I was reading that in Malta traditional central heating is almost nonexistent. Doesn’t it get really cold and humid in winter? Does modern reverse air conditioning actually work efficiently?
Things like paying taxes, signing a housing contract, signing up for bills, dealing with an accountant, etc. If you are an expat and speak English but not Maltese, can you do it or should you realistically learn Maltese very well before considering relocation?
This is the sort of thing which tends to be exaggerated on the internet, so if anyone here actually works in publishing, I would like to hear your opinion.
There is the metropolitan legend that fiction publishing these days has a lot of rigidity of ideology; one would struggle to publish a middle-grade, for example, that is openly about Catholic people and reflects Catholic values rather than the trending secular values of the moment. In short, there is the idea that C. S. Lewis or even Tolkien would never get published today.
Is this an actual thing, or just a hyperbole of the internet as I suspect it might be?
I am a married woman and my husband converted to Catholicism through me. Beforehand, he already had traditional values, something vanishingly rare among young people our age in the current environment.
I can only speak about the UK where I live, but if I was a young, unmarried Catholic man in this country I do not think I would ever find anyone to date.
Most young women I see are deeply religious; that is, they treat whatever brand of progressivism is currently in vogue as their secular form of religion. I went to the public library the other day and the librarians, all women, were all blue or green-haired, all had the same rainbow badges with the usual slogans as though they were part of a uniform, and they had arranged the books so that the displays all featured books like queer YA, environmentalism, etc. I know so, so many women my age who identify as “poly” and have multiple partners.
There is this common idea that “women are more religious than men”. Given that I myself persuaded my husband to convert, I would say this is true, but that is the issue: the brand of progressivism I mentioned above is being preached and spread like a religion, and the majority of young women subscribe to it. Women tend to have a better understanding of social dynamics, and many are afraid of going against the dominant dogma because they fear social ostracisation more than men. That is how they have locked themselves in this secular echo chamber. And this echo chamber is the literal opposite of Catholic family values.
I feel I had a far easier time finding a partner as a Catholic woman because in the current climate it is easier to find a young man willing to be brought over to a traditional lifestyle. If I was a man and had the same beliefs I have now, I think I would be single forever. I assume this wave of Gen Z men who have recently become Catholics will not find a partner any time soon. I feel sorry for them, but the situation will not change any time soon.
I read that Malta has a far higher number of people identifying as Catholic than many mainland Europe nations, around 80%. My question is, do people actively go to church, or do identify as Catholic and only attend mass at Christmas (which is the case with many people that identify as Catholic in mainland Europe)?
Vivo nel Regno Unito, e qui è un disastro. Se avrò dei figli li educherò a casa. So che sembra una soluzione estrema, ma vi assicuro che nell’ambiente nel quale mi trovo è l’unico modo per assicurarsi che crescano come cristiani.
Sento tante brutte notizie provenire dall’Italia. Sento che ci sono pochi giovani in chiesa e che più o meno tutti i problemi della secolarizzazione anglosassone che causano problemi per le nuove generazioni stanno arrivando anche lì. È vero questo, o è un quadro troppo negativo?
I sometimes use Amazon to buy household items that are not readily available in local shops. Since you do not have Amazon in Malta, do you have some kind of similar go-to website that sells most basic things?
I often see people here discussing motherhood based almost exclusively on the difficult baby years. All the negatives are listed over and over again. The sleepless nights, the care, the stress, etc. All these things are true; caring for babies is hard. But the baby stage is a very small part of what motherhood is and entails.
Personally, I do not see motherhood as caring for a baby. That is a vanishingly small phase. I see motherhood as raising an heir. I come from a Catholic culture with strong traditions, and I would homeschool my child to shape a new person with my traditions, religion, language, culture.
I am shaping a future adult. I am creating the heir of the line, the heir of the culture. The discomforts of the baby years do not take away from this far bigger vision. And this bigger vision is what is often lacking from these conversations based solely on the baby and toddler years which are incredibly fleeting and not the main part of motherhood over time.
There is this artist I have long admired called Howard David Johnson. On his website he offers private tutoring through the Brandywine School. I have seen no other mention of this school anywhere else on the internet.
I would actually like to take some private online lessons with him, as I love the way he uses colored pencils almost like oil paints. However, because the website looks slightly sketchy, I just hope it is actually him behind it all and that he still checks his emails.
He is nowhere else on the internet. Just on that website. Do you think it is trustworthy?
Nobody wants to be the target of gossip, and gossip can indeed be used as a form of social bullying. However, it is one of those survival skills that I consider morally neutral; it can do good or harm depending on circumstances and context.
The first, most obvious benefit of “gossip” is that what people call “gossip” is just women talking among themselves about someone else, and in some cases they warn each other about predators. “I have heard bad things about that guy, I’d stay away.” Probably many women’s lives have been saved by this form of gossip, and of course some men give it a negative, frivolous connotation because women warning each other about dodgy men is not in their interest, and keeps them accountable.
Think also about how many children were pulled out of abusive family situations because women noticed their weird/reclusive parents and “gossiped” about it until someone took action.
Of course, this can work in reverse. There is a woman living alone in the woods mixing herbs and other women are jealous of her freedom and “gossip” about her until the Inquisition pays her a visit. A girl is dating the most sought after boy in school and the other girls are jealous and start a horrible rumour about her to put the boy off her.
As I said, this is a morally neutral survival skill, but in both circumstances it is certainly not frivolous nor useless. The only people who try to demean it are men who are angry at the power that women sharing information with each other can have.
Do you know about the new regulation/bill regarding homeschooling? Do you think it will severely limit parents’ freedom? In your case, how intrusive has the local council been in terms of dictating what you can teach etc.? Just looking for experiences from people who homeschool in England.