Your experience of culture shock in Malta

(To be fair, I was selling a sewing machine on here.)

Cikks wrote:

I found this because I was looking for an old sewing machine. I was shocked to read all the complaints. You should all realise that the island has become really overcrowded - mainly since we joined the EU, HUGE mistake - but hello, how on earth are Americans working here too? And Serbs? Yes, we are racist. Everyone is. Racist, classist, moneyist - whatever - I know those words don't exist but the attitudes do. If you delve into your attitudes you'll soon find something racist there. 

Friendly? This place used to be friendly.  And we used to mostly like foreigners - daddy was always turning up with people he got chatting to who'd stay to eat who'd sometimes become friends.  And most of my pals were like that.  Now, its different. There are just too many of you.  Forget the clannish ones, then there are all the disgusting gambling emplyees - yuck.   On the whole, maltese are sick of foreigners. We have an overdose of them.  And to read stuff like this just reinforces. 

Driving - well, road courtesy was amazing in the past - 20 - 30 years ago. Now its overcrowded and people are suffering from road rage, exarcebated by the heat in summer, the building, whatever. But mostly just from the traffic. Too many people, too may cars' tiny island - simple equation.

What I don't understand is why you stay on. If you come here to look for a job, why's that? Couldn't find one back home? Awwww.  Came for the sun and now it's too hot? Came to the friendliest place on earth or whatever that damn newspaper called us - curse the day that some idiot published that article!  Every Maltese i know swears when someone mentions it.  Just do us a favour and don't stay on and moan, groan or become thieves or beggars. There's an inundation of thievery going on and it is all foreigners. Gone are the days when we used to leave our front doors open during the day.

Your English is amazingly good for a Maltese person so I assume you either aren't Maltese or you have lived away from the islands most of your life.
Just to help you a little, the massive over crowding you speak of is actually down to Maltese as official figures show only 23,600 foreigners live on the islands (4.5%)

I live on Gozo and the best way to stop overcrowding here would be to stop loud Maltese 'tourists' coming over making lots of noise, spending very little money and cramming 20 people into a holiday let licensed for 6 which is all they have paid for! They bring all their food and drink with them and sit around the pool playing loud music without going into the villages and spending anything. It does nothing for the Maltese economy as a whole and only benefits a few property owners in Gozo

Ray

Wow. Quick response. You assume wrong, Ray. Most definitely Maltese. Lived here for 49 years of my life except a few years in Spain. You obviously haven't met any educated Maltese.
Re gozo - someone here said how they hate the Maltese. The feeling is totally mutual. If it weren't for us (not me, I don't like going there much - can't understand their Maltese and don't like their code of silence, they're as bad as the Sicilians etc..) in winter they'd make no money at all. And before the inundation of foreigners travelling there, which could very well slow down - travel taste is fickle - we were their money in summer too. In Malta, most of the successful businessmen and especially property developers are actually gozitan - they're definitely slyer than us, haven't ruined their own island as much as ours.   And for your info, the last time I went, my sis and I rented a farmhouse with a pool for us two, and ate at the better restaurants.... unimpressed by the lack of aircon, in brackets...
Official figures? What a joke. As if they are anywhere near correct. The amount of unregistered foreigners living here, whether legally or not, is staggering. And even your 24K  is enough to make a difference when you see it proportionately to the size of the population and island. Plus the fact that unlike somewhere like Hong Kong, we've spread instead of going up.

Warrman (sic) -  thanks for my first good laugh, I am hanging my head right now...... I do know a few OK foreigners who live here, some of them are actually my friends. They don't complain about being here, in fact they respond well to my own complaints - but the rubbish I read here got my goat - how does one insert a sardonic smiley? Do you want an honest opinion from a Maltese? Here it is. Unlike most of my fellow Maltese, I was well informed about entering the EU, and voted no. Bang went the lazy little island I grew up in, where we may drink too much at night, but where accidents rarely happen because we take our drink slowly, since we don't have pub law syndrome. Where we didn't have seat belts, and there were hardly any accidents. Yes, I am reactionary,that's because I was privileged to grow up here, and I can tell you, even what they call the bad Mintoff years were paradise compared to now.  We should have followed the path Both Olivier and Mifsud Bonnici wanted and been a kind of Guernsey - no overcrowding and cheap travellers then. In my street alone, there's a flat where young people rent beds really cheaply - mostly loud Spanish (I couldn't believe they were even louder than us!) - and party all night. Another one further up. In the three blocks in front of me,  there are Poles, Germans, south Africans, Brits, and more - average half each block. And it really gets my goat when I put out plastic covered boxes for the rain or cushions for our old street cats under a balcony in an empty building and some dried up English witch removes them because they lower the tone.  We look after them - they get fed daily, doctored, vet visits, shaved when they get knotty - they're very old - and these people interfering with something we've been doing for years gets more than my goat.

As said before, when? Did you lose part of your post?

You sound delightful cikks - I like Malta and I haven't had any problems with the Maltese but then I suppose I don't go looking for trouble - I came here looking to emmerse myself in the Maltese lifestyle and culture- if I wanted it to be like Britain I would move back to Britain or Benidorm -

However  your of course entitled to your opinions but please don't tar everyone with your brush !!

See Stephanie....I followed a link. One does.

Actually if you read my second comment I don't. In fact you were one of the few non-obnoxious posters, Rob.

Rubbish. We Maltese say the times is just a mouthpiece for Reuters.

Oh, and I am most definitely a genuine Maltese person. Not a troll - even though it may feel that way. I have never before felt the need to post vitriol anywhere, but some of the comments here were so stupid and /or superfluous. Sacreglow, I'm looking right at you. What are you - ex Yugoslav? There are too many of you in my street for my peace of mind. Must say though that they're mostly quiet.  Complaints that someone was yelling and wearing too much gold? For chrissake. Our village people like gold, so what? We are Mediterranean people, and thus tend to be loud, gaudy, and mostly friendly. And there loud people, crkminals, etc in every country in the world. Like there are nice ones. But if you want to live here you need to have Rob's attitude. He and a couple of others sound like the foreign friends I have in their attitude.  Otherwise, just leave.

FYI - I am a government employee, who went to a church school, grew up here with cosmopolitan parents who had friends from everywhere including the Middle East (very unusual at that time) and who took us abroad with them every year - not for shopping, Maltese style - and I can assure you that everyone I work with and who in talk to in lifts, supermarkets, whatever, grumbles madly about the overcrowding and blames it on too many foreigners and cheap tourists who eat on the floor in front of parliament. The nice settlers are another thing - unless it's the swedes who have their own clannish thing going - you, we don't mind.

Cikks wrote:

Rubbish. We Maltese say the times is just a mouthpiece for Reuters.

Nothing to do with the Times, the source of the figure is Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia in reply to a PQ by Labour backbencher Etienne Grech in April 2014.

Ray

This shows again, that a forum is only a collection of single personal opinions and single personal experiences, and very seldom reflects the reality as it is
No wonder, each of us perceives the same reality in a different way and depending on the state of personal emotions, the environment is more or less falsified ... same as mine 

Same as with good news on TV, people are more interested on info about bad experiences ...
"Malta has nice beaches, clear water and plenty of sun  ... yes, yes, BUT the traffic to go there is awful and no parking next to the beaches" 

Cikks wrote:

You should all realise that the island has become really overcrowded - mainly since we joined the EU, HUGE mistake -

Sorry, this is totally wrong, demographics of Malta actually show even a weaker increase of population since joining the EU in 2004:
1891    165,037    +10.2%
1901    184,742    +11.9%
1911    211,564    +14.5%
1921    212,258    +0.3%
1931    241,621    +13.8%
1948    305,991    +26.6%
1957    319,620    +4.5%
1967    314,216    −1.7%
1985    345,418    +9.9%
1995    378,132    +9.5%
2005    404,962    +7.1%
2010    417,432    +3.1%
2015     425,273    +1.9%

Cikks wrote:

... but hello, how on earth are Americans working here too?

Because since the 50ies around 15.000 Maltese have immegrated to and are working in USA, so it's only fair to have a couple of Americans working in Malta 
Regarding the iGaming industry, this was a special request from the Maltese government during the EU membership negotiations. This sector now employs around 10,000 people, out of which over 60% are Maltese, not foreigners, and accounts for 12% of the national gross domestic product. Like it or hate it, but finaciallywise Malta benefits a lot from this.

Cikks wrote:

... There are just too many of you.

There are about 23,000 foreigners (50% EU, 50% third country) in Malta from 150 different countries. And fact is, that a rate af 5.5% makes Malta to an EU country with the fewest amount of foreigners.

Yes I have been in malta for 6 years, I find that they are not very worldly wise and fall prey to opinions of people that have left once for a holiday. They think that if it does not happen in Malta it does not happen. But I still ebjoy my time there as I have some dear friends. For me to ove there full time is a no no it feels to insulr and enclosed.

Thank you for your honesty.  When I visited, I loved it, my daughter did not, she saw exactly what you are describing straight away...regardless I started researching to come over and the prejudice you talk of is endemic, even to the point where I was told categorically that if I want to come I must marry a Maltese.....the phone was grabbed by a women in the office out of the man's hand and she told me the truth.....too late....I will never move to place that treats women like that.

Alphatango1954 wrote:

Thank you for your honesty.  When I visited, I loved it, my daughter did not, she saw exactly what you are describing straight away...regardless I started researching to come over and the prejudice you talk of is endemic, even to the point where I was told categorically that if I want to come I must marry a Maltese.....the phone was grabbed by a women in the office out of the man's hand and she told me the truth.....too late....I will never move to place that treats women like that.

sorry ?
one - which office ... ad why would they say that you dont have to marry  a maltese to come here at all ..
two treating women like what .. from your very limited story it was the women grabbing the phone out of the mans hand ...

Richard Hubbard wrote:

Yes I have been in malta for 6 years, I find that they are not very worldly wise and fall prey to opinions of people that have left once for a holiday. They think that if it does not happen in Malta it does not happen. But I still ebjoy my time there as I have some dear friends. For me to ove there full time is a no no it feels to insulr and enclosed.

how have you been in Malta six years ... then in another sentence your not here full time
so what your really saying is you have come to malta 6  times on holiday -

Alphatango1954 wrote:

Thank you for your honesty.  When I visited, I loved it, my daughter did not, she saw exactly what you are describing straight away...regardless I started researching to come over and the prejudice you talk of is endemic, even to the point where I was told categorically that if I want to come I must marry a Maltese.....the phone was grabbed by a women in the office out of the man's hand and she told me the truth.....too late....I will never move to place that treats women like that.

also if your going to copy or rewrite comments from a news article may i suggest you copy the whole comment otherwise it makes little sense ... also in the article you copied the comment from it says the research was done 3 years ago .. well a lots changed since then

A lot of people rely on this blog for accurate information about Malta from people who are actually living in Malta, or propose to live in Malta, so it is very important that the information given be as accurate as possible and not just hysterical outbursts.   Good on you, Rob for providing such information and questioning the accuracy of others comments.
Robyn

Richard Hubbard wrote:

Yes I have been in malta for 6 years, I find that they are not very worldly wise and fall prey to opinions of people that have left once for a holiday. They think that if it does not happen in Malta it does not happen. But I still ebjoy my time there as I have some dear friends. For me to ove there full time is a no no it feels to insulr and enclosed.

If you are a radio presenter in New Romney, who do you broadcast to, the sheep?

They're very worldly wise in New Romney. I expect there are probably one or two who have been to London!

Ray

Alphatango1954 wrote:

Thank you for your honesty.  When I visited, I loved it, my daughter did not, she saw exactly what you are describing straight away...regardless I started researching to come over and the prejudice you talk of is endemic, even to the point where I was told categorically that if I want to come I must marry a Maltese.....the phone was grabbed by a women in the office out of the man's hand and she told me the truth.....too late....I will never move to place that treats women like that.

I have no idea what or who's post your post refers to or what the phone call was about but could I suggest that you come over for a few lengthy visits and find out what it is actually like to live here rather than going by a post from someone who does not live here.!
Researching on the internet can be helpful to a point but there is nothing beats finding out for yourself.

Ray

It was the emigration office to make sure I could live there.  After telling the man that I wanted to move and asking what was required of me besides the fact I am an EU citizen, this is what he told me, I was still speechless on my side of the phone when a woman in the office, who had obviously heard him grabbed the phone off him......  and

Yes she did come to my defence and correct the situation.  And perhaps I worded my statement wrongly and I apologize if I did, but the fact he felt he could say this is significant, how can a man in a position of authority overstep his authority to this degree....I will never know what the outcome was in the office after I put the phone down. but, there were unfortunately other things that we noticed that were patriarchal in Malta.  Not that where I am living now isn't as well there are always degrees of it in any society.

And my story is limited because I am not usually in the habit of being negative. 

The first incident occurred in 2013, I came onto Expat.com, this year, because of something I had read and needed confirmation on...... I have from a distance done a LOT of research and come to the same conclusions that the lady that started this thread mentioned.  So I will NOT be coming to Malta, mainly because I am too old to keep moving, so a 3 year stay is not enough.

I am perceived in the country I am now as a foreigner too and treated accordingly, I have after 13 years given up, and because I must get back to the sunshine or I am going to turn to stone. I am going 'Home' to a country that I never perceived as 'Home' but I do now because other people have made me feel that way.

Such is life, swings and roundabouts.

I come to stay in Malta for a period of time every year, as I have vested interest here.  I find the Maltese people not very polite, service-providing sucks, and they are unfriendly.  Do not give them criticism, because they will never budge. But be that as it may, people I cannot change - that is who they are, and I have to accept it or leave.

What I cannot tolerate, is their culture of fireworks, littering and bird-hunting. This might be your tradition, but it is also MY earth and you are all messing with our earth.  Fireworks is non-sensible, all that money can be put to better use e.g. pay people to clean up after you as you clearly did not learn that at home, and therefor the mentality of someone must pick it up after you. Your clean house does not impress me at all, if it looks like crap outside.  What I see around me, I judge everybody the same - a messy bunch of people!!!  What on earth are you thinking by shooting birds for the fun of it?  Clearly the cave-man mentality coming out here - man has to kill!!!!!  Go kill your cigarette, if you want to kill, because that also robs me of clean air to breath.  For the rest, I am happy here.  I know everything is not perfect.

"It takes a little while to realize that the friendliness is just superficial, and what lies underneath is a deep-rooted discrimination, that is so ingrained that it is acceptable to the Maltese mind,"...

I would say a lot but let me comment on the above , to be honest I thought I was going crazy or paranoid but this is absolutely true. Thank you for confirming this.