Culture shock?!

Culture shock is a
condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu (Dictionary.com).

Spending 12 days away from home in a modern European country where English is an official language and whose culture we have heard of and studied will not surely trigger such a shock.

The shock which I experienced was on my exiting of the plane, on my realisation that I am back home. It is not really a culture shock, it is an Environment Shock.

• Every day in Wales, I woke up to the chirping of birds, saw hundreds of them flying around, hunting and nesting (many of these are locally stuffed and displayed and form part of a hunter's pride).
  
• The weather in Wales was hotter than usual according to the locals, but nonetheless, everywhere was green. Back here all is dry and seaminlgy lifeless (though in fact it is not).
  
• I hear people say that we Maltese are the kindest...well than how do you describe the British? They are the first people to start a conversation, with the icebreaker being often the weather. They love our country, for its weather, beer especially Bugibba. In fact, they rarely go much away from there. They are also patient and kind.

I really love Wales and the great outdoors, together with the preservation and conservation of what nature and our forefathers have left us. I admit, I saw signs of degradation, present and past, such as the wide stretches of forest land cleared to accomate grazing fields as well as logging. But still, I felt as if I have spent more than 12 days there. We all did.

I am under culturo-environment shock!

Back from Wales

I have not blogged for two weeks now and the reason was that I was away, away from any PC, away from work, away from Malta...I was in Cymru, or as you know it Wales.

But I am back :-( and I am not too pleased about it. We arrived here in Malta at 01.30. I took today off too, to acclimatise myself and convince myself that I am no more in magical Wales. Yes, magical. Over the coming days, or better, during the coming weekend. I will write my day-to-day diary and post it on this blog. The six of us really enjoyed ourselves, saw and laughed a lot. Just to mention, we travelled some 1,300 miles around Wales in 12 days. I'd do that in around two months here in Malta.

I promise I will keep you informed about all we did in the coming days

Wales on the way!!

The final countdown has begun... in less than four days Baanisuu and me together with four close friends will be off to Wales. All preparations have been done, most of them by my dear Baanisuu who after finishing her A level exams, was kind enough to go through the Lonely Planet and find out all the interesting places around and along our path.

Our camping gear is also all set up, since we will be spending most of the lodging time on campsites. This includes but not exclusively sleeping bags, a rucsac, torches, rain gear, as well as maps, a compass and binoculars. This holiday promises to be a diverse and exiting experience from the start till the end!