01/01/2012

The New Year began on a very cold note. Here's the 1st photo of 2012 - the Jerusalem Light rail! The New Year is not celebrated here as there is a Jewish calendar in effect that regulates Israeli life. So traffic was as usual. I had to go out and buy a bulb for my lamp and took the pic on the way. Everyone was doing everyday stuff in the City. Nothing special. But I'm used to it. There was some small fireworks at midnight but it wasn't exciting, I was told. I was already asleep then. But before I went to sleep I managed to snap the last photo of 2011 - the half moon over Christmas decorations. Somehow it was very evocative ... like here we are heading for another new year but the moon remains the same ... almost laughing at us for counting time.

So what happened yesterday ... the last day of 2011. Actually I was in Jericho to see the physiotherapist. Needed some adjustment on my neck (spondylosis) and my slipped disc on L5 which were causing too much pain to sit, walk or stand. It went ok. The pain was relieved from the L5 so the sciatica was "solved" for the moment. But the doc said I need to come back 3 more times at least. Now I must sit real straight otherwise there'll be pain in the neck and back.

After that I went to say hi to my friends in Jericho - Alaa and Mutasem my best buddies, Muhammed the deaf guy who talks to me on the phone through a friend, Haytham who just returned from a holiday in Cairo. It was good to be with them. But it was very cold even by Jericho standards so I came home and rested in bed most of the evening to relief the stress on the back and neck.

Earlier on the way out to get my transport to Jericho, I saw a baby mouse climbing up a wall. It was very very small ... about 4 cm. It climbed up almost 2 meters before falling down. Then it started climbing up again. What a lesson in determination! Good lesson for the New Year.

Well most of the guys are not at home for the New Year. So the house is pretty quiet. Last night we were given our patron saints for 2012. Mine is St. Teresa Benedicta (aka Edith Stein), the Jewish philosopher who became a Carmelite nun and was killed by the Nazis. My virtue to cultivate for 2012 is "Love your enemies". The biblical phrase for 2012 is Lk 6:27-28. And I must pray for Fr Johannes Simons, the german superior of Bethlehem during the siege who died several years ago.