What a Week! 11 /08/2002

What a Week!

Some twelve years ago, psychotherapist Brigitte OHk fell in love with the Maltese language. At present working on a German-Maltese dictionary, she tells Ramona Depares her story

Sunday: The beauty of my work is that I make my own office hours. Which means that my weekends are really like the rest of the week, they are not automatically a holiday. If I decide that I haven’t worked enough throughout the week I will just switch on my computer and do a couple of hour’s toil on Saturday or Sunday. Which is what I ended up doing last week , in fact. After all I want to finish my German to Maltese dictionary by the end of this year!

I’ve been living here since the early 90’s. I had first come here two year earlier, I fell in love with the Maltese language immediately, even though at first I couldn’t make our head or tail.

At about nine in the evening I decided to cook something for myself. During the day I eat light, but at night I do like to prepare something tasty. After dinner I decided to go out for a quick drink in Rabat and meet my friends there. I’m not one for staying out very late at night, but a small drink will not do anyone any harm.

Monday: This day sometimes starts off with a hangover, especially if I’ve been out the night before. It’s amazing what even a very small amount of Averna and wine can do to the mind!

Monday is also my day at SATU: I’m a psychotherapist by profession and I do therapy there. The session takes until about lunch-time, which is when I go back home to Rabat for what I call my late breakfast. I never eat anything early in the morning, a cup of milky coffee will do.

In the afternoon I switched on the computer to do some more work. Since my office is upstairs, more often than not I’m out of breath before I even begin working… At present I’m in the proofing stage of the dictionary. My first dictionary was published in May 1999 and I started working on this second one almost immediately. But I quickly realised that I needed a break after two years of solid work. To cap it all, I had also been following a psychotherapy course and had some tough exams. Which means that for at least a year I stopped all my work on the second dictionary and this is why it still is not published yet.

The proof-reading stage is rather tough and time-consuming. Thank goodness I can rely on my friend John Degiorgio for this part of the job!

Tuesday: Normally I have no commitments on this day. So the first thing I did upon waking up was go on the roof and start writing. No actually that’s the third thing: coffee and emails are the first priority!

In the afternoon I decided to do something that is very relaxing, i.e. I sat on the roof admiring my plants and reading. In January I plan to start a new psychotherapy course so I want to prepare myself with as much reading as I can. I love the fact that my life is so unstructured and that I can spend a Tuesday afternoon reading if I like! And after all, improving knowledge is very important.

Not everyone understands this of course. When I first started speaking to the Maltese, telling them that I wanted to learn their language, many thought that I was joking. When they realised that I was serious they still could not understand why I would want to go to the trouble. The answer was, of course, that I was immediately fascinated by this Semantic language – whose grammer was so weird and which I could not make out at all. Actually learning Maltese was fun. I still remember going down to the fish-mongers’, speaking to them in Maltese and asking for a Cippullazz, so that I could photograph it and really understand what sort of fish this was.
Wednesday: In the morning I try to fit in some clients. I start working early because this is also SATU day and in the afternoon I drive off to give counselling for about an hour. I enjoy talking to the clients there and when I don’t have other appointments I stay on for tea until five in the afternoon.

Wednesday is the day when I meet my friend for coffee in Rabat, where both of us live. Chatting over coffee is certainly a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. Afterwards I drive back to my house where another proof-reading session with John awaits me. You should see us working, we have these really animated discussions where we’re debating points of grammer, or whether an old spelling still applies… Things can get quite lively, but that’s all right seeing that language is a living thing.

Thursdays: If this were Winter I’d be lecturing at University. Tuesday and Thursday mornings are my "lecture" days. As it is I’m on holiday so instead I go for pottery lessons at Julie Apap’s. It is unbelievable how much I enjoy these sessions. Because I have to concentrate hard on one thing, i.e. getting the shape right, I manage to empty my mind of all other problems. Which means that at the end of the day I am as relaxed as if I’ve spent the afternoon resting.

Friday: Like I said, my weekends are pretty much the same as the other days. For this reason, when I’m out at night I rarely stay out very late. I’m a morning person, I love waking up early and starting work early. However, if my friends happen to go to the beach I’ll join them in the afternoon. I love Exiles and Ghajn Tuffieha best, although going there on weekends is not such a brilliant idea as it’s so full of people it gets quite crazy.

Although I won’t stay out till the small hours, I won’t refuse a nice meal out. I get most of my meat from restaurants: at home I only cook vegetables! When I’m out I really do not enjoy driving to the other side of the island! Most of my friends live in the St.Julians or Sliema area, but luckily I do manage to come over to my part of the island. I think that Rabat is really beautiful and there are so many nice places and restaurants to go to!

Saturday: This is the day when I enjoy going around the shops in Rabat. I first do all my shopping from the small shops and then wrap the morning at the supermarket’s, which stays open late.

At present I am also modelling for some artists and this is the day that I keep specifically for this. A bit of work with my clients normally follows, or I might have group work or a seminar. I go to bed pretty much the same as usual. After all, the morrow is another working day and there is my dictionary waiting to be published!