1st week of Ramadan

Muslim woman begging

We're well into the 1st week of Ramadan. The canon that is fired to announce the start of each day's fast wakes us all at 4am. It's so loud the windows shake when it's fired. I get a heart-attack each time I don't wake before 4am from this massive explosion. It's fired again at 8pm to signal the end of the fast each evening. Summertime is not good for fasting as daylight lasts for 13 hours or more. And the heatwave this week is making fasting very difficult. Well one thing good is the streets are very empty during the day and most shops are closed for business. Beggers on the otherhand are everywhere asking for alms from the thousands of muslim pilgrims flooding the City.

Within 2 weeks, 2 babies have died because they were left in the car and forgotten by their parents. Very tragic ... but when the econ situation is so bad and people have to work 2 jobs, they get very tired ... and with the heatwave ... they lose their memories temporarily and babies die in the super-heated cars.

I've been suffering from cramps and diarrhea as usual. Been experimenting with different foods to see what I can eat ... but the most soothing is chocolate milk which is expensive and ... gives me diarrhea. But I still take it because it soothes the ulcers in my tummy. Summer is not good for meats .. it's hard to digest ... at least for me.

Archaeology-wise it's a good season. The first ever sphinx was discovered in Hazor and the first ever evidence from the Davidic-Solomonic era (the rim of a jar with inscription) was discovered in Jerusalem. Perhaps more to come later this summer?