End of school year

Lilies in bloom

It's the last week of school for us. Lots of reports and last minute stuff to do. But it won't end there. When professors and students go home for summer, we in the library have to work extra hard ... moving sections of books, stock checking etc.... Somehow I'm not looking forward to summer.

But there are a few perks ... like in 2 weeks' time there'll be the annual Light Festival. I do like that ... walking through the Old City at night seeing the many fantastic light shows. Last year it was a lot smaller ... only half of what it used to be ... covering only the jewish and armenian quarters. Let's hope this year it'll be larger.

Hollyhock in a crevice

Last night Iw went to say goodbye to some of my students. They defended their theses in the morning and in the evening organised/cooked a farewell dinner. It was good to see them for the last time. Next week they'll return to their countries and be ordained priests. Another generation. 4 years of studies here over. They struggled to live here, live in a new environment, study in a new language ... there were many difficult moments ... but in the end they all said they'll miss Jerusalem. It's a unique City. They reminded me of the wild hollyhock I saw this morning high on the wall of the Austrian Hospice. It was growing out of a little crevice on the wall .... hardly if any soil or water, yet it was a meter tall and flowering beautifully. My students are like that ... struggling with studies and daily issues in a foreign country, homesick ... but still doing well in the end. Proud of them.

Tensions in the Old City seem to be over. Much less police presence now. But while tensions abate in one place, another ignites somewhere else. Yesterday there was a gunfight between Israeli soldiers and palestinians in Nablus (Samaria). What next?  https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Fire-exchange-between-IDF-and-Palestinian-forces-in-Nablus-Report-592115?fbclid=IwAR2xzNPSR6mAwQqbqDTnQiUyhBM2patr95lr9I8-5u45fLkh0oorGWbiKwQ