San Evildino

I’m absolutely exhausted, sitting in Heathrow right now. After our last dinner up on the barruff the whole group headed to Victoria for the last festa. We ended up going into the parish/nightclub, which was a ton of fun. Sadly Bryce and I had to leave to catch the 3:45 am ferry though. So we said our goodbyes and headed off to Malta. Once there we caught the shuttle to the airport – took the flight to London and now here I am.

These past few days were really relaxing, yet I’d like to think I did a decent amount of work, at least when it comes to the analysis of my research.  And I also got to make cheese and work on a farm for a day with Marjan and Greta. Now to get home and write!

I’m really glad our whole field school group was such a cool group of people too. Now I have not only great academic connections, but also some really good friends across the world. I really do plan on taking a trip to Belgium and Ireland (and of course around the US) sometime to visit them all!

I don’t really have too much to say, as it’s so hard to put it all into words, about my first “European experience.” But I really did enjoy everything, even the fact that there is no such thing as a line or that people refuse to move when you ask “excuse me.” I hope one day I get to go back to Gozo and even hopefully see Malta as I did not see a thing apart from the airport and ferry harbor.

Festas, Nightclubs, Bad Accents, Etc.

I find it funny that three separate people trying to do research on Gozo in our own group have stumbled upon my blog in their internet researching. Hi to all that continue to find this!

Less than a week left in Gozo after a simultaneously ridiculous yet ultimately relaxing weekend. Saturday night nearly the whole group headed off to the relatively small town of San Lawrenz for their festa. Besides being a regular festa, the town was also celebrating their 1,750th anniversary so it was a big event. While the fireworks did not surpass the ones from Qala the week before, they were still quite impressive. Somehow nearly our entire group at the end of the pinwheely-fireworks (I have no clue of the technical name for those) wound up not only RIGHT next to these sparking monstrosities, but also in the direction of the wind, which pushed smoke right into our faces. It was rather absurd.

Earlier before that though there was a fun encounter with a large group of Italians. I’m still not sure why exactly they were here – as only two of them out of a huge group [note my new facebook profile picture] could speak English. Yet at the festa they were dancing around, playing clapping games, and having a great time. So one of the girls started waving at me and Amy to come into their group and join the dancing. So we agreed and ended up dancing with this group for a good thirty minutes or so. In fact the only reason I knew they were Italian and not Maltese were a select few of the words they used and the fact that most of them did not know English. As a former British colony, (and because of the nature of English being he second official language) nearly everyone young in Malta knows English. Still it was a ton of fun.

Every time I spoke to anyone young around Gozo so far, especially about my topic (consumerism, the mall, youths, etc) the conversation would somehow end up with them telling me about the number one nightclub of the island, La Grotta. So I had wanted to go for a while to check it out and after the festa we finally did. Sean, Amy, Vicki, Laura, and I at around 1 or 2 am (I have little concept of time from that night) headed to the club. It was a really cool place – outdoors along the cliffs – blasting the best Eurodance has to offer. While I sadly did not hear any Eric Prydz [CALL ON MEEEEEEE] or Basshunter, they still played a ton of good music. And boy did I spend a ton there, as I blew almost 40 euros. Ouch – my wallet! Somehow we made it back up to Xlendi at 5am, when I quickly passed out until Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday we just hang around the bay and rented a catamaran with a slide on the back. Much fun [and pain actually thanks to brutal falls and Jessica’s jellyfish sting) was had by all. Today I just hung around again today. In the morning I went to Mario’s demonstration on food preservation in Meditaranean where I learned how to make sun dried tomatoes (a big food here) as well as several other foods.

Also a few days ago a visual anthropologist came into speak who showed his poor excuse for a film about festas and “biker culture.” We all sort of gave the guy a hard time and agreed that in the end he was a plain douche bag. Especially funny was his line about how he did not want to join a biker gang because they were misogynistic – yet he preceded to tell Marjan, “wow! you are more than just a  pretty face!” So apparently his wife, this Italian lady, last year did some sort of feasibility report or impact assessment about Arkadia, so I spent a good while trying to sleuth that down online with sadly no results. Apparently it wasn’t even published anywhere. But I did at least find some good information about Tigrija Palazz, the shopping center adjacent to the bus terminal in Victoria. I think a lot of my final paper will be contrasting these two social spaces. And I must get cracking on that. We have until the end of September to submit our papers, yet with Fiji approaching I can’t really afford to put any extra work off. Especially because I have assignments for Fiji to do already. Those six days home are going to be very busy. Freakers.

Oh, and as of recently I cannot stop poorly imitating a Gozitan accent. Which made me frequently use not only the “proper” pronunciation of “Gozo,” but also newly made up rhymes of [these all should rhyme with Gozo – pronounced in “Malteseish” as Go-dzo) Nozo, So-so, and my personal favorite, Isupposeso, And everything must be said in a questioning tone. I realize I sound like a fool so I’m going to stop. I have Sean to thank for this as he constantly encourages this stupidity, lol. But I’m sure I will continue to speak in this funny accent when I return home. Be prepared.

I also decided, with some help from Sara my photography teacher, that my first film will be a timeline of Brian’s chair breakage. It will begin with a baby in a highchair that collapses and end with an old man in a wheelchair that’s wheels somehow fall off and send him flying into his grave. Then a sad clown appears. and the script text “El Fin.” I’m going to win an Oscar. Speaking of films I was tellign Sean that if I ever make a film, the villain will instantly be Maltese with my horrible imitaiton of their accent, although somehow it always ends up sounding Russianish. His name I decided would be Carmello San Evildino. And then people will ask me what the hell I have against the Maltese. I will not have a good answer. BUT ANYWAY!

Today and yesterday have also been a bit cooler with a nice breeze! And according to Mario there may even be some RAIN this week. CRAZAY! I may try to upload some more photos later or tomorrow too.

My plan for tomorrow includes going to Tigrija Palazz, a shop where I got a shirt the other day to talk to the lady who worked there, and also to Sean’s lecture. Should be a full day.

someone left the cake out in the rain!

My research productivity comes in definite waves. Yesterday I spent a good while in the mall (around three hours) taking field notes. I think I’m well on my way towards a good paper, yet I still really need to do more interviews to get local perspectives. Yet today I was lazy and didn’t even go into Victoria, which is funny because it’s pretty “cool” out in the late 70’s, early 80’s.

Tonight we’re all heading of to San Lawrenz for the festa – hopefully it should be a fun time with lots of crazy fireworks. There’s only about a week left here and that’s crazy, how fast it went! And I’ve been thinking how insane it really is that I have six days home in between my ten week trip to Fiji as well.

Let’s go to the mall.

[Wrote this yesterday yet didn't post]

Sadly I had been updating this blog more than my actual field notes and diary entries, so I today I took pen (and pencil) to paper and wrote. I gladly and easily filled up seven pages of my field notebook from the events of the past few days and the observations I’ve made. I accepted the fact that my original idea lacked the spark I really needed in my research. I decided there were three main reasons for the change: issues of transport, the ridiculous weather of the locale where I’d be going to study, and the simple fact of how pertinent the study was relative to my own personal interests and possible future studies (in Fiji or wherever later in life).

I began to sketch out series of questions I had related to my new topic, which I have to go over with Laura. But basically the jist of my new study will involve youth cultures, siestas, and consumerism. It will be based largely in comparison of two malls: one that’s stores stay open during siestas and one that does not close its doors, but stores do shut. My “questions to consider” include surveying an older generation of Gozitans; seeing what they did in their youth during siestas. Asking especially what changes they’ve noticed in their kids, grandkids, or neighbors related to the midday naptime. Then I want to interview some mallgoers to ask about their motives. Is the mall simply an alternate social space to the family space, seeing as siesta is also a time for family gathering where everyone meets back at the home for a meal or rest. I want to figure out almost a wholistic view of the issue – also trying to see what parents think of the possible migration from home to alternate space. And I may even find that there isn’t that great of a migration, I’m making preemptive conclusions about what I expect to find. But it’s good that I recognize my preconclusions, which I will quickly erase. I think the issue of commercialization could MUCH easier relate to the issue of popular culture studies, which I plan on focusing more on. Interestingly enough, that’s one of the bigger evolving aspects I also wish Union offered a course related to proxemics – I want to read much more about that.

Other than that, yesterday was our humongous hike (“the soul of ethnographic research”) through the hills and valleys of Gozo. I was thoroughly exhausted after trekking 25 km with minimum breaks. But I took ever path and hill up all the way. Especially interesting was the Stations of the Cross, across from this large church. Basically they had statues of Jesus all the way up this huge hill until you reach the top. Some of the images were incredible and really had me thinking of just how Gozitans are connected with Christianity. [Stopped writing yesterday continuing today, haha]  It’s funny because later that night I ended up having a dream about Jesus. Apparently if I were Christian that’d be considered a “vision.”

Yesterday I was still exhausted after the hike the day before, so I just hung around and wrote a bit. And now I just got back from my afternoon at the Arkadia mall in Victoria where I just observed and took notes for a good hour and a half. Professional people watching is even more fun! Now I’m just about to have another lecture from Sean, which are great – he really knows his stuff. But we are apparently learning how to escape the rut of post-structural anthropology aka the idealogy of “nothing.” Here’s a link to some photos I uploaded yesterday also: Shots from Gozo

Til next time! Ta.

Fireworks ViDzZ

I tried uploading my video to YouTube yet I didn’t work. Or so I thought. But it did work! So enjoy some of last night’s insane fireworks that spewed fire and smoke everywhere into the streets.

from one corner to another. uh huh.

Yesterday for the first time here I really headed out on my own to do some very initial fieldwork. After my meeting with Sam and Marc, I took the bus to Victoria and then down the coast to Dwejra  I was really interested in how this small, yet beautiful area turned in the miniature tourist trap it is today. While I knew that Fungus Rock has always been a point of interest and history in Gozo, I was wondering how the adjacent Azure Window (Tieqa Zerqa) became the symbolic spot it is today. With today’s tourist scene it is probably the most recognized symbol of Gozo, yet the area of Dwejra is basically isolated besides a few vendors, boaters, the tower, and a ton of scuba divers. So I explored the small area a bit more and headed up to the tower where Mario, the sort-of curator, works. We talked for a while about the history of the area and he suggested some good things. Apparently the auto roads were constructed in the early 1960s down to Dwejra from the small village of San Lawrenz and that’s really when the tourists started to move in. Mario suggested checking on old travel guides and brochures of Gozo.

Last night Laura, Rhys, and I blasted Funkytown in surround sound in our bedroom. It was tons of fun and I feel necessary to mention. As well as this Youtube jem…

So today after a groggy morning we caught the bus into Victoria to go to the library. They open up early, but close early at 1pm. And annoyingly they don’t reopen after siesta. It was an old place, with a very adorable old lady who was more than willing to help. Yet sadly none of the books really helped too much. Then I suddenly realized this topic really was rather bland. So after talking to Laura afterwards I decided maybe to team up with her and research the relatively new shopping mall that was just added into the middle of Victoria. It interestingly stays open during siesta, when nearly everything closes and the city becomes dead besides for a few cafes. So I think I may take that route instead.

Tonight I headed into Qala with a few others to experience my first festa. During the summer every different village around Gozo has these huge celebrations for their particular patron saint and they have food and drinks and parades and the biggest thing, fireworks. But not just regular up in the sky fireworks. They had these huge pinwheel-like things filled with gunpowder that spin and turn and just go crazy. And you can get as close as you like as they spew fire and sparks everywhere. I think I’ll upload a video to show because I really can’t explain. While we had to wait around for four hours on the street to see the fireworks, it was definitely worth it in the end. And now we know what to do for next week’s festa in San Lawrenz. And the day before we leave is the huge festa in Victoria so that should be ridiculous.

Weekends we don’t have anything in particular to do here except relax and research on your own if you’d like. Tomorrow I’m definitely sleeping in and just going down to the bay to swim. But now it’s definitely time for sleep considering it’s already 3am.

Things to do tomorrow: buy stamps and a few more postcards, upload vidz

“Life in plastic, it’s fantastic.”

[Wrote this last night when the internet was down]

Yesterday and today were our first real anthropology assignments and the first time I ever had real experience even closely related to fieldwork. I will admit at first it was incredibly daunting. Our assignment yesterday was based on a Belgian game, that apparently most people do know about in their country. Most of the Belgian students knew about it prior. Our instructors basically gave us two eggs and our job was to “trade up” all around Gozo to get better and better things. Rhys and I teamed up and decided to head into Victoria [Rabat] to attempt the trade game. It was difficult to say the least. I learned I need to get used to being incredibly open to talk to random strangers on the street, whether they be regular Gozitans or tourists. So we attempted to explain to various people our assignments, yet we were incredibly unsuccessful. Today was a much better day as our assignment was to speak to everyone and anyone in the town of Dwejra where the famous Azure Window is. If you type Gozo into Google it’s instantly the first thing that pops up. It’s a symbol of the island and they are breathtaking these giant stone structures. I got to really speak to a few people, especially one particularly friendly ice cream vendor. For the first time I felt like I was getting somewhere with my “interviews,” although I do despise that word. It makes me nervous to think of talking to people in fieldwork as “interviews” rather than just conversations. It brings a connotation of formality, which frightens me to begin with. So we talked for a good while about his life here in Gozo, which I got a lot of information out of on a bunch of topics.

Thankfully today I got to try pastizzi for the first time, which are incredible. They’re the specialty here (one girls doing her entire research on just this one food item) and come in several different forms. It’s simply a flaky, sometimes greasy dough pocket with different ingredients inside. Plus they ‘re deliciously inexpensive. The first one I had today was with pea filling, which was delicious. Yet the second I have was incredibly delicious as it was filled with warm ricotta cheese. Which reminds me. The cheese here is so, so, so good. It’s mainly goat cheese and I’ve had it both plain and in ravioli last night. But it’s unlike any other I’ve had ever.

Tonight I had my meeting about what I want to research, but I still haven’t too great of a specific topic I want to research. I’ve narrowed down some general bullet points of what I may study. It’s great at night [and day for that matter] chatting with intelligent people about a subject we all love.

We were talking about annoying songs and I happen to ask my Belgian peers Vicki and Marjan about “Schni Shni Schnappi” and apparently after a long day of skiing on certain holidays they enjoy getting drunk and singing along to annoying songs such as that one. Classic.

1] Around Gozo I’ve seen very few people our age [young adults, 18 – 21 year olds] and I was wondering where they may be and what they may do. I’ve seen a few in shops who seem to be helping out the parents’ business, but other than that very few all around. What’s the deal with that?

2] Possibly connected to that youth aspect is the nightlife here on Gozo – there’s a few nightclubs, and we’re going out this weekend to see them. May be interesting to research that environment here.

3] I wanted to know the opinions of Gozitans about the immanent collapse of the Azure Window and how that would affect the tourism and the mindset of the people here.

4] I really would like to do something about film related. My photography teacher suggested maybe looking into documentaries that have been made about the island. Either this or maybe something else art related. Or maybe even about the Gozo Eye, a larger artistic symbol found frequently here.

Best things in the past few days:

-the stereotypical Italian tourist wearing a shirt saying “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic”

-the words prossie, prosser, and champion

[Almost] Speechless

After a day running around London, walking a huge portion of the Thames and getting to “see” the city for what it was, I nearly missed my connection to the airport. While in London the only things I actually did was go on the Eye – it was sadly raining at the time – and go inside St. Paul’s, which was half closed due to Sunday services. But otherwise I roamed around saw Big Ben and Parliament of course, the outside of the Tate (which I cannot stop thinking sounds like a very dirty name for England’s finest art museum aka I need to get my mind of the gutter) and a lot of other big attractions like Buckingham Palace.

Heathrow is a silly, silly airport akin to the LIRR (or the lirrrrrrr) where they do not announce your flight’s gate number until approximately an hour before your flight. So you are forced to roam around checking on the departure signs constantly to see if it’s been updated. But I did get to buy a watch, which would help in the grand scheme of things here considering I did not bring one!

The flight on Air Malta was tiny and cramped, but beforehand I gladly got to meet Greta and Laura, two other students on the same flight. We were all very glad to meet each other because we probably would be lost… at least I would have. We agreed traveling in groups is so much better, especially to a random island. We got into Valetta on the main island and took a taxi towards the northern coastline to get the ferry to Gozo. Strangely, our taxi driver spoke very broken English with a thick Maltese accent. And the drive to the ferry was fun, to say the least. One of the things I kept reading about the island here are the ridiculous drivers and I VERY much agree. In a land of windy roads and roundabouts he was flying around turns and zigzagging in and out of cars. It was literally like an amusement park ride. We were apparently one of the first to arrive and we weren’t even sure 100% where we were going even. Randomly this tall man out of nowhere comes and goes “field school?” YES!

He took us to our apartments in Xlendi, maybe twenty minutes from the larger city of Rabat, which has the famous Citadel – a huge old fortress on top of the city hill. Our apartments are quaint but incredibly nice. Everything here is beautiful stone and so typically Mediterranean as I had imagined. We quickly met our professors and the “student liaison” Sean, an incredibly smart and funny Irish guy. We were talking about schools and teachers, and I mentioned how I had an Irish professor at school [Bracky Wacky!] and told him about her a bit, to which he instantly replied “You’re clearly in love with her” to which I instantly burst out laughing. We decided to go down into Xlendi, the literally two minute walk. You turn the corner around from my flat and literally it opens up to a beautiful bay area with a few cafes and pubs. So we got some coffees at Churchill’s and chatted for a while. We came back and I met my roommate Rhys who’s from London and goes to LSE. Oddly enough, he’s half American and his mom was born and raised on Long Island. And it’s really sad how bad of a reputation LI has around the world. Sean who’s from Dublin after finding out where I was from instantly asked me where my terrible accent was. As the night went on we sat on our roof deck just talking and drinking. Rhys and I left for a bit for Chuchill’s again and then we got back and just hung around some more. Everyone seems very smart and there’s a huge mix of people and interests.

I typed up half of that this morning, but today we have nothing to do also so we walked [and walked and walked] all the way uphill to Rabat, the main “city,” which was incredible. Gozo is incredibly hilly so it’s a constant hike everywhere. I have a feeling I’m going to lose a TON of weight. Except for the fact that gelato here is in plenty. We just got back here and are going soon for a swim in the bay. Here’s some photos of so far, but I don’t plan on uploading them too often. I’ll probably just wait to upload them when I get back in NY besides these few.

Right outside Chuchill's on the bay in Xlendi last night

My apartment!

My incredible rooftop view

Other side of the roof view

Xlendi Buildings and Bay

Looking out onto the beautiful Xlendi Bay

Xlendi

Right in the middle of this town Fontana is this little fountain inlet.

One of the many, many churches in Rabat

Ello Govna’!

I need to stop with the bad British accent. Yet ironically as soon as we got off the plane at Heathrow our driver to the hotel had the most obnoxious, thick Cockney-esque accent (not quite the full extent of disgusting speech patterns, but quite close). You can imagine I nearly died laughing.

We’re staying in Kensington, just a few blocks from Kensington Palace. Got in late tonight so didn’t really see much except for a lot of closed shops and open bars / cafes. It’s a cool area though. Tomorrow going to be incredibly touristy and take a bus tour to get to see the most of London as possible before I depart on Monday morning. And I passed a casino right nearby my hotel – so tomorrow night I’m going actual gambling for the first time ever. It’ll be that much more fun to loose THAT much more money with the US Dollar so inferior to the majestic British Pound. Mmm.. blackjack, roulette, slot machines… I see myself turning into an old man already, cramming for a space in the nickle slot section of Bailey’s in Atlantic City.

Now I just need to find someone with the uptight droll of a caricatured English snob. Hopefully within my one full day here I can find him. Then my trip to England will be complete.

Almost Ready For Island Hopping (except for that packing thing)

Today’s my last day in New York before heading off to Europe! Two days in London before catching my layover to Malta. After my flight to Valletta I get to take a ferry to the smaller northern island of Gozo, where I’ll be staying until late August. For those of who have no clue what exactly I’m doing on a random Mediterranean island for nearly a month, I guess it’d be smart to explain. Basically to get more experience in the “field” of anthropology (dear god that was a terrible pun) I’m going to Gozo on a field school trip sponsored by a group of (mostly Belgian) professors affiliated with Omertaa, a journal for applied anthropology. If all goes well with my research and I write an affective journal article I may even be published in the next journal. That’s one of my ultimate goals for this, but also just the chance to go to Europe for the first time, albeit a random and beautiful island, is so exciting.

And also starting tomorrow at 4am will begin a crazy time for traveling, as after this I will have only six days between coming back to New York from Malta and beginning my ten weeks abroad in Fiji. I’d really want to do even more traveling after Fiji, to go onto New Zealand once again and Australia, but unless a magical bag of money appears on my doorstep that’s not happening. At one point my professor mentioned possibly taking a midterm trip to Samoa during my term abroad, but sadly we’re not doing that. That would have been sick to visit my old host family and that great place.

This sounds stupid, but hopefully I won’t loose all contact with the “Western” world when I’m away – keeping up with movies and music. This is pathetically important to me. Maybe it’ll be good for me to loose contact from that inconsequential stuff for a while. Ironically I just bought a book to read about the powerhouse of the American entertainment industry. But for those reading feel free to comment, email me, facebook post me to at least attempt to keep in contact! I’d love to hear from you all and what’s up with you guys. I’m going to miss you all a ton.  I’ll really do my best to get back to you.

I suppose I’ll write much more when I have something more exciting to post about once I’m there though.