old times and new times

I've come back from Russia, from the first trip of the year. We organised a forum, with the title; Democracy forum, the role of youth NGO in Russia's civil society. 45 people came, 90 people wanted to come (we had no space for the extra 45), and the topic is a much needed topic of conversation in public fora in Russia.

But that wasn't what I was going to say.

I am at home with my mother, taking some days off work. I need it, and hopefully it will leave me charged for the next four months of intensive volunteer work.
The first thing I did today was to read all the Christmas cards we received in 2008. Then I sat down and wrote a spring card to my father's cousin. She wrote in the Christmas card that her dog, Anton, had died. I don't know if my mother writes to her for Christmas, so I decided to send a reply.

Then I found the phone catalogue. Yes, they do still exist, these remnants of phones you cannot walk around the house with, cords that tangle together into a mess, and personal phone books. I called the local flower shop, and asked if they had soil for cacti. They didn't.

I called my grandmother's friend. My grandmother died in 2004, after having had Alzheimer's disease for quite a while. After that I have not talked to her friend, who was her friend for 50 years. I think a lot about how important it is not to forget that people can be lonely. And since my mother's cousin mentioned her during Christmas, I've thought about contacting her. After all, I have no grandparents that need my attention anymore, and this makes me sad. If you still have them around, you are very lucky. I think people need to converse with older people, both people of 50 and of 80 years old. In my life in Davis, I had my "family" that I saw once in a while, and I stayed with Karlis' friend Julia's parents (with Karlis and Julia) in the Bay Area. Back in York, I saw absolutely no adults, except from when I was at home in the holidays, and it does drive me kind of insane. I think we need to be reminded that life isn't only now, but continues, people develop, and that life developes. Now, in Oslo, I am still only surrounded by young people, 18 to 24 year-olds at work, and a 20 and a 26 year-old at home. I have my brother just outside Olso that I can see once in a while, and I have been visiting my father's childhood friend (whose daughter is a good friend of my boyfriend, you can imagine the shock I got when we put two and two together!).

Right, a bit of rambling here.
I am visiting my grandmother's 76 years-old friend this afternoon.

-- and I cut my own fringe. Don't know if it looks like I have been to a very stylish and expensive salon, or if it just looks like...I cut my own fringe.