Malta
Ciao!
Let's see...what have I been up to?
Malta is quite crowded right now with all the
tourists. Mostly it's 14-16 year olds that come to
Malta to learn English (yeah right more like drink 2
beers throw up on themselves and pass out) and for a
break from school. The students are mostly Germans
and French, but also the Dutch and English. It seems
that the small cut through next to my flat is a
popular place for all sorts of late night happenings.
I've seen/heard/been woken up by: drunken songs /
shouting / fighting (really just yelling and a little
shoving) / kids carrying each other up or down the
steps / people pissing / bottles breaking / and the
best of all...a woman having a screaming orgasm (not
the drink mind you). I laughed myself back to sleep
that night.
Last Thursday morning Caroline (my best friend growing
up in Germany...we only got to hang out for two days
while I visited Germany, so during her transition from
intern to full time at her job she got some time off
to come to Malta), four Maltese, and myself left for
Sicily. We flew into Palermo in northern Sicily and
were picked up by Toto (Salvatore Lombardo -- how
Sicilian), a friend/trainee/Aiesec'er who was working
in Malta but returned home a few weeks ago, and he
drove us to his parents summer house in Tribia about
20-30min to the west along the coast. Three families
live in the large house, Toto's immediate family, his
Aunt, Uncle, cousins and Grandmother, and another
family of friends. The house, which was built in
1790, overlooks the sea and has the mountains in the
background...beautiful. The Lombardo's family were so
welcoming and friendly it was unbelievable. They
cooked for us every day and night that we were home
and we were not allowed to help out at all. The most
we could do was clean off the dishes from the table,
but we were not allowed in the kitchen except to get
coffee, snacks, and other refreshments. The garden
had peaches, lemons, grapes, and other fruit I didn't
know, and there was also a swimming pool.
Now for the food...Toto's father Raphael is an amazing
cook. We ate pasta with eggplant, octopus salad,
calamari, more pasta, Sicilian meatloaf, and
pizza...they have their own pizza oven and the table
was covered with tons of pizzas with all kinds of
toppings, small Sicilian style pizzas, and calazones.
All I can say is I have never eaten so much or so well
for so many days in my life. I'm no longer so skinny.
Ok, enough about food...it's making me hungry. On the
first day we rested a little after breakfast since our
flight was at 4:50AM, and then we went to some cliffs
were we climbed down to go swimming. I also jumped
about 40ft. or so from the top with some other guys.
The next day we went to Cefalu which is a small
village on the Sea with a beautiful long stretch of
sandy beach with the mountains in the background, of
course. We also went sightseeing and saw some amazing
cathedrals which all 3 have a large painting in the
inside of the dome of Jesus' head and shoulders
painted in a way so that the eyes are always looking
at you. We did a little shopping in Palermo, ate
Italian ice cream packed in a sweet dough sandwich
bun, walked around, lay by the pool...I've fallen in
love with Sicily and the Italian culture. I'm going
to start taking Italian language lessons here in Malta
because in February I want to go to Venice, Florence,
Rome, and wherever else I can make it during Carnival.
Also, Toto invited me to come back to Sicily in the
spring, and since he is returning to Malta in
September to start full time with PWC we can practice
English and Italian together. Anyone up for a trip to
Sicily over spring break?
We got back on Monday night; bags packed full of
Sicilian baked sweets, wine and pasta. On Tuesday,
since I still had one day of leave, we took a short
ferry ride out to the small island of Comino, between
Malta and Gozo, and spent the day at the Blue Lagoon.
The water there is sky blue with almost white sand.
It's like a huge smimming pool except with fish and
stuff. It's been quite a week, but I can't wait to do
some more traveling. I don't know what the secret to
life is, but I know that traveling as much as possible
and meeting as many people from all walks of life has
got to have something to do with it.
I have also decided to join Aiesec Malta. My first
project will be working on the Gozo Motivational
Seminar (GMS) to be held in late September or October.
Well, that's about all for now.
Ciao, Chris
P.S. In case you didn't know ciao can be used to say
hello and goodbye. See how good my Italian is
already. My biggest problem with Italian will be how
to roll my rrrrr's with my tongue. Damn throaty
German. Later
Chris Sternberg, USA
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