Tea Time in Malta

I've told you (in my blog An-American-in-Malta.com) that I've made my first real Maltese friend-a colleague from my school. Her name is M. And yesterday I finally got to see her house and meet her son who lives with her.

This was a very special event. In general, the Maltese-as friendly as they are-don't really like to have too many non-family members in their homes. It may have to do with lack of privacy on a small island. But I think it may also be because Maltese women, in particular, are very fastidious about their homes and are fearful that an outsider may come in and judge the cleanliness of their house.

M. actually told me that, but not in those words. She said she has invited me over-and still hasn't invited some of her Maltese colleagues who she has known for years! (In fact, she kept her Christmas tree up until I made it back from grit-less England to see it.)

So there we were at 4:30 PM at her comfy kitchen table with tea and a whole assortment of homemade Christmas goodies. I gave up my post-holiday, 20-year-plan to lose weight and forced myself to down some marzipan cookies, bits of chocolate Christmas cake, chocolate and vanilla wafers-and those little hotdog things. I pretended they were made from beef-not ham-and ate them.

My eating habits were fine, apparently. But my tea sipping was another matter. In fact, that was the matter-I wasn't sipping my tea. (And no, I wasn't slurping it). I was using my teaspoon to drink it. M. said she had never seen anything like this and asked me if it was an American custom to drink tea like you drink soup. I said I didn't know.

Is it?

Anyway, I was grateful for her observation. And now-when I'm in public in Malta-or if I'm ever invited to another Maltese home-I will try to drink tea like the Maltese and British.

But at home, I'm going to use my spoon. You're allowed to do weird things in your own home.

Do you do any weird things at home that you wouldn't do in public? (Nose-picking doesn't count.)

Ilene Springer is drinking a lot (of tea and coffee) as an expat in Malta--and is author of An-American-in-Malta.com.