All good wishes for 2013,

PS have you seen the article in the New York Times today about the Russian town where deposed leaders ( including the ex of Kyrg now live… And the comment about how much money they had when they arrived…..)?

Hope this finds you well and surviving the festive season. I see that you had Christmas lights; is Christmas celebrated much in Kyrgyzstan? i thought I would send you this updated version of the Christmas story which made me smile.

My mother and i volunteered to help at a christmas Day lunch held by a local charity and it was an interesting experience to say the least. We had six people at our table rather than the usual eight as we had a couple of people in wheelchairs; one of them had an ‘assistance dog’ called Jeremy. Jeremy was very well-behaved and didn’t even eat the food off the floor even though his owner is a messy eater and there was certainly a selection for him if he decided to let himself go! Jeremy is a triple-trained assistance dog, he fetches things, opens doors etc. but his main task is to observe this owner’s ketone level (which he does by smell) and to take whatever action he is trained to take. Phil, his owner, has Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes as well as something wrong with his vertebrae which means he cannot walk and is in a wheelchair. Phil’s opening statement upon arriving was that he didn’t think he’d be there as he has a ‘diagnosed social phobia’! This was something of a conversation stopper but I managed to get over it.

We also had Terry who despite being a lovely person could have made himself much lovlier with the application of some soap and water. I’m afraid I had to put Terry on the other side of the table as I knew I would not be able to last three and a half hours in his company at too-close quarters. The teacher side of me took over!

Anyway…Christmas lunch was attended by all manner of people one would never meet in the course of their daily life: people with mental health issues, homeless people, families etc. I actually also met a friend whom i haven’t seen for ages, we did teaching together and he is teaching at a country school these days. I also met a ‘friend of a friend’ that I haven’t seen for ages as the friend’s marriage ended and the you know how you usually take the friends you came with when you are doing the property settlement.

So, that’s Christmas for another year. I have to say I much prefer Boxing Day when Christmas can’t be any further away!

I liked your info about parental responsibilities – the Chinese are thinking of children’s responsibilities!
AAP

December 29, 2012 1:11am

CHINA has passed a law requiring adult children to visit their aged parents “often” – or risk being sued by them.
China’s national legislature on Friday passed a law requiring adult children to visit their aged parents “often” – or risk being sued by them.
The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur.
State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. The move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.
A rapidly developing China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aging population. Three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the elderly or others unable to live on their own.
News outlets frequently carry stories about parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of their elderly parents’ assets without their knowledge.
The expansion of China’s elderly population is being fuelled both by an increase in life expectancy – from 41 to 73 over five decades – and by family planning policies that limit most families to a single child. Rapid aging poses serious threats to the country’s social and economic stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly passes to a proportionately shrinking working population and the social safety net remains weak.