Happy Chinese New Year

Had to go out to the Notre Dame centre this morning to complete some documentation work. The snow was melting under the hot sun. Sludge everywhere and very very slippery. Everyone was shovelling snow off their doors and roofs. And two kids started throwing snowballs at me - gave them a scolding in arabic and they disappeared. All the shops were closed. The park outside Damascus Gate was a blanket of white. The snow was 6 inches deep. Several families were out there taking photos of their kids playing in the snow. And it was so difficult walking uphill to Notre Dame in this snow. Nearly slipped a dozen times.

Anyway crossed the road (2 feet high snow piled up at the side of the road) and reached Notre Dame Centre only to find all the offices were also closed. Aaaahhhh. Trudged back but decided not to go through Damascus Gate because its all downhill now and very slippery. So I took the New Gate instead and wanted to walk through the Old City back home. Was pretty tired walking through snow! Then I remembered to get some crosses from our St Saviour Monastery for Paulette, so made a detour and spent an hour selecting the crosses. Then with 3 huge plastic bags I walked down St Francis Street to the 7th station of the Cross and then down to my monastery.

Well I'm leaving in a couple of hours to the airport to meet the HK group that's coming for a 10 day tour. It'll be fun. I'll be off the blog for the next 10 days so see you on Feb. 10th. Happy Chinese New Year!