Bethlehem

The Wall & graffiti 

It was a sudden decision to go to Bethlehem this morning as our sisters had a lot of food which they wanted to give to the poor. The MC sisters in Jerusalem are busy with the parish youth camp and they have no fridge to store food, so I decided to bring it to the MC in Bethlehem. As we passed the checkpoint and along the separation Wall, some bottles fell out of the boxes and we stopped below the Wall to reorganise the boxes. It was the first time I've come so close to the Wall. It is massively high ... and the graffitti are actually very well done ... especially of course the Banksy ones. Anyway mission accomplished. All the clothes and food were delivered and I came back safely. I consider that my morning off. The wide spacious mountains and desert is so refreshing from the concrete jungle which is Jerusalem.

My booze ruqeb

Then it was work in the library and special class. Several times thoughts came about how I wanted to pass this summer ... studying more armenian and arabic, eat at my favourite Thai and Chinese restaurants, leisure walk along the Tel Aviv beach at sunset .... all dreams now ... It'll be another working summer vacation. I try to make it up by sleeping early ... at least I can spend more time sleeping in. Nowadays I sleep at 6 or 7pm skipping dinner ... and have at least 5 to 7 hours of sleep which I lacked during school days. And that is nice. And last Sunday I had my first Booza Ruqeb ... homemade ice cream peddled by vendors walking the streets of the Old City. It didn't taste anything fantastic ... but Booza Ruqeb is a summer institution which the poor people can indulge in. I'm glad I had one.

Meantime saber rattling is the game of the day. The PM threatening Iran because yesterday Iran threatened to attack Israel. We've seen it before and we're not too worried. More immediate danger is the discovery of tunnels from Gaza leading into Israel ... luckily the army destroyed them otherwise terrorists would have been able to infiltrate the country. And local politics are heating up in preparation for September's 2nd election. But that's all bit too much for me ... I'm into vacation mode despite work.

And I still can't find my wallet and bag of notes and cap ..... my memory is really going or gone.