9/27/09
Wim just left. We got up at our usual time (10:30) and decided to have breakfast at the Grapes Wine Bar since we hadn’t eaten there yet. They were only serving a “Traditional” Gozitan breakfast (English Breakfast) or toasts. Wim ordered the cheese toast and I ordered the breakfast. Holy meat-fest Bat Man! So there was an egg – scrambled. Then a half of a tomato. Then some red beans. Then 2 pieces of toast. Then 2 sausage links, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of ham, 2 pieces of proschutto, and 2 pieces of salami. What the? I can’t eat all of that! And Wim wasn’t interested in helping me with all of that meat because he’s a vegetarian. He was disappointed as well because he really wanted a pastry. We spent an hour there ogling the locals who (it seemed) were rallying for a cappuccino after a night out. One girl may have even been doing the walk of shame. Almost every table there had someone at it who knew someone else at another table. And again someone assumed we were Maltese. They approached us and asked if they could use our extra chairs – in Maltese. Interesting.
After paying we got Wim’s luggage and headed over to the Duke so he could get a donut before getting on the bus. We arrived at the terminus with a few minutes to spare and took the final opportunity of observing tourists and locals. It was really great to have him around to bounce ideas off of regarding the dynamics of local culture and interaction. We had an especially good time last night watching the “folk” band that was playing in the Square and discussing (further) the differences between the Grapes Wine Bar and the place across the square in terms of space and access as well as shame and honor. *sigh* I will miss having him here. BUT my trip to Belgium is now 2 months away! I’m very excited for that! It made it much easier to say goodbye to him knowing that I will see him again soon.
What else to say about last night? We ate at Antonin again because Wim liked their ravioli the best, and as it was his last night here I let him pick. We also have a running joke that the waiter there is my boyfriend. Well, rather that I am the waiters secret girlfriend because he’s so much more attentive to me and because my second time there with Wim he made a point of telling me he remembered me. The good news about Antonin’s is that it has wi-fi, as does Café Jubilee. And since both are in Independence Square just next to the square I live in, it means I don’t have to hoof it to Arcadia or the Duke everyday for internet. It also means I can get access past 8pm so I no longer have to build it into my day. Instead I can just eat at home to save on costs and then have a cappuccino in the evening and check my email. Whoo hoo. It’s the small victories.
We could hear the “folk” music from where we were eating and it sounded kind of painful (off
key music, off key singing) so we picked up a bottle of wine at It-Tokk to take home with us. The lady there asked what we were interested in and I said “something that will make us forget that concert that’s playing outside my window.” She laughed pretty heartily at that and said “okay so something that ‘works’?” We ended up going home with a bottle of Green Label since it’s the cheapest thing going around here at 4.85Euro a bottle and it’s also local and my favorite and Wim had yet to try it. It’s a good thing we did because man the music at this thing was painful. It was three guys playing Elvis and other stuff (again, NY NY for some reason). A couple of rounds of Happy Birthday while they passed out cake…it was just not pretty and not as good as last weeks’ band (suddenly it’s all relative!). But we reveled in watching the activity in the square nonetheless. We finished the evening with watching a few episodes of Golden Girls, as he’d never seen the show and wanted to know what I like about it so much. I was so happy that he thought it was cute/funny too and didn’t think I was a freako for liking something so silly. He said Sophia is is favorite.
Now it’s siesta time and the square is quiet because it’s Sunday. I have 3 weeks worth of laundry to do today and need to make some notes about my plan of attack for this week to get back on track with my work.
Wim just left. We got up at our usual time (10:30) and decided to have breakfast at the Grapes Wine Bar since we hadn’t eaten there yet. They were only serving a “Traditional” Gozitan breakfast (English Breakfast) or toasts. Wim ordered the cheese toast and I ordered the breakfast. Holy meat-fest Bat Man! So there was an egg – scrambled. Then a half of a tomato. Then some red beans. Then 2 pieces of toast. Then 2 sausage links, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of ham, 2 pieces of proschutto, and 2 pieces of salami. What the? I can’t eat all of that! And Wim wasn’t interested in helping me with all of that meat because he’s a vegetarian. He was disappointed as well because he really wanted a pastry. We spent an hour there ogling the locals who (it seemed) were rallying for a cappuccino after a night out. One girl may have even been doing the walk of shame. Almost every table there had someone at it who knew someone else at another table. And again someone assumed we were Maltese. They approached us and asked if they could use our extra chairs – in Maltese. Interesting.
After paying we got Wim’s luggage and headed over to the Duke so he could get a donut before getting on the bus. We arrived at the terminus with a few minutes to spare and took the final opportunity of observing tourists and locals. It was really great to have him around to bounce ideas off of regarding the dynamics of local culture and interaction. We had an especially good time last night watching the “folk” band that was playing in the Square and discussing (further) the differences between the Grapes Wine Bar and the place across the square in terms of space and access as well as shame and honor. *sigh* I will miss having him here. BUT my trip to Belgium is now 2 months away! I’m very excited for that! It made it much easier to say goodbye to him knowing that I will see him again soon.
What else to say about last night? We ate at Antonin again because Wim liked their ravioli the best, and as it was his last night here I let him pick. We also have a running joke that the waiter there is my boyfriend. Well, rather that I am the waiters secret girlfriend because he’s so much more attentive to me and because my second time there with Wim he made a point of telling me he remembered me. The good news about Antonin’s is that it has wi-fi, as does Café Jubilee. And since both are in Independence Square just next to the square I live in, it means I don’t have to hoof it to Arcadia or the Duke everyday for internet. It also means I can get access past 8pm so I no longer have to build it into my day. Instead I can just eat at home to save on costs and then have a cappuccino in the evening and check my email. Whoo hoo. It’s the small victories.
We could hear the “folk” music from where we were eating and it sounded kind of painful (off
key music, off key singing) so we picked up a bottle of wine at It-Tokk to take home with us. The lady there asked what we were interested in and I said “something that will make us forget that concert that’s playing outside my window.” She laughed pretty heartily at that and said “okay so something that ‘works’?” We ended up going home with a bottle of Green Label since it’s the cheapest thing going around here at 4.85Euro a bottle and it’s also local and my favorite and Wim had yet to try it. It’s a good thing we did because man the music at this thing was painful. It was three guys playing Elvis and other stuff (again, NY NY for some reason). A couple of rounds of Happy Birthday while they passed out cake…it was just not pretty and not as good as last weeks’ band (suddenly it’s all relative!). But we reveled in watching the activity in the square nonetheless. We finished the evening with watching a few episodes of Golden Girls, as he’d never seen the show and wanted to know what I like about it so much. I was so happy that he thought it was cute/funny too and didn’t think I was a freako for liking something so silly. He said Sophia is is favorite.Now it’s siesta time and the square is quiet because it’s Sunday. I have 3 weeks worth of laundry to do today and need to make some notes about my plan of attack for this week to get back on track with my work.
I'm sorry Wim had to leave. :( If you get lonely, I'm sure the waiter would be happy to keep you company. So are you doing your 3 weeks of laundry in your buckets? That should take a lot of hours. One more to read and I'm caught up...for now!
ReplyDeleteHey Milday!
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need help finishing a breakfast Meat Fest, consider yourself helped! I am tempted to see how much a flight out there is just in case, you have any other meat related dilemmas! :)