1st Day of Hanukkah

Dinner tonight

2nd last day of my prednesone course ... thank goodness. The depression side-effect was awful yesterday and worse today ... as I expected. Happens everytime I take prednesone. And my Telfast course (anti-histamine) is in its 4th day. Ruining my stomach. But the desired effect is good ... no more asthma or bronchitis or allergic swellings and itching. Now it's just left to get my neuroma pain solved.

The last 2 evenings was nice because I had warm fresh food free of fear of allergies. Was at Mandarin's where Ah Ling cooked up white rice and beef/broccoli yesterday, rice and prawns/spinach today. Tomorrow she'll boil chicken herbal soup and Friday it's dumplings.

Last night was the 1st night of Hannukah - the jewish feast of re-dedicating the Temple after it was purified from the abominations committed in it by the Syrian Greeks (Seleucids). It's all written in the Books of the Maccabbees ... read it!

A large Hanukah cadelabra
at Jaffa Gate

However military presence was very very heavy everywhere. There was no usual festive spirit in the streets as in previous years. People are feeling nervous and tense. The recent violence and growing unease between arabs and jews are very palpable. When I got home from Mandarin's yesterday night, there was a large force of soldiers and police at the 3rd Station. All side streets were closed off and guarded by police. As I entered my room, the fighting started. Explosions directly outside my window - arabs firing fireworks at soldiers and soldiers responding with stun grenades and tear gas. It went on for almost an hour. I was lucky I got home safely before it started. Tonight however is very calm. Not a police or soldier in sight. But large groups of arab youths are wandering through the Old City ... like vigilantes. Jews returning from the Wailing Wall for Hanukkah prayers feel threatened but there's no military to protect them. We'll see how the next days develope.  Hanukkah lasts for 8 days ... which ends on our Christmas Day.