Two months

It just happened that I haven't had a chance to post anything to my blog in the last five days. Dmitri stayed with me most part of four days and we had been making up for the time that we would have spent together, hadn't I been separated from my family. So, everything else has been put on hold, including my writing.

Among the last week's highlights is a light dinner and mostly a very interesting conversation with Gina--she attends UBC-- and her friend Susanne, who teaches literature there. Susanne used to live and work in Africa and had extensive experience of living in a foreign country and a society that was dramatically different from that of Canada. Gina traveled a lot too, so between the three of us we didn't have any shortage of what to talk about.

I've been trying to treat today's date as just another day, yet indeed it's been exactly two months since I was granted sanctuary in First Lutheran Church, which kind of calls for "milestone"-like reflections. It's certainly become quieter in terms of the attention from the media. Irina, Dmitri and I have been able to regain our privacy a little bit, though the case remains on the media's radar screens. On July 12, Los Angeles Times published a balanced and detailed article as a result of my interview with Kim Mirphy, and on 23rd CTV showed a report by Jon Woodward. There also were interviews with CBC Radio Canada and Nikki Renshaw with Talk 1410. So, it can be said that during the second month was laid an important groundwork for the future actions.