Mooncake festival

Mid Autumn full moon

Friday passed without incident in the Old City ... and I stayed away from the Muslim Quarter to avoid any trouble. Some friends in Tel Aviv have offered a room for me to stay till I feel better and things quieten down. It's very nice of them ... and I might just take up their offer.

The moon was wonderfully full and bright yesterday for the Mid Autumn festival. Our small chinese catholic community gathered in the afternoon for a short recollection preached by a chinese priest studying here for a month. Several migrant workers in the Jerusalem area also came to join us. It was a nice gathering and the jesuits where very kind to let us use their chapel and garden for Mass and gathering.

Moon cakes and tea

Later we went for a Mid Autumn dinner at Mandarin Restaurant. Ah Ling the owner was very kind and cooked up 2 extra dishes free of charge apart from what we ordered. We had only 2 mini-mooncakes among the 11 of us but we all appreciated that. It was a great gathering and Ah Ling cried as she joined us for the mooncakes because she too has no family and is alone here. She said she finally felt part of a family with the catholics.