Saturday

Sunrise

It feels almost like summer if you judge by the time of sunrise. This morning I was surprised to see the sun rising at 5.17am. Really early .... but the very cold wind tells me Spring is reluctant to leave. My weather forecast website say 8 degrees but Praveen says his site knotched 4 degrees. It certainly feels like it. People are all wrapped up despite the lovely sun shining now. Crispy and cold.

Fan, Huang, Shi & Kang (L-R)

This morning was a crazy rush of activities. Hate it especially when you have implant and elbow problems. Had a class, meantime a guest came, then an emergency call came. Finally had time to go out to lunch with the chinese group of students. We're getting quite a big group - Fan who's a permanent deacon from Ottawa but originally from Hong Kong; Huang a layman from Montreal but originally from ShanDong; Shi from Hebei and Kang who's originally spanish but is now 18 years in Taiwan. I hear there's also a Singaporean student around but I couldn't contact her. Lunch was at Legacy's since the whole of West Jerusalem is closed due to Sabbath. I couldn't eat anything as I felt very unwell. Just had a small bowl of mushroom soup.

Yesterday's Marathon went well despite the heavy shower of hail and rain at 10am. Many braved the awful weather and completed most of the 32 kms. Security was tight as only yesterday a soldier was stabbed on the Light Rail.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=262119

Meanwhile tensions were high in some parts of the country as Palestinians demonstrated right after noonday prayers. Some were injured, one by a police dog (Belgian shepherd) who refused to let go.  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/several-injured-in-friday-west-bank-demonstrations-1.419118