Happy February

Hi All 

I can't believe that in 5 days time ... it will be 2 months in Malta!!! Who would have thought! 

It stills shocks me every day that we are here in Malta!!! And when I meet ex-pats and they say they have been here for 5 or more years - there is a sense of shock and horror on my face! 

Saying that - I have discovered that when you live somewhere else (especially with kids) ... I think it's human nature (well, certainly my nature) to quickly start creating your little 'bubble' of normality and try get into a rhythm and routine ... 

Thankfully, I think we have found our groove,a little bit, and are managing to get to school each day with no panic and stress, Azi and I have a few little classes that we are during the week (including a Spanish music class) and have the 3 or 4 parks that we like to visit, we know which buses to catch, we know not to get irritated when we wait over an hour for a bus, we know which supermarkets around us to get certain things, we hire a car every second weekend and go do a big shop at the big supermarket and the Aldis equivalent here. We have found a great butcher, we have found where to order organic veg etc, after school we have our little things that we do ... So I feel we have created a nice little bubble! Not sure what will happen when Summer comes ... but for now - things are pretty chilled and happy! 

February started off with celebrating Azi's Birthday!!! I can't believe our little 'Stinky' (as we call her) is 3 years old!!! Zaria really enjoyed the week of birthday celebrations! It started off with candle lighting and Shabbat at the Rebbetzins house, then an afternoon tea with some friends at our place - all adults and 1 of Zaria's friends (I must say, I made an awesome selection of mainly gluten and refund sugar free cakes etc!). Sunday the girls had Hebrew school, and Azi had a cake and cards and all fun things! Zaria had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off school - for the public holiday and carnival. We did not go to the nighttime celebrations of Carnival, but went to the old city during the day and saw the kids in all their dancing costumes! WOW! Terrible dancing and music, but great spirit and incredible costumes (pics to follow) and incredible floats! Volunteers work the entire year for carnival! And of course for Azi's birthday we had the most amazing gelato from one of the Gelato bars (sorry Gelato Messina - but this was the real deal - real, real cream!!) 

Surprisingly for Winter, we have been to the beach a few times, which has been great. As the beach has been pretty empty and we have played and run around and had ice-creams - of course! (I'm loving all these restaurants and clean toilets right on the beach!) 

Last weekend we went for a beautiful walk in the cliffs and on Sunday we took our car on the ferry to Gozo. Wow - a beautiful island (Pics in next e-mail) ... Luckily it was a gorgeous Winters day - so it was beautiful, but not crowded ... We had lunch at a restaurant right on the water (I have to mention that the Maltese bread is insanely good!) ... Gozo is beautiful. Thanks to Azi just starting panties/undies - we saw a lot of the bathrooms on Gozo - and I am happy to report that they are all clean and well maintained! :) ... (The joys of travelling with kids). 

Zaria is enjoying the work at school and her classes ... But I think she is still trying to find her group of friends ... She has had a few weekend playdates, so its all a journey! ZaZ is loving this musical theatre class on a Saturday morning for 3 hours and in March they are putting on the production of Hamlin! 

Last night we had an awesome Rosh Chodesh group at me arranged by the Rebbetzin. This Israeli, Jewish, lady came, she is the wife of the Ambassador of Italy! WOW! She was so interesting! They have lived all over the world and she is a professional Opera singer. She is the main role in Ophelia's Opera in March in this beautiful old theatre in Malta. So I have booked for Zaria and I - should be a great treat! 

Azi is really enjoying being with me full-time and is a complete chatterbox! It feels like since she turned 3 her sentences and vocab have tripled and she is always trying to either copy Zaria's whole stories or interrupt Zaria with her own made-up story! She adores Zaria and her best time of the day is when we pick ZaZ up from school and when Dad comes home (2 things that I get asked about all day!) ... Actually, now I am starting to wonder if she is enjoying spending time with me :)

Me - I'm doing OK. I started an awesome yoga class on a Wednesday night with a great teacher. Last Wednesday night there was a lady there who played this little African instrument and sang the chants with the most amazing voice ever!!! She does 'sound therapy' as a job (ever heard of it?) ... I am continually meeting new and interesting people who all have a great story to tell. I am enjoying my time with the kids and thermie. We have decided to try eat more veggies, so I am experimenting in the kitchen. We met a great older ex-South African (who then lived in Canada and Israel) couple, and had a great Shabbat dinner with them. 

Yip - so life is 'smooth' at the moment. 

I asked Zaria today, what are the 5 things that come to your mind when I say Malta, she said, 'cigarette, surprising, interesting, food and dog poo'. Later when we saw Phil, Zaria asked him that questions he said, 'cigarette, dog poo, blue sea, walking, old' 

Wishing you a good end of Feb and a beautiful March!!! 

Marching on (ha, ha, ha) 

G 

PS: Pics in next mail ...