The new challenge in my life is upon me – living with a stoma and ostomy bag.
For those of you who don’t know what that means, I have a chronic condition, Ulcerative Colitis, which has required me to have my diseased colon removed. Continue reading
Today, as I was listening to Italian radio (something I love to do to escape the anglicised world we live in), the programme hosts were commenting on a survey that was recently carried out to see what ‘firsts’ people most remembered.
Of course, there were the standard ones, such as the first time we fall in love, the first kiss, the first time we have sex. Continue reading
Today being Father’s Day, my thoughts were flooded by what being a father truly means – to the fathers themselves, to their children, to their wives. And even more so, this was brought home most clearly as the difference between absent and present fathers is something I live on a daily basis.
So today, I came across this article in our local media about parents lobbying to get home-schooling accepted in Malta as a valid educational choice.
While I am not personally against home schooling and am sure that it has many benefits too, painting it as a ‘saving grace’, as the article seems to point out these parents are doing, is taking matters too far, surely.
It may be a valid option, but is there the need to vilify other educative methods? Continue reading
Dear 33-year-old self,
In a few months’ time, you’re going to be diagnosed with a chronic, painful condition which you’ve never heard of – ulcerative colitis – and it’s pretty much going to change your life for good.
I don’t want to scare you with this letter, but here’s what you’re going to be in for: Continue reading
I’ve recently had to contend with grief in my life on a number of occasions. In March, my wonderful mother-in-law passed away tragically. Big shock to the system, the worst of all has been coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t around for the mundane things. I’ve lost track of the amount of times my husband and I simply forget and are about to pick up the phone to share some news with her or invite her to join us for lunch. Continue reading
…but I simply can’t not write this blog post.
For once, this year’s Eurovision had a number of strong entries. And by this, I mean musically sound songs, lyrics that made sense, performances that had class. It wasn’t just a mix of the usual trite, stale, pop ballads, though there were those too.
The winning entry was certainly not one of those, with its unusual musical arrangement and its very strong political message.
Was it the best entry? Continue reading
So tonight I ended up watching the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). I pretty much surprised myself because I really am not a fan of this happening. But I guess it was too easy to pass on as I caught it streaming on YouTube.
I did ask myself what I was going to take home from it, though, and this is what I came up with: Continue reading
Today, on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Summit, I came across yet another terrifying story of loss and despair. It is the story of Mahmoud and Reem, two refugees who fled Syria for Greece with their four children and who lost one of their children, their six-year-old daughter Rand, when she was struck by a train in the dead of night as they were walking along the tracks, a journey that had already lasted two days, without food and water. And yet, in this darkness, a light shone through, bright and clear – Akis and Sia Armpatzianis, two strangers to Mahmoud and Reem, who lived in a village close to the scene of the tragedy, helped them organize and paid for an Islamic burial for Rand, comforting them in their time of great need. Continue reading
My love affair with Shakespeare has been going strong for as long as I can remember. To be fair, after all, I did grow up with two actors as parents, my upbringing as bohemian as it could be for the 70s and 80s in conservative and isolated Malta. Continue reading
whatever Mia thinks 