As I laid in bed last night I was thinking about what to write, since weekdays here don’t usually involve extravagant adventures.. and then I realized being in Malta IS an extravagant adventure itself, so I’ll share some ‘every day’ stories:
British Rosa Parks:
Erwin, Paul and I are waiting for the bus to come.. I flag it down (if you just stand there, they drive by), Erwin tries to get on with a to-go coffee cup, lid on it and everything, and he says “no coffee on the bus, this is not a cafeteria!” so he gets off to drink and it set it somewhere, he takes 5 steps away and the bus just drives off. So that sets the tone for a great ride. Maybe a mile or so down the road this british woman gets on the bus, flashes the driver her day pass thing, and sits in the first seat. He says “I need to see the date, show me the date!” (admittedly, this guy was NOT pleasant..) and she says “it’s right there, I showed you” and he yells back “I can’t see it, bring it to me!” and she says “well if you say please I’ll show you.. do you know the word please?” and he gets all pissed and pulls the bus over and lets it sit. For a minute we thought it may be him trying to sync up his route.. and then he turns the bus OFF. A Scottish or Irish guy heads up to the front and says “what’s the problem?” and the bus driver confirmed what I didn’t think could be possible.. and barks back, “she didn’t show me her ticket, I need to see the ticket!” and the boy turns to the woman and says “please, can you just show him the ticket.. we have places to be” and she remains indignant, “I’ll show it to him when he says please. I’m not going to let him yell at me” (meanwhile, “Let It Be” by the Beatles is playing over the speaker.. the irony is not lost on me) ..so he gives one more good effort and then just gets off the bus and starts to walk to work. Another Maltese guy gets up and off, and calls her a name, I didn’t hear what he said until she replies in a British accent (which cracked me up) “don’t you dare call me a c**t you ignorant dog!” … Paul and I get off the bus because we need to get to school..then she finally gets off, he starts up the bus again, and we jump back on and are on our way to school. Never a dull moment in Malta.
No English, Please:
Wednesday we visited the local court here. The interior resembles the Ramsey County main courthouse, with the marble and the goliath pillars, but the interior setup is substantially different. In the United States (or at the very least I can attest to Minnesota)..the defense and the prosecution sit side by side, directly across from the judge, while the jurors are seated on the left hand of the judge perpendicular to the parties tables. There’s public seating available behind the parties tables. (ya’ll have seen an episode of Law & Order, right? That’s the one thing that’s accurate in that show In Malta, the defense and the defendant is seated directly across from the judge, the jurors are on the left, but the prosecution sits directly across from the jurors, seated in proximity to the judge and sometimes angled outwards towards the defense. This may not seem like a monumental difference, however, it enables the prosecution to assess the body language and facial expressions of the jurors from a head on advantage, and is considerably more adversarial to the defense. The judge we met with discussed many detailed nuances between the American system and the Maltese, which I won’t get into as many of you wouldn’t notice a substantial difference in the way the civil procedure aspects work anywhoo ;-).
The route to obtaining a degree, I found interesting: You declare a ‘legal studies’ and then attend 3 years of what we would consider undergrad, where you receive a law degree and a general B.A. in whatever you choose. The next 3 years are divided up, the first 2 spent learning procedural law (both civil and criminal) and the third year is spent writing a thesis. They have a written bar exam similar to ours as well as an oral interview with a justice. The judge told us back in his day judges and lawyers used to walk in and out of the room and give students answers, it was quite informal. (IF ONLY in MN…ugh..). While it only requires 6 years of higher education to obtain a Maltese law degree (which I would’ve signed up for at the outset), it also requires an affluence in the Maltese language- no other languages are permitted in the courtroom by attorneys or judges. The judge we met with told us a jewish-american lawyer tried to challenge this and be permitted to speak English (since 85% of the population is fluent in English as well, and legal education IS in English), the court forbid it. He was required to hire a Maltese attorney to translate. I think, and some others here agree, it’s to keep out an influx of foreign lawyers.. there are only a couple hundred on the entire island and only 11 legal aid attorneys (think, public defenders) who have PRIMARY jobs as private attorneys. Imagine the dedication there, yowza! (the picture is of Sarah, myself, the judge, kristi and erwin after court. the 2nd is prof. Dennis and the judge).
Wednesday we visited the local court here. The interior resembles the Ramsey County main courthouse, with the marble and the goliath pillars, but the interior setup is substantially different. In the United States (or at the very least I can attest to Minnesota)..the defense and the prosecution sit side by side, directly across from the judge, while the jurors are seated on the left hand of the judge perpendicular to the parties tables. There’s public seating available behind the parties tables. (ya’ll have seen an episode of Law & Order, right? That’s the one thing that’s accurate in that show In Malta, the defense and the defendant is seated directly across from the judge, the jurors are on the left, but the prosecution sits directly across from the jurors, seated in proximity to the judge and sometimes angled outwards towards the defense. This may not seem like a monumental difference, however, it enables the prosecution to assess the body language and facial expressions of the jurors from a head on advantage, and is considerably more adversarial to the defense. The judge we met with discussed many detailed nuances between the American system and the Maltese, which I won’t get into as many of you wouldn’t notice a substantial difference in the way the civil procedure aspects work anywhoo ;-).
The route to obtaining a degree, I found interesting: You declare a ‘legal studies’ and then attend 3 years of what we would consider undergrad, where you receive a law degree and a general B.A. in whatever you choose. The next 3 years are divided up, the first 2 spent learning procedural law (both civil and criminal) and the third year is spent writing a thesis. They have a written bar exam similar to ours as well as an oral interview with a justice. The judge told us back in his day judges and lawyers used to walk in and out of the room and give students answers, it was quite informal. (IF ONLY in MN…ugh..). While it only requires 6 years of higher education to obtain a Maltese law degree (which I would’ve signed up for at the outset), it also requires an affluence in the Maltese language- no other languages are permitted in the courtroom by attorneys or judges. The judge we met with told us a jewish-american lawyer tried to challenge this and be permitted to speak English (since 85% of the population is fluent in English as well, and legal education IS in English), the court forbid it. He was required to hire a Maltese attorney to translate. I think, and some others here agree, it’s to keep out an influx of foreign lawyers.. there are only a couple hundred on the entire island and only 11 legal aid attorneys (think, public defenders) who have PRIMARY jobs as private attorneys. Imagine the dedication there, yowza! (the picture is of Sarah, myself, the judge, kristi and erwin after court. the 2nd is prof. Dennis and the judge).
Craft village:
After court we grabbed some lunch, changed out of our business attire and headed to the Ta-Qali crafts village. First stop was Mdina Glass- one of the most well known glass blowing factories around, where we got to watch them hand blow glass, it was incredible! If my internet capabilities permit, I’ll post the video I took. You can somewhat tell he’s spinning and widening the mouth of the vase with tweezers. It’s such a delicate process and they are clearly highly skilled artisans. After that, we bussed a short distance to the remaining craft shops, for more pottery, leather, and filigree. Filigree is very fine pure silver and gold that’s manipulated into intensely intricate designs. I don’t have a picture to show you, and I didn’t buy anything there, so I guess your only option is to google it? My bad. I DID, however, find a blue freshwater pearl ring, for..wait for it.. FIVE EURO. That’s about $6.50, IF that. I snagged that, along with a little something for dad (to have with breakfast), a little something for Matthew (that may or may not last until his birthday July 13th. Likely will not. Haha) and a little something for Tori (whose birthday is July 20th and BETTER come back from NYC to claim her gift. I hope you’re reading this, t-stein).
After court we grabbed some lunch, changed out of our business attire and headed to the Ta-Qali crafts village. First stop was Mdina Glass- one of the most well known glass blowing factories around, where we got to watch them hand blow glass, it was incredible! If my internet capabilities permit, I’ll post the video I took. You can somewhat tell he’s spinning and widening the mouth of the vase with tweezers. It’s such a delicate process and they are clearly highly skilled artisans. After that, we bussed a short distance to the remaining craft shops, for more pottery, leather, and filigree. Filigree is very fine pure silver and gold that’s manipulated into intensely intricate designs. I don’t have a picture to show you, and I didn’t buy anything there, so I guess your only option is to google it? My bad. I DID, however, find a blue freshwater pearl ring, for..wait for it.. FIVE EURO. That’s about $6.50, IF that. I snagged that, along with a little something for dad (to have with breakfast), a little something for Matthew (that may or may not last until his birthday July 13th. Likely will not. Haha) and a little something for Tori (whose birthday is July 20th and BETTER come back from NYC to claim her gift. I hope you’re reading this, t-stein).
(Here he is blowing the glass into a vase)
I type this from my kitchen as I just polished off a plate of ricotta and pesto stuffed ravioli. There’s something about successfully operating a stove/toaster oven European monstrosity that makes the meal taste THAT much better. I also find myself significantly hungrier here than I EVER was at home, and far sleepier/weaker. The hot sun, combined with all the walking we do, certainly takes a lot out of you. It’s good thing water bottles are so cheap here (0.21 Euro at my local supermarket.. 4.50 for a 12 pack!) since there are tiny microorganisms doing the backstroke in the tap water. God, how I MISS free tap water. Time to shower up, read a bit more for family law (love you prof. Musselman, but someone needs to tell this dude: we’re on the Mediterranean.. NOBODY works this hard over here!), and head to a group meeting for Refugee & Asylum law. We have group presentations the next couple of days regarding the five categories one must establish a well founded fear of persecution in (at least ONE of the categories), in order to qualify for asylum. Blue lagoon this weekend, on the island of Comino: home to one permanent hotel and 3 farmers, no vehicles on the island. Can’t wait!
KB
How’s everything going for you all back in the states?
KB
How’s everything going for you all back in the states?
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2 comments:
Glad the irony is not lost on you ;) Stay cool, Joey
Sounds like a nice bus ride. Say please!!!!!!
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