Why We Clean For the New Year

When I was working at the Molokai Public Library, one of our staff insisted the library be cleaned from ceiling to floor before we closed on the last day of the old year. While the library certainly needed cleaning, getting it all done before closing was stressful, especially when jobs didn't meet her standard and had to be done over. (Here's a story about some New Year's traditions; here's one about Chinese traditions.)

I find myself doing the same thing with my desk around this time every year. Papers stacked up to be handled "later," jobs without a fixed deadline, e-mails in the "pending" folder, journals with articles marked for reading - all get re-prioritized in those last few hours before the old year ends, and either done, read, filed, or trashed. This year is no different. But it won't be finished before December 31, because today is the last day of my work week, and I'll be on vacation for the entire first week of January. But if I get around to it later, here are some techniques I might find helpful.

Still a day late and a dollar short. Happy New Year!

Only Two Weeks Till Christmas

Where's all the hubbub? Where's the tree? Somehow, this year, the Christmas spirit has been slow in coming to this household. Maybe it's because they started advertising Christmas specials before Halloween, and we're already jaded by the hype; maybe it's because the week I would have been preparing for Christmas we were in Malta. Maybe it's because we no longer have children in the house getting fired up about trees, Santa, and toys. In any case, we missed the boat. Now there's only two weeks left, and we still have all our prep to do!

We've started receiving Christmas cards from family and friends, but I haven't even looked at my stash to see if we have enough to send this year, nor have I even started to look for gifts for the family. Um ... does enyone know where I can get a shot of Christmas energy and inspiration?

California enacted burn restrictions effective December 1st. That means we have to check the air quality before using the fireplace or face fines up to $50. Right now, we're having some cold weather, and a fire would be cozy and comforting, but the fireplace is sitting dark and cold smack in the middle of the living room wall.

Getting Back to my Local World

I've been back for a few days now, and have pretty-much recovered from jet lag. I still need to upload some photos to Flickr, and caption them and the others that I've already uploaded. I've lost my momentum, but I will get it done this weekend.

I have traveled some, but not often abroad. Each time I go, I try to use the experience to make my packing list perfect, and each time, there's something I didn't get quite right. Guess I need to take a few more trips for practice!

Here's my list of observations from this recent trip:
1. Taking a packable backpack was a good idea. When folded up, it fits into the carry-on bag, but can be used on sightseeing excursions to hold a jacket, map, camera, snacks, and souvenirs.
2. Sometimes room service is more economical than the hotel buffet.
3. I don't like using hotel fitness centers, so unless there will be beach swimming, forget the swimsuit.
4. Make a local guidebook and map one of the first purchases when you get there. I couldn't find much about Malta in Sacramento, but there was an abundance of materials in local shops in Malta.
5. Carry a normal purse - a waist pack, even though convenient for tour buses, screams "TOURIST! Wearing a concealed travel wallet worked very well. If you wear your shirts "out' or wear a jacket, it is not discernible under your clothes.
6. Take plenty of batteries - I burned up four sets of AAs in my camera in a week, and missed some photo-ops while waiting to get to a store that sold batteries.
7. Leave room for souvenirs and purchases. British Airways and Aer Lingus allow only one carry on item per passenger (strictly enforced.) I managed the 10 days comfortably with one carry-on bag, but had no room to bring back purchases. Next time, I plan to use the packable backpack as the carry-on for the return trip, and check the rolling bag (containing dirty clothes).
8. Use the hotel's business center to check in online and print boarding passes.
9.British Airways does not allow in-person check-in more than three hours ahead of the flight time, so trying to beat the rush was counterproductive.
10. (Most important) Eat a good breakfast every morning, even if it's the most expensive meal of the day. Getting too hungry is bad for concentration and also bad for general health.

The Last Day in Malta

Marty's conference got over on Friday night, so we packed that evening for an early checkout the next morning. I had booked a Saturday morning harbor cruise with Captain Morgan, so we checked our bags with the front desk and took the bus to Sliema, where the cruise began. The day was dark and drizzly in the morning, but about halfway through the cruise, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out. The guide's comentary was delivered in both English and German, and I was gratified to learn I can still understand German fluently - even if I am really rusty in the "speaking it" department.

Here are some interesting anecdotes and observations from the cruise:

• Malta has eight active dry docks and a shipbuilding industry.
• The city of Valletta was built and fortified by the Order of St. John after the Great Siege. It grew up behind the older Fort St. Elmo, which was originally built by Arabs.
• The old Royal Navy Hospital at Bughi commissioned by Admiral Lord Nelson has a lift from sea level up several floors and over the wall so wounded sailors could be taken there directly from their ship instead of needing to be transported up rough and winding roads.
• The largest yacht marina in the Mediterranean is housed in one of the "creeks" off the Grand Harbor.
• Warehouses on the shores outside the walls had colored doors and windows as a guide for shippers - who were instructed to pick up or deliver according to the designated color, rather than the warehouse street address - since there were no streets outside the walls. Today, those warehouses are shops and restaurants.
  

The rest of the next two days, we spent waiting - at the hotel until it was time to go to the airport; at the airport because we got there 5 hours ahead of our flight; at Gatwick because the coaches to Heathrow airport didn't start running until two hours after we landed; at Heathrow because we overestimated the length of the coach ride. By the time we arrived at San Francisco, we were SO GLAD to be able to just pick up the rented car and come home without having to wait any more.

I'm still putting photos up on Flickr and annotating them all - it may take a while - and I'll also be deleting the ones that are not so interesting.

Gozo, Where Malta Goes to Grow

Today, I took an all-day cruise to Malta's second-largest island of Gozo. An Oasis tour van picked up about 10 guests at local hotels, then drove us across the island to the ferry terminal at Cirkewwa. The ferry costs Lm2.oo, or about $6.75 for a round trip. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the cute ferry terminal on Gozo, where another Oasis mini-van picked up and drove us to the major visitor stops on the island.

The church of Ta' Pinu was first - Our Lady is credited with many miracles, and the church has a room filled with testimonials; also, the Pope visited the church, and another room is devoted to photographs of that occasion. The driver pointed out the 14 stations of the cross carved up a hilside on the road just before the basilica.

Next, we visited the megalithic temple of Ggantija, said to have been built by some super-race of giant women. It is the best-preserved of the megaliths, and is said to be a thousand years older than the pyramids of Egypt.

Fontana, named for its central fountain where women still go on weekdays to wash their clothes, also contains a shop where local artisans sell their handiwork. There is knitting, crochet, lace, pottery, and other local crafts for visitors to buy - at very reasonable prices.

Next, the Citadel, at the top of the island. From the walls of the Citadel, one can get an almost 360-degree view of Gozo. The streets are steep, but the panoramic view and the cool breeze at the top are definitely worth the hike.

I won't go into all the other places we visited - you can explore the Malta web site for additional information. Gozo is green. It is agricultural, and produces about 60% of the produce consumed in Malta. Driving around, there are many terraces set off by the limestone rocks, so it looks like its main crop is rocks - but I'm told this is not so. Gozo also boasts the best SCUBA site in Malta, near the Azure Window in Dwejra. I took LOTS of photos - use the photo-montage in the sidebar to go to the collection.

Mdina is Medieval

Public transportation in Malta is a trip and a half. The buses are mostly owned by the drivers, so vary in age from those built in the 1950s to those built in the 21st Century. No bus is the same - from where the bus number is displayed to how you signal the driver to stop.

Street signs are mostly absent; towns run one into the other; the bus drivers do not announce stops. If you miss the welcome sign at the beginning of a town, there's no way to know where you are. The island is small, and the implication is that you should know where you are, so what's the point of belaboring the obvious? But the fares are cheap: Lm 0.20 (about $0.65) will get you most places on the east coast, and Lm 0.50 (about $1.75) will get you everywhere else.

So I sprang for the Lm 0.50 ticket and rode the bus to Mdina, near the center of Malta. Mdina was the original capital of Malta until the Knights Templars decided to relocate to Valletta, where the harbor is. It is as medieval as a town can get, with narrow curving streets that surround a church with its plaza, an enclosing wall, and big gates. Three hundred people still live in Mdina, with the rest of the nearby population in Rabat, the suburb.

Mdina is also known as the "Silent City" because it is so quiet. This is currently the "off" season, between the busy summer and winter seasons, and the streets were mostly devoid of people. The town was very clean, in contrast to St. Julian's, where we have been staying. I'm thinking that drenching rainstorm we had the night before probably swept all the debris to wherever it goes with the runoff.

Click the photo montage in the sidebar to see more photos.