Malta baby! Reflections...

I'm sitting on a rooftop cafe, watching the stars, listening to the kind of music that sets the mood.. there are only two things that could make life better right now. I'm in Egypt, looking out onto the Red Sea.. the warm air rolls over me, palm trees swaying, and the smell of amazing food enters my lungs. I can see flickering lights from Saudi Arabia in the distance and I feel so alive!
This place is absolutely magical... but so was Malta.
I have a hard time comparing the places I've been. Malta was more than extraordinary.
After a rocky start (like most adventures that I've done abroad), it was only Lukasz and I who made it on the island at the right time. The girls flight got canceled and will all the effort they put into getting there, they arrived the next day, completely exhausted. Lukasz and I met Ian the first day and instantly knew how awesome this week was going to be after talking with him that night. And he really did make my trip amazing! I don't think I could have couchsurfed with anyone better. After the first night, it was Kelsey, Cheri and myself who stayed with him and he made us feel so welcomed. By the end of the week, we felt like we had known him for so much longer and he was no long just our host, but a friend too.
A very brief overview of some of the amazing things I got to do and see in Malta:
Ian is a big rock climber and offered to take us whenever he went, Lukasz and I went 3 times with him, climbing some of the most awesome rocks in Malta, and even did some deep water solo climbing at the end (which is climbing with no equipment over water- so if you slip or fall, you land safely) It was pretty exhilarating, especially the two times that I fell because of rocks breaking on me. Unfortunately, the two groups didn't get to see each other as much as we had hoped. Being at one side of the island and them couchsurfing with someone else on the other side kind of limited things. But when we did get to be together we had a great time. We went snorkeling (which wasn't the best area of Malta to snorkel- and on top of it, I was STUPID and forgot to take out my nose stud, so when I went down to do some shallow diving, I couldn't equalize and my ear popped so badly that I had tears rolling down my face)- meaning I didn't get to go scuba diving in Malta. It's still not all there but I'm going tomorrow to get it looked at to make sure I didn't do any serious damage. I will be SO disappointed if I don't get to dive the Red Sea. Other than that, we had a fun night in with everyone at Ian's, went to Karaoke, camped out on the beach, hit up the Blue Lagoon (where we went deep water solo climbing). The water was so blue that I couldn't imagine any water ever being bluer, laid out on the beach and just enjoyed being in the beautiful weather.
There is so much more to describe about this amazing place.. but it's a must experience yourself kind of thing. It was hard saying goodbye to Ian and his precious dogs, the Island and Lukasz and Fabiola (it will be the last time I will see them for a long while).
Overall- Malta was AMAZING and I wouldn't have changed anything.
Now on to Egypt.. where my first day in this country has been just... super.
After the over night van ride here, we (Kelsey, Cheri and I) were all pretty exhausted but decided not to miss out on what the day offers, so we checked into our beautiful hotel right on the Red Sea, grabbed some food in the sun and signed up for our excursions that we'll be taking over the next week. I checked out some diving centers, and then we headed to the Lagoon, took a swim and a nice nap before heading back to the hotel. We got stopped on the way and decided a massage was a great way to start our vacation here in Egypt. The best thing about this place is that everything is oober cheap and the conversion rate it amazing!
I can't wait to tell more about the rest of this trip here!

Thanking God everyday for blessing me with such great opportunities! I'll talk to him more on Mt. Sinai in a few days.