At last!

This picture says a lot about how I feel right now. Relief, excitement, and like we are actually moving along now. Less start-stop, jerking momentum like the two weeks struggling to figure out what Sitara was going to be doing. Actually, this is the second day at school, since she wouldn't let me take a picture the first day. Not in front of the school anyway. So here she is, all excited and pumped up about returning to school, playing with her friends, and learning math, English, and listening to stories. Religion, history and social studies are all in Maltese, so she gets good exposure to the language, while dissipating my nerves regarding the Catholic school part. Now with regard to Catholic school and religion, I am not opposed to Catholicism, and I had considered putting Sitara in Catholic schools before because of the generally good academics, but without knowing how the curriculum goes or how strict they would be regarding parish attendance (the website required local children to be baptized). They aren't charging me tuition, but I will be giving them some donation soon since they were nice enough to take her in when no one else would.
 Sitara loves her new school, and she gets to sit next to two girls who speak English well. Most kids can understand English, but only a few can speak it well. The uniforms are very cute and simple, and they are made to last a couple years (you sew in the hems so that they can be let down as she grows). They are fairly inexpensive, as I purchased one set of everything for under 200 euro (1 summer dress, 1 summer PE outfit, 1 pair winter PE sweats, one V-neck sweater, button down shirt, tie, slacks, blazer for winter), socks and shoes. And since the kids only wear them at school (they change when they get home), they don't need to be washed as much. Given, the play yard doesn't have grass or mud to contend with, so my experience is a bit skewed.
 The "finally" feeling has also come to several other aspects of our life here on Malta. Since it is a tourist haven during the summer, many locals are over polite or ignore you, so getting to know my neighbors in Qbajjar Bay took some time. Since Sitara has begun school, I have also been able to take a few moments to myself to focus on enjoying the town of Victoria and the people again instead of fretting so much. The internship is becoming more varied and full of potential. I have begun the application process for four universities, and am nearly done updating my CV. I have received feedback and updates on my readership for my other blog site at www.reachtheworld.org, giving me more push to get the site working for me better. I am becoming more comfortable in the culture, excited about the opportunities, and pondering when or how we will return again. But that can be worried about later. For now, I just need to get into grad school.