Saturday

South Sudan becomes the youngest nation in the world. Good luck to the newest citizens. They deserve this break after years of civil war. Meanwhile fly-in pro-Palestinian protesters were either arrested at Ben Gurion Airport or stopped from boarding at foreign airports. Those who managed to enter caused disturbances in the Qalandya crossing. Tensions are still high and military presence is still stepped up today.

Vasile called from Romania to see if I was ok - he was on an 8 hour train ride with Maria to visit her parents. Well the stomach cramps and diarrhea were really bad this morning, but I'm taking brunch now more regularly - 2 poached eggs. Slowly I'll begin with white rice and some fish for dinner. Let's see how it'll be. I've lost more weight this week - the new pants I got (skinny jeans) 3 weeks ago have all gone loose (and they weren't even yet washed). Need a belt to hold them up.

Found my dear friend William M. at last. We had a long talk this morning on the phone since the last time we saw each other was about 6 years ago. He's still in Rome. Really miss the good old days. This evening Gio Loche, Matapinghu, Luai and myself went out for dinner and remembered William in our conversation. We all miss him. Wish he were with us but that's not possible. Hope he gets to study what he likes.

For dinner, Gio had the souffle for dessert (top) while Luai had the Tiramisu (bottom).