Working hours in Malta

Working hours in Malta....appear to be a suggestion at most offices. This photo was taken at 09:30 in valetta on a workday. Not a good photo but note there are still significant numbers of suits and briefcases. Definitely too early for shoppers and tourists... I happened to be changing buses on my way to a meeting when I noticed how many people appeared to be on their way to work. No wonder whenever we interview people my office makes a point of stating 'the office hours are 08:30 to 18:00'. What I don't understand is how everyone else seems to arrive after me and still leave before me..and heaven forbid you try to schedule a meeting with anyone before 1000 or after 1500..must get back to Canada before I start getting too lax...

On our feet in Malta after a tumultuous summer.

Hi all.

Well, it's been too long since we blogged, as always, although this summer has been particularly tough, so I don't really apologize. However, I would like to get back to blogging more regularly, and I trust that at least a few out there in the ether enjoy reading about our adventures, so I think I'll just pound out this entry, bring everyone up to date, and then we can get back on track. (Advance Warning - it's long.)

May

Kes managed to get the visa issues sorted out, at some trouble and expense to both her employer and us, and got back to Malta, getting on with the job of being a smart person in a fish-related technology company.

On the 22nd, our rugby club in Norway hosted an international rugby game - Norway vs. Slovenia (odd bit of international confusion: In Europe, the home team is listed first - in North America, second. Huh.) In general, the whole operation came off without a hitch. Slovenia won, which was unfortunate, but I think that the club, thanks to the dozens of people who just kept on looking for ways to help, really acquitted itself well. I received a real honour from FIRA-AER, the European rugby association, in being recognised for rugby development. It was not fair, really, to single me out when the rest of the club (specifically, a core group of about 5 or 6, including Kes) had done so much, but it was a real compliment, nonetheless.

Kes continued her jet-setting, "I will soon be running this whole continent", ways with a day-long meeting in Brussels on the 25th. She and her company are helping to co-ordinate a team of companies and research outfits from around Europe on a major, EU-funded project. Don't ask me what the project does. It took me two years before I understood her thesis, I haven't had enough time on this one yet...

Further to that, Kes has also ended up becoming plugged in, to some extent, to the business community here in Malta. For example, on the 27th, she attended an event focussed on Small & Medium-sized Enterprise in Malta. I think that she is working for a company that is somewhat of an anomaly: Unquestionably a Maltese company (by which I mean that it's not owned outside the country, or simply a Maltese offshore branch of some larger international operation), yet it's primarily staffed by ex-pats and immigrants. As a result, Kes will sometimes be the only non-Maltese person at some of these type of events. It's an interesting factor to note - we seem to move from environments that are purely foreigners, to those that are almost entirely Maltese, with only a very few that are truly mixed. The particularly interesting thing that we find is that so many of the people we interact with live only in one world or the other, at least socially. It's sort of a "two solitudes" thing, with reference to the language communities in Quebec. Of course, there are many many people who cross over like us. However, the number who don't is large enough to be defining.

June

At the very beginning of June, my mom visited me in Norway, from Canada. She decided that she didn't want me to have left Norway without her having seen the boat I was working on. It was a really great 3-day visit (I know - all the way to Norway for 3 days!). I got to show her around the neighbourhood a bit more, and we had some great time hanging out together.

Meanwhile, Kes kept finding new parts of Europe to organise, and was off to Hungary for 3 days, from the 1st to the 4th. Yet another EU project. No, I don't know what this one does, either.

She returned to Malta just in time to see Malta play Norway at rugby league. I, personally, dislike rugby league very strongly (for the uninitiated, rugby union and rugby league are two different codes of rugby football - they originally split back in the 19th century). However, because there is some strong transferability of skills between the two codes, a good number of our rugby union friends from Norway travelled with the Norwegian team to Malta to play. I know that she enjoyed seeing them again.

Our good friend Courtney, who we had visited in Switzerland earlier this year, visited Malta for four days in early June, overlapping for one day with a weekend visit of mine. It was neat to see her. It is particularly great to have other friends, particularly when they're Canadian, with whom we can share our experiences - the aspects of enjoying all the learning that we're doing, frustration with foreign bureaucracy (even when it (rarely) works better than Canadian bureaucracy, it still doesn't work the same, dammit!), things we miss about home, etc. For example, I've ended up picking up a few British English words in my vocabulary - 'queue' is a simpler and honestly, better, word for 'line-up'. However, I fully acknowledge that if I come home to Canada using "queue" and "post" for "line-up" and "mail", I will come across as a pretentious jerk. It's that sort of mundane thing that it's nice to share with someone in a similar situation.

After I returned to Norway on the 14th, it was into the full-pressure final two weeks before delivery of the boat, with sea trials and final sign-offs. I won't go into all the gory details, but suffice to say that I worked a hell of a lot, so did many other people (including 7 of the rugby team, who were all on the same project), and the boat was delivered on time, fully successfully. Here's a link to the final product sheet.

Kes had another day in Brussels on the 23rd. If only Air Malta were part of the Star Alliance, so that we were earning Aeroplan miles! Air Malta does have a frequent flyer program, called "FlightPass". However, as far as we can tell, it's completely useless. For example, they don't give members actual membership cards. Members are supposed to print out and clip out the membership card on their own printer. So far, there has been no evidence that any of our flights have been registered properly in their system.

July

On the 2nd of July, the boat was christened "Oceanic Vega", and was officially delivered to its owners. In fact, there was a long list of work that still needed to be completely cleaned up over that following weekend, but it was still a day of celebration.

In the following week, Kes expanded her scope of enterprise to include Asia Minor, visiting fish farms, both salt water and fresh water, in Turkey - in Bodrum and Kahramanmaraş (apparently, the site near Kahramanmaraş wasn't actually there, but somewhere in the countryside accessible from there.)

The week after that, the 12th to 16th, was my last at Ulstein Verft. I had arranged to take my vacation time in the last two weeks of July, so that I would terminate my contract of employment on August 1st. However, on the last two days of work (15th & 16th), with some mad shuttling around between various offices of HR executives and other important people, I managed to come to an agreement to stay on with the Ulstein Group. I offered to play a role as a sort of "on-call" electrial engineering employee, working largely from home, but with travel as necessary. The only real limitation that I set was that I would not be willing to travel more than 50% of the time - after all, the reason I was leaving my existing position was because I wanted to sleep under the same roof as Kes!

While this was a great solution, and I was (still am!) very happy with it, it was immediately followed up with "Oh, yeah, and we'd like you to start the first of these on-call projects on Monday!" It turns out that one of the vessels that Ulstein Design was working on had an electrical engineering co-ordinator who was headed for vacation, and the company could really use someone to cover for him. As a result, I spent the first five weeks of this new assignment working from home on a vessel being built in Dubai - the Polarcus Asima - which has now been delivered.

Of course, this then meant I wasn't taking vacation, and we agreed that I would take it in early September instead. Thus, I immediately booked tickets home to Bella Coola - It had been too long since I was home!

On the 14th, I managed to finally sell the *@&*&@*& VW Polo which, though it had gotten us many places, had also caused us many many headaches. After all the problems it had been through, I only ended up getting about 15% of the amount I had paid for it in the first place. What a frustration!

On the 15th, I boxed up what I couldn't pack in the suitcases, and wasn't going to donate to goodwill, and mailed it to Malta.

On the 16th, I boarded a plane at Hovden Airport, headed on to the next phase of life.

On the 20th, against my better judgement, and against my advice, our new rugby club in Malta, the Birkirkara Alligators, named me treasurer. Here we go again!

On the 25th, I attended the opening of the Alligators' new training pitch, a little artifical turf area only 5 blocks north of where we live. In doing so, I met the Prime Minister of Malta. A bit surreal to have been in the country for such a short period of time, and be shaking hands with the PM...

In the middle of the night on the 26th, we received the kind of phone call that no one ever wants to get - Kes's father had been killed in a car accident. I really won't discuss this here - it just isn't the place. Suffice to say that the world has changed because of this, and nothing will ever be the same. Everything we do going forward will be shaped by this.

We travelled home to Rothesay, NB, immediately. I stayed for a week, and Kes for two. By the time we got back to Malta it was August. I won't go into details of the trip or continue making references to this through the rest of this entry - the purpose of this blog is to keep you up to date with goings-on and travel experiences, not to go into any depth about our emotional states. Thanks for understanding.

August

Rugby training was now in full swing by the time we got back. The coach of the Alligators' senior men's team is an experienced coach, and he ran us very hard through August, trying to up our fitness to prepare us for the season. I can tell you that by the end of August, I was probably as fit as I have been in years, if not ever.

During this time, we also decked out the apartment with a lot of the stuff we shipped from Canada. Thus our art, including a lot of the wedding presents and little details like Alphonse, the china bull, are now in place in the apartment, and it feels a lot more like a space that we have helped to shape.

We held a barbeque on our roof for our friends on the rugby team. I definitely think that a barbeque on the roof in about 27-28 degree weather is one of the best things on earth. A few days later, we went to a waterslide park with the team. I was shocked to discover that the water in the waterslides was saltwater pumped from the ocean. I mean, it made sense as soon as I realised it, but having grown up in North America with fresh (chlorinated) water doing the job, it seemed strange!

We have continued to go out on many Friday nights (evening cocktails) and the occasional Sunday (boat daytrip) with a group of ex-pats who set up social events. It's nice to hang out with other people who have had some of the same experiences we're having, and in some cases care about the same things back home.

September

On the 1st, I began my vacation by travelling to London for the playoff round of the Women's Rugby World Cup. There, I got to spend some great time with a couple of friends, and met the father of a good friend of mine, with whom I watched the semi-finals. Canada was unfortunately NOT in the semi-finals (first time since 1994!), but we enjoyed the matches anyway.

I spent the next couple of days wandering around London. I really enjoy the city. I'm sure many who live there have much to point out that isn't to the standard they might want. However, in the global picture, I find the public transit, general civility of people, and quality of the pubs (not just drinking holes - restaurants, community centres, sports clubs & meeting rooms, all rolled into one), among other factors, to be wonderful.

Kes joined me on Friday the 3rd, and we had a great weekend. We stayed in Hounslow - not because of Hounslow particularly, but because it was conveniently located for transit, airport and rugby.

On Saturday, we went to Twickenham Stadium, where we saw the four top London-based pro rugby teams play their season openers as a double bill. We also visited the World rugby museum. The most striking thing to come out of the museum for us was the fact that women's rugby has only really been played for about 30 years. There were isolated matches as early as the 20's and "pioneers" (notably at universities) playing in a more organised fashion in the 1960's. However, for example, the first club (USA & Sweden) or provincial (New Zealand) championships were about 1980. The first official international match was 1982, the first international tournament 1990, and the first World Cup to be actually backed by the International Rugby Board was 1998!

Coming of age in Canada, and learning about rugby at university, I think that we both had a picture of women's rugby as fully equal to men's rugby, with the only real difference being overall player numbers. Sure, the budgets weren't equal, but neither were the player numbers, so that's not unfair, right? We would have expected commitment, budget, interest and so on to be vaguely proportional to the number of participants, and certainly for it to be seen as a positive thing to increase female playing numbers. However, when we got to Europe, we were surprised to discover that in many parts of the rugby world (not necessarily geographical parts - I'm thinking of social and age distinctions, too) women's rugby is not really on the agenda, and no one is really very concerned. When we realised the degree to which this was true, we were really shocked, and a bit disheartened. However, seeing this display at the rugby museum, and realising how young women's rugby really is, brought some of these problems into focus - it doesn't fix them, but it does make it clearer why some of them exist. On the other hand, it makes the achievements of rugby in places like Canada and the US, where women's rugby is much more equal, even that much more impressive.

At the end of that great weekend, where we caught up with more friends, watched the final of the women's world cup, and just generally had a great "escape", Kes went back to Malta and I headed onward to Canada.

I won't go into great detail about the trip home to visit my parents, but it was great to be home with them, and back in Bella Coola. I got to visit the Fall Fair, muck around in the creek clearing out windfalls and other brush with my dad, help my mom organise a whole bunch of photos, and generally felt useful and anchored. It was good stuff.

Meanwhile, Kes took a rugby tour with the Alligators women's team to the heartland of Italian rugby in northern Italy, flying in and out of Bologna, but visiting Parma and Modena, as well. She had a great time, but as with every proper rugby tour, isn't allowed to tell me about half of it.

...And now we're back together in Malta! I'm awaiting the next assignment from Ulstein, she's going from strength to strength at work, and the rugby season is fast approaching. While, as mentioned above about Kes's father, the world has changed in a very negative way, there are still many things that are going right in our lives.

So - now everyone is caught up, and hopefully we'll be able to maintain this blog a bit better!

Cheers,

Ashley

Sometimes, being a foreigner is really hard...

So, for the most part, I've really enjoyed being a foreigner in Malta. Everyone has been really kind, I seem to be able to view the annoying things as funny, and generally things are going well.

Enter Maltese bureaucracy. To be honest, I am still entirely unclear as to why I'm in Norway this weekend. Yepp, I'm in Norway. While away at a conference in Canada I received a call from the office that the Maltese police were threatening to block my re-entry to Malta, because they didn't believe that I had the right to be in the Schengen (as a result of my Norwegian work permit). Again, I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with me being in Malta, but when the police threaten to block your entry, you don't have much choice, and I rapidly changed my plans to fly to Norway instead of Malta to get proof that I was legal to be in the Schengen.

I know what you're thinking, this could have been solved by anyone at the Maltese police picking up the phone and calling Norway.... but they refused, and similarly refused to accept Norwegian documents, or anything less than an official sticker in my passport. So Friday morning at 09:00 I was queued at the police office in Ulsteinvik (yes, had to be Ulsteinvik, nothing as simple as jumping off a plane in Oslo).

In retrospect, I'm lucky that I wasn't able to shift it so that I did a fly-by in Oslo, because the police officer who I needed to submit a scan of this sticker to was "not available" on Friday.

So, the silver lining and end result is that I ended up spending a lovely weekend with my husband in Norway, all the Maltese authorities are happy that I have been obsequious enough that everything is apparently now a-ok, and I'm off to Malta tomorrow morning.

And Birkirkara wins!

When we moved to Norway, Ashley and I were amused by how popular 'football' was. It is NOTHING compared to how popular it is in Malta.

Pretty much every weekend at some point there is some yahoo driving around beeping his horn and waving his favourite club's flag out the window. This weekend was extra special, as the local club (Birkirkara) was slated to win the national championship. People have been talking about it for weeks. Children in gangs singing outside my apartment the Birkirkara pep songs. Finally, last night the big match was on, and before the game had even finished there were police ready to handle the crowds, street vendors ready to sell air horns and beer, and people all standing ready to celebrate. And as soon as birkirkara won, I witnessed these diehard supporters rushing to their vehicles to DRIVE AWAY beeping and waving flags. I assume they came back.

Oh, and right after this picture, a bus hit the red beer stand and beer flooded the street. No one was hurt, so it was just hilarious.

75% to Malta

Alright, Frank has arrived in Malta! Okay, the above photo is from the Sheraton in Brussels, where Frank retreated to the sink. He's always had a weird thing for sinks.

We arrived about 23:00 into the Luqa airport. I was a little wary about there being a vet on staff on Saturday night, and I was apparently right. However, the customs officer took charge, phoned the vet, and waved me on through.

Today's accomplishments are many so far:

1. Found a good Sunday grocery store nearby (open from 07:00 to 13:00)

2. Hung the wireless router out the second story window, so now I have wireless on the roof (fourth story)!

Obviously not a long term solution, but my internet tech/husband is arriving on Friday and I'm hoping he will wire the place up properly. It is just such a gorgeous day, I couldn't stay cooped up inside.

Frank seems to be adapting well, he is terribly skinny but he's doing his best to fatten up, including eating Maltese bugs, which he wasted no time getting down to business.

St. Patrick's day in Malta

Siezed by inspiration, I headed down to an 'Irish' bar for St. Patricks day. I have to say, while it's always nice to enjoy a pint after a long day, it wasn't very Irish. Last time I checked Bryan Adams was a Canadian shame, not Irish. I have to say, I had envisioned some jigs, sitting at a bench maybe belting out tunes I barely knew. What I experienced was overcrowded, oversmoky another-night-in-Paceville. It being a wednesday, I'm on the 22:00 bus home. Next year, I'm catching an easyjet flight to Ireland.

Airports are so timeless. I just realized it is Friday night. I'm on my way to Brussels to meet Ashley and Frank, and after an hour or so of traipsing around the airport in Rome, I've sat down to enjoy a highly overpriced (although delicious) glass of Italian red wine. 4.9 Euros. For reference I bought a bottle of wine in malta for 3.9 Euros this morning, I'm about halfway through a 5.5 hour layover so I have lots of time to muse about airports and Malta. Which brings me to this post's photo. When I arrived at the airport in Malta, there were balloons everywhere- like I'd just missed the 1000th customer. Apparently it is the launching of a new Malta airports logo. It was bizarre.

Rain rain go away....

Mediterranean islands when it rains are not fun. The roads are quite flooded, one of my patio doors leaked, and I'm fairly certain my bbq fell over in the night - not that I've checked, too rainy and miserable out. It is on the roof, and I kept having visions of a bbq plunging to it's death, but I think the railing held because I didn't find any shattered remains on the street this morning. Guess I need to buy some rope.

Cat # 1 has arrived!

Here you can see a bedraggled cat and husband finally on the ground and through customs. It was quite the fun.

The morning started off a little tough, since he was moving out of the current apartment at the same time as transporting a cat.

Step #1 On about 3 hours of sleep, he drove 15 minutes, took a 30 minute ferry, and then drove another 30 minutes or so to get to the plane.

Step #2 Washed cat in airport washroom. Ewwww.

Step # 3 Put cat on plane, boarded plane

Step # 4 Sat on runway for 1.5 hours while they plowed it of snow (missed connections for the rest of the day. Called wife in Malta so she could panic and madly telephone airlines.

Step # 5 Queued at Oslo airport to rebook (# 33 in line). No idea where the cat is at this point. (see step #7b)

Step # 6 Kept queueing - still only # 23

Step # 7a Rebooked an alternative routing. Insisted that the airline must accept the cat. SAS successfully bullied Air Malta into accepting the cat as baggage (cancelled animal handler in Dusseldorf that it took us 4 hours to book originally)

Step # 7b Realized the cat has been doing laps on the baggage belt and felt guilty.....oooops

Steps # 7-10 Took miscellaneous legs around Europe to meet the Air Malta connection in Dusseldorf, hoping the cat was still with him.

Step # 11 And finally, cat and husband arrived in Malta. Both bedraggled and exhausted, but here. The biggest impediment at the customs with the cat was the number of people who wanted to pet him.

Here's the real kicker. After all of that, our old landlord in Ulsteinvik emailed to say Frank (our other cat we haven't seen for six weeks) had shown up at the house the day after Riker was transported to Malta. So we get to do it all again!

In case of religious emergency, break glass

So I have become a bit of a public transit activist. I go out of my way to use transit, because I am trying to reduce my ecological footprint. Yes, I have always said I am not an environmentalist, but an ecologist does the math and makes decisions based on what we as a society can get out of the environment, and how to best go about doing that. I have become convinced that taking the bus is part of the path to achieving optimum output from our resources.

Now, taking the bus in Malta is not like taking the bus in Toronto. First, the buses are ancient and quite full of character - many have names, like 'Reliance' and sport slogans like 'meet me halfway'. This bus sports a crucifix, behind glass, next to an emergency hammer.

While there is no signage, the suggestion is clear to me - should I have a religious emergency, say a demon were to posess the person next to me, I could use the hammer to break the glass and perform an emergency exorcism, right?

Second, this poses a problem for many of my fellow bus goers, who feel they need to cross themselves on a regular basis. I think it may be when we are passing things of religious significance, but I'm not sure as I don't speak Catholic. There was definitely more crossing of selves in the bus with the crucifix. I think the teenagers making out felt guilty too.

Found an apartment!

Happy news! My apartment hunting is over. We have rented a 'house of character' against the advice of pretty much everyone....my boss thinks I'm nuts, for one, and since the contract is in the company's name they have to be involved. However, I'm happy with it, it's in a great location, and since we're not buying yet who cares if it's not a sensible investment. Besides, I couldn't manage another day commuting from Birzebbuga to Mosta. It was ridiculous.

Conveniently, the apartment is right next to:

- the bus to work

- the bus to St. Julian's (resort, club, and expat area)

- the rugby pitch

Yes, that's right, I've launched the instant social networking tool that is rugby, and I took my boots down to the pitch on Thursday night, at which point I was invited out for a social drink on Thursday night, sports watching on Friday night, rugby playing on Saturday, a ridiculous party on Saturday night (which I wussed out on because I had a giant headache, probably from too much sun!), sports watching on Sunday afternoon..... ahhh, insta friends. Just add rugby.

Still no internet at the apartment, so I occasionally stand outside McDonalds like I'm waiting for someone and use their connection on my phone ;-)

Arrived in Malta!

Well, I (Kes) have left Norway! I feel like it happened so fast. We had a great weekend with our friend in Switzerland (we touristed, ate, drank, skied, carnivaled) and now here I am in Malta.

I arrived Wednesday evening, ski bag in tow. This resulted in some strange looks at the airport to say the least, and my taxi driver asking me if I golfed. When I explained they were snow skis, he looked at me very seriously and informed me Malta has no snow. I then had the closest moment in my life to being James Bond. The driver handed me a package containing a cell phone, keys, and an address.

The apartment looks less-than-loved from the outside. I’m starting to realize that
a) There is a lot of dust here, so things look old somewhat instantly. My once-spiffy rental car is looking a little unloved after 3 days without a wash.
b) I don’t think people place as much emphasis in this culture on outward appearances (of buildings), and outward appearance does not necessarily reflect quality. Ashley said he had the same experience in China. The apartment is perfectly functional (although lacking in internet, which is frustrating).

‘Pretty Bay’, where the apartment is located, is an ode to the industrial success of Malta as there is a giant cargo ship loading place that dominated the landscape. At night it’s like a Christmas tree. I quite enjoy it, but people down here largely think it unsightly.

Off to work early on Thursday (I became paranoid I’d mis-set my clock and thus went for a run at 5, not 6 am) Somewhere nearby there is definitely a rooster, which goes off around 5:30. Church bells begin ringing merrily at 05:45, which I think is awfully optimistic of them, although traffic starts to pick up around 6:15 so maybe not.

Apartment hunting in Malta

The job is great, so my main roadblock right now is finding a place to live. I contacted some ‘estate agents’ (which makes me think someone has died) before I arrived and set up some appointments. I saw 2 apartments on Friday night, and 14 apartments on Saturday, with 4 different agents. It’s a little bit strange for me, since real estate in Canada is generally an exclusive relationship, but I’m trying to be open to this non-monogamous system. I see it a little bit like dating – I’ve gone on a first date now with these agents, and some of them I won’t be answering their request for a second date. For example, the one that keeps saying ‘but all the foreigners want to live in xyz so you’ll want to live there’ despite my protestations that I want somewhere convenient for my work and lifestyle. Her answer was ‘but of course you’ll drive’.

This leads me to another topic. I’ve realized I’m a public transit activist. I feel strongly that public transit should be a reliable option, and in order for that to happen, more people need to take the bus! Also, EVERYONE complains about the traffic here. I have a simple answer. TAKE THE BUS. I’ll stop ranting about public transit now, and get back to apartment hunting.

My deadline to find an apartment by March 5th, when Riker (the cat) will arrive with Ashley. (By the way, turns out Riker’s ticket is costing about the same as Ashley’s, despite his much smaller size, lack of on-board service (there are no pretzels in the cargo hold), and the one-way nature of it). However, I would really, really like to move this weekend if I can find something suitable so I have a chance to start settling in a bit.

I saw many lovely apartments, but the old adage ‘location location location’ is becoming my mantra. I’m soon going to refuse to get out of the car if I don’t like the area. I don’t have the time or the energy. I did see one that could work in terms of location and it was a lovely apartment, but I want to see a few more before I commit.

He also doesn’t yet know about Riker….

Planning for a move that is both too fast and too slow...

So... as Kes said in her last post, we've started pulling our things together for the move.

As with every move by everyone in every era of history, we have more to move than we thought. Having lived for the last two years (well, almost - 22 months) in a furnished apartment, we don't really have that much to move, but of course, we certainly have more than the four suitcases we moved here with.

In addition, we have decided to "play permanent" in the next place. This doesn't mean that we would take any money from anyone for a bet regarding where we will be living in 5 years - we don't really have a clue. It only means that we're tired of the "camping" lifestyle, and we will move all or most of the stuff we've got in storage in Rothesay, NB across the Atlantic to join us in Malta. (Kes's parents, needless to say, are thrilled that we might vacate the 40% of their attic we are currently occupying!)

Actually, that last thought (playing permanent instead of camping) is definitely something we've learned out of our time here in Ulsteinvik. We made the (seemingly logical) call that, because Kes didn't have a job yet, and we had a "good enough" place to live in at the moment, we would wait before finding a "long-term" place here in this area. For example, we reasoned, if Kes found a position in Ålesund (north of here), it would be dumb to have a place south of Ulsteinvik, from where we would both be commuting some distance, rather than just one of us. The way the geography works here , there are three directions (north - Ålesund, south - Fosnavåg & Runde, east - Ørsta & Volda) that all held some potential for employment. Therefore, we stayed in our one-bedroom apartment with none of our own furniture.

How wrong we were, but I don't think we could have known without the experience. We now believe that it is far better to jump in, find a place, make it our own, and stop thinking "conditionally" (if she finds work here, then... - if the shipyard has more work in a different area, then...). That way, we can settle in, stretch out, and feel at home, even if we later decide to move because of new conditions. I now believe that I would rather have moved twice or three times while we were here, if we were at least trying to make a home in each place, than do as we did, where we only ever had one foot fully on the ground in this apartment.

Anyway - I'm sure we'll learn whether the "jump in with both feet, no matter what" attitude works this time!

So - regarding packing - Kes is tremdously organized, and we now have suitcases all over the apartment, with dates on them (marked with duct tape and marker). The dates indicate which trip I'm supposed to bring that specific suitcase down with me, as I've got several trips planned during this interim period while I'm still here in Norway, but Kes is already in Malta.

I'll sign off, but you might be interested in a bit of a schedule going forward...

12-17 February - we both fly to Zurich, Switzerland for a long-planned trip to Lucerne to visit an old friend and experience Fasnacht. From Zurich, I fly home to Norway, while Kes flies on to Malta. She starts work the next day!

5-7 March - I visit Malta and bring Riker the cat down.

19-21 March - I travel to Belgium to referee a top-level domestic rugby match and receive coaching from a senior referee.

26 March - 5 April - I visit Malta because of the Norwegian Easter vacation - Norwegians get Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday as actual statutory holidays meaning that, with the use of only 3 vacation days, I can get 10 days off. So many people do this that it is simply assumed at our shipyard - those who work on crews or in shift work in fact MUST take those days off, because you really can't do much as, say, a crane operator if there's no one else at work.

30 April - 2 May - Kes and I meet in Sweden. I will be refereeing Sweden vs. Croatia in Enköping, which is about an hour west of Stockholm, on 1 May. This will be by far my most important game to date, and I'm really excited about it.

12-17 May - I will be travelling to Malta again - this time using a combination of "Kristihimmelfartsdag" ("Christ's heaven-going day" or Ascension Day, which is also a statutory holiday here) and the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day, thus using a single vacation day to secure five days away.

17 July - The one way ticket to Malta for me!

In reality, we will likely find some way to slip in a trip somewhere in early/mid-June, but that will be tough, because there aren't any convenient Norwegian holidays, and the boat will be very near delivery - we intend to deliver on 30 June.

Regardless, the next five months will be eventful!

Cheers,

Ashley

Alphonse has his packing suit on.....

Packing is solidly underway at the Morton household, as you can see by the bubble wrap on Alphonse, as well as the general disarray in the house. I heard from the company that my ticket is now booked for Feb 17th (Zurich to Malta- We'll be visiting with a friend in Lucerne Feb 12th-17th).

Alphonse (perhaps Grandma Morgan can suggest a more accurate spelling) is a china bull near and dear to my heart. As a child, I always wanted to play with Alphonse at Grandma's house, but as he was china, this was a no-go. So, when Grandma moved last, she asked what had sentimental value for me, and I replied 'Alphonse'. Turns out Grandma was unaware of my sentimental attachment to this china bull, and in fact had been secretly hoping for an accident to befall dear Alphonse to remove his presence from her house... So Ashley and I became the proud new owners, and moving to Norway we took one piece of thoroughly pointless sentimental art with us - he took a lovely carving, I took Alphonse. Sadly Alphonse suffered a broken leg on the journey, but through tender loving care and some ceramic glue, he's good as new and ready for his trip to Malta. Better packing this time, and if he's really good, he may get to be carry on.

Otherwise, we are using the Tara Connelly packing method of 'need', 'want' and 'don't want' to sort ourselves into three categories. Need will come in the first trips, followed by whatever of the want makes the cut. 'Need' of course in my life is not really 'need', since it includes things like textbooks, mascara, and new shoes (thanks mom!). Really I don't 'need' these things, more like 'really really want' or 'don't want to have to replace'.

In packing solidarity, my parents have just decided to sell their home to boot, so all storage options there are now over. Looks like the 6 cubic metres of stuff from Canada may be increasing....unless anyone want a dressage saddle?

Ashley & Kes Go to Malta?

Kes and Ashley are off to new adventures, so it must be time to start up the blog again!

The short version of the story is that Kes has a fabulous new job, and will start with the Maltese company AquaBioTech in the middle of February. Ashley will follow when "his" boat is done - presumably at the end of June.

Since I haven't written in 8 months, I'll just thow out some logical questions you might have, and answer them.

What's Kes's great new job?

- She will be the Manager of BioPlanning at AquaBioTech, a company that works with various types of aquaculture research & technology. Here's the website: www.aquabt.com.

What will you do, Ashley?

- Good question. I told my department manager last Wednesday of the situation, including the idea that, if possible, I would like to stay on within the Ulstein Group in some fashion. My current position means that I can't really work from a distance, so I will not be able to continue in the same role I have today. However, the reaction from my manager has been tremendously positive - he will be helping me to see whether there is any other role within the Ulstein Group of companies that would be right for me, presuming that I would be living (at least most of the time) in Malta. Neither of us believe that it is all that likely, but it's that kind of positive reaction that confirms what I believed before - Ulstein, in general, is a good bunch of people to work for.

- If that option doesn't pan out, I will be looking for work that is actually in Malta, of course. Malta has a large shipyard, but it is working its way through (near the end of) a privatisation process that has shaken things up quite a bit. Hopefully it's back on its feet soon, so that it becomes an option for me. Many other possibilities exist, including going back to school (the University of Malta teaches in English and has an MBA program, while the International Maritime Organisation has its International Maritime Law Institute there, as only two of the possibilities).

Where's Malta?

- Right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a small group of islands, with the main island sharing the same name as the country. Total land area: 300 square kms. Picture a square island that's 17 km on each side (in Bella Coola, that's the distance from the Government Wharf to Klonick Creek) - That's the area of the entire country.

- Into that little dot of land are packed just over 400,000 people - roughly the population of Surrey in British Columbia. Malta was a British colony until 1964, and became a full Republic (got rid of the Queen as head of state) in 1974, though it's still a member of the Commonwealth. The primary language is Maltese, which has a grammar very close to Arabic, but is written in Roman ("English") letters, and incorporates many Italian and English words. At the same time, it is the "most multilingual" country in the EU, meaning that a higher percentage of the people there can speak at least two languages than in any other country. Almost 90% of the population say that they can speak English. 66% say that they can speak Italian. The population is heavily Roman Catholic, with 98% considering themselves Catholic - there is a Catholic church for every 1000 people.

- There are lots of other interesting things to discuss regarding Malta, but I'll leave that for the future!

When are you moving?

- Kes will be starting work on February 17th (or 18th, I'm not 100% sure). I will be following as soon as the boat I'm working on right now is finished. That's scheduled for the 30th of June, as of today's schedule. Thus, I will probably move during the Norwegian summer vacation (late July to early August).

So yeah, that's the story!

We'll keep you updated as this progresses!