April showers bring May flowers...

...or in Malta's case, February monsoons bring beautiful spring days just in time for March. Today the sun came out! This morning we met with Malta's Imam, an Islamic leader in Malta. He is from Pakistan and has lived in Malta for the last 5 years. He was very interesting and we all agreed it is through those little meetings and small discussions where misunderstandings are corrected and cultures mesh. Unfortunately, many times war and violence take place of these peaceful dialogues. We all talked, discussed, and debated for a few hours over breakfast. It was very interesting. Then, the sun beckoned and we headed to the roof! We worked on our papers in true Mediterranean style, a little writing here, a little writing there, a lot of sunshine in the middle. The slow paced lifestyle is grabbing hold of us on the weekends. I managed to bring my camera with me on my run today to get some welcoming photos of Spring.
Hope all is well at home, lots of love from Malta. Can't wait to catch up with many of you this weekend. :) Thank goodness for technology and the ability to skype.
Love, Audrey

Valletta

Today we went on a walking tour of Valletta, it was nice to get the "official tour" and actually know what things are. We've been walking by them for weeks wondering what all of the huge buildings are. The picture above is where Malta's Prime Minister lives. It is a beautiful building, and the rain even held off during our walk outside! We also went to the State Armory and saw all of the old armor used by the Knights. After that, we headed to one of our favorite places, Barrakka Gardens and saw a British Navy ship coming into harbor. It was neat to see all the soldiers stationed around the ship and the tug boar pulling them in.


After walking around the gardens for a while and soaking in the greenery, we went to the Casa Rocca Piccolo, a 16th Century Palace. We couldn't take pictures, but it was awesome, trust me! The palace includes underground bomb shelters from WWII, we climbed down to visit the stone chambers. Back in the palace dining room, our tour included a pastry and an awesome cup of coffee. I'm afraid I'm becoming a coffee addict here in Malta, I'll be ready for some Wilson's trips with my mom when I'm home. :)

I did manage to get a picture of the palace's courtyard. We're enjoying all the plants we can, Malta is virtually a limestone jungle. After visiting Valletta we did some cleaning, went grocery shopping and are finally getting to work at our papers. Our Friday night will be inside consisting of research...and maybe some tv (if we can find an English channel), it's still a monsoon out there. However, on a more fun note we booked flights to Sicily for the beginning of May, even more incentive to get our homework done now so we can travel later. Our travels start in 3 weeks with Turkey. I better go do my homework. :) Hope all is well at home, you are all thought of daily! Sending love from Malta.
Love, Audrey

I (still) love to run.

I love to run. Every morning starts the same. I run past my new favorite 'Life is now' sign and the sculpture of the world 'LOVE' written upside down so when it reflects off the water, it is readable. I run past the sea and the waves and through winding cities. Today, the water was rough, spraying up on my path every now and then. Then, I come back to the flat renewed, ready for the day. Yesterday we taught English. It was wonderful and difficult, again. We were greeted with 'The teachers are here, the teachers are here!' I always get a sinking feeling inside, because we do not know how to teach ESL, we are totally winging it, using vocab we think will be helpful, hoping our speech is able to be understood. But, by some humble fate, at the end of the 2 hour session, the two men I worked with could write the entire alphabet. All 26 letters, uppercase and lowercase. They practiced over and over again until their S looked different from their Z and they could pronounce the difference between B and P. They are extremely bright, even if they can't read or write. It takes intellect and perseverance to get across the Sahara and the Mediterranean. I was so excited for them. They were cheering and smiling once we got to 'Z'. They don't need people with their doctorates in ESL, they just need someone to bring a white dry erase board, some markers and a smile. That, I can do.

Today we have an afternoon of class and paper writing, followed by more paper writing. Our goal is to finish at least half of our papers before Spring Break. As long as this 'monsoon' is over Malta, we might as well stay inside and finish. That way, we'll be free to enjoy our time in the warm months ahead.

Hope all is well at home, and thank you for all the words of encouragement and support over the last month. I love you all! Take care! Love, Audrey

P.S. The pictures at the very top are the Blue Grotto. And, the very top is "the group." I realized I've been saying 'we' a lot. We refers to 11 students, 7 of us are from Luther, 4 from Concordia College. It's a great group of people, I'm so glad I've had the chance to meet each and every one of them. The picture of me and the refugees is at Hal Far, the tent village in Malta. And, finally, on the bottom, that big red sign that gets me everyday. Life is now. Get on, hold on, and enjoy the ride. :)

Does Malta have monsoons?

Today we were tired. We had a big weekend of Carnival, many research papers on our minds, and a huge mound of dishes to tackle. We hit the 4 week mark and realized we've been going, going, going. But, we still got up. We walked 4 miles to the University in what we think was a monsoon. We sat through lecture soaking wet. We walked back, put dry clothes on, made lunch, did dishes. We looked at the clock, time to go teach English. It's my favorite part of Malta, but I'll admit it's a lot to take in---to sit for 2 hours, teach the alphabet, go over past/present/future tense, hear painful stories of loss and enduring stories of courage. It is difficult and wonderful all at the same time. I love it. The men I worked with today, Abraham and Ahmed, were both relatively advanced students. They have been in Malta for 1 year each and have jobs. They know enough English to get by, now they want to be able to truly communicate. They told me their stories, we practiced sentence structure, and we all learned many things. It keeps me going. Malta has a big part of my heart right now. :)

I had this in my mind all day today---especially when I woke up at 6am:

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven,
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
(Trans. Kuno Meyer)

Hope all is well, love and miss you all. I'll try to post pictures when we go to University next week.
Love,
Audrey

Carnival Weekend

This past weekend was Carnival. It was so fun to go and people watch, observe what was going on and learn what Carnival is all about here in Malta. The festivities started Saturday night, with block parties going on all night. We walked around and watched the dancers performing in huge costumes to traditional Maltese music. There were also marching bands and tons of kids dressed up in costumes. King and Queen costumes seemed to be the most popular, but we also saw familiar characters like Nemo and Dora. Carnival continued Sunday afternoon with the main parade and eating of carnival food. We all had lots of fun observing and taking it all in. It was unlike anything I've ever been to. I think pictures describe it best.



Now I really need to work on my paper. :) Love and miss you all! Take care!
Love,
Audrey

A week in the life...

Hello everyone!! The last week with Kelsey here has been so much fun. We saw all the major sights in Malta ending with the Blue Grotto yesterday. It was beautiful!! We covered Valletta, Mdina, Marsa, Sliema, St. Julian's, the 3 Cities and plenty of sea. We went to a few museums and soaked in the Maltese culture.
Plenty of time was also spent on the bus. It's a guaranteed adventure each time we board. Instead of actually bothering to print a schedule, the buses should just say, "Get on and think good thoughts, but this bus will stop wherever it wants, whenever it wants." We also managed to eat a lot of Maltese food, including Pastizzas, Carnival Cake and some wonderful hot chocolate. We managed to avoid the rabbit, although I think I'm good as far as protein goes after eating worms last week. :) I'm afraid the occasional PB & J sandwich got in, we are American after all.

The Blue Grotto has been my favorite sight so far, the giant rock cliffs and sea are just beautiful. Our group spent the afternoon here hiking and soaking in the sun.

After a few days of wondering why on earth I picked Malta, some kind e-mails and conversations with family and friends, and beautiful scenery, it has been a good week. We're all doing well. We are safe and sound. We cannot complain, there have been riots at some of the detention centers (the place refugees are held before they reach the camps we work at). Malta just received about 400 more refugees and has no where to put them. The Tunisian refugees are rioting to their government asking to speed up the detainment process. They're starting fires and trying to escape. So, if you could send some good thoughts their way, I'm sure they could use them.

Hope all is well back home, take care---spring is coming!
Love, Audrey

Life is now.

"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
Andre Gide

I've always lived by water. Watched the sunrise over Lake Michigan on my way to high school, had bonfires in the backyard on the Root River, ran along the Upper Iowa at Luther, spent days driving by the Mississippi going to G & G T's, walked along the bridge to the playground on 5 Mile Road with cousins following behind, spent summer days at Browns' Lake, weekends at the cottage on Beaufort Lake. I've lost sight of all of those shores. They're all 1000's of miles away.

I now find myself looking at the vast, open Mediterranean Sea every day. It is big. I can't see the other side. I miss my home. I miss my family. But, there's a billboard along the sea that says "Life is now." I try to remember that and embrace that everyday. Sometimes it's hard, but I'm working on it. We taught English again yesterday. The man I tutored told me his 3 brothers and father were all murdered before he escaped from Somalia. He has also lost sight of his home. The courage and hopefulness he puts forth everyday keep me going. He is determined. Our paths crossed for some reason, I am teaching him English, he is teaching me about life. I get to go home again, his future is very uncertain. I hope he makes it.

Lots of love,
Audrey

Have you ever had worms in your food??

Sometimes you just have to laugh, or else you'll cry. We are trying to write papers and it is cold here. It's warmer than at home---we're grateful for that, but it's been hovering at about 40 degrees everyday. It is not that cold, but when there's no heat, it's hard to ever warm up. So, we find ourselves studying huddled under blankets, wearing layers of fleece and thanking our lucky stars that we packed wool socks. I think we've been cold since we left Rome Feb. 2. So much for the warm Mediterranean. :)

The night progressed as usual, we made a big group dinner, did the dishes and cleaned up after the day. After a night of studying and helping Kelsey plan for her Gozo adventure (see her blog: http://kmenfrance.blogspot.com) , the flat quieted for the night and went to bed.

This morning was a usual morning, leaving for class by 8, rushing through the flat, making breakfast, packing a lunch, trying to find notebooks and pens. My routine became, depending on your point of view and mood at the present time, either hilarous or disgusting as I finished my granola bar. It was good, some Maltese version of Special K. It was really good until I took the last bite. As I finished I looked at the inside of the wrapper and saw it crawling with worms. Maybe meal worms?? I don't know, they were about an inch long each, all crawling with vigor. Wonderful. I had granola with worms for breakfast. So, I walked the half hour hike to school feeling like worms were crawling around in my stomach as it started to rain, in which case our wool socks get wet, our shoes get soaked and we sit in a 40 degree classroom for 2 hours and listen to a lecture on globalization.

It really is funny, we've been laughing about it all morning. Thank goodness humor exists. That could have been a very, very bad morning. I'm still wet, and cold, but I'm not hungry anymore. Maybe the worms made my breakfast extra filling. Bring it on, silver lining. :)

Hope the week is going well for everyone, I wish you no worms and warm weather with heat. Love you all!

Love,
Audrey

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day! I got a package yesterday!! Thanks to my parents, I will not have to go without my Runner's World magazine. They're mailing them monthly---I spent yesterday morning peeling myself away from the magazine and working on a paper for my religion class...not as exciting, but I suppose I am studying abroad. :)

The day got even more exciting when my friend Kelsey came to visit for the week. She arrived safe and sound and is enjoying Malta so far, getting to know all the Luther/Concordia folks. The 12 of us celebrated Valentine's Day with a good dinner out---we enjoyed not cooking and doing dishes!
Today we went to a church a few blocks away. The entire service was in Maltese, I'm not really sure what was going on, but I'm pretty sure it's all the same God anyway and so I just sat and observed. As I went to get communion, the organ played Peace like a River. Perfect. After the service and a quick lunch we went to the National Museum of Archaeology and visited the State Room (equivalent of the White House). The sun came out as we got to the Barrakka Gardens, it was beautiful. Here are some pictures of the day. The first is the capital of Malta, Valletta. The second, ruins placed in the museum from 5000 BC--so old!! And, the third is the Bakkarra Gardens. I think they'll only get prettier as spring comes.


Love,
Audrey

Two weeks...

These past few days have been super busy, classes are in full swing and we've been seeing lots of Malta. Tuesday and Wednesday were tutoring days, by far my favorite thing we're doing here. Tuesday was also a national holiday here, St. Paul's Shipwreck Day. We went to the big festival in Valletta, the capital, and watched the parade. We were packed like sardines in the street, it was an awesome thing to see! I've never seen anything like it. St. Paul's Cathedral was decorated beautifully, and the statue of Paul in the church was carried out on stilts and paraded through the city. It was quite the event. We managed to eat our squished PB & J sandwiches and walked around the city a little after the parade.Wednesday started with a nice morning run followed by teaching English. I love tutoring. Then, we headed to the Malta vs. Albania soccer (or here Football) game. I'm pretty sure Malta's never won a game, but we cheered them on anyway. They managed to tie Albania 0-0. It was a cool experience, the fans were very enthusiastic. A few random people brought trumpets, apparently here you make your own music! After the game we went out for a friend's birthday and headed back to our flat.

Today we resumed with early class and then headed to the ancient city Mdina. It was beautiful! We walked through the catacombs of St. Paul's Church (everything here is named after Paul) and then visited some craft villages in the country. The picture below is called an Agape Bowl, it is where friends and family would gather after a burial to celebrate a person's life. The catacombs were obvious places of grief, but had a sense of celebration and memory to them. Mdina is an awesome city, the streets are so narrow you can almost touch both sides if you extend your arms. However, if you ever plan on going there ---be careful, it's very easy to get lost!!!

It's been a great few days, we've finally managed to come back to our flats and catch up. Tonight we're going to do homework and dishes...we need a recovery night! Tomorrow is a full day of class. My roommate from Luther is studying abroad in France and will be coming to visit on Saturday, it will be fun to have a visitor!! Things are going well in Malta, the two weeks I've been gone have flown. Love and miss you all, hope all is well.

Love,
Audrey

'Voice of the American'

Today we tutored here. It's the Marsa Open Centre for refugees of political, economic, and humanitarian statuses. They're mainly from Somalia and Sudan, with some others from western Africa. I went wondering if we could be of help, figuring translation would be difficult, if not impossible. But, it was wonderful. I loved it. I wish we could go everyday. The two men I tutored wanted to learn as much as they could, we talked about everything from punctuation to grammar, to voice inflection when asking a question. They absorbed everything. They want to get out, they want to go to America. One man told me his grandfather is in Ohio waiting for him. He's been stuck here for 9 months now. He asked me how to fill out his forms correctly in hopes of being released. They told me they wanted to hear me talk, they wanted to hear the 'voice of an American.' I read books to them, a stack our professor brought with her. One book happened to be about Cesar Chavez, and a line from it says, "You can no longer keep your eyes and ears closed to us, you can no longer pretend we're nonexistent." The man I was tutoring gave a thumbs up when I read that and said, "Good line." It is a good line, it was a wonderful day.

Temples and Ruins!

Today started off with a class at the University followed by a walk around the Tarxien Temples and Borg in-Nadur. The Tarxien Temples pre-date the Egyptian Pyramids...it's amazing they're still standing. I think pictures capture them best, so here you go! Tarxien Temples:


Borg in-Nadur:Hello to everyone back home, I miss you all. Have a wonderful Sunday!
Love,
Audrey

I love to run.

Today I went on my first run.

It was beautiful, I ran along the sea the whole time. The waves and the wind were strong, but it was invigorating to run with and against them. After a long day of school, it was just what I needed.

I'm officially a student at the University of Malta. We had a class on globalization today, it was so interesting. Then, we went on a rather long tour of campus and got our ID cards and other student info. It's a huge campus, not exactly Luther. But, I wanted different and I definitely got different. So, school is in full swing as of this week, papers and readings to do. That could be rather difficult with the awesome weather and all the scenery and things to visit. Luckily we have 4 months to get it all in. There's so much to experience, I want to see it all. Hope all is well with you, you're all thought of often. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Audrey

People are people.

I love Malta.
I love Malta.
I love Malta.
Sometimes I have to remind myself, but I really do like it here. Our airplane almost crashed and our bus drives on the sidewalk, but apparently that's ok with everyone here. It's normal. I'm learning that lots of things are relative. Who needs hot water, plumbing, or heat? Apparently we don't. :)

It really is wonderful here, I get a little overwhelmed or stressed, but then I see the sea and it all melts away. The sea took a major amount of my homesickness out with its tide today. I have also been able to talk with family, they're wonderful. I love my parents. After walking around Malta today and also starting our orientation at the refugee camps, I feel blessed to have a family and support system. Without support I don't know how anyone survives. People are people. We all have the same needs. We may not all need hot water, but we all need to be loved. I may not know Arabic or Somalian, but I can smile and be present with the refugees. Sometimes, I think that is enough.

Here are some pictures of the sea. It looks different every day and gets more beautiful each time.

When in Rome...

Go to church.
Eat lots of pasta.
Walk carefully.
Watch out for cars.
Have fun!

We did all of these things today! We were guided by a Dominican priest to the Basilica of San Clemente. It was beautiful! We walked down underneath the church to the original chapel which was destroyed in the war. The church was rebuilt by the Pope on top of the remaining ruins.


Then we headed to the Pantheon. It is the site where the Christians overtook the Pagans and built their first church. It was huge, with a beautiful ceiling and mosaic floor. Then, it was back to the hotel for dinner. Now we're packing and headed to Malta. We should be in Malta by Monday night. It will be nice to be settled into our flats. We're touring the Vatican early tomorrow morning before going to the airport.


It's been great to be in Rome, what an adventure. Classes start Tuesday with orientation, so we're all enjoying our last days before school starts. Hope all is well in the states, I miss all of you! Take care, next time you hear from me I'll be in Malta!

Love,
Audrey