Events

View from Schmidt College

Yesterday ought to have been a normal visit to the hospital ... but I was caught in a monstrous traffic jam that lasted 3 and a half hours. It was unbelievable ... It makes one wonder why new highways are not being constructed to ease the north-south traffic. Anyway the doc's analysis of the CT scan was inconclusive and he wants more tests. I dread it. The journey home was a lot easier but the entire event started from 1.30pm and I reached home at 9.30pm.

Homegrown potatoes

Yesterday was also the start of Nablus Road Open Days ... 3 days to be exact ... when institutes song Nablus road open their doors and allow people to discover what's behind the high walls and closed gates. It is a good neighbourhood-building exercise when muslims get to see inside christian churches and monasteries, and learn of their history from palestinian institutes such as theatre and art centers and historical buildings. Today I visited the first 4 institutes closest to Damascus Gate ... all catholic institutes. For once in my life I entered Schmidt College ... the huge castle-like building directly in front of Damascus Gate. The view from the terrace was marvelous. Hope I can get to see the rest of the institutes tomorrow which is the last day. This year saw a record number of institutes participating.

We had a nice surprise this morning when Sr. Amrutha dug up lots of potatoes she planted under the lemon tree. Some were surprisingly big. I did a lot of gardening this morning ... in fact all morning. The messy courtyard behind the sacristy which is also the main entrance of our campus is finally looking decent. I also celebrate a mass at 6am in the Empty Tomb with my students who will return home on Sunday for their ordination. It was our last Mass together. In the evening I had another Mass with the sisters of Ivrea in a village outside the Old City towards the Kidron Valley. All in all it was a very eventful day.