2 days to D-day

There is an eerie silence when it rains. The usual cacophony that marks the Old City is missing. No birds singing, streets are empty, people huddle in their homes - the silence stretches right across Jerusalem into the Kidron valley and across into the Mt. of Olives. There is almost a sense of reverence. It is as if God is walking through the streets. Now I know what the prophet Elijah must have felt when the soft cold wind blew and he realised God was walking outside the cave; he covered his face and went to meet God. It is not awesome (some awe) but aweful (full of awe). It is an experience that you can only get by staying here in the Holyland.

It's Monday morning and school starts again after the weekend break. We're into the middle of the 1st semester and things are getting serious. Homework is piling up, people are borrowing more books from the library, problems with computers begin to crop up due to overheating, back muscles are aching due to long hours sitting at the study table, etc... In 7 weeks the exams will begin. The biggest pressure comes from the language lessons - those doing syriac are having a difficult time as it is not an easy language to learn. Greek philology is not getting any easier as the more complicated grammatical phenomena is studied. I'm doing my best to follow the philology class, but also am busy reading up on alot of books to prepare for my thesis.

But we do get our breaks - some of the guys go to play football every Saturday afternoon in a field on Mt. Zion; others watch a good movie on CD during the weekends; and me? I write my blog! It's a nice diversion from all the reading and note-taking. And some soft instrumental music in the background helps to sooth the nerves. Guys who go to the Sala Caffe for tea and coffee in the late afternoon stop by my room to chat. Fr Kaswalder (a tyrolese-italian) who's our Old Testament professor and excursion guide, always stops to crack a joke - he always remembers the time when I was first here 15 years ago and talks about my classmates and the crazy times we had back then.

And so a new week starts.......