Promotion

Apparently I got promoted ;). I don't work as a waiter anymore, now I'm a bartender. All evening I'm making coctails, soft drinks, smoothies and mixes. I'm busy all the time, but finally I don't have to run around the bar and garden - I just stay inside all the time. And the air is conditioned. :)

You know how it is, when a person does anything and it makes you nervous, no matter what he or she does? There is an employee who plays my nerves all the time. Vanessa is her name, she usually works by the bar in the mornings, but yesterday she came to help us as a waiter. She just couldn't do anything right. She kept confusing the table numbers, she didn't write the numbers properly, she destroyed one wine glass and didn't clear the pieces of glass (!), and everytime she had nothing to do, she would just come to the bar and pour herself some staff water to have a little break. The others try to help me a bit, but she just apparently doesn't give a damn!

Every night we can eat at work. However, we usually take the food away, to have it for dinner the next day. Unfortunately, this is ALWAYS red sauce on pasta. Even without any meat. So yesterday, when I got to know we're going to get fried chicken legs, I was very happy. Right now I don't know how to make them hot - in a frying pan, or maybe I'll try to use the oven? We don't have a microwave unfortunately... ;)

That's all for now, I have to wash my shirt before work.

a car for my mother :)

Swine flu attack! ;)

Chris apparently has had a cold for a few days now. That is a bit tricky, because it's around 30-35 degrees everyday, so it's not easy to get one. However, he has a fever, he coughs, shakes of cold and sweats of heat simultanously. Just now he is gone to see a doctor.

I have a day off today. Doesn't matter why I do, but the managers gave me a free day when they were making a schedule on Sunday; in fact I took this day off, because one of Polish football teams (Lech Poznań) is going to play a match in Europa League, against Club Brugge in Belgium (they're 1-0 up after the first leg). Adrian (the manager) called today morning to ask if Chris is allright to come to work (actually he's not), and after that he asked me for coming because they are short of staff. I was assertive, though. If I agreed, he would ever ask for the same thing when I have a day off. After all, it's not my problem that they're short of staff, is it?

Qawra sunset.

It's true what they say about succulents - they do keep water inside. Snails know it as well!

Taking advantage of an opportunity

Opportunities have been changing daily, so I had to keep on chasing them.

First - the Radisson SAS. Sasa, Serbian spa manager, told me on Wednesday to wait for an information from him "later this week". The week is almost over and I didn't receive any message, so I guess this opportunity is over.

Second - the cafe with Polish staff. The manager looked at my CV and said he has to look through it along with other CVs and "he will call me". This last statement actually means nothing, so this opportunity is over, too.

Third - looks like Joe starts to change his attitude towards me. Not only he doesn't shout at me now (!), he agrees with me in most things (!), yet he stopped me on Thursday to have a talk and he asked me again:
- You speak German fluently?
- You can see for yourself. If a customer talks to me in German, I respond German, too. So I guess I can speak German.
- I'll try to get you in the job at the reception from second week of September. I have your CV somewhere, so I'll pass it to the reception manager and we'll see.

I was stunned. That guy would shout at me and threat to fire me straight away, and now he's saying he'll try to get me in one of my dream jobs? Incredible!

However, there is a fourth opportunity, I chased it and I'm very happy.

After work on Thursday, I went to Cafe & Wine Lounge - the place where Krzysztof found his job. I stopped for a quarter to have a Shandy. However, when the manager saw me talking to Krzysztof in Polish, he asked who I was, and he said I can come the next day with my CV to talk about getting a job at the Lounge! I wasn't too excited, but I agreed, and I guess I won't regret it.

Job at the Lounge is the lightest I have ever had. Maybe I just always stick to heavy jobs, but this one mostly consists of staring at the Lounge (20 tables), giving menus to customers, getting their orders and preparing them (mostly waiting for the bartender to prepare). However, this place is not very busy, so usually we just stand next to the bar and talk. The payment is 1,70LM, as one of the waiters said, which is around 3,94 EUR; however, the tips are high (the place is a bit posh) - yesterday, counting the wage + tips, we earned 5,66 EUR per hour. This sounds nicer, huh? :) The other good thing is that we work together with Krzysztof - so it's a bit easier to communicate to run the Lounge. The job is full-time or even more - usually it's between 7 and 8 hours (6:00 PM to 1:00 or 2:00AM), and we ought to work everyday (the place is short on staff).

Now the question is: should I get over the job at Sun & Surf, or stick to it through September? If I left the job, Joe is surely going to forget about trying to get me a job at the reception... if I stay, I'll have at least a few days a week working 12 (or more) hours a day. I'll just see how I manage this week, and I'll make a decision later.

Last but not least.
It's time for you to get to know why I chose this particular address, and name for the website :).

Choosing the address was simple. People say that Malta is the country of "yells, bells and smells". When we first got here, we didn't really hear the yells (I started hearing them when I started working for Sun&Surf Lido) nor the bells (maybe we're just used to them, because Poland is also a Catholic country, so we've got churches on every corner ;). However, we did smell something horrible. Countryside of Malta smells of sewage, salty water, horse excrements, and many other bad things. It smells nice in the cities, though ;): smells of pasta, pizza and Kinnie.

(Short explanation of what Kinnie is: it's a carbonated soft drink made on Malta, which smells and tastes of bitter orange. By now I'm addicted to it.)
(By the way, 7UP was also invented on Malta, perhaps Kinnie will come to Poland some day)

Choosing the name, on the other hand, was a coincidence. After a few days in Malta, I was wondering, how it was possible, that Malta got into the EU. It is a catholic country (more than 90% of catholics) - EU is atheistic; it is against immigration - EU supports people moving; it is a very small country - only big countries have a vote in EU; and what is crucial: Malta could be a tax paradise, if it was out of the EU - now it's impossible?
How come did the Nationalist Party, which considers itself right-wing and pro-market vote YES in the referendum, while the Labour Party, which is social-democratic voted NO?!
How come did 54% of the citizens vote "YES"?
There are many things that differ Malta from other "Western-European" countries. The mentality, the life organisation, the religiousness, public transportation... how come did they go in the EU?

I'm gonna leave you with this question. Maybe you have an answer?

Malta: a country of yells, bells, smells... and tastes! Pizza Al Diavolo (sausage, egg, chilli) in a restaurant in Mellieha. 6 euros. Full stomach for 12 hours. :)
(Pint of freezing cold Cisk lager on the right hand side - well, it used to be a pint, now it's more like a half ;)

Problems keep coming, am I immuned?

Hi there! Nice to have a possibility to write something more after a few days.
First of all, big thanks to Nicky after what she wrote in her blog (www.nickyreiss.blogspot.com). She praised my language skills; just after I thought to myself, that it has to be very hard for her to find out the meaning of my words, because I don't speak nor write English very well. However, it seems like my 15 years of studying the language has paid off ;)).
So, we rented a flat. It's a very small premise, but cosy in proletariat-sort-of-way. I hope I'll never have to live in a cage like that for longer than 2 months, but it's not too bad. Most of the utensils seem like they are 30 years old or something, frying pan is from the non-teflon era, lamps look like they were in a garden house, not a flat. The beds however have better matteraces than Nicky's (sorry for that statement! ;) - my back doesn't hurt at all, I really enjoy my sleep.
Joe (the manager) becomes tougher to handle everyday. In the matter of fact, I think I'll give it a try here, where I come every few days for an Internet session - this is a small restaurant/cafe in Qawra centre. Two Poles work here - a guy named Mateusz and his girlfriend. They told me the cafe may be looking for someone experienced to work as a waiter. I'm also waiting for information from Sasa, a Serbian manager of a spa in Radisson SAS to start work as a host there. Hope I start on friday; the work is not well-paid (3,5 EUR/h), but it's the lightest job I have ever seen.
Also on friday, the Internet connection is going to be started in our flat. Hope I'll have some more time to spend writing this blog.
Krzysztof has found a different job. He's working as a waiter in "Beer&Wine Lounge" - I hope he won't get dismissed this time...
That's all for now. Hope to write more on friday. Perhaps you'll get to know more about the name of this blog? ;)

Poor, sore and happy

I've just rented a flat.

It's a one-bedroom "apartment" in Qawra, right behind the place where I work (150 m?). It has a "living room" accessible from the staircase (by "living room" I mean a place with two little tables, two chairs, a couch and kitchen equipment), bedroom if you cross the living room to the right and a bathroom just next to it. Also a balcony, ridiculously big for such a flat.

I'm poor then. I had to pay 400 EUR just to get the flat rented (250EUR monthly rent, 100EUR in account for the future water and electricity and 50EUR for the real estate company), hopefully Krzysztof will pay half of it.

I'm sore. My back is killing me. After 5,5 hours work. What's wrong with me? In Poland I used to work 13-14 hours a day without being really tired, and here I'm not tired, but the back hurts so much...

I'm happy after all. Don't know why. :)

OK. I got a request to write something about Krzysztof's work. Well, he found two jobs; one is in restaurant in Mellieha: it's a quite high standard, he said "they put wine glasses on tables before the customers arrive, that's saying something". The second job is in a cafeteria in Paceville, under polish supervision. He went there for the first day today, so I don't know much about it. However, he'll get paid there better than I get paid in Sun&Surf Lido.

I agreed to take another job, at Radisson SAS hotel at Golden Sands. I'll be a "spa host" - my "responsibilities" include patrolling the spa, telling the guests to get dry before they enter the hotel, lighting candles and incenses, reporting any mechanical problems to the maintenance and cleaning the sauna. The lightest work I've ever heard of. The payment is worse, though: 3,5EUR. And Serbian supervision. ;))

Oh, and it rained today. Quite an unusual view for Malta.

What is this bus number, gbin?

Next days (8.08 - 12.08.09)

I woke up tired. 9 hours of work in such a busy place, with no possibility to sit nor have a break - that is really tiring. Then, only 5 hours of sleep - I need more, certainly.

The next days I was working evening shifts (7:00PM - 1:00AM). Every day I learned more about the restaurant working system. On the third day I was ready to take orders for drinks with two different notepads (one for all-inclusive guests, the other one for paying guests). However, this was the day when the most weird things happened in the restaurant.

There is something called the "meditarrenean temperament" and it really exists. What I observed on Sunday was a very big evidence for that.

As I once wrote, the managers name is Joe. Joe is usually unhappy with anybody's performance (except for his own), so he tend to shout at people. At first, he shouted at me - in a manner, which in Poland would mean that I'm going to be fired very soon; however, I realised, that he shouts at everybody in the same manner. At one moment he shouted at the chef the cuisine (Salvo), and they began arguing in Maltese. I was really annoyed by this and wanted to put an end to it, but I looked at Matthew (one of the waiters), and what surprised me, he seemed completely untouched by this situation! He would just look at both arguers and wait patiently, looking bored, for them to finish!

The worst thing happened about an hour later though. This woman I wrote you about in last post, probably a wife of one of the managers or owners, came to the kitchen and I saw her arguing also with Salvo. I looked inside the kitchen to see one of the workers grabbing her by the arms to stop from beating the hell up from the guy! As I saw, there was bolognese sauce spilled all over the kitchen - I wonder if she broke the sauce container in anger, or she was angry at Salvo for doing it?

Another surprising thing about the restaurant is tips handling. All the tips go to one jar, yet they are not split between waiters or bartenders; they are collected by the manager! I think I'm going to talk with him about it - basicly, it's just stealth, isn't it?!

On Sunday we went to Valetta for the Holy Mass at St. John's Cathedral. This temple is incredibly beautiful. You can see a photo on the bottom of this post.

One other thing I observed during those days is that all the rotten jobs, as well as the simplest ones, are usually made by Black people here on Malta. At the same time, I've never met a Black person working by the office desk or a counter here. I'm just wondering - is it the intellectual level of Black immigrants that determines this situation, or is it some kind of Maltese xenophobia?

Chris was still looking for a job on those days. He's found two: one in a restaurant in Mellieha, and one in a cafe in Paceville - this one is under polish supervision, and with polish people! Hope he will be fine at work.

That's all for today - I'm off to work!
PZ.

St. John's Cathedral - main nave

View from Nicky's roof - sunset by the St. Paul's Islands

Third day on Malta (7.08.2009)

Room in which Nicky agreed to host us has a fan attached to the ceiling. It's so much better than at Karl Frendo's - it works quietly, and yet cools all the room, not only a part of it.

We woke up around 8 o'clock again. After quick breakfast and a cup of coffee, we went out looking for jobs in area of Qawra and Bugibba.

It was very hot and humid outside. Whenever you step outside from any immobility in Malta during summer, you have to know two things: first, you have to wear a hat, and second (if you're white), you have to use sun-tan balsam. You'll suffer very much if you don't have those two things.

We tried every single restaurant and bar on the strand side of the city, but no success actually. However, after two hours I think, I tried one of the restaurants just on the beach itself. The name of the restaurant was Sun Surf&Lido, and it looked nice from the outside.

I came close to the buffet counter and asked if I could talk to the manager. They said yes and asked Joe to come close to me. He came and said:
- Can I help you? - he was bald and short, yet of a more muscular body shape. Around 40-50 years of age, glasses.
- Yes - I said, giving him my CV. - I'm looking for employment.
- Are you experienced?
- Yes, sir, I have ten months of overall experience in restaurants.
- As a waiter?
- Well, two months as a waiter, and eight months as a deliverer in different restaurants.
He took a short look at my CV.
- You speak German fluently? - he asked distrustingly.
- Well, I wrote "intermediate", but I think I can manage taking orders from German tourists.
- You speak Russian?
- Yes, a little bit.
- Do you have a black shirt and black trousers?
- I have black trousers and I can get a black shirt.
- Sure you can get a black shirt.
- Yes!
- So come today at 5 and I want to see the experience. - he said pointing his finger at me.

I was stunned by this conversation. Well, I really wasn't expecting him to employ me; though I looked for a job, I was a little bit unhappy with all the "no" answers from different people, so I thought everybody will say the same thing.

I stormed out of the restaurant to get the news to Krzysztof and then went to the nearest "Tal Lira" shop to buy the cheapest shirt of my life (everything is for 2EUR in these shops).

The only thing bothering me was what he meant by "I want to see the experience". I was to find out that day...

Krzysztof went to Paceville to keep looking for a job and at 5 I went to the restaurant to work. Joe was already giving orders to different waiters about the plan of tables for a big party which was due to begin at 8PM. By "big", I mean huge: over 300 people partying in one place.

That evening was very busy. I was told to be only collecting empty dishes, but I did many different things (including being introduced to all the people working in the restaurant). Apparently, everybody besides me and one Russian girl (Jekaterina) seemed to be Maltese! Deandra, Matthew, Neville, Roderick, twin girls (don't remember names), Dylan, Annabelle - waiters; Salvo, Chris and a girl which name I don't remember - cooks; two dishwashers I don't know the names, Raymond - shareholder and bartender, Ryan - bartender, another girl and a man by the bar, a female manager, another guy looking similar to Salvo and a cleaner - I think these are all the people I met at the restaurant this one day. Quite busy if 22 people (or even more) worked at the same time, huh?

I was back home at 2AM. Back and legs were killing me. I just hit the pillow and received the justified rest.

absolutely no horse bathing here

Bugibba harbour view

Place I work in - Sun&Surf Lido

Second day on Malta (6.08.2009)

The night was not so good. The fan worked very loudly, so we switched it off, and it happened to be a very bad decision. We both woke up in lakes of sweat; don't know about Chris, but I also didn't receive proper sleep during the night (I had to move a lot, because it was too hot - even without any cover).

We had waken up early (Kid Cudi's "Day'n'Nite" as the alarm :D), had eaten some breakfast and had drunk coffee, so we got ready to search for the jobs.

One of the friends showed us the bus stop and advised about the bus number. He also advised us very carefully about having change when buying tickets from the driver. I thought, "what the hell", but yes, I prepared some change.

You've got to know: bus drivers in Malta are mad people. It might sound like a common urban legend, but sorry to say, it's true. The whole concept of public transportation on Malta is mixed up; almost all the busses meet in one spot, the Bus Terminus in Valetta, and then they spread in different directions. You've got to ask the locals, or have a bus map, because there are usually no schedules, no maps, and no tables whatsoever on the bus stops. The Maltese would of course inform you about the proper bus if you asked them, but you're going to be in trouble if there was noone near the bus stop...

We took a bus number 19 to Valetta. The bus driver was already mad from the first glance at our pale faces: when I was trying to get some change from the wallet, he said "come on, gbin, we don't have a whole day". Later I saw him shouting at a girl who went on the bus having just finished a cigarette - I don't know Maltese, but I think he started shouting at her about smoking in the bus, and when she showed him the fag she threw on the sidewalk, he shouted about her trashing the streets... perhaps he was right, but this was not the behaviour expected from a bus driver, was it?

So, after around 30 minutes we were in Valetta.

The capital city is a very beautiful place. Medieval centre surrounded by some 30 metres high city walls, all the buildings made of white stones (probably sandstone), lots of little straight streets going up and downhill, sea on three sides of the city, lots of little cafes and restaurants. Beautiful and very rich-looking St. Johns Cathedral with colourful frescs and many ornaments (in the matter of fact, it looks a little byzantine, but it was actually built in XVIth century). One of the managers of a big cafe in St. Pauls Place looked interested in my CV (especially the language skills), but he said he'd call me and it never happened.

We basicly started seeking for jobs from the very centre of Valetta. Then we went to Floriana, where, as it was around 13:00 (1:00PM), we ate lunch at the smallest Pastizzeria you can imagine. We paid 1,50 EUR each for a penne bolognese, a pasta with tomato sauce, some meat and cheese or cream (maybe it was a goat cheese, I don't know). This was delicious and the portions were really big!

Then we went to Tax'Biex, only to find out, that no cafes nor restaurants, or even shops, work during siesta time. Around 15:00 (3:00PM) we approached Gzira and Sliema, but still we were taking our chances at different bars with no success. In the evening, we were very exhausted and unhappy - we've seen some beautiful places, but it didn't help us find jobs.

We returned to Marsascala with our tongues basicly gathering trash from the streets. Karl gave us a lift to Qawra, place where our host Nicky lives. We were too tired to do anything else, so we just went to sleep.

First day on Malta (5.08.2009)

Hi everyone,

I start writing this blog in order to keep up all the memories I get through my - hopefully wonderful - stay on Malta. You'll figure out later, why I chose this particular name for the blog :).

My name is Peter, I'm 21 yo and I study International Relations at the University of Economics in Wrocław. I'm also a proffesional celloist, I'm interested in music, economics (obviously), football, politics and literature. I'm here with my friend Chris. He's 22 yo and he studies Computer Science at the University of Wrocław. He's a proffesional oboist, he's interested in music, photography and also literature.

It was his idea to go to Malta; basicly, he said "I would like to go to Malta for work'n'travel" and I said "OK" :). A few days later we bought our plane tickets through Internet and started planning the travel. It was 24th July, and we had our flight booked on 5th August. Therefore, we had some 12 days to sort something out on Malta.

We had of course no place to live and no jobs. It didn't scare us, yet we had to make an effort to make this problem disappear. Therefore, we registered ourselves at couchsurfing.com - a very popular website, on which people can meet other people from around the world by either hosting them at home or "surfing" on their coach (which usually happens to be a bed or a sofa). We also started looking for jobs through Internet - no success, actually.

On 2nd or 3rd August, one of the couchsurfers - Nicky Reiss - offered us a place for three days at her home. Also, a different couchsurfer agreed on taking us from the airport and hosting for the first night.

5th August came quickly. We had our bags packed, European Health Insurance Cards made, money changed to euros, roaming switched on etc. :) First, we took a plane to Luton airport and then went to Luqa International Airport in Malta.

First thing that wen through our heads when getting off the plane on Malta was: wow! this is hot!!! It was 21:30 (9:30 PM) and the temperature outside was 26C! Also, there were some fireworks next to the airport - we didn't know what they were for (a "hello" party for us? ;).

Our host, Karl, arrived in a few minutes and we hit the road to his house in Marsascala, south-east of the island of Malta. When we reached his spacious flat, we were just so tired we showered and were gone to beds within minutes. Karl surprised us by saying that the fan has to be on at night - why would it be? It's hot, but hey... not this hot...

PZ
Nice pint of Guiness at Luton International; the foam was like cream!