Another Saturday

So everyone saw the Royal Wedding. Nice wedding gown right? None of the flair of Diana; a little understated and austere: an updated Victorian gown ... and the Queen Elisabeth tiara (late Queen Mother that is) with the tulle veil (just like the Queen Mother on her wedding day) ... it was like a remake of the George VI/Elisabeth wedding all over again! Perhaps that was the message William-Kate wanted to give - back to the good old days when the monarchy was looked up to.

Tomorrow is another big day - the beatification of John Paul II. Celebrations are being prepared here, espcially by our Polish nuns because it's also Divine Mercy Sunday - their feastday. What's happening in your part of the world?

Today it's raining and cold. Weird weather as only a few days ago it was hot and sunny. Influenza time. I got some Acamol (paracetamol) to fight the flu I just caught. And the sisters from the hospital came and said I should expect pain from the operation for some time yet. Some good news huh? ....

Hope you enjoyed the videos of the Holy Week services here. It's really special ... because it all happened here.

Sushi

Well after some deliberation and rangling, Fr Apollinary and I decided to make sushi for my new community the other evening. Actually what pushed us was the food fair in front of our church ... the stall directly opposite us is Kyoto - the Japanese sushi restaurent chain. Apollinary wanted to prove that we can do better than them - all Kyoto's cooks are israelis or arabs. (Apollinary is Polish!)

We walked about 5 km just to find the shop that sells stuff to make sushi - the rice, vinegar, bamboo roller; then off to the market to buy veggies and salmon. After 4 hours of preparation, we finally came up with Maki, Inari and Nigiri (I made the last two types). Our small community had great fun eating it ... no one got food poisoning ... and we all thought it was much better than Kyoto's.

 And this is the result - actually these are leftovers for Fr. Eduardo who came late for dinner.

Fr Arturo demonstrates how to eat sushi with one chopstick. He says it's an art which even the Japanese don't know!

Easter Sunday

At the Holy Sepulchre

Holy Saturday (April 23)

The Funeral Service on Mt. Calvary


The Easter Vigil at the Tomb of Christ

Good Friday

The Way of the Cross



At Golgotha

Holy Thursday

Pilgrimage to the Last Supper Room




Mass of the Lord's Supper

Holy Wednesday - At the Pillar of the Scourging

The 5th Station of the Cross

Good Friday Collection

Lost in space

Terribly hectic few days. Wednesday evening was the Lenten Pilgrimage Mass of the Condemnation Chapel ... missed it because I was so tired after class at 4pm I fell asleep till 8.30pm. The Mass was at 5pm.

I don't know what happened on Thursday ... only vague ideas. I remember studying hard in the afternoon. Everything seems so hazy ... like I'm being drugged. It's like being lost in space. Oh yes ... I was out at the pet shop to exchange my best singing male canary for 2 females. That was in the morning. And in the evening I finally decided to go to the Chinese Restaurant and visit the staff as I have not been there for over 2 months. Everyone was shocked to see how thin I became. Ah Ling the manageress was crying and angry that I did not inform her of the operation. She kept saying that I have no family here in Israel and so the chinese community is surrogate and will take care of me when I am sick, but I did not inform them. Por Por was terribly upset - she was actually trembling - and started boiling chinese soup for me to strengthen my constitution. Such a booha ... I was pretty embarrassed because there were many other guests at the restaurant. Anyway they are forcing me to come over in the evening to pick up soup and other stuff ... otherwise they'll send someone to come over with it.

Well today is much better. It's Friday and the streets are full of muslims going to prayers. As the Jewish Passover is a couple of days away, the streets are full of soldiers. Jews will be cleaning out their houses of leaven today because tomorrow is Sabbath and they cannot work. Monday night begins the Passover meal. Was out at my friend's place to help do some translation work. Walked home about a km. and my pants started falling down ... man ... I must be really thin!!!! I had to hold on to it with one hand and carry my bag with the other ... so embarrassing. And all the while waves of pilgrims were coming in the opposite direction making the Way of the Cross. I was very thankful that I wasn't carrying a cross at that time.

Today we received the horrible news that an Italian activist (pro_palestinian) was killed by an extremist muslim group in Gaza. Vittorio Arrigoni freely went to Gaza to help support the Palestinian cause but was murdered by the very people he wanted to help. Such utter ingratitude ... such horrendous morals of a purportedly "religious" group. There is a God and He will punish. Hamas must not leave any stone unturn to seek redress and justice for an innocent man's life. Vittorio is a martyr; he was murdered not because of any political reason, he was murdered simply because he was a christian. I want to hear some authoritative muslim voices condemning this evil, ungodly act of violence. St Michael the Archangel, protect the Church especially in Gaza ...

Sr Immaculata OCD - R.I.P.

The weather is playing up again - 15 degrees, drizzle, cold and gusty but the sun is beating down like anything. Lots of people will be sick.

The Jewish Passover will fall on our Holy Tuesday. Shops are selling matza (unleaven bread) and detergents to rid houses from leaven. Police and military presence has been stepped up everywhere. Things are tense, to say the least.

I'm still suffering pain once a day and still no appetite. I use to wear size 33-34 pants, now I'm wearing 28-29. Had to buy 2 pairs of pants as a result. The eyes are still swollen and yellow, which the docs diagnose as things are still not running smoothly internally. 2 more months to go ....

Saturday morning a good friend, Sr Immaculata, a Carmelite of the Nazareth monastery, died. God rest her soul. She was a Filipina nun who loved cooking for me; and I enjoyed her food (talking about 15 years ago). Since then she suffered several strokes and finally bedridden for over a year. She was a fiesty character who spoke the truth bluntly but always with a smile. You cannot not like her. Sr Immaculata was in her late 70s. Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. may she rest in peace.

Here's Beckham's miracle kick into 3 dustbins 50 m. away.

Pilgrimage to the Garden of Gethsemani

Pilgrimage to the Dominus Flevit Sanctuary

Lent in the Holy Sepulchre

Baptism Day

Another earthquake in Japan ... 7.4 magnitude. CNN is reporting it live right now and we're all glued to the news. Earlier there was an earthquake in Mexico ... several hours previously. Where is this leading us? What is God telling us?

The tension in the City is still high. Military presence in every corner. They must have some intelligence warning or something because it was never so tight before. Gaza fired more missiles into Israel, hurting 2 in a school bus. But Israel deployed its Iron Dome Defense System that successfully intercepted 2 rockets. It's the first time its been used, so that's a great success.

Meantime started reading up on my thesis again ... french books, german books, italian books ... my brains are going upside down. Have to collate and evaluate all these material and come up with a logical essay.

Someone remembered I was baptised today 48 years ago! Fantastic memory! I was 4 days old! Deserve a delphinium!!!!

Pilgrimage Day

Amazing to know that I'm quite good at cooking Pad Thai, Tom Yam and a couple of Thai dishes. Problem is I can't eat any of it. A thai lady came to taste and said I did it just the way she likes it - not too spicy and sour.

Anyway the rigours of Lent are in place. Every Wednesday one of the sanctuaries commemorating the Passion of Christ celebrates solemnly a Mass where the Gospel is sung in 3 parts by 3 voices (bass, tenor and alto). Today it's our Chapel of the Flagellation. Incense and candles everywhere. Next week it'll be the Condemnation chapel next door. These celebrations are known as "pilgrimages" whereby the local Church makes a pilgrimage to one of these sanctuaries during its feast to proclaim solemnly the Gospel event that took place there.

The vomiting, pain and diarrhea has passed today. I'm feeling better but tired.  Need to rest but some people are pushing me to study ... which I guess is good. Thanks for the medicine - Ramona and Kath.

Sadly one of our best actors Juliano Mer Khamis was murdered in Jenin a couple of days ago. He's of arab-israeli descent and his roles serve as a bridge between the two cultures and peoples as his real life portrays. When will senseless violence end? Today security was very tight in and around the City. Soldiers in every corner. I wonder what's happening as I've not received news about imminent violence in our area. But I'm not staying around to find out.

Delphiniums at last

Los more greetings and well-wishes even today. Yesterday evening Benoit's (the HK Sem. College group is sponsoring his studies) dad came over and brought a huge birthday cake. Of course I couldn't eat it, so I gave it to the workers in the library and kitchen to share. They were very happy. And the HK group came yesterday with some pieces of cake as well - very embarassing because they started singing the birthday song in our courtyard while other groups were making the Way of the Cross.

In the evening I had a lovely simple dinner of Sashimi with a very good friend. That went well and didn't upset my stomach. After that we walked up the hill Ketef Hinnom opposite the Old City to see the lovely sight - the ancient City walls all lit up. It was something I have never seen despite all the years here.

This morning woke up at 3am to prepare to go to the airport because the Singapore group was arriving to bring stuff over for me. It was raining and very cold. Met with their guide Anton whom I knew for some 20 years now and we chatted while waiting for the grp to arrive. The two baggages weighed some 18 kgs - heavy ... and I' not supposed to carry heavy things for another 2 months. Had to do it anyway. Took the shuttle bus back and walked some distance in the rain before getting some help to carry them back home.

Got back at 12.30pm and got terribly sick - nausea and dizziness and vomiting. Still feeling sick.

Anyway to cheer up, I finally get to see Gigi's delphiniums (besides the TimTams!!!)

That's Gigi's youngest daughter Jane Frances with the delphiniums.

A photo of the delphiniums with the delightful girl.

Thanks

Sincere thanks to the Hong Kong Fr. Fan Group and Singapore Faith Tours group for their generosity in helping out. Also to the following: Theresa Lim, Lena Tan, the Tse family, Susannah Chua, Paulette, Yvonne, Irene, Angela Lee, Agnes Chiu Lee, David Lin, Rose Chiu, Tse Ling Ling, May Yu, my mum and sis, Chris Chua, Daniel and Vivien Lee, Ramona, Kath Malone and many others. Received all your gifts and medicines. Will be praying for all of you for your kindness.

April 4th

Thanks for all the well-wishes and greetings on this otherwise cold, wet day in Jerusalem - they were a bit of sunshine ... and for the delphimiums freshly cut from the garden by Gigi that I will never get to see; and the card from Hessler who's always attentive on such details (nice lilac colour I must say), and the delightful ecard from Kris and .... everything else.

I decided to have a full breakfast (so far it's only been half a cup of milk which makes up my main meal) this morning - being the 5th Monday after the op. Yes, I managed to borrow some money to treat myself (if you haven't yet know, I was totally bankrupt the last 2 weeks) for this breakfast - had boiled eggs, half a sausage, a couple of pastries, coffee and fruit ... and everything came out almost at once. My stomach isn't ready for food yet. The managers of the restaurant (at Legacy Hotel) whom I know well, insisted on treating me to this breakfast (so I didn't get to pay after all). All the cooks came out to greet me as well. Too bad the free breakfast had to be thrown up so soon. Wasn't a very nice gesture of appreciation ... but I hope they understood my health situation.

Will be spending the rest of the day studying as usual. And for the many requests for funny videos, here's a couple more to celebrate April 4th. Enjoy!



Dialogue translation:

man : hi i'm here to pickup Som (my girlfriend) thinking about going to the temple.

dad : (look at the wheel) i'll tell her.

(after drive off and take off the disguise)

man : adults these days are sure easy to fool.

dad : ...(look at the wheel)

narrator : the wheel speaks for itself.

and finally

4th Sunday of Lent

Jet fighters have been flying overhead the whole morning - even right now. Must be bombing Gaza again. The City is still tense and under Red Alert. Soldiers and police are stationed at every corner. But the weather these few days were excellent and lots of people wanted to go out and walk and picnic, so things are a little confusing: with uneasy light-heartedness masking the fear of a terrorist attack.

The forecast is cold and wet again the next few days. That also means more people getting sick as well. The temperature has fluctuated too much.

The past 2 days have been much better for my post-op pain. If I haven't yet mentioned, I've lost 8 kgs so far and looks like more is on its way. Need new clothes now as everything looks like a sack thrown over. I've still got 2 more months before I can go heavy work, but actually I've already been moving some things around when no one is available to help - that could be the cause of the terrible pains I've been having.

Today's Gospel reading is very long. It's the healing of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam. That's less than a km. south of our place. Right now the place is full of conflicts as the once arab territory is now taken over by the Israelis. If you know the political situation of Siloam right now, you would appreciate the question of the Gospel regarding true eyesight and faith.

Earthquake!

Yesterday afternoon an earthquake of 6 on the Richter Scale in Crete (800 km away) shook Israel as well. Terrifying moment for everyone - and the newspapers and govt. institutions are all asking if the country is prepared for a major direct hit which we are all expecting. Don't know if it's linked but our Internet service were all haywire yesterday afternoon.

And it was a Friday of deaths. Innocent UN officials killed (beheaded) by Afghani hoodlums and rioters. Israel bombs Gaza and kills 3 who were suspected of plotting kidnappings of Israelis in the coming Passover celebrations. More killed in Syria and Libya.

Despite all this, I managed to spend 6 solid hours working on my paper without a break. Totally exhausted by evening. Will try and spend today doing the same.

April's Fool

March is gone, April is in. A quarter of the year has flown passed. There's nothing much happening here because April Fool's pranks haven't caught on in this part of the world.

Anyway here's sharing some videos to tickle your funny-bones on April Fool's Day.