Somethings never change
it all started on a gorgeous afternoon, yesterday (tuesday). Marlo came over and wanted to go to Valletta. I said I'd love to go, but can we stop at the Embassy so I can get a signature noterized... she said that would be delightful. so we went to the embassy where a maltese lady with a gun and a huge eye booger told us to come back tomorrow between the hours of 8am and 11am. We read the plaque next to the entrace informing us of operating hours (monday, wednesday, friday 8-11am). So, i woke up early today so i could catch the bus to valletta and get my signature noterized. i go up to the first metal detector and, he searches me and lets me in. i go up the elevator to the room containing the embassy. I talk to another gaurd and go through another metal detector (incase i'd picked up an uzi on the elevator i guess) then i get buzzed through a door and am faced with 2 service windows and a door. I am an American so i'm directed via sign to go through the door. i enter a small box with a window. however the window is partitioned off so that the one person working cannot see me. i stand in the box for a while reading the national geographic i found in there, waiting. then i go out of the box to see if some one can help me. i'm told to go back in the box. so i do... but then i lose patience and i go out of the box again and stand in line with the non-americans. finally then i get some service. but not what i need. they tell me a notary is 10 lira (30 dollars) and additional paperwork. I have none of the above so, i leave defeated. I will say this though, the woman behind the window was very nice and she tried to do what she could to help me out, but the powers that be had other plans in mind for me.
Rugby?
Football (soccer) went okay. i didnt get to play in the first match or the last match but i played all the matches in between. i even got some good plays against the kuwaiti national team. my team won the championship. even though it was just for fun the guys all took it pretty seriously. which is why i didnt fuss too much when they didnt let me play... (it wasnt nearly as important for me as it was for them to win) all in all it was pretty fun. Friday night was great. I played football, we won, i came home, jumped out of my football kit (soccer clothes) and into the shower, then i hopped into a dress and high heels and we went to the masquerade ball. it was a lot of fun. it was mostly all maltese people and only like 8 people from the residence. the guys were all in tuxes and the girls all had fancy gowns on. kind of like prom... but maltese. we danced the night away and had a really really good time. then we came home and when i woke up the next day i was limping from the heels and because i'd done something weird to my knee playing football. (the knee still isnt right) saturday was kind of a waste... we slept in real late and didnt really get anything done. sat by the pool mostly. sunday i went to see Meet the Fockers with Chris and Kate and that was about all for that day too. Yesterday we went and saw Mambo Italiano in Valletta. it was funny... canadian... but funny. Tomorrow I might be going to play rugby with the maltese women's national team... i guess. i dont really know anything about rugby. one of the new canadian girls plays at home and she contacted the capitan of the team and so we're gonna go practice with them. if anything it will be nice to get out and run a bit. and i might learn something new. who knows! i got some pictures sent to me by Marlo (from Montana) from earlier this year i'll see if i can copy them to webshots for you. and hopefully one of these days i'll get around to posting pictures from Carnival and some other stuff... one of these days.
I'm Dead.
I got killed yesterday. it was sad... but fun. I came home from uni on the 330 bus and scottish mark was chilling in the reception with some people. I saw him notice me when i walked in and then i saw him leave the group and so i walked faster to my flat and then i saw him following me and so i walked faster and then he said, 'so jessica,' and then i screamed 'STAY AWAY FROM ME MARK!!!' and ran. and i found a girl i'd met on sunday and stood next to her. talking and chatting. and she took me to her flat for some tea and we chilled on the roof and it was nice and periodically i'd stick my head out of the door and nearly simultaneously mark would stick his head out of the door adjacent to us. i did this about 3 times. and then i had Daniel come and pick me up and walk me home. and when i got to my door i ran in slammed the door and mark followed me in and chased me up the stairs counted to 10 and yelled 'GOTCHA!' it was pretty fun. but i got him back. later that night in lori's flat i noticed mark across the way standing in the dark... alone. so i signaled to him that he was, in fact, going down and then spent the next few minutes tracking down the person that had mark (adis) just as we'd called the reception (where adis was) adis comes running down the walk way chasing mark into his flat where apparently he tripped mark with the stick he keeps carrying around and got him. so, there IS justice in war.
tonight i play 5-a-side soccer with a bunch of people from the residence. I'm pretty excited for it. especially since i have a fairly decent team. we play tonight at 10pm and tomorrow at 9pm. we got a pitch (field) with artificial turf even (most of the pitches are gravel) Tomorrow we might go to a Ball. its in a villa in Naxxar, black tie. it should be pretty cool, i'll be late though because the match goes til 11pm (allegedly). and thats my story.
Assassin
Things have gotten deadly at the Residence!
Okay, not really. We're playing a game called 'Gotcha' better known as Assassin. its very popular in the states, though i've never played it before. Everyone put their names on a list and then on sunday we were each presented with an envelope containing someone else's name and instructions. Basically, we have to find the person we were assigned and get them alone and say, 'gotcha!' then they give us the name they were given and we have to find that person and do the same. get it? the last man standing wins. the trick so far is to not go anywhere alone. One guy has taken to carrying a broom handle around the residence with him, but thats a bit extreme. So far i've 'killed' one person. it was kind of fun. but mostly i'm trying not to get killed myself. i think right now one of my neighbors has my name. but i'm not sure. they keep calling me trying to get me to come over... but i'm smart. i usually say i'm not home. or i bring a friend. when i brought a friend they told me to come back later... so i'm on to them. fortunatly they dont know me that well and they seem shy. so all i can do is wait until someone kills my neighbor and gets my name. That is our activity for the moment.
this weekend it seemed like summer was back, but now its cold and grey and rainy. kind of a bummer but its easier to be in class when the sky is dark.
I'm getting really excited for Venice. It will be nice to get off of this island. even if it is to go to a different island. thats about all i have to say for today.
