grazzi hafna, malta

tiendvo
Aug 25, 2019
4 min read

Last night I struggled to sleep, because I guess I got eaten up my mosquitoes during the day and I didn't notice til then. But it was alright because I didn't feel super tired in the morning. My skin is suffering though, and for some reason I'm sneezing like mad.

For breakfast, I ate muesli and granola, and John bought me soymilk because he felt bad that I had dry cereal for breakfast the other day and wanted to make sure I had milk today. He's awesome. I found out that he studied English and theater at university so it makes sense that he's pretty woke. He was talking to me about Malta and the history here. Apparently for both world wars, a third of the Maltese immigrated to other countries because the climate was unstable in Malta. He finds it ridiculous that Maltese don't like immigrants. Especially since there are so many Africans here who take the jobs that are keeping the country together like building and picking up refuse.

He said, "If we understand our own history we understand what others go through better. We don't have to love everyone, but we do need to have respect."

John told me it was great that was traveling and thinking about working outside the US. A lot of people don't think of that as an option because they say they couldn't possible get used to living in another country. He said he was a little afraid at first, but then he remembered that were all citizens of planet earth. We'll be more okay that we think. Then we said our goodbyes. He's been my favorite Airbnb host yet.

I made it in time for church at the Malta Branch. It's located by the Mosta Rotunda in the heart of the island above a burger place. There I met the missionaries I saw on the bus yesterday and everyone else there because there were only 15 people. The bishop was also the pianist and the conductor for sacrament meeting. Karen taught the lesson for relief society and she was born and raised in Malta studying accounting. She's a convert too and her family is catholic like the other 98% of Malta. I also met Sara who is from Utah and graduated from BYU. She and her daughter live here because she works for the US Embassy. She's so cool. Ah i aspire to be a cool mom like her.

After my wonderful Sunday morning at church, I hopped on the 42 north to the Cirkewwa ferry to get to Gozo.

Now I'm in Gozo. Sweating buckets. I bought this spinach and cheese filled pastry for 1,40€ at a little patisserie on the street and ate with the view of the citadel. Then I went to a hippie cafe to have a smoothie with current, lemon, ginger, and apple; it was sooooo good! But their AC is broken and they had to make the smoothie cold by putting ice in it. I needed to pee mostly so it all works out.

Now I'm at some beach in northern Gozo staring out at the ocean. The breeze feels so good. There's endless blue for as far as my eyes can see. It's like I'm on a cruise and at the spot in the water that makes it hard to imagine that there's land anywhere else. Someday I'll live by the ocean.

After that, I took a bus or two to the other coast to see the Azure window. Very anticlimactic, but Gozo and Malta are really trying to milk everything they got. Which isn't much, but they do have something a lot of places can't offer. The simple life. I ate lemon sorbet gelato and got chased by some bees while praying they wouldn't sting me, then got on a bus to the ferry and a ferry back to the main island. The ride to Valletta was long and the sunset was beautiful. During my transit, I thought about it, and I don't really like to travel because of the places I go to. Yeah they're nice but I have luckily lived in the US my whole life where we are never short on beautiful cities, breathtaking landscapes, historical sites, and natural wonders. I just really love learning and stepping outside of my comfort zone. For me, travel is super conducive to both of those things. That's what makes me get up in the morning -- the adventure of it all. I think travel has made me more aware of time. It's very limited and even when we are going through an average day in an average place, we still get to decide where the adventure is going to be in all of it. This is cheesy as ricotta, but today is a gift really. If we don't use it, we'll lose it.

When I arrived at the Triton Fountain, fireworks were exploding in the distance. Perfect send off if you ask me. I took a bus to the airport. Malta is very segregated, because they're were definitely places where the Africans are and places where the white people are. The only place that I didn't see an obvious divide was the church. I got off at the wrong bus stop and this was the only time I've been scared so far. Creepy, desperate, losers can rot in hell. Goodnight Malta!

Solo travel

Pros: can go anywhere at anytime for as long as I want, never have to share gelato, no one else has to deal w the smell of my sweat, get all the attention at church

Cons: have to defend self at all times, shouldn't really go out late, have to be more cautious and controlled

Grateful for: God taking care of bad people, cold food and drinks, the ocean, deep convos w strangers, being able to nap on the bus because they old lady next to me was looking out for me, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints