Rain

 It rained all of Friday night and the whole Saturday saw lots of drizzle, the rains resumed in the night. And it was cold. People say there'll be heavy snow this year. I'm a sceptic. With so few rainy days I don't see how the formation of snow and graupel can take place. Still strange things do take place in this country.

Konkani Mass

Fortunately I had work in other cities yesterday, celebrating Masses for different migrant communities in Jaffa, Tel Aviv and Herzliya. It was very tiring traveling back and forth for over 6 km. But I made it safely through the cold and rain shuttling from one city to another.

The Konkani Masses were crowded despite the weather. Pastoral experience with them is very rewarding. The migrant catholics outnumber local catholics by almost 3 to 1. 

Briyani and yoghurt

The Konkani community prepared briyani and spicy cucumber yoghurt. It was fantastic comfort food after a long day's work on a very cold and wet day. I must say these might communities take good care of their chaplains. They themselves have only one day vacation a week yet they spend time cooking for their chaplains and coming to Mass which takes one hour, but traveling may take up to 2 hours because it's the Sabbath and there are no public transport. They have to travel by private taxis and minibuses that charge double on Sabbath.