Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

What do you get when you cross a large, thriving city and a constant city-wide tourism campaign? Rome might be something close to the answer. The attraction of the city needs no highlighting: its illustrious history as the capital of a sophisticated ancient empire, the headquarters of the global Church, and a cradle of art from the Renaissance to the modern-day gives enough reasons for enough people for it to consistently be ranked among one of the most visited cities in the world. Rome needs no marketing: opening a book on Western history is sufficient to motivate someone to visit.

Few can argue with the natural beauty surrounding the Popeye Village. The theme park is situated in its own little cove, surrounded by jagged cliffs reflecting the warm afternoon sun into the pristinely clear seawater below. Its remote location, distance from major population centers on the island, the lack of regular public transport connection, and the inconvenient fact of having to pay an entrance fee to enter the theme park, all contribute to the pleasant lack of boorish sun-bathing tourists that have inundated similarly beautiful locations all over Malta.

Neither a teacher nor a consultant is supposed to be picky about the clients they interact with. Business logic simply does not allow for it. As long as the client is willing to pay, adhere to legal regulations, and interact respectfully, there is little reason for the client to be refused service. Moreover, it is often not ethical to refuse service for reasons that are not knowledge, law, or business-related. In the case of students seeking knowledge, the refusal to provide can be interpreted as unfair discrimination, withholding of resources that they have the right to access without valid explanations.

Malta at this time of the year is home to some unusual faces. Whereas the old British long-stay tourists and the Filipino/Indian migrant workers stick out like a sore thumb amidst the Maltese crowds at any time of the year, groups of Japanese youngsters navigate the country's narrow streets, polite, confused, and looking, in general, all-around out of place. It is vacation time for many of them: Japanese school and work years do not start until the beginning of April while the previous year already ended, giving many just a small window of a few weeks to partake in short-term English language programs in Malta.

The little community library in the Maltese town of Mosta was, well, little. But in a small room with perhaps five shelves, a service counter, and a table, every corner was filled with books, many of them quite worn out. The main focus, as is the case for libraries elsewhere , is books that children can read. Picture books, novels, and non-fiction imparting writing skills and knowledge on young adults make up, at a quick glance, more than half of the collection. As adults turn to the internet for their readings, it is clearly the kids without their own digital devices that still carry around paperbacks and hardcovers.

The first Dune movie was beautiful but predictable. Gorgeous cinematography courtesy of endless deserts simply could not make up for the predictable plotline. On the eve of being reassigned to rule another realm, a powerful house of aristocrats was backstabbed and wiped out by another house with the acquiescence and assistance of the emperor. Just as predictably, the native population of the realm was unconsulted, or even acknowledged, in the entire process, leaving the new rulers of the realm, just like the one before it, fighting a constant insurgency that disrupts economic production.