Grateful thanks

Sincere gratitude to Peter &Madeleine family, Letty, Chris and John, Paulette, Yvonne, Marina, Chris and Whoon, Dr. Fang, the Caveros, Caroline, Gigi and everyone from the St Mark english group who generously shared their goodness with me and our poor. Everything will be done and used according to your instructions.

For specific donations to projects, please visit http://holylandassist.blogspot.com

Catching up

Long time no blog. Had no access to the Internet. Extremely busy. There is less tension in the streets now as the weather cools. And tourist groups begin to slow down. Yesterday was the Saturday before Advent and there was a solemn procession of the religious into Bethlehem for solemn Office of Readings.




The orthopedic doc has diagnosed me with a slipped disc at L5. That explains the horrible sciatica that I'm suffering for the past months. Should get something done about that. Meanwhile the long delayed operation should be moving ahead now .... God willing.

The weather is cold ... no one remembers how cold it was the past years as it is now. And it is pleasant. And the rains have brought a bountiful harvest. Walid holds a monster squash grown in Jericho. And Dragon Fruit is plentiful as well as it is now locally grown. And a vase of lilies was absolutely enchanting.

Hopefully this augurs a lovely Christmas with no problems.

Rain again

Have been haing a very tiring weekend. Lots of activities despite the cramps that I'm suffering for 4 days now. And the rains kept coming. Pretty heavy and cold. The temperature has dropped to an average of 12 degrees every afternoon.

Here're some photos that log the past 4 days activities:

Watched a lovely sunset at Latrun with Chris on their last day here. The rains had jut stopped and the sky was clear. Chris and Whoon were here for over a week now. I'm sure they enjoyed themselves very much. It was good fun to have them around - to laugh around, recall old days, discuss the future.

Made a lunch visit to the St Vincent de Paul orphanage and was surprised to find Firas' new baby there. Both he and his wife was busy working so they leave their baby with the sisters to care during the day. She is such a happy baby!

A lovely bowl of grapes ... the last harvest of the season. They're from the garden of the St Vincent de Paul convent. The grapes were very sweet.



More rain

It's been continuously raining for 4 days now. Wet and cold but we all enjoy. We need the rain. Even Jericho was drizzling. But the harvest was great. Fantastic loads of fruit and veggies.

I've been getting stomach cramps again these few days. Perhaps I've been eating too much. Will have to watch my food!

Thunder storm

Heavy rain yesterday and today. Thunder and lightning. Feels like winter at last. And very very cold!! But it cleared the skies and the city in the night looked like a jewel sparkling in the dark. Sat out watching the sight with Sami an old friend who used to work at Casa Nova Nazareth and Shaadi a security guard from Haifa. Small world - found out he was related to a friar in Jerusalem. Later this evening met up with Sergy and Nadir ... guys whom I knew way back when they were high school kids. Now they're married with kids of their own.

Letty brought two pieces of chat siew. Fantastic!!! Haven't had it for years!! And Paulette cooked mee siam!! Wow! Ate it all!! Unfortunately as the food was not kosher we could not warm it or even keep it in a fridge ... so brought it to the Carmelite nuns who warmed it up so I could eat it. And  Gigi brought TimTams and I finished one pack during the night ... blood sugar flew up sky high ... but I enjoyed it. hahahahaha

Thanks to everyone else for the gifts and thoughts. Despite the storm, it was a lovely day!!!

Busy busy busy

Have been extremely busy for the past few days - friends visiting, meetings ... nothing stops. Rushing from one part of the City to another ... or rushing from one city to another.

Tree of Life mosaic in Hisham's Palace

So Chris and Whoon came over from Singapore. So very good to meet up with them after so many years. We visited Jericho and the ancient sites as well as the several desert monasteries. Also Hisham's Palace which I rarely go to. Joining us were 3 Indian friends - Sundar, Srijit and Tutu. We had a great time - and the Jericho restaurant treated us to a free lunch.

Then we visited Tel Aviv to chill out and get some civilisation. Walked down the Boulevard, had lunch at the Thai restaurant (Char Kway Teow) and a coffee at Max Brenner's. It was really good to catch up with old friends. And to end the day, there was a magnificent sunset at Latrun as our shuttle bus sped through the plains toward Jerusalem.

There were more meetings in the night with various people, as there are many changes in the various schools in Jerusalem. Send of well-wishes, thanks and plans for new projects ... no end in sight. Am utterly exhausted.

The weather forecast is rain this week. There was a brief moment of drizzle but the sun soon came back up. But it is cold. In the nights, it gets biting.

Feast of St. Leo the Great

Yesterday saw the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the Tomb of Rachel - wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Her tomb lies between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, as recorded in the Bible. But today it is like a fortress, surrounded with high walls and heavy security. Some old pictures of the Tomb show how desolated the  land was prior to 1968. http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=245076

Meanwhile an earthquake in the Israeli archaeological world as the govt. passes a bill to allow non-academy scholars to be nominated as head of the Israel Antiquities Authorities. Critics fear this would allow politically-agended people to lead the field of archaeology instead of true objective scholars. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/archaeologists-criticize-new-bill-for-politicizing-israel-antiquities-authority-1.394671

(L-R Paul, Val and John)

And talking about scholars, this year we have more chinese students in Jerusalem - Paul (China) and Valerian (Singapore) study in the Hebrew University while John (China) studies at the Studium Biblicum Jerusalem. Added to this is Pedro, a spanish who speaks perfect taiwanese, also studying at the Studium Biblicum. Nice number that's growing year by year. We had a friendly meeting over lunch, got to know each other, discussed interests, problems and future plans; then took a walk to see the Mamilla Park (once the cemetery of Crusader bishops and martyrs) and the massive Pool built by King Herod. It was a nice get-together.

Today we celebrated the feast of Pope Leo the Great - 5th century pope who was a renowned theologian and famous for his stopping of Attila the Hun from ravaging western europe. He's supposed to be my patron saint, so today we had a big lunch to celebrate. Khalil the cook made makloubeh (rice with veggies instead of chicken) and roasted chicken drumsticks.  had a bit of the rice but got cramps almost immediately. The sisters made two huge apple-crumbles but I couldn't eat it because they used sugar instead of saccharin. Well ... at least the others enjoyed it.

Weatherwise it's cold and gloomy, with a few moments of sunshine. Christmas this year will be cold as it ought to be. That would be a nice change from last year.