Ashley & Kes Go to Malta?

Kes and Ashley are off to new adventures, so it must be time to start up the blog again!

The short version of the story is that Kes has a fabulous new job, and will start with the Maltese company AquaBioTech in the middle of February. Ashley will follow when "his" boat is done - presumably at the end of June.

Since I haven't written in 8 months, I'll just thow out some logical questions you might have, and answer them.

What's Kes's great new job?

- She will be the Manager of BioPlanning at AquaBioTech, a company that works with various types of aquaculture research & technology. Here's the website: www.aquabt.com.

What will you do, Ashley?

- Good question. I told my department manager last Wednesday of the situation, including the idea that, if possible, I would like to stay on within the Ulstein Group in some fashion. My current position means that I can't really work from a distance, so I will not be able to continue in the same role I have today. However, the reaction from my manager has been tremendously positive - he will be helping me to see whether there is any other role within the Ulstein Group of companies that would be right for me, presuming that I would be living (at least most of the time) in Malta. Neither of us believe that it is all that likely, but it's that kind of positive reaction that confirms what I believed before - Ulstein, in general, is a good bunch of people to work for.

- If that option doesn't pan out, I will be looking for work that is actually in Malta, of course. Malta has a large shipyard, but it is working its way through (near the end of) a privatisation process that has shaken things up quite a bit. Hopefully it's back on its feet soon, so that it becomes an option for me. Many other possibilities exist, including going back to school (the University of Malta teaches in English and has an MBA program, while the International Maritime Organisation has its International Maritime Law Institute there, as only two of the possibilities).

Where's Malta?

- Right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a small group of islands, with the main island sharing the same name as the country. Total land area: 300 square kms. Picture a square island that's 17 km on each side (in Bella Coola, that's the distance from the Government Wharf to Klonick Creek) - That's the area of the entire country.

- Into that little dot of land are packed just over 400,000 people - roughly the population of Surrey in British Columbia. Malta was a British colony until 1964, and became a full Republic (got rid of the Queen as head of state) in 1974, though it's still a member of the Commonwealth. The primary language is Maltese, which has a grammar very close to Arabic, but is written in Roman ("English") letters, and incorporates many Italian and English words. At the same time, it is the "most multilingual" country in the EU, meaning that a higher percentage of the people there can speak at least two languages than in any other country. Almost 90% of the population say that they can speak English. 66% say that they can speak Italian. The population is heavily Roman Catholic, with 98% considering themselves Catholic - there is a Catholic church for every 1000 people.

- There are lots of other interesting things to discuss regarding Malta, but I'll leave that for the future!

When are you moving?

- Kes will be starting work on February 17th (or 18th, I'm not 100% sure). I will be following as soon as the boat I'm working on right now is finished. That's scheduled for the 30th of June, as of today's schedule. Thus, I will probably move during the Norwegian summer vacation (late July to early August).

So yeah, that's the story!

We'll keep you updated as this progresses!