My last full day in Malta!
My dad's cousin Louis was picking me up today and I was in for a very special treat. First stop was a local band club (aka pub) where he goes each Sunday to meet up with a few of his mates, share a beer, as well as eat pastizzi, hopz bil zajt and a selection of other Maltese delicacies. His brother Edwin was there as well and I have to say I had an absolute blast. Edwin is a legend in these parts, I took a seat next to him and Louis on a bench at the front of the club and we just talked shop for a time. Every single guy that walked past, regardless of their age would say hello and shake Edwin's hand. He was the king. He introduced me to many of them ("Dan tifil ta Joe Galea...") and I felt real cool sitting there smashing the pastizzi into me and talking my best Maltese. Any time a bar staff would walk past Edwin would call out to bring us some more food or drink and he would say "Tell them it is for Edwin". :)
Well the best was yet to come. Louis told me that today the president of Malta was paying a visit to the club. Yes the president, as in the George W Bush equivalent (well the Maltese president is much cooler). Apparently he is from the area and once a year has morning tea at the club and today was the day! Sure enough a cavalcade turns up shortly afterwards and out steps the president of Malta! Whilst he had security guards etc it was nothing like the APEC summit so I got a good look at him. It came as no surprise when Edwin told me he knew the president personally however when he said he would arrange a photo for me with him I was pretty excited! I mean I was blown away! Here were all these dignitaries and I was going to get a photo with the president of Malta wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Man what a blast this was. I have shown the photo to as many locals as I can find this afternoon and they have all been blown away by it. So there you have it, Andrew from Greystanes shook hands and had a photo with the president of Malta. :)
We spent a few hours at the club before Louis told me we were going to pick up his wife Lina and have lunch at a restaurant owned by her brothers in St Julians. I said good bye to Edwin and a host of guys at the pub. One of them was a boxer and asked me to say hello to Jeff Fenech, he was the biggest Maltese man I have ever seen so I said I would! Lunch was superb. I had rabbit ravioli and washed it down with a fine Maltese white wine. How Maltese can you get? I really enjoyed spending some more time with Louis and Lina and once again was treated very well by my relatives in Malta.
I had a few hours to catch up on some much needed sleep in the afternoon before we were off again, this time to see my grandmother's sister and her family. These were family from my mother's side and are bread and butter Maltese living in the heartland. They spoke very little English so my Maltese skills were well and truly put to the test. I got through with just a pass I think and relied on Lillian to translate for me here and there. I am more determined than ever to learn the language properly now so that I will return fluent the next time I set foot on these shores!
Throughout the day, and indeed the month I have spent here I would get many people saying I looked like my father whilst others would say I looked like my mother. Then they would say he sings like his father (well I don't sing like him but I do sing, just not as good as him!). The truth is that obviously we all have elements of both our parents in our makeup, both in physical appearance and personality. It got me thinking, as these things tend to do. Whilst it is fact we have little say in the physical aspects we inherit from our parents, I wondered what sort of control we had over the personality traits we adopt. Obviously there is both good and bad elements in everyone's personality (including our parents) and the idealistic view is that children will inherit the better elements from each parent's personality and somehow not the bad ones. We all know it does not work this way.
I do believe that if we are not actually born with personality traits from our parents then we certainly adopt them from a young age, indicative of our formative years being heavily influenced by them. At some point we become old enough to observe both good and bad aspects of both our parent's and our own personalities and then have a decision whether to promote or suppress them within ourselves. I know personally over the years I have seen qualities in both my parents that I have liked and not liked, and also seen some from both types in my own personality. And I know for a fact that I have tried to suppress some qualities that I deem to be undesirable. It is this ability to recognise, acknowledge and alter our behaviours that define who we are as adults. And from personal experience when there are periods in my life where I have stopped doing this self analysis I have become someone of whom I am not proud, and that is sad.
I love it when people say that I remind them of my father or my mother when they were younger. And some of the happiest times during my trip have been when I have met the older relatives of my parents and I have had the opportunity to simply talk to them face to face and observe. It is an inbuilt human desire to have a sense of belonging, a sense of history and most importantly a sense of family. A knowledge of where they came from and some understanding of why they are the person they are.
My evening consisted of gathering around the family table of my uncle Leo and aunty Julie's house, sharing 2 plates of pastizzi and playing a few games of Scrabble. It was a fitting end to my holiday here in Malta, because whilst I have enjoyed so many aspects of my time here, including falling in love with the country and its people, the one thing that has stood it apart from every trip I have ever had before in my life has been the time I have spent with my extended families. It has made me reflect on my family back home and how grateful I am that my family plays such significant part in my life.
My time here has drawn to a close. Hard to place into words how much I have enjoyed the experience. I knew this day would come and I am looking forward to returning home and continuing life's journey.
Well this is me signing off from my journal and a wonderful month spent on the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily. I needed this holiday, and whilst travelling on your own is sometimes a poor reflection on the social state of the individual (ummm...I have friends...honest!) I don't think I would have enjoyed it anywhere near as much any other way. At least not at this point in my life. There are a lot of things I have realised and learned on this holiday that I want to take and keep with me when I return to Australia.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing this journey with me via my journal and I am eternally grateful for the wonderful comments many of you have sent to me about it. Those comments are what gave me the push and the inspiration to write something each day, and now I have a detailed and insightful log of my travels. Something I will cherish for all my days remaining.
I look forward to seeing you all very soon. Take care and if you get the opportunity, share an extra bit of love with your families and loved ones today, it will make today a better today for both you and them! :)
Love,
Andrew
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