And looks like it tastes simply delicious too! Maltese bread at its best.

We came across this insight into an artisan bakery in Valletta with protagonist Nenu kneading the dough. One of those cameos of Malta life to be nostalgic about especially if you’re Maltese and living overseas I would think. A ‘no comment’ needed video.

Where to Find ‘Nenu’: it’s part of the Maypole group of bakeries. For its location in Valletta, click here.

Joseph is part of the production team from grove to press and onward to Malta. He enjoys seeing the oil he helps produce and bring to Malta enjoyed and shared, perhaps chatted about by a few in the know. The Umbrian olive oil is pressed in time-honoured tradition from tree to bottle in under two days, then packaged exquisitely and imported to Malta in three weeks flat.

It represents a small-volume, specialist product with a niche brand; a true connoisseur’s oil.  It’s peppery to the taste buds; an oil that is part of a dish, not a mere vehicle to cook or dress it in. It’s perfect savoured simply; all you need is a crusty Maltese loaf to accompany it. For how to buy, see article end.

The Story

Joseph and his wife Elsie are frequent visitors to Terni in southern Umbria, a city within striking distance of Rome just 80 km south. In fact, the Roman town of Carsulae whose ruins lie near the olive groves was the last stop of Roman legions returning home. Here, they’d encamp and make ready for a final triumphant march into the capital.  Another stop on the tourist trail nearby is the walled town of San Gemini, famed for its mineral water.

The reason for Joseph’s trips to Italy’s most rural and land-locked region is to liaise with an Italian lab that produces the prosthetics for his dental patients. Over the years, Italian business partners become friends and his trips extended to sightseeing then stumbling across and getting involved with La Poiana, a old farm with an incredible heritage in olive oil.

La Poiana (the buzzard) – the oil’s brand name – is a rambling farm in need of restoration, but Joseph’s Umbrian friends saw the potential of its abandoned olive groves.  Joseph too was drawn to the challenge of restoring the land, replanting where trees had died in the famed killer frosts of Italian winters past.  He became part of their mission to bring back into production some of Italy’s most prized olive growing land.

“I have a passion for wine, but knew that I would never have the time from my career to gain the know-how to start a winery,” Joseph says, explaining how he got in to helping out in the olive business. “Olive growing complements my love of wines and is something I can indulge in learning about.” he explains.

La Poiana Estate 

La Poiana comes from a region renowned for some of the finest oils. In fact, all Umbrian olive production has D.O.P (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) which means the oil is strictly quality controlled and from the region granted the D.O.P. status. La Poiana’s groves are also farmed with organic methods. The estate bottles several single olive oil varieties for the gift and connoisseur market. These are the ‘Laudemio’ oils. In the Middle Ages, Laudemio referred to that part of the crop reserved for the lord, or for the owner of the land and so were always the highest-quality portion of what was harvested. The remainder is sold as a superior blend.

Production is limited with the 400 trees yielding around 600 litres. “At the most, there will only be 550 trees so La Poiana will always be a rare find; a true connoisseur produce,” Joseph says.  The oil in its unusual presentation bottles makes a perfect gift and festive hamper choice. For how to buy, see below.

Olive Oil Varieties 

Three olive varieties, typical of Umbria and Tuscany are grown at La Poiana: Frantoio and Moraiolo are considered strong in taste, while Leccino is usually classified as a mild olive variety

Frantoio: The oil is usually described as fruity (green banana), green, herbaceous (grass and green tea) and pungent – it goes very well on grilled steak, lobster and crab, vegetables like Brussels sprouts and artichoke, pasta, tomatoes and Brousse cheese

Moraiolo: This oil can be described as fruity, green, mildly pungent and quite fruity Its flavour stands out on cooked vegetables and complements fishand pork very well

Leccino: This oil is delicate, mildly fruity, spicy and sweet evoking hints of artichoke, sweet almonds and wild thistle.  It is recommended for dressing salads and meat carpaccios as well as for preparing desserts

How to Buy

La Poiana oils are superb to gift, particularly this time of year at Christmas.  La Poiana is offering Malta Insideout site users a special price of 1 Euro off the recommended RPP for each oil and the blend:

Special Prices:

Single oils, 250ml cube:  Euro 13
Single oils, 500ml cube: Euro 19

Email oliolapoiana@gmail.com to purchase and for delivery information.

International brand-name stores now crowd high streets in Malta. But most are franchises and few can claim to have been conceived on the islands. Not so The Rug Company which has just opened its Malta showroom. Its high-end designer and bespoke rugs now grace the floors of gliterrati the world over, but you could say the company started life here and is now ‘coming home’.

Suzanne Sharp co-founded The Rug Company with husband Christopher in 1997. She spoke to us about their personal story in the rug trade and what it means to bring the brand to Malta.

The Rug Company showroom in Ta’Xbiex is a high-ceilinged, almost minimalist space in a new business centre just a few metres from Whitehall Mansions, home to the British High Commission. Suzanne Sharp is giving instructions in Maltese to workmen completing the finishing touches to the space; she’s at ease in the language of her early years (her maiden name is Miceli), and is instantly recognisable from international magazine photos.

Suzanne & Christopher Sharp. Photo: Suki Dhanda

Both she and Christopher crop up frequently in the glossy weekend supplements of UK papers. Christopher appeared only recently in an FT Weekend magazine interview. The Sharps are clearly people on the move, as their showrooms from Dallas to Dubai and New York to Moscow testify.

Malta now…
Today though, Susan has her sights set on their 19th successful store opening. There are rugs piled in neat rows, some wall hangings and a set of arty photos above the back counter. The showroom is deceptively simple for a product that takes around four months to complete and relies on the handcrafting techniques of the Tibetans and Nepalese that have gone almost unchanged for hundreds of years.

Their rugs are sumptuous heirlooms, often described as ‘works of art for the floor’, and carry four figure price tags. However, Rug Company rugs are made to last, outliving their owners to be handed down and cherished by future generations. The brand shouts high-end contemporary style, but at heart, it’s about a sense of timelessness, heritage and continuity, which seems fitting for a company now rediscovering roots with the opening of its Malta store.

Malta then…
Flash back 14 years and shift scene just a couple of kilometres along the seafront to Qui-Si-Sana, Sliema, and you can imagine Suzanne doing much the same as now – organising her retail space. Back then, she and Christopher owned a single outlet in Malta called ‘Christopher Sharp The Oriental Rug Gallery’, which they sold in 1996 before leaving the island. The intervening years have seen the duo revolutionise the London rug trade and go global, collaborating along the way with designers like Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith, as well as fashion houses such as the Italian label Marni.

How it all began…
How and why the rug trade, and why Malta then and now, is a personal tale that starts in Saudi Arabia moving to Italy before arriving on the islands in the winter of 1990. It’s one Suzanne is fond of telling. She had left Malta in the late ‘70s as teen when her father, an Air Malta executive, was posted first to Rome, then London. She met and married Christopher in London in the ‘80s and moved with him to Saudi Arabia where he worked as a film maker and broadcaster.

“Our interest in rugs started in Saudi. There was little to do socially, so we stayed in homemaking. We decorated our house with rugs bought at the souks, often from Afghan traders selling their wares to pay their way to Mecca,” Suzanne explains. Saudi souks were to give them a deep understanding of what was to become their stock in trade.

After four years in Saudi, they left for Tuscany with the aim of opening a boutique hotel. But frozen to the bone visiting pile after pile of rubble on windswept hills amid a bleak wintery landscape, they realised their dream was downgrading rapidly to a B&B, if that. On a Christmas trip back to Malta in 1990, by now with their two-year-old son Nick in tow, Suzanne’s family persuaded them that life was beautiful down south. “We rushed back to Tuscany, packed up, paid bills and drove down to catch the ship from Naples to Malta. We arrived in Grand Harbour at sunset, and Malta seemed warm, shimmering and golden. A sign of better times to come,“ Suzanne says.

Still bitten by the rug trade, the two saw a niche in the local market and opened their Qui-Si-Sana outlet offering top-end, traditional Persian carpets. Two more children and seven years later, the serial movers decided to decamp back to London ready to take another punt in a trade they now knew intimately. The Rug Company was born.

London calling…
“Our first outlet in Chelsea was overtly upmarket; a conscious move to differentiate ourselves from the cheap, pile-‘em-high carpet traders whose ‘hand-loomed’ oriental rugs had probably been mass produced,” she says. “Then Christopher came home one day with a hunch, saying that people were looking for something more. So, we decided to do something against the grain; we went contemporary.”

Nowadays, interior design magazines are cover to cover with the bare floorboard (in Malta’s case, bare stone) and statement rug look, but without the Sharps, it might not have come to pass so quickly nor been so pervasive a trend. Always ahead of the market, the duo, who were now also designers rather than pure retailers, were on the move again. “We couldn’t base a shop on one style idea. So, in 2001 we sought top-name designers to create unique ranges for our contemporary collection,” Suzanne adds.

Even through the credit crunch The Rug Company was doing well. “I think people see them as investments. You don’t think about spending on fixtures like kitchens and bathrooms, and they can’t move with you. A rug can – it’s personal. We offer a bespoke service tailor making rugs like you’d have a suit or wedding dress made,” Suzanne explains.

Theirs are not humble rugs. Suzanne is quick to point out that the craftsmanship of genuine hand-woven rugs and carpets has always been highly prized and priced. She makes an analogy to hit the point home: “Just look at the tapestries hanging in The Palace in Valletta,” she explains. ”They are Gobelins from the 1700s; exquisitely woven stories, valued and appreciated in their day.”

Back to Malta with hand-loomed love
But what of Malta’s capacity now to appreciate the qualities, durability and design of the Rug Company’s offer? “There were always people in Malta back in 1997 who appreciated the quality of the rugs we offered. But now the time is right, the market grown; look at all the new condos, penthouses and marina developments, and our earlier clientele are also thirsty for something new on the market here,” she says.

Locals’ appreciation of design steers our conversation back to Valletta and also to its bid to be a European Capital of Culture in 2018, an initiative which is talking of the city’s role in inspiring design and innovation and stimulating a creative economy. Suzanne’s path with The Rug Company is evidence that a creative career can bring benefits in terms of both personal fulfillment and financial gain.

Suzanne is clearly fond of her homeland and has managed to take time to show her London PR assistants around Valletta, pointing out all the grand sights and quirky elements that make up the personality of Europe’s most diminutive capital. It’s mid October, it’s hot and feels like summer as we speak. Suzanne’s biog on company’s website says her favourite view is ‘the big blue sea on a sunny day in the Med’. Her assistants say they’d like to linger longer in Malta.

“I hope Valletta won’t end up with European blandness,” she muses, recalling the manicured Tuscan hill towns she once trekked around in search of paradise. “I love the character of the old bars and shops in Malta.” She has a house in Attard and holidays here, surrounded by an extended family of Maltese relations.

All the while, you sense that to Suzanne, The Rug Company’s Malta showroom means more than just another store notched up. It holds a special place for the Sharps in their story. You also sense that Suzanne may be about to follow quite closely Malta’s interest in a creative economy. The Rug Company may be a global brand, but perhaps it’s come home and is about to make its mark in Malta again.

Where to find them:
The Rug Company
Area F, Blue Harbour Business Centre
Ta’Xbiex, TXB 1043
Malta

t. (+356) 21 324 990
For map, click here.

To anyone reading leading UK newspapers, Dr John Briffa needs little introduction.  He’s a former columnist for the Daily Mail and the Observer, and former contributing editor for Men’s Health magazine. He has authored for dozens of newspaper and magazine titles internationally, and is a previous recipient of the Health Journalist of the Year award in the UK.

His latest book ‘Escape the Diet Trap – lose weight for good without calorie counting, extensive exercise or hunger’ will be published in January in the UK. Dr Briffa is proud of his heritage and has chosen Malta as the first place in the world to reveal the ground-breaking concepts contained in the book. We’ve an exclusive Dr Briffa article here, based on insights from the book.

In partnership with Bryn Kennard of Body Works in Spinola Bay, he will be revealing the secret to lasting weight loss in the ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ workshop, 12 November, at the Hotel Juliani, St Julians.  (Details & Booking info below.) See the Dr Briffa Bodyworks Workshop Programme (pdf download).

The Insights, the Theories, the Practice

Time and time again the conventional approach to weight loss, ‘eat less, exercise more’, has been shown to be a dismal failure for those looking for long-term sustainable weight loss. It is normally put down to lack of will power or discipline when many fail to control their weight following endless cycles of eating less and exercising more. However, there is good reason to believe that it is not so much that diets don’t work, it’s that they can’t work.

Dr John’s premise is that eating less and exercising more goes against the fundamental design of the body. If calorie intake is cut, it can stall the metabolism as the body seeks to conserve energy. Not only that, when a cycle of eating less ends and normal eating patterns are resumed it can take three months or more for the metabolism to boot up to normal levels.

Studies have also shown that people who tend to eat less also tend to move less making the exercise part of the equation a much harder to sustain. The role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated. In fact, studies clearly show that exercise is quite ineffective when it comes to weight loss. This is not to say that exercise is not important, on the contrary, it still plays a massive role in both aesthetics and health, it just means that it needs to work more intelligently as part of our overall wellness routines.

We asked Dr Briffa to explain a bit more about what’s going on here. 

Q. The logic behind ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ seems so sound and such common sense why has it eluded us for so long? 

Dr Briffa: Some of the misinformation regarding weight loss has come because the calorie principle – the idea that weight loss is an inevitable consequence of ‘eating less and exercising more’ is so persuasive. It makes so much sense. And when it doesn’t work (as is almost always the case in the long term), the tendency is to blame would-be slimmers rather than take another look at the theory and see if it stands up.

On top of this we have a food industry that has been able to peddle ‘slimming’ foods on faulty premises such as ‘low-calorie’, ‘low-fat’ or ‘lite’. This has further reinforced the idea that it’s only calories that count, and further led us down a path to failure.”

1. Our churches come into their own during funerals. Statistically, Malta is close behind the Vatican in terms of number of churches per square km. If you live in the shadow of one, like I do in Siggiewi, you soon learn to live with the mournful toll of the 8am or 3pm funeral bell. Funerals are part and parcel of village life. Here, funeral corteges have taken to parking next to the statue of St Nicholas in the middle of the square, so that the pall-bearers can carry the flower-covered coffin up the square and up the stairs of the church. It’s like a Fellini movie every day, to the backdrop of the lady selling fish in the morning and the OAPs outside the band club in the afternoon. Without the regular conveyor belt of mourners and dead people, my village would lose much of its ‘village life’ and pjazza conversation pieces. And the church would lose a tad of its sense of importance, even to those who do not regularly show up for the Sunday service.

2. We love marble plaques.The quality of Maltese driving is such that Maltese roads regularly take their toll. Although the traffic fatality rate per head of population is still in line with other countries, you simply cannot ignore the ubiquitous marble plaques, photographs and candles on the road side. In my childhood, there was a black spot on the Burmarrad road that literally seemed to have run out of wall space for the plaques. I remember closing my eyes and shivering every time my father drove past it. We take a morbid delight in remembering our loved ones where they came to a sudden end. In technicolour shots and weatherproof marble. Unbelievably, we even emigrate with the concept of the plaque. There’s one at a major road intersection on the outskirts of Portsmouth, UK, and the name on it is Maltese.

3. We love obituaries.Yes, every nation has its columns in its national rag. But we also have the morning Radio Malta solemn announcements of the newly-departed, replete with the same screeching violins that used to scare the living daylights out of me as a kid. The only thing that has changed is that the guy who used to read the obits has himself passed away and been replaced by more dulcit female tones. Definitely one to be avoided.

4. We have the Adolorata Cemetery. We choose to locate our national cemetery in Marsa, right in the middle of the most urban part of Malta, home to the giant roundabout and its intersections. A place replete with huge conifers straight out of The Omen, a city of red candles by night and busy trade in flower merchandise by day. The last prayers are said to a dull hum of diesel engines and screeching brakes. I always thought that everybody’s hotel needed to be relocated somewhere more serene and green. Sadly, it’s too late for all of that.

5. We love our black hearses. Until a few years ago, you could be on your way to your last your journey in a 1950s number with a number plate RIP007. It took some lobbying to explain to the undertakers that mixing James Bond with eternal peace is not quite a cocktail made in heaven. In 2008, Government’s attempt to break the undertakers’ cartel was met by a nation-wide strike by buses, mini-buses and taxis on the basis that this was ‘the first step at abolishing monopoly in all sectors of public transport.’ Now, the ubiquitous ‘RIP’ has now been replaced by the more discrete acronym:’HRS’. (For an explanation of Maltese number plates, click here).

But, for all our addoration of rituals for the departed, we, the living, can only speculate as to whether they are a grateful dead.

The last ride as it used to be. Old-style Maltese hearse.

Photo top (undertaker): Alex Grech
Photo bottom (old-style Maltese hearse): courtesy of the late Chris Booth, with special thanks to Gillian Marshall for kind permission to reproduce it here.

We start priming our school leavers that life will see them change job and shift careers and not just through downsizing, but because it’s essential they do so to fulfill their potential and because it’s the new norm. Actually, in Malta, the ability to shift and adapt has long been the norm.

Malta has a workforce particularly adept at flexible working, or being ‘Jacks of all trades’. It comes with the territory – literally. The small scale of Malta’s land mass and its small population (edging to 410,000) means that we have to seek within our ranks people capable of almost every job, role and specialism. Similar samples of 410,000 in regions within larger countries might of course not produce the people for the jobs.

We love the amateur; it’s part of nationhood. No one blinks an eye if we’re found one minute panel beating and respraying a car and the next we’re fielding a side for Malta against Croatia. Footballers are part-time, and our theatre is produced, promoted and performed by local ‘amateurs’ in the main. We enjoy the sports’ scene and cultural endeavours none the less, and perhaps all the more, because they are in theory amateur activities seeing the participation of the boy or girl next door.

This is not in any way to say that the nation doesn’t have an incredible pro talent base; it does. We’ve spawned world-class tenors in Joseph Calleja; world brands in Edward de Bono; and world sport personalities in Tony Drago. Malta also excels in professionals – lawyers, surgeons, accountants, architects and so on. Everyone here knows a bright young graduate who’s moved abroad for a fast-track career with an EU institution or is excelling in further, tertiary education.

The creative industries are seeing a release of talent on the islands in the likes of film maker Rebecca Cremona and multimedia visual arts creatives such as Cedric Vella, both of whom have won awards overseas. Ditto for upcoming writers in the Maltese language.

But there are people in Malta who simply have to double up at two or more roles. With salaries low compared to our EU neighbours (around a third lower in most cases, if not half), some find they have to make ends meet by doing two or more jobs. I know of a hospital IT worker who is a waiter at night and weekends; a policewoman who is a hairdresser when off duty; and a mum who is an ‘independent media production professional’ when time allows. I also know a good handful who I’d consider pro status photographers but who can’t make ends meet by following their creative talents so do various day jobs. The country can’t support the talent pool it has, so some leave, inevitably.

While we accept and need the services of the hairdresser-policewoman, enjoy and applaud the roles of the amateur actor and empathise with the odd-jobbing waiter, there are sectors in which amateurism may be masquerading as professionalism and which deserve critical appraisal. Politics and journalism are two key areas to ponder.

The social media age, which has brought more voices to bear, more scrutiny and more opinions to the fore, and less mediated commentary has also been the era in which we’ve seen more enquiry into the ethics and practices of these two fields; institutions which run and relate the day-to-day workings of the nation. The current war of words and now libel proceedings involving two news media, The Times and Malta Today, so-called upholders of the fourth estate, show that the media outlets themselves are now at the centre of the debate about professionalism vs amateurism. But they’ve entered the debate late in the day, because the populace has always known of and well understood the role of the amateur in Maltese society.

Photo: courtesy, Leslie Vella.

For all its seasonal allure, the pumpkin is actually on offer all year round in Malta, and pretty much a staple, fail-safe vegetable season in, season out. True, it lends itself better to autumn-winter fare (soups, added to stews, and so on) but it’s just as available in peak summer in 40°C. It’s also everywhere; if you’re out and about in the countryside, you’re bound to come across roofs and walls with pumpkins lined up, picturesquely ripening in the sun.

The beauty of the pumpkin, despite being a rather bland veg, is that it’s cheap. Right now, it’s a snip at the price at 70c/kilo, which is a fraction of one I saw on sale in the UK last autumn. The Maltese actually eat pumpkin a lot, so it’s not sold at a premium lantern-making price – yet.

So, what is it turned into here? Well, Qargha (Maltese for not only pumpkin, but gourd and marrow as well) is a basic veg, so it dominates the medley that goes into Minestra (minestone), which is a regular, traditional lunchtime filler for many families. Pumpkin comes in both white (qargha torka) and orange (qargha hamra) fleshed varieties and adds bulk, and colour to stew (stuffat tal-Qargha Hamra). Occasionally, it’s made into pies, and among cognoscenti of celebrity chefs from beyond these shores, it’s turned into a mean risotto.

The small, rural locality of Manikata, in the North-West of Malta, holds an Annual Pumpkin Fair. It could be the place to work out what to do with pumpkin beyond making soup! The event, which starts at 10.30, Sunday 30 October, 2011, is run by the Manikata Farmers Cooperative; see their website for full details. The fair should prove an authentically seasonal outing for the kids this coming half term!

‘Rolling’

David as an Iraqi soldier

From day one, the extras were advised not to approach the film director, Lee Tamahori, apparently because he’s renowned as not being too easy to deal with. One day after lunch, while the extras were walking back towards the set, I tested the crowd marshals’ instructions and went close to Tamahori, asking for a picture. He firmly replied, “No way!”

A friend of mine, who was working at the hotel where the film crew was staying, shared some impressions. The film crew were overly authoritative and quite pretentious at times. Lee Tamahori seemed a very quiet and shy person to talk to. The director, on his arrival, told the hotel staff: “My next job will be producing a film, so, if I need extras, I’ll be sure to let you know”.

‘Background action’
On set, one of the extras who is an avid film enthusiast told me that Lee Tamahori is the son of a Māori. Another interesting fact is that the director started his career working his way up from the bottom as a boom operator, then as a photographer, before gaining a foothold on the ladder in the film industry.

Tamahori is notoriously regarded by several film critics as the director with a bizarre behaviour who possesses “two personalities”. A murky affair in 2006 in a Santa Monica Boulevard and a resulting court case seem to surface when one Googles him. Nevertheless, on set, observing the film maker was really inspiring. He is one of the most creative film directors I have ever seen during my “extra” experiences. Tamahori is so hands-on, and his energy is outstanding and he really managed to pull all the crew together.

‘Quiet Please’
I got to know Latif Yahia, the real life body double of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday whose life was turned into a Hollywood film. When Latif returned to Malta, he brought me a signed copy of his autobiographical novel. Latif and I talked about the issue of how his birth land Iraq is portrayed in the media which gives a picture of an exaggerated hell on earth. Latif is very proud of where he comes from and of his origins. I enjoyed listening to him when he spoke to me about Iraq, which in ancient times was known as Mesopotamia, with its magnificent capital, Babylon. Latif Yahia emphasised that Iraq was once the cradle of civilisation.

‘Action’
Why is Dominic Cooper, who plays both Uday Hussein and Latif Yahia in the film famous? He rose to fame playing the character, Sky, in the film version of Mamma Mia! The Greenwich born actor, on set, was so down to earth, and his pleasant personality was prominent. What struck me most in Dominic Cooper was that stereotypical British sense of humour. Many times, between shots, he played sarcastic and funny jokes with his fellow actors and the film crew. Once, I asked Dominic Cooper for an autograph, and he ironically replied, “I’m not humble all the time but I’m not conceited, either.” Even though he was undoubtedly the star of the film, Cooper was always approachable.

‘Cut’
Having a male actor being portrayed as a sex object, even though male sex symbolism has been around since the beginning of the 20th century during the silent film era is not the norm. Generally, Hollywood’s films are characterised by sexual images of appealing women. Though, Dominic Cooper is somehow subverting this trend.

On several occasions I hung out with Cooper’s younger brother James and some other crew. Whenever we met Dominic Cooper, girls chased him wherever he went. Cooper will surely remember Malta for its vivid nightlife, and for the sun and the sea.

‘Coming Soon’
Working as an extra broadens the mind, in the sense that you meet people of different cultures, you are outside and not glued to a laptop, and it may open new doors….. Hence, I cannot wait until I get the next call: “Hello David, are you available to work as an extra on xxxxx film”? (Yes please!)

The author wishes to thank Jean Pierre Borg, Nigel Micallef and Keith Preble for helping with queries and proof reading.
Photos: courtesy of David Carabott. Top photo was taken on set in Pembroke.

Without much thought, I tweeted back:  ’No.. we’re in a goldfish bowl, blinking out.  Via our iPads and HDTVs, of course.’

I kept thinking of why the notion of protest and civil mobilisation is so far removed from the Malta we live in today.  It’s quite a Pandora’s box, worthy of study or a chat over a beer.  The 14 reasons I list below are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive.

1. There is nothing to protest about.  Malta is somehow managing to weather the global storm.  People still have food on their table.  We can watch the Rome protests on TV and the Internet without having to clean up the next day.
2. Civic protests are not part of our DNA.  We do complaints, not protests.  In the safety of virtual pjazzas, on social networks, in moderated Times of Malta comments section.  We complain to our work colleagues, families, even to the odd MP.  That’s what they’re there for.
3. Never again.  Some of us are old enough to remember real political strife and street violence.  That chapter in this country’s history is firmly closed.
4. Doing anything mildly edgy may be used against you.  Even sun-bathing in public can get the police ruffled.
5. Protests are for radicals.  Being radical gets a play banned, a writer taken to court, some kid on Facebook given a suspended jail sentence.  Deep down, we are a nation that is respectful of authority, hierarchies and institutions.
6. Everyone knows everybody.  Protest is about anonymity and critical distance.  We may not have the CCTV surveillance society of countries like the UK, but a small place has its own way of watching and magnifying your actions.  The chances are that before long  you are protesting about the activities of one of your own.
7. We lack critical mass.  2,000 people in Paternoster Square in London would proportionally translate into a family picnic at Upper Barrakka.
8. Walls have ears and the Internet has a permanent memory.  It’s bad enough with Facebook privacy settings and wondering if a friend has tagged you on a photo or put it on someone’s blog.
9. To protest, you need a culture of protest.  A non-hierarchical education system where a child feels comfortable to voice an opinion, question, discuss, debate and challenge without the covert (or real) chance of retribution.  We bring up our children to believe that life is safe and fair – but also to respect the status quo.  Someone else will take care of all that messy, political stuff.  Just keep your head down, get through your exams, get your stipend when you get to University and the rest will unravel.
10. We don’t have a financial district.  We don’t have cities, no foci for urban discontent.  There is no tangible local institution to blame for the global financial mess.  We are more interested in complaining about why the new bus service does not work, and finding someone to blame for it.  Blaming a politician in public can give rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories.
11. We have enough on our plate, thank you.  We have turned partisan conflict into a work of art.  Red and blue, those who are ‘with us’ or ‘against us’.  Even our so-called fourth estate – the ‘independent, non-partisan, non politically-aligned, non politically-owned media’ is at war with itself.  Why bother with hippies singing songs outside Wall Street or burning tyres in Montecitorio when there is so much fun on our own doorstep?
12. We don’t advocate anger.  Protests need commitment, dedication, organisation, community.  We have the Church and the political parties for that sort of thing.
13. We don’t pretend to have a world view.  You need to have one to protest.  Yes, we’ve protested about censorship, Libya and animal rights but we know how far we can go.  If you don’t like it, you can always go and protest somewhere else.  We’re part of the EU, remember?
14. We all aspire to being the 1%.  We educate our children to do just that.  Why complain because of a momentary blip in a system that is embraced everywhere – from China to the US?  We may be small and irrelevant on the world scale.  But we are equally sly, resourceful and never humbug.

Photo: courtesy, Robert G. Henderson

We spoke to two expats about their attitudes to learning Maltese, its usefulness in their daily lives here and their experiences learning the language.  Amanda is a British and moved here with British husband and three young daughters. Phil has a Maltese wife and moved to Malta around four years ago; he also has a young daughter. On paper, even working, neither needed Maltese to get along.  But both chose to have a go, with varying degrees of success. Read on for why…and if you want to learn, check the further info at the article end.

Amanda’s Maltese language learning story

Q. Before moving to Malta did you research the language question to work out whether you needed Maltese to get along here?

I just took it as a given that I, and the rest of the family, would learn the language.   I see part of being in a country, and being a good guest in that country, as at least attempting to communicate in the local language.

I did order a CD-rom of Maltese to start learning before we arrived.

Q. Since Malta is officially bilingual, what really prompted you to start learning Maltese? 

I love languages, often they can be a window on to the culture of a country,  but of course when people move to a new country, they have a massive amount on their plate.   I have a deep rooted belief that anyone going to another country should do whatever they can to make themselves feel comfortable in the country.  In the part of Malta I live (Dingli), Maltese is very much the daily language.   But in reality, I hadn’t done anything about it until my kids started at school.  The teacher said that if I learned it would help me to support the kids’ learning.  So, as is so often the case, a mixture of motivations.

Q. What route to learning did you take? Private lessons or group courses? And where did you learn?

Group lessons in the local council offices.  I was the only foreigner; the lessons were Maltese literacy, so in reality, really useful for helping my daughter with homework, much less so for buying groceries and asking for directions (both of which I have attempted on many occasions with people who don’t speak English).

Q. How did you find the teaching material? Outdated or useful? And what about the approach?

The first year of lessons, the material wasn’t up to much – photocopied, very basic, often ancient.  But then some new books came out, Sisien, which were great, targeted at adults, lots of re-enforcement of day-to-day vocabulary, workbook to accompany the  text book, lots of chances for discussion.   Beyond anything else, the lessons were a great way to get to know more about life in Malta, as so many subjects were covered in the books and the discussion.  My teachers have been great; very keen to ensure I get something out of the lessons.

Q. How has knowing some Maltese enhanced your experience of living in Malta?

I have gained a lot of access to the culture, natural history etc of Malta through learning Maltese, but not necessarily through being competent enough to talk or read about it by myself!    Despite many lessons, my level is extremely basic, mostly because it is so easy to get by in English.  I believe the major advantage is being able to follow the side conversations in meetings, at shops etc and not feel totally excluded or paranoid that you are being cheated or talked about.  Usually the side conversations are very pedestrian.  It’s also nice to be able to share a (very simple) joke in the language – it always makes people smile, doubtless due to my appalling accent.

Q. What advice would you give a potential expat about learning Maltese?  

I would always say make the effort to learn the language.  People will tell you Maltese is difficult, but any language is until you put the time in to get to grips with it.  You can live here using only English, obviously, and Maltese may seem of limited use.  But I’ve learnt Spanish (spoken by millions across the world) and Indonesian (spoken by 200 million in Indonesia), and the language I’ve found the most useful over the years is Italian, so it isn’t always a numbers game….

Phil’s Maltese language learning story

Q. Did you feel the need to learn Maltese when you knew you were moving to the Islands? 

I was certainly open to learning Maltese. I lived in Italy for seven years and became fluent after around three, but learning by doing rather than through study, but I lived in a more non-English speaking environment. I lived in Portugal for three years and learned some basic Portuguese by study, it was more difficult as I lived in a more English speaking environment.  I arrived here expecting to learn Maltese, and being curious to do so.

Q. What was your understanding of the use of Maltese vis-a-vis English on the islands and how did that colour your attitude to learning Maltese?

I felt that in my position at work it was useful to learn, as I was managing both Maltese and foreign staff. The Maltese appreciated my trying, and found it amusing. When giving a team briefing, I tried to end with a different Maltese expression each time, and to keep it clean!

Q. Did you start learning Maltese at the start here or later?  

I have tried only a bit – actually I am disappointed at how unnecessary it is, and how little support there is. Many Maltese would rather I didn’t try and just speak English.

My daughter has fun teaching me some things.  I am keen that she speaks good Maltese but we speak English at home (her Mum is Maltese), but she continues to speak Maltese with the family and spends plenty of time with Nana and Nanu. The language would help me to integrate with the rest of the Maltese family; this should act as a motivator !

Q. Were you motivated?

I was motivated, yes. I tried MCAST at Paola and found it difficult to get to in the evening because of the traffic, but it seemed poorly structured and lessons were often cancelled. Some people I know completed the course and were happy, but I dropped out not too long into the course.

I tried to register for a local Sliema course this time starting in October at the local council. The browser I use wouldn’t enable me to register, after five emails a contact there informed me I was registered but Ihaven’t heard anything since.   I have also looked for a decent audio course and failed to find one so far…….

Q. Has your knowledge of the language stood you in good stead so far for life in Malta?  

I am unsure if any Maltese really makes a difference to my life in Malta; I seem to get by perfectly well without. I think this is unfortunate and means that I probably need to make much more of an effort to learn this language than those of the other countries I lived in.

Q. What advice would you give incoming expats about the need to learn Maltese? 

If you want to do it you will need to make extraordinary efforts to learn. I think that the Local Councils need to make it much easier for us to learn.

Further Info:

Where to Learn Maltese as a Foreigner

Local Councils – some offer Maltese literacy (not specifically for foreigners) and others Maltese lessons devised for foreign language learners.  A list of all local councils is on the government website here.  The search function and info on Local Councils  is Maltese even if you opt for ‘English’ when accessing gov.mt! Choose ‘dettalji kif tista’ under the fourth menu header ‘Il-Kuntatjana’ after selecting your local council from the drop down list.

MCAST – we didn’t see Maltese on its course lists for 2011-12, but check by contacting MCAST (Malta Council for Arts, Science & Technology) here.

German-Maltese Circle  offers what seem highly practical evening courses from October. Emphasis is on conversation ‘no grammar, text books or exams’! For students aiming for  basic conversational Maltese for work and leisure.

Photo: Queen Victoria by Leslie Vella.