"Extravagant, us? Forget about it! At least, for now."
The term normcore can be used to indicate 'apparently perfectly normal garments' such as boyfriendjeans, the man suit and Stan Smith-sneakers. I first heard this term last week, while reading the introduction by the, apparently, brand new chief editor of the Dutch ELLE Hilmar Mulder in the August 2014 issue. It might refer to all that is normal (obviously) and all that is usual and common.
The people of Malta are the most normal people I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. I mean this in a positive way. Among the things that is considered 'normal behaviour' are probably things such as being friendly to strangers, being friendly to customers when you are a member of staff in restaurants and shops, be helpful when somebody asks you something, not being pushy when you are trying to sell something and being tolerant and social in traffic. We all know this, don't we? But in reality, a lot of people aren't friendly when somebody comes up to them to ask a question, the shop assistants could use a smile or two, salesmen trying to stuff your nose with stuff for 'cheap price' and don't get me started on traffic. I have seen even the most tolerant people become agressive animals when they are driving a car. But not the people of Malta.
Maybe I just had the luck I met all the friendly and nice people and avoid the nasty d*cks? On the second full day we had there, my mom, dad and I decided to travel to Malta's capital, Valetta, to take a look. Because there were some problems with the car rental, we decided to take the public transport. The bus driver was so incredibly friendly! He was cracking jokes and talking to the passengers, and when the police had blocked the road for a few minutes, they said five, he wasn't upset and he didn't ask questions. He just went outside to smoke a cig all the while cracking more jokes. When the police told him he could continue driving on the road after 1 minute (the only country in the world where they say it takes 5 minutes but actually takes 1?) he got into the bus and continued his journey happily.
Being a bus driver is a very stressful job, so I have a lot of respect for him. The other bus drivers we've had weren't such joke crackers, but they we're very friendly (other than the Dutch ones, that just grunt at you when you get in).
Another thing that the Maltese government does is bus driver abuse. The public transport goes everywhere on the entire island, and is not just limited to a few nearby cities (probably due to the size of the island). The busses go everywhere. I am not exaggerating. They manage to even drive on the smallest of roads. Driving a 5 meter wide bus on a 6 meter wide road absolutely packed with people (so bad they often have to refuse people in, because they're standing all the way up to the drivers seat) on a road that comes pitifully close to New Zealand's Baldwin Street.
Top: Bershka / Headband: B.A.P Live On Earth 2014 / Slippers: Rainbow
But what exactly is 'normal behaviour' anyways? I used to think that what we accept as acting 'normal' towards eachother didn't really exist anywhere in general. Oh, how wrong I was about that.
It was one of the first things I noticed after touching down on Malta International Airport.The people of Malta are the most normal people I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. I mean this in a positive way. Among the things that is considered 'normal behaviour' are probably things such as being friendly to strangers, being friendly to customers when you are a member of staff in restaurants and shops, be helpful when somebody asks you something, not being pushy when you are trying to sell something and being tolerant and social in traffic. We all know this, don't we? But in reality, a lot of people aren't friendly when somebody comes up to them to ask a question, the shop assistants could use a smile or two, salesmen trying to stuff your nose with stuff for 'cheap price' and don't get me started on traffic. I have seen even the most tolerant people become agressive animals when they are driving a car. But not the people of Malta.
Maybe I just had the luck I met all the friendly and nice people and avoid the nasty d*cks? On the second full day we had there, my mom, dad and I decided to travel to Malta's capital, Valetta, to take a look. Because there were some problems with the car rental, we decided to take the public transport. The bus driver was so incredibly friendly! He was cracking jokes and talking to the passengers, and when the police had blocked the road for a few minutes, they said five, he wasn't upset and he didn't ask questions. He just went outside to smoke a cig all the while cracking more jokes. When the police told him he could continue driving on the road after 1 minute (the only country in the world where they say it takes 5 minutes but actually takes 1?) he got into the bus and continued his journey happily.
Being a bus driver is a very stressful job, so I have a lot of respect for him. The other bus drivers we've had weren't such joke crackers, but they we're very friendly (other than the Dutch ones, that just grunt at you when you get in).
Another thing that the Maltese government does is bus driver abuse. The public transport goes everywhere on the entire island, and is not just limited to a few nearby cities (probably due to the size of the island). The busses go everywhere. I am not exaggerating. They manage to even drive on the smallest of roads. Driving a 5 meter wide bus on a 6 meter wide road absolutely packed with people (so bad they often have to refuse people in, because they're standing all the way up to the drivers seat) on a road that comes pitifully close to New Zealand's Baldwin Street.
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