Malta

Malta
When we looked out of the airplane window Malta was very easy to see. With about 400,000 people Malta is one of the smallest countries in the world. They are very self sufficient with their own language (a mix between Arabic and Italian! Very unique), music, history, and unique culture. Our friend that we stayed with was a man Lindsey met in Jerusalem last year. He kindly took work off (not hard to do in Malta) and picked us up from the airport. The warm temperatures were welcome and the landscape was beautiful. Throughout our time in Malta we learned a lot about their culture and politics. There are a few main things we have learned:
-Malta is a VERY Catholic society, everything revolves around the church. The holidays, the parades, the government, the feasts, the villages, the names of everything the thousands and thousands if churches...over 95%of the population attends mass weekly. Everywhere you go there are images of St. Mary or St. Paul or St...fill in the blank. This is true in almost every shop, store and even bars. 
-the people have a long history, many left over feelings and trends are still very evident in their society, such as they are okay with almost anything in their government as long as their religion is left alone and also they tend to save money, especially in the more conservative areas. 
-they have a very tight knit community. Everywhere we went Carmel knew people...at the beach at a rock festival etc... They even have village feasts all summer almost every week. There are about 40 villages in Malta and everyone is welcome. There is a church service (of course) and then after a giant party. This is run mostly by the church and volunteers but there is lots of food, wine, fireworks, music etc.its a big party. 
-work is so different. They have at lest 40 day a year off...paid vacation. You can have another 2 months unpaid if you want. It is like that all over. They have public holidays on top of this frequently providing long weekends and even more vacations.
-recently there was a huge referendum to vote on if divorce should be legal in Malta...it has always been that way. It is a very controversial thing there because the Catholic church in Malta has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars campaigning against the change. They threatened the people with all sorts of things and people were walking out of church in the middle of services. It is a deeply religious society but they also want some separation of church and state. The vote itself turned out to result in 53% of the population in favor of the legalization of divorce. The Maltese have developed very rapidly in the past 50 years and some there feel they are very behind with this type of legislation. The church was shocked and it is still yet to be seen if the parliament and president will respond to the people's wishes, as many of them are deeply religious and are torn between their religious stance and their duty to represent the people. In Malta almost everyone votes and it is as very fool proof and extensive system. 
-one last thing about Malta is that the people expect clear blue warm skies all the time, if they don't have them they can't stop talking or complaining about it. We told them we couldn't  afford to do that in Michigan. 

When we were there we met Carmel's family and friends. They were all such fun people and we got along with them very well. We went to very old catacombs, to an old city that is like Jerusalem but very quiet. We took a ferry with Carmel's car and our friends to Gozo a more conservative but tourist like area where we saw cliffs and a lagoon. The water was breathtaking. We went swimming a few times at a few different beautiful beaches. We went to the oldest standing structures known to mankind that were sort of like stone hedge but Maltese style. They mark the seasons and were quite remarkable right out by the water but up high. We saw cliffs, topless women, parachuters, models, met rockstars, ate dinner outside overlooking a harbor across the street from David Beckham's apartment, went to the most random  party in the middle of nowhere, we went to a hippy music festival, we ate out quite a bit (pained us to spend the money) and had great bread with tomato paste, seafood, Maltese wine, it was all very good even if i wasn't all in our preferred pallets.  
Malta was small. We covered a lot ground. Thanks to our host we had an insiders experience into the little island of Malta. The land and the sea have breathtaking encounters with one another. We never lacked a good view. There is a feeling of relaxation that is lacking in the states. It has blue skies, curious red sandy beaches, and a incredibly unique history. When we left we were excited to see Milan...let's just say we were a bit disappointed and unimpressed despite the famous reputation of the city.