Ode to Ben VanMeter

David Tieche in San Jose, California, inspired by his friend Ben VanMeter's trip to Malta, blogs about finding his own 'Malta' one day:

Yesterday, at approximately 4 p.m., my friend Ben VanMeter left this hemisphere to go to Malta (official motto: Pass the Straits of Gibralta, then head on to Malta). He's doing something that most people don't have the courage to do: he's following the dream in his heart. He and his wife have a passion for languages. They're both linguistics majors, and one of the more entertaining things is to listen to them talk about the differences in words and idioms in different cultures. They talk about stuff like tongue placements on the upper palate with a passion and energy most people only reserve for professional sports. It's refreshing to see people like that...

So Ben and his wife Jess, one night, were sitting around a table with friends in Mendocino sharing about what they were hoping to do in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years. Suddenly, the got the realization that if they wanted something to happen, they needed to act. So they did. They set a timeline and now, 11 months later, they are on a plane with a year's worth of salary saved up and a hope that Malta might be a springboard into other adventures. It's a good starting point: Maltese is a language closely rooted in Aramaic languages, which will give Ben and Jess another language family to study. It's also a bi-lingual country, which will make the transition easier. It's also in close proximity to three continents.