.... pro mensa

M. Teresa's sisters'
dinner for today

This afternoon I had an appointment with Dr. John .... our "family" doctor in the Custody. It has been almost 2 years since I had a checkup with him. I usually go directly to the Emergency Ward in hospital ... that's more urgent. Anyway doc insists I go to an allergy specialist in King George street near Ben Yehuda Mall. And he was pretty worried that I eat only 2 pitta bread for my meals. "You're not having enough nutrition" he said. Well luckily these days the chinese sisters and M. Teresa's sisters have been providing me with dinner. Today M. Teresa's sisters cooked basmati rice with onions and tomatoes, and mild curry veggies. I always like such simple food. And since I've still got 2 more days of preaching to do, I hope I'll be provided with 2 more meals!!!!! Nice payment. Keeps me alive.

Things are quite calm here in the Old City today. Thank goodness. Pilgrim groups are still very few except for chinese groups. They seem to be the only ones coming. Many shops have closed because it's not worth keeping the lights on when no one buys anything. It's too expensive. Even restaurants are closing down. One good thing is you don't have to line up to go visit the churches. They're almost always empty.

Tomorrow will be a busy day ... I have to preside at the community Mass at 7am at the Flagellation, then the 9am Armenian Mass at the 3rd Station, then preach the retreat in the afternoon for M. Teresa's sisters. I guess I should sleep early tonight.

I've been trying to avoid the topic of the Olympics but finally I'm giving in. No it's not about Schooling. It's about a Jordanian Taekwando guy who took the Gold Medal ... the first ever medal for Jordan. But his family name is "Abu Ghosh" ... the name of a very large clan that controlled the main entry into Jerusalem for centuries. They have their own village, called Abu Ghosh there as well. The Crusaders considered it Emmaus of Luke's Gospel. Well Israeli newspapers are hailing him as a "local" hero whose roots go back to Israel. But it's going to backfire because the fact that he comes from Jordan points to a historical event in the 1950s when the Israeli army expelled / deported hundreds of arabs from the Abu Ghosh clan to Jordan. To claim him as a local hero is to admit that Israel had forcefully expelled the Abu Ghosh ancestors out of Israel. http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.737670