saw Michelangelo's Moses.

Santa Maria della Vittoria church where we saw Bernini's “The ecstasy of Santa Teresa”

Circo Maximus

Campidoglio and the Museum there (another Caravaggio here too: The Fortune teller).

And thus our wonderful trip to Rome came to an end and we had to come back to Malta. We really enjoyed our Roman holiday! I will leave you now with the pics. Enjoy!

Pictures: Audrey and gelato.

From my bookcase

My country is definitely not a receptor of immigrants but many Salvadorans leave every year to the USA in search of a better life. There were approximately 2 million and a half Salvadorans living there the last time I checked. Probably the number has increased considerably since then.

The global debate on immigration is also important in Malta and I have been trying to understand it better since I came. With the new elections soon coming, the immigration issue is one of the mostly discussed “hot topics” for the political parties.

I’m a bookish person and I decided to take a break from all the campaign and read an interesting book that I had found some days ago at the bookshop: “Immigrants, your country needs them” by Philippe Legrain. He basically argues that “rich countries should open their borders to service-providers from poor countries, which is not a million miles away from arguing that rich countries should open up their markets to farm produce from poor countries” (2006, page 20)

Some months ago I had read “The rage and the pride” by Oriana Fallaci and I decided to buy something that could be like the counterpart for her book.

I even sent an e-mail to Mr. Legrain telling him I had bought his book and that I was eager to start reading it but he didn’t bother to reply. Anyway, I started reading it yesterday and I had just gotten to page 67 when I decided to blog a bit to share my findings and a couple of my reflections.

Now, I am not saying I have a position on this “hot issue”. I don’t really believe in positions as such but more in arguments and ideas. I like to analyse and rationalize things and then draw my own conclusions.

So I leave you with the phrases that have made an impact so far. The conclusions are all yours.

“…the debate that is at the heart of this book: should we welcome or seek to prevent the unprecedented wave of international migration that is bringing ever greater numbers of people from poor countries to rich countries…” Page 5

“Do the new arrivals pose a threat to everything we cherish-jobs, the welfare state, our national identity and the way of life, even our freedom and security-or does their diversity in fact enrich and invigorate the economy, culture and society of their adopted homes? Could we put a stop to immigration is we wanted to, or is it an inevitable consequence of a globalising world riven between rich and poor?” Page 6

“Regardless of whether rich countries choose to admit more immigrants, they clearly need to do a better job of integrating those who have already arrived.” Page 12.

I must say something here. Why do countries NEED to do a better job of integrating those who have already arrived? What if some of those people don’t want to integrate? What if they are not interested in learning the language of their new adopted country or do not want to abide by the laws of that country either? Where is their share in this two-way highway? Shouldn’t they also NEED to try?

“The disparity in wages between rich and poor countries is so huge that university graduates from poor countries are often better off financially driving cabs in rich countries than doing graduate work in their country of origin. So, They need Us. But, as this book will argue, We also need Them.” Pag. 16

Again, I must say something, why? To exploit them? Even if they have university degrees they should come to Europe to clean houses, wash dishes and take care of the elderly? Just because at least they are doing better in Europe or the States and moreover people in rich countries turn their noses up at such jobs? Do you think that highly qualified people who speak several languages and have a degree in education or law are happy driving cabs in Europe or the States?

“And just as it is often cheaper and mutually beneficial for us to buy computers made in China or use call centres in India, it often makes sense for us to import services that have to be delivered on the spot-such as nannying or personal training-from foreigners”. Pag. 17.

Is that the best we can do against the economic inequalities in the world?

“Demand for skilled immigrants is also likely to increase, as companies, cities and countries compete for an advantage in the global market-place by trying to hire the most talented people, most of whom will increasingly come form poor countries, where the number of university graduates is rising fast” Page 17

“Critics of immigration think that immigrants compete for the same jobs as locals while at the same time believing that immigrants are different-read: inferior-to locals. This makes no sense: a semi-literate Mexican peasant with a poor command of English is no competition in the job market for an American who has finished high school. Only if immigrants were more or less identical to us would they compete directly for the same jobs as locals” Page 67

Aren’t these two last paragraphs a contradiction?

Il-Hadd

Illum jiena rrid nipprova nipprattika l-malti. Kim hija l-ghalliema llum :)
Ghamilna hafna affraijiet illum. Morna Marsaxlokk u Birzebbuga ma' Glenn u Kim ghax Kim trabbiet il-Qajjenza.

Kienet hafna kesha izda hadna hafna pjacir. Ahna morna go post specjali hdejn Marsaxlokk. Ahna hassejna bhallikieku konna qieghdin f'nofs il-bahar. Ahna tkellimna hafna u hadna pjacir.

Now, that was NOT my version ;) That was Kim's, mine was more or less like this :(

Illum Jiena irrid nipprova nippratika bil-Malti. Kim hija l-ghalliema illum.
Ghamel affarijiet hafna. Morru ghall Marsaxlokk u Birzebugga ma' Glenn u Kim ghax Kim mrobbijin ghall Qajjenza. Kesha hafna izda ghandi pjacir hafna.

Ahna morrna ghall post speciajli hdejn Marsaxlokk. Ahna hasjna bhall f'nofs il-bahar. Tkelmna hafna u tiedhu pjacir.

Well, well, I am getting there...I think ;) I still miss Grego a lot :( And I hope to see him on msn one of these days to go on with our Maltese lessons. It's been a while since I last studied Maltese, three weeks or so :(

English translation (more or less):

Today we went with Glenn and Kim to Marsaxlook and Birzebugga, towns in the south of Malta. Kimm grew up in Qajjenza so we also visited this city. We had a lot of fun and went to a special place close to Marsaxlokk where we could feel like we were in the middle of the sea!

Traditioooon! Fiddler on the roof

Elections will take place in Malta next month and with all the electoral campaign hype I can’t watch Maltese TV without being bombarded by ads many of them the type of dirty politics I always try to avoid. By saying negative things about others they also say negative things about themselves.

When reading the paper I have come across a couple of AN interviews and yesterday while watching TV I found this party's representative answering the questions of some journalists. The representative comes across as a very confident person but I was surprised at the many times he mentioned how much his party supports “traditional families”, meaning a man and a woman getting married and having kids, I understood.

The way he put it, I feel like until I have a kid I wouldn’t be in their “good books” if they ever came to power. It also surprised me how easily sweeping statements came out, at one point I thought that people who didn’t have the fortune of growing with both their parents could feel offended. I thought, what about people who lived with only one of their parents, or orphans? What about gays? What about those who choose to remain single all their lives? He made me think that he believes that if you are not part of a “traditional family” you are part of something else or living in another world. He reminded me of how important "tradition" is for so many people even if this is backwards. Have you heard this song? Makes you think right?

The world is not perfect you know? And many people live with only one of their parents as the result of many circumstances. Broken families aren’t a phenomenon of “our times”. Sometimes growing with only one of the parents could be more beneficial for a kid. Perhaps the father or the mother was an alcoholic who beat the other partner or the kids? Why insist on having two people together till the end of their days “just” because they signed a contract?

I don’t know. I am still feeling offended after listening to his sweeping statements. I believe that the world is somehow moving forward and that you are free to choose how you want to live, if single or married, to have kids or not, or that your sexual orientation is your choice. However when I listen to people speaking like that makes me wonder if really, is the world actually moving forward?

But anyway, I just hope that this electoral campaign will soon be over. I am getting tired of seeing the same scenes as in my country such as politicians hugging and kissing kids and the elderly in front of the cameras because it gives them good points. Man, it’s so cliché. Where did subtlety go?

Thursday 7th February

“Having tasted a bit of Rome yesterday we felt like we wanted to see all the monuments, cathedrals and museums in one day! We were full of energy and were very anxious to see as many places as we could. We started with the Colosseum and took many pictures there.

The place was impressive and we could almost feel the weight of the centuries in the air. When we saw that there was basically no queue we thought that perhaps it was because we were there fairly early but we were wrong, the Colosseum was closed that morning so we decided to go ahead with our program and walked till the Victor Manuel monument.

We had heard that it was known by many Romans as the “Wedding cake” and to be honest it is pretty noticeable there. I also felt like it was a bit too much for the architecture of the city. I prefer subtlety myself but nevertheless it was quite impressive too. The “Palazzo Venezia” is almost in front of it as well as the “Trajan tower” which is really something. I was very impressed when I saw all that carving work surrounding the tower.

We also saw the “Napoleonic balcony” where supposedly Napoleon’s mother spent her last days. It is very much like a Maltese balcony.

We then headed to the Vatican City and Castel St. Angelo because the day before we had seen them in the car but actually just had a glance which understandably made me want to go and have a look at them again. I was spellbound when I saw Piazza St. Pietro and it was so warm at about 2 that we had to remove our coats. We enjoyed the sun sitting there and many people were having gelatti so I felt like having another one!. On Saturday we have planned to come again to have a look at the Museum and to go inside the church.

One thing that I couldn’t help but noticing was the amount of beggars and apparently illegal immigrants selling fake goods such as handbags and belts; there were so many! That is something that thankfully you don’t see in Malta. It is actually one of the things I love about Malta, you never see a person begging in the streets and I hope it remains that way.

We then kept on walking sometimes getting lost so that our feet were basically aching a lot by the end of the day but it was definitely worth it! I noticed however that sometimes we got lost due to the lack of signs that would lead you to the tourist attractions. There were some but in certain main streets you wouldn’t find one! Sometimes we asked because we are not that great with maps and once the owner of a kiosk just told me “I don’t know” with a very grumpy face. Having said that there were many people who were very kind and helpful, like a girl who told us that the bus stop where we were waiting for the bus to come was closed and that we had to walk to the next one.

Among the places we visited we say the “Piazza Navona” and “Piazza del Popolo”, Via del Corso and the Pantheon. When we got to Piazza Navonna we noticed that the prices of a cup of coffee varied considerably if you wanted to drink your coffee inside or outside. We decided to go to a coffee shop in a side street where the prices would be reasonable :)

We also found a very good shop where they sell CDs, DVDs and books. The variety was amazing and it made me think that the shops of this type in Malta are very limited and the prices are terrible compared to this Italian shop. Sometimes I wonder how people can actually buy DVDs and CDs in Malta. I prefer to use Amazon because it is definitely cheaper. I felt kind of sad because the offers in this Italian shop were great! I wish I could have bought several items there but well, you know how it is. The “offers” I have seen in these type of shops in Malta are ridiculous. They usually sell cheaper DVDs when they have been used before for rental or they reduce the prices on those items that definitely nobody wants or would not buy not even for 3 euros.

Red and I were so tired at about 7 that we realized one of the two mistakes we had made when coming to Rome was: The shoes. We never imagined we were going to walk so much and I had gotten boots with me, you know, it’s Rome! And people are so well dressed. The girls look like they go to the hair dresser everyday, the make up is perfect and they seem to be wearing designers’ clothes all of them! Well, maybe not designers’ clothes but they are certainly well dressed. So I was happy I had brought my boots with me but on the other hand how I wished I had also brought a pair of tennis shoes! ;)

The other mistake was that we didn’t bring the wire to download the pictures that we took and our memory was quickly filling in! oh, welll…

We are ready to go to rest now. Already looking forward to tomorrow!”

Blogging and politicians

Politicians having a blog is really cool but what is the point of having a blog if you don’t allow interaction? You might as well have your own web site but that is certainly not a blog (though some web sites have a blog too).

The whole point of having a public blog is the interaction: author-visitors or visitors commenting on other visitors’ opinions. And I said “public blog” because you can definitely select those people who can actually visit your blog or you can keep your blog just for yourself…

Red's birthday: Wednesday 6th February 2008

From where can I begin? It has been such a wonderful trip that it is tough to start explaining what I did, where I went and my impressions of the place.

But I would really like to share my experiences in Rome with you so I have decided to write on the basis of what I wrote in my diary there.

I will start with day one: Wednesday 6th February 2008. Red’s birthday.

“I hate those early morning flights. This time I had to get up at 3 am to be at the airport on time. It always amazes me to see people walking their dogs or jogging at this ungodly hour.

On the plane, Red and I joked about the immigration issues that I always face given that I am not an EU citizen (yet). It seemed to me that the EU citizens merely show the cover of their passports or ID cards and that’s it; while as all Non-EU citizens have to queue. Fair enough, but in my case it is like every immigration officer wishes to display their utter ignorance because they treat me as if I were ET. It’s like my country is not a country but another planet. They don’t know where it is or what my nationality is, what language I speak or in which continent if at all my country is. So I have opted to assume that I am ET and before I get to the immigration officer I tell Red “ET…home…telephone” LOL

This time the immigration officer in Rome was particularly rude. When she asked in Italian, about the purpose of my visit, I answered that I was in Rome because I needed a new passport. Her amazement was evident. I explained I am a permanent resident in Malta but my country doesn’t have a Consulate there but she didn’t seem to believe me. In her very broken English she asked to see my ID card. At this stage I was kind of upset and I gave it to her. She allowed me to go in (of course, I don’t even need a visa to go to Italy) and I just gave her a very sarcastic “Thank you very much”.

So far, not so impressed.

For those who have read my blog since last year, you probably remember that the Ambassador of El Salvador to Rome came to Malta in May 2007 to present his credentials. He is such a kind man and his family is absolutely lovely. He had invited us to go to visit the “Cittá eterna” and we accepted his offer.

We therefore stayed at his place and the trip would surely not have been the same without their company. They took us to so many places and explained so much about the tourist attractions that we felt like we had the best guides in Rome. We felt so privileged! They certainly know their way around Rome and visit the museums every month. They go to the many exhibitions that the city offers and are taking an archaeology course to understand Rome better!

The first thing we did was to go to the Embassy and we met the staff there. They were all very helpful. Seeing the many pictures of my country, food, coffee and tourist attractions stirred many emotions inside of me. And how I wished to have a ticket to visit El Salvador there and then!

Having completed the paperwork at the Embassy, we then headed to a nice restaurant to celebrate Red's birthday. The Ambassador wanted to invite him to taste his first pasta there. He chose a great restaurant close to the Embassy and enjoyed a delicious meal.

We then went to a stadium surrounded by huge statues that were built during the Mussolini era. The name scapes me right now though.

I was eager to go to “Piazza di Spagna” and I was pleasantly surprised to see the place I had seen so many times when watching “Roman Holiday”. There were many artists selling paintings of the Piazza and we bought a small one. We took in the atmosphere and enjoyed the sun as well as the breathtaking landscape.

We then walked through “Via dei Condotti” where we saw the very expensive shops and headed towards the “Fontana di Trevi”. The sculptures were amazing! And I was so happy to toss a coin into the water. Legend has it that whoever tosses a coin into the fountain will surely return to Rome. Red and I both tossed one so we are already looking forward to our next visit to Rome! There were many people but we managed to take the “must take” pictures. Afterwards, we went back home for a much-needed rest.

But first we went for a delicious “gelato”. Many people had mentioned these famous “gelatti” and how great they are but their stories could not reflect the exquisite taste of the product.

I must say that during my first day, one of the things that struck me was the traffic and how disorganized and dangerous it is. The streets (cobbled or otherwise) don’t have lanes! The cars didn’t stop at all when people were trying to cross using the zebras and the scooters didn’t care about anything.

More than once we were almost involved in a car accident or saw one almost happening. We also saw an actual motorcycle that had been hit by a car. The narrow streets don’t have pavements and the cars and motorcycles are allowed to go through them which means that you have to be very careful and basically fight for your life.

That is one of the low points that I would give to Rome, the chaotic traffic. However there are so many good points that I want to go to bed with all the nice mental images of the things that we enjoyed today and look forward to tomorrow.

It has definitely being a wonderful birthday for Red. Especially because this trip is like a dream come true. This is the first time that Red and I have been able to travel together on a plane and what a place we have decided to visit: Rome!!”.

Rome

Finally...after many months of stress and also anticipating the ones to come...Red and I are off to Rome!

Yes! we will spend some days enjoying the beautiful places that "La Citá eterna" has to offer. I will let you know how I am doing when I have a chance there or when I am back. I can barely imagine the amount of pictures we'll take!

I am bringing a couple of P.G. Wodehouse books for the plane of course. My boss had lent me one and I found one at home! Isn't that great? That guy really makes me laugh! He is already one of my favorite writers.

Cheers!

Picture

Karnival ta' Malta

Meeting new friends, missing old friends who have left on holiday, bank stuff, bills stuff, rent stuff, house chores stuff, supermarket stuff, office...a bit of Karnival...

"Now... bring me that horizon" Captain Jack Sparrow.