Of snow and snakes

Heavy snow last night. Went out to the terrace at 4am to check the scene - 2 to 3 inches of snow. And now the sun is up but the snow is not letting up. Check out the photos on the right.

As the exams are now over, most of the students are going out to take photos especially at the Wailing Wall. Now I can hear alot of noise above me - they're shovelling the snow off the terrace otherwise it gets too heavy and our roof collapses! I had to get the snow off the bird cage as well. None have died so far despite the cold.

Yesterday dinner was interesting because the conversation went back to the meaning of "Be gentle as doves and wise/prudent as snakes". Two days back Fr Pazzini (Syriac professor sitting on my left) brought this up and asked why prudent? That's the Italian translation of the verse. Fr Bissoli (New Testament professor) said it's a mistranslation. It should be intelligent or wise. Fr Vuk (Akkadian/Ugaritic professor) said it's not intellectal wisdom but rather alert or aware of its surroundings. Snakes are pretty aware of their surroundings lest they get stepped on. So the conclusion seems to be that we should be gentle as doves but not that simplistic, naive type of being nice. Rather we should be aware of our surroundings, be alert - maybe to the needs of those around us - it's consciously and actively being gentle, not passive.

Yesterday I had a scolding from Fr Niccacci living next door because I spoke too loudly during the video-conferencing lesson and disturbed his siesta. So from now on I'll have to speak quietly, like maybe put the mic closer to my mouth. Hhhhmmmm so I think I wasn't as alert as a snake should be.