How Malta Smells After One Year
I never know when it will come; it catches me by surprise. It’s the smell of limestone dust which all of Malta is made of. I don’t know if it’s a good smell or a bad one, but I love it.
I don’t know if all expats feel this way, but I feel like I’m the equivalent of an infant who just had her first birthday. More happens in the first year of being an expat than at any other time. At least, that’s what I think now.
Since moving here one year ago this October, I’ve made it through one Maltese winter, moved in with Mr. S. fulltime in an old Maltese townhouse (would anyone like to start a support group for people living with a German partner?), lived through the CELTA training course, got a job teaching English, swam for the first time in 45 years, drank my first cup of coffee to stay awake while teaching afternoon classes, made it through one Maltese summer and met many people—some who I like and others who I ended up drifted apart from. And through everyone of these days, I’ve missed my kids back in the US. But I’ve been back to the US twice and they’ve each been out to Malta once. All this in one year.
And you’ve been with me all the way. Thanks.
So after this one full year, what do I think of Malta?

