Quiet day

Empty streets in
summer

All is calm in the Old City and surroundings. The streets are quite empty in the mornings as there is no school to attend. Life has slowed down a lot in summer. Those who can afford have gone on holiday ... mainly in Turkey which is cheap; but tours to Thailand are equally cheap and many arabs who have passports and money are already gone. Only kids attending summer camp are seen walking out of the City and waiting for buses to collect them.

Summer camps are a big thing in East Jerusalem. It's a good way to keep the children under watch while parents have to work. The children don't actually stay in camp ... they go in the mornings and come home in the evening. But most camps now are very expensive and you can see the poorer kids still roaming the streets during the daytime. There are different types of camps ... some focussed only on sports, others are a mixture of play and study. My dream is to organise one with a religious theme and sponsor the poorer kids to participate. I'll need the help of our seminarians though ... I'm too old to catch up with the super-active kids.

Char Kway Teow
at Thai House

Work goes on as usual but come August 1st and both the libraries will be closed so I'll have a little more breathing space. Theoretically. Still I hope to fulfil my must-do list. There're a couple of concerts at Sultan's Pool that I want to hear. Can't remember which opera ... but sitting on the opposite hill free-of-charge ... I really don't mind. Another must-do is eat char kway teow at Thai House in Tel Aviv. It's far so I can only do it when I plan a day out there. And when I have the money. It's costly in Tel Aviv.

Then I have to prepare for my operation in October. A little worried. I thought the docs would transplant someone's bone into me ... then our monastery doctor explained that in Israel they have developed artificial bones and they'd use that for the transplant. That's a big sigh of relief.

Well one more day and August starts.