Sahlab

My 1st Sahlab this year

 The Minister General's visit has kept us all very busy. There were processions and meetings and discourses all through to Sunday. Now that he has returned to Rome, our Visitator General will come this week to start a one-to-one meeting with all of us, in order to vote for a new Custos or re-elect the present one plus electing a new government for the next 6 years. This preparatory stage will last 4 to 5 months before the actual Chapter (elective meeting) actually takes place. Then once this is confirmed, there will be changes to our work and residences.

On Sunday, a good and longtime friend invited me and the chinese sisters out for tea. We had sahlab - the turkish beverage served in winter. It's made from orchid root mixed with milk and rose syrup. It's a tradition for us to have sahlab as a sign that we're in winter. And it's quite cool ... afternoons are only 20 degrees and nights go down to 12 degrees. It's very humid and it feels like there'll be rain any moment though it never rains.

News locally brings lots of tense moments. Israel bombed syrian military spots but Iran sent in aircraft to intercept. Looks like a direct conflict with Iran is inevitable. Jewish settlers have continued to attack arab olive pickers, destroying trees and property while Israeli soldiers did nothing to prevent them. This yearly violence is growing worse. And in Silwan a village south of the Old City, an arab family was evicted by Israeli soldiers so that a jewish family could occupy it. Violence broke out and police are stopping arab youths in the streets and checking on their IDs to make sure they're not trouble makers. Hence there's so much tension in the air right now.

I'm easily exhausted and have not been feeling very well. I guess I should go get the colonoscopy done ... so I'll have to find someone to babysit Buddy and JJ.