Day 2 - Mellieha
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2007
1
2
29
Trip End
Oct 17, 2007
Mellieha,
Malta
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Mellieha locals.
Today was going to be my first real brush with the locals. My uncle in Australia, Freddy, like most ex-pats had a large family still living in Malta and apparently there were a few young female relatives of his that would be keen to show me around, sounded interesting. One in particular was his niece Svetlana who was somewhat of a TV personality over here with her own variety TV show. Well anyway I had made some contact with Svetlana before arriving and had her number so I gave her a call. I was happy to hear that she was in fact filming the last episode (of 19) this very day of her summer show on a beach on the north east coast of Malta. A place called Mellieha. She had arranged for her sister, along with husband and 2 little girls, to pick me up from near my motel and take me there so I could watch the show being filmed! I was really looking forward to it. Turns out it was a huge family affair with lots of relatives and even more amounts of food! Mellieha bay is just beautiful, a really good spot and one that was highlighted in my trusty Lonely Planet guide book so I was very grateful for the opportunity to get a lift out there and spend the entire day there, not to mention being entertained by Svet's show.
In typical Maltese fashion there were some technical difficulties that delayed the start of the show by a few hours (it is a live broadcast), however in another reflection of the Maltese people no one got upset about things, they just got about the business of trying to fix things up and had a good time in between
Mellieha bay.
. A few pales of water were thrown on various people and others were dragged along the sand and thrown in the water (this included cast and crew of the TV show too I might add!). The show eventually got underway and it was really good. There were camera crews, a portable kitchen setup on the sand for the cooking segment and lots of interviews etc. There was a section where a series of girl singers got out there and sang a song each, real Eurovision type stuff, it was pretty impressive! This was the first time I really got a chance to see the local Maltese people up close and spend a decent amount of time with them. I had a blast.I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I understood enough Maltese to get by, and all the locals knew enough English to make up the deficit. After a few hours I was even saying a few phrases and answering the yes/no questions in Maltese. When my brothers and I were young and growing up in Australia it was not cool to be too Maltese and it would sometimes lead to derision from your peers. Unfortunately this meant we fought against our heritage instead of embrace it and not learning the Maltese language fluently and knowing more about my heritage is something I have regretted ever since. Well I was trying my best to make up for it on both counts now! As I knew would be the case Svetlana's family were extremely accommodating and friendly. I felt like part of the family
Mellieha bay.
. Meeting my actual relatives (mum and dad's side) was something I was doing over the next few days so this was a trial run.I made a few observations throughout the day as follows. Everyone smokes cigarettes. And I mean everyone. I don't recall seeing one adult all day that did not smoke at some stage and most would smoke 5-10 cigarettes an hour. That was adults from 18 to 60, and it took some getting used to. As many of you will know I am a vehement anti smoker back home but I did understand that here and in Europe it is just more accepted and more ingrained in the culture. There are lots of areas in hotels and restaurants where you are unable to smoke in Malta but there doesn't seem to be the same trend of people quitting as there is in Australia. I was asked about 20 times throughout the day from different people whether I wanted a cigarette and each time I got a slight look of surprise when I said no. My second observation was that many of the young children are obese. It was something that I found more difficult to come to terms with. I am talking children from the age of 4 - 12 being remarkably overweight, and it did not take long to see why. Bottom line is the Maltese people enjoy life, they are often laughing, joking and singing and this includes eating to excess. There was platter after platter of seafood, pizza, pasta and bread placed on the table throughout the day
Mellieha bay.
. Most provided by the celebrity chef who was cooking throughout the day for the family of the cast & crew (that included me!). The parents would often round up their children from their play in the sand to force feed them whatever they could get their hands on. I got so many queries and questions about whether I was feeling ok when I constantly turned down the food on offer, I mean I could not fit anything more! They were machines!The day ended with Svetlana driving me home, I felt like a celebrity groupie, she was great in front of the camera and was extremely popular with the locals on the beach. She drove me around a bit on the way home showing me some sights and also where my aunty Julie and uncle Leo live. They are the closest relatives I have here in Malta being my aunty and uncle (most others are second cousins or my parents cousins) and I was calling them in the morning to arrange meeting up. I couldn't wait.
Svetlana was a lot of fun and she told me she had a few things planned for me this week including the night life in Paceville with her and her friends. That was definitely something I was looking forward to and for the record Svetlana certainly falls under the category of Mediterranean beauty and is a lot of fun.
Mellieha bay.
After grabbing something to eat I headed back to my motel to transfer and view the day's photos and get some well earned rest. I was alarmed to see that I had gotten fairly sun burned today. Oh and another thing I forgot to mention was that I did not see a single bottle of sun block the entire day. I guess living here the people are well tanned and don't have similar problems as do people back home, not sure. What I do know is that I am going to track some down tomorrow if I can, I was pretty burnt. :(
My jetlag is getting better as I stayed awake until around 10pm tonight. Current Becks & Posh sightings is zero. My Malta adventure continues!
