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| Russian Orthodox hostel |
Another uneventful day weatherwise. The sun was shining and the temp. reached 18 degrees. Most of the bulbs are flowering ... which is a sure sign that the cold spell is over. The tourist crowds are coming back. Mostly asians though ... they seem to be the only ones with money nowadays. Europeans are a rarity with the exception of some german groups. The Cypriots are coming in droves, as are east europeans and russians. Its the Orthodox Lent and they usually come to spend Lent here till Easter. Since they only eat boiled veggies and water for 40 days, they're not likely to help the economy much ... except for the crosses that they buy. The huge monasteries in the Russian compound, confiscated and occupied by Israeli authorities since the war, have partly been restituted to the Russian Orthodox church. Built a century ago, these huge buildings served as both hostels for pilgrims and monasteries for monks and nuns. The famous tower now flies the Russian Orthodox flag - a sure sign they've repossessed the building.
Well to say that it was uneventful today is not really true. I was boiling mad. The secretary of the Consul General here who was supposed to help my application for a new passport did nothing with my application, went on a month long vacation, told no one about it and now I'm stuck with a big problem. She came back to work today and I called her and she had the cheek to tell me to send my application directly to Singapore on my own! What the heck? She's getting paid by S'pore taxpayers' money but she's not doing her job for Singaporeans here in Israel??? You guys out there ought to go and complain to the MFA. Yes I'm still boiling mad!
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