Great excitement over a little thing

10/1
I thought I was going to have a huge break through today. I woke up to the sound of the church bells that Wim and I heard last week the day I missed a funeral. I thought for sure it would mean that there would be a funeral at St. George’s this evening. But alas, after waiting around Independence Square for the motorcade (is that what it’s called?) for an hour and a half I had bupkiss and the locals were starting to stare at me because of course I was stupid enough to think I could stand there rather than sitting more subtly sipping a cappuccino. Ha. Dumb American anthropologist. I went back to my apartment to use the bathroom and get some water and watched for another hour getting jazzed everytime I saw someone dressed all in black. But 6:15pm rolled around and there was nothing. So if there was a funeral in Victoria today, it was NOT at St. George’s despite the fact that those “special” bells rang there this morning and this afternoon. Grrr.

Abandoning my post, I decided to circle back with the florist I’d spoken with on Tuesday. She was again very friendly and helpful. Today she explained to me the way a Maltese wedding works. Fascinating how similar things are to weddings at home and yet different at the same time…

As I wasn’t online yesterday I should probably mention that I also had a third interview with Kilena yesterday which went well. I also got to meet her best friend and neighbor so that was interesting. I downloaded and read a few articles – one on Maltese monuments, one on the emigration that occurred in the 60’s, and another one that’s an old ethnology from the 20’s.
The best news of today, despite the lack of funeral was that a gift from heaven was left on my doorstep. The Maltese Yellow Pages! I can’t believe how ecstatic I am about that little book. I spent a good hour pouring over the information underneath “funeral services,” checking addresses and locations, verifying information, etc. For example, the YP confirms that there are only 3 undertakers on the island. It also confirms that there are only Catholic churches here as well – 30 of them to be precise. I’m pumped. It will be so much easier to target the “allied industries” this way than it would’ve been continuing to search via the internet – it was the proverbial needle in a haystack routine and it was getting seriously old. I think tomorrow morning will be spent using my new best friend, the YP, to make some appointments with some print shops, florists, and churches. Cue music “Ain’t no stoppin’ us now…”

10/2
I had an interview with the owner of BCD Printing today! Not much else to add at this point – still processing it all but it went great and I came away from it with more prayer card samples – including one from when the business first started!