Break

Soldiers at Bab Hutta in
our quiet street

Managed to squeeze a short break last weekend to rest in my other community in Jaffa. It's always nice to get away from Jerusalem - away from the racial and religious tensions which seem to be growing this week. That's probably because the Jewish New Year is this Friday, followed by Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) a week later, and then the 8 day Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles / Tents) the following week. Police and soldiers have stepped up their presence since yesterday. They're expecting trouble ... as they do every year this time. And rightly so. Usually jews will try to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque area and symbolically try to pull down the mosque in order to rebuild the Temple. This inevitably will lead to muslims throwing stones and israeli soldiers firing back in retaliation. Then the riots will spill out of the mosque esplanade into our streets. Happens every year.

Fresh sea breeze in the morning

Anyway a couple of days by the sea is good. No air pollution so I can breathe better. And I get an appetite ... so I do eat 2 meals a day ... hot meals at that. And talking about hot food ... the doctors think they know why I'm suffering from diarrhea most of the time. I probably caught an infection after the operation but because I eat cold leftovers, it caused the bacteria to continue spreading in the tummy thus the diarrhea. The docs fear this may lead to stomach cancer. I really don't know ... just that it's too troublesome to warm up cold leftovers at midnight when I have some time to eat. Maybe I should stop eating all together. And my feet still hurt and the docs continue to tell me to go to a podiatrist.

An ethiopic bride striking
a pose for me

Back to seaside ... a morning walk down to the bakery is pleasant. Warm salty sea breeze, several people jogging or riding bikes or swimming. In the afternoon, lots of couples taking wedding photos in the garden opposite our church. Jews, muslims and christians come to this scenic spot when Pharoah Ramses II built a triumphant gateway some 3000 years ago.

Then on Sunday it's back to work as usual. All through to today. Despite the short break, I'm already feeling tired again. Some fo the shopkeepers opposite our house tell me to slow down ... it appears that I'm burning out ... again. Well let's hope I can spend Rosh haShana this Friday back by the sea again.