Man, the weather here is awesome and weird!

One day it is cloudy and cold and the next its sunny and warm.  Some days its partly cloudy and when the cloud covers the sun it is down right cold but as soon as the sun breaks thru you're actually sweating in the sunny ray -- weird.  Weirder than Houston.

We made it thru another week.

I do finally see what they are talking about when they say the locals drive like crazy people.  At first I couldn't see how they could drive wildly with all the small, narrow and winding roads but after taking off the blinders I get it.  Down some neighborhood streets that are a little longer (like outside our door) they get going SO fast!  I've driven these roads and I just dont see how they can do it - people are walking around, cars are pulling out of their parallel parking spots, some people are trying to parallel park, there are people trying to drive around corners of intersecting streets, etc.  And don't get me started about the kind of driving I hear going on on the highway that passes behind our apartment up on the hill - WOW!  They weave in and out of single lane traffic, the pass on uphill corners, refuse to stay in the lane... crazy!   Now that I've said that, let me assure you that this isn't everyone on the road and we do not drive around in fear but you know what they say about a few bad apples.  This is the first 'rumor' I've read about that I can see as accurate.

{{BTW:  we've both gotten pretty good at this wrong side driving thing they've got going here}}

We walked to the movie theatre the other night and it was awesome!  Malta (proper) being only 20miles x 10miles large has a reported 5 different theatres listed and one of them is about a 15 minute walk from our apt.  We were excited to read that it had received good marks and crazy happy to find it to be fantastically cute!  The lobby is really large and has a nice looking, small restaurant attached to it and the decor is very soda-fountain-oak-trim looking (I'll try to take photos next time).  There is actually just one person behind a entry desk issuing tickets and the secondary snack area is like a super little convenient store.  They offer chips, candy bars, soda, etc all at normal (not inflated) prices.  We bought a bottle of water for €.95.  No ice cream though - that is a strike against them.
There are 7 screens spread across 3 or 4 floors and all of them were modern, new released movies.  The rooms were small and old school and there was no pre-movie entertainment (ie: commercials).  The room was dimly lit with 4 other souls just waiting in silence for the movie to begin.  The lights went down, two previews were shown and the the movie began after a big digital image was run across the screen asking people not to smoke.  We saw RED - it was  cute and the best part was there was no censoring!!  It wouldn't have needed it anyways I don't think, it was a pretty clean show.  But---- 1/2 way thru the movie another digital image in early 80's fashion came across the screen that dictated it was time for "intermission".  The movie stopped, the screen went black, the lights came up and all 6 of us waited, in silence (giggling a bit) for about 5 minutes until the lights dimmed again and the movie started where it left off.  :D  I was a little disappointed that there was no jingle or music or anything but it was still kind of cool... and weird.  In the end we were pleasantly surprised that the theatre was so nice and look forward to walking to many movies in the future!


That's all for now - we need to get on with our Saturday.  I made french toast this morning and Mark supplied the caffeine solution we both needed.  I tell you, I've never had fresher eggs than here in Malta.  Every 6 pack I open are decorated with poo or the like and the occasional chicken feather.  So, of course, before any of the eggs can be used they all have to be washed and permanently removed from the container they are bought in.

Happy 2nd Birthday to our niece- we love you!

xoxox