om livet på en ö i Medelhavet
Archive for December, 2009
L´anza vs. my tangled hair
06034 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
My favourite hair styling products!
I’ve had some big problems with my tangled hair the last few months. Usually a hair cut solves the problem, but not this time. It takes me 10, sometimes 15 minutes to comb through the hair after a shower, and it looks like half my hair ends up on the comb every time.
Before I moved here I bought some shampoo from my hairdresser and my hair has never looked or felt that good. So now I ordered some bottles from a Swedish web site (www.lyko.se) and they arrived a few days ago.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hope this will work!
18°C feels varm outside but a little chilly inside
06034 days
Even Gizmo is feeling cold and likes to sleep under a cozy blanket sometimes
It's nice to have the heater running
The temperature inside is about the same as outside. There are no or very little isolation in the walls. Last winter when it was 14-15°C outside, we had the same temperature inside. That feels coooold when you’ve had a shower or get out of bed in the morning!
It’s already started to be a little chilly inside, so now we have the gas heater in the livingroom and the electric heater in the study when we sit by the computer.
Christmas cards are on the way
06035 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
This morning I went to The bright spot (a small shop just around the block that sells about everything but food) to buy stamps for my Christmas cards. I bought amost all their stock of Europe stamps (sorry). The stamps are cheap here compared to Sweden. It is cheaper to send letters to Japan or USA from Malta than to send letters within Sweden!
This is an overview for normal letter, max weight 20g in Sweden/50g in Malta.
Local mail
Malta €0.19 (approx. 2.00 SEK)
Sweden 6.00 SEK (approx. €0.56)
Within Europe
Malta €0.37 (approx. 4.00 SEK)
Sweden 12.00 SEK (approx. €1.12)
Outside Europe
Malta €0.51 (approx. 5.50 SEK)
Sweden 12.00 SEK (approx. €1.12)
I must say that it felt very wierd to post the Christmas cards wearing t-shirt, in 18°C!
Just a pile of soft gingerbread pieces left
26037 days
Two walls down...
It didn’t take long for the rest of my tower to collapse. Half an hour ago Kalle shouted from the kitchen that two walls were down and while I was downloading the photos to the computer he shouted again that all walls had fell.
Just a pile of gingerbread pieces left
All walls down...
Maltageddon
06037 days
Around 18 this afternoon I took Gizmo for a walk to Jade Garden to getsome chinese food. There were people and cars everywhere, even more than it usually issaturday nights when everybody is going out to clubs in Paceville. I asked the owner of Jade Garden and he said it was some all-maltese movie showing at the cinema.
The line of cars reached almost all the way up to my street in Swieqi
Unfortunately the maltese movies are in maltese (surprise), otherwise it would have been fun to see this one!
Maltageddon
As the title itself suggests the movie is a parody of the 1998 film ‘Armageddon’, however all Earth’s hopes do not rest on the shoulders of the mighty and experienced US Space Program. Instead the burden has to be shouldered by the Maltese who hastily patch up a motley crew of Maltese guys coming from all walks of life and from all corners of the island and who do not know the meaning of professionalism and teamwork . The movie takes the viewers through a rollercoaster ride of mishaps, laughs, rivalries, friendship and drama culminating in a thrilling finale where success and total disaster hang in the balance. Will the Maltese crew succeed in its mission, silence all the critics and come out with colours flying? Or will their differences and personal rivalries spell the end for all mankind?
Maltageddon - WE ARE MALTESE WE TAKE NO SH*T
Breaking News: The roof of Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning
06038 days
Breaking News:
The roof of Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning
Roof of the Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning, leaving massive structure damage to the rest of the building. Now when the roof is gone, there is no weight on the walls and it will probably take a few days before they fall down. If they still stands by the end of next week, they will be demolished.
The building constructor Emma Brynils says that she will not rebuild the tower until the problems leading to this collapse, has been analyzed and actions taken to prevent this from happening again.
-It’s really no fun to put all time and effort into building houses or in this case – a tower – when it only lasts a couple of days, Emma says.
Since the collapse were predicted the building was already evacuated and no gingerbread man or women was injured.
The tower without the roof
The walls split up when the roof collapsed
The roof and antenna is broken in pieces at the bottom of the tower
My tower splits apart more and more
06038 days
My soon-to-be-gone tower
Look at my poor tower… not much to do about it now.
I’ll just wait and see how long it takes before it falls apart.
I know for sure it won’t last until Christmas anyway.
The cinema got evacuated because of bomb scare
06038 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
In the afternoon I went shopping in Sliema and then Bugibba with Elaine and her friends. I bought 2 long-sleeve shirts and 3 tops. So now I have clothes for both Christmas and New Years Eve. After the shopping we had kebab at a new place in Bugibba and then she drove me back to Swieqi.
When we came to Paceville we saw a lot of people out in the street outside Eden Cinemas and the police had closed the road down to Bay street. We thought it was the Maltese movie “Maltageddon” that had premiere, but I read on Times of Malta that the cinemas had been evacuated because of something that might have been a bomb.
Eden cinemas briefly evacuated in bomb scare
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Eden Cinemas in Paceville this evening because of what informed sources said was a bomb scare.
Policemen and soldiers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit were seen going in as people were pushed back from the street that runs between the cinemas.
The situation was described by people on the scene as being calm.
Patrons started being allowed back in after some 20 minutes.
Read article on Times of Malta
Evacuated people outside Eden Cinemas on Bay street
Big waves today
06039 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
The wind picked up speed during the afternoon and reached force 6 (strong breeze). On the way back from Mellieha we stopped outside Salina Bay and I took some pictures. Do I need to mention that I was wet and salty after my photo-expedition? 
Looking at more penthouses
06039 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
I like the view - but please let me cut that wire!
Play with me!
Today we saw 8-10 places in Mellieha. 2 or 3 of them were penthouses, but we didn’t fall for any of them.
We liked one mansionette that had bathroom and 3 bedrooms on one floor and the living-kitchen on top floor. It had a nice big terrace with view over Ghadira Bay. But. Just across the view is a white wire that really bothers me!
This little cute puppy was in another mansionette we saw. Unfortunately he wasn’t included in the price. 
The last property we saw was a 3 floor house-of-character in central Mellieha. Recently refurbished and with furniture included (that’s good, so we won’t have to buy everything). But the windows are small and few in number, so floor 1 and 2 were very dark. And there is now view to talk about.
Nice house but not the best view...