Christmas gatherings

Chinese dinner

We had a nice evening get-together for Christmas ... the chinese priests and religious in Jerusalem. There're not many of us ... about 10. Not all could join in. But we had Mass in the Casa Nova chapel and then dinner at the IHM convent. The sisters prepared northern dumplings which I love .... and southern chinese hotpot. Simple fare but very filling. We chatted alot, catching up from the past 6 months that we haven't met qs a community. I did pity the sisters though as they had alot of washing up to do.

After dinner I gave them a small present each ... a small panettone with a baby Jesus made from clay. It's very well done by the nuns in Bethlehem and it's very cute. Everyone loved it. Sr. Magdalen gave everyone a bar of chocolate. And of course we had to organize for the next gathering which will be on Chinese New Year. It's very early on Jan 25th which is a Saturday. And everyone seems to be busy. We'll have to reach a compromise.

Earlier on in the day our library staff also gathered for a simple Christmas exchange of greetings. Almost all 8 staff made it. We had panettone and a home-baked cake and lots of relax time to chat. It's good to show some appreciation for their hard work and I'm sure they all liked it.

But outside there was tension on the southern border with Gaza. They fired rockets into Israel again ... twice ... and each time Israel resounded by bombing their weapons storages. And the anti-arab attacks also continued with 2 arab cars burnt by jewish extremists with threats scrawled on walls. Things are not looking good.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-two-cars-set-ablaze-hateful-slogans-sprayed-in-west-bank-hate-crime-1.8292801?fbclid=IwAR3vKw1P-vB6yA9iGVY9jU2UwRZqVPOtVYezuIv-Im0Z7n_eEy5FP_4uaRc