My New Life in Malta

Watching television in a new country is fun. More than the actual shows, I love the commercials. You see, commercials, like humor, vary from place to place, and it is interesting to see an entirely new type of idea. Add this to the fact that here in Malta we get television from many countries, and things get a bit unique.

At first, just the thought that we get television stations from Malta, Italy and the UK, along with US cable channels such as Discovery and National Geographic, was exciting in itself. I sat there and went from one to the other, incredulous that I could travel around the world with the flip of a button. And then one day I discovered something even odder. I was watching the National Geographic channel, in English, and all of a sudden the commercials came on in… Romanian. It was no accident, as even the NG logo announcing them was in Romanian. I was hooked. I began to watch NG for the commercials, and would change the channel when the show came on. I pointed this out to M, and he said it is not unusual, and that they used to get the Dutch NG before.

A few days went by, and I stopped on MTV. I had been avoiding the US channels, as the European ones still have the novelty effect on me. They were having a European top 20 countdown, with songs from different countries. Then the commercials came on… in Turkish and Hebrew. They kept alternating. And you see, the Maltese market is very small (population 400,000) so hardly anything is made specifically for it. Except for local companies advertising directly in Malta, commercials and the like are often borrowed from the UK, as English is an official language and the historical ties with Britain are recent and strong. So it seems that with the cable system, they pick and choose channels from all over Europe, with the result that I am now hooked on commercials.

Well, not only commercials. I also watch Maltese TV to try to get exposure to the language, and Italian TV as I have always loved the language, and as I did not have cable TV for the past few years, channels such as Discovery and NG and the others are nice to have as well. To be fair, I do spend relatively little time in front of the tube. But the internationalness of it all keeps bringing me back.

Hello everyone! I have not written for a couple of days, as I was celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I take this opportunity to wish everyone a sweet, happy and healthy year ahead for you and your families. Celebrating in Malta was interesting, as the Jewish community is very small (they calculate less than 100 people). The synagogue is also small, and perhaps 40 people at most were there. They were quite friendly and welcoming, and I was told that this is something they are particularly known for, considering how few they are and how they often get tourists visiting. I was quickly recruited to help out with the services on the spot (apparently they do not have enough people to lead the services), by being asked to read the haftorah (reading from the prophets) with no advanced warning. Normally one has to prepare a few days in advance, as the Hebrew words have to be read with specific cantilations. I accepted, and had quite the challenge doing it all with no preparation. This is going to be a fun ride.