Hebrew fortune cookie

Well if I thought the hectic running up and down was over, I was wrong. Work load left and right. But I could have coped if not for the dreadful pain in my elbows, especially the left one. Haven't slept well all these weeks because the epicondylitis is simply awful. And worse as I rushed up and down to get my work done, I smashed the left elbow twice into the door. Excruciating.

That evening when I had dinner with Emmanuel at Beijing's, there was the usual (sic) chinese fortune cookie delivered with the bill. First fortune cookie I've seen written in hebrew. Well after reading them, we decided to exchange fortunes ... but since Emmanuel's augured a good future, we decided he should keep his as he wants to complete his PhD as soon as possible. See if you can translate mine!

The weather has been erratic ... sunny but cold and cloudy interchanging within minutes. No wonder everyone is sniffling and wiping their noses from cold. You never know what to wear when going out ... too much or too little.

And that may be a problem for tomorrow when Palestinians celebrate "Land Day" - to commemorate Israel taking the land away from them. Like last year, plans are drawn to organise a mass fly-in by hundreds of Palestinians to Ben Gurion airport to swarm it. Palestinian refugees in neoghbouring countries are encouraged to come back and reclaim the land. Those in the territories are planning to march into Jerusalem. Israeli security is on high alert ... but I guess the deciding factor is the weather. Fluctuating hot and cold will drive everyone sick and that might be the deterring factor. Man lose, weather win. Wonder what a hebrew fortune cookie would say to that.

At last!!!

What a day. Went early in the morning 1 km away to get a document to apply for my visa. Got it after 45 mins. Then I couldn't call the visa dept. for an appointment because I had no credit in my phone. All the shops around don't do topups through the internet. So I rushed 1 km up the hill to Arik to get it top-upped. Good to see Arik again ... haven't seen him in 2 weeks. Then in his shop, I got a call to say I must go straight to the visa dept. Though it was closed, they'd informed security to let me in. But I had to go immediately. Ran down the hill 1km to the visa dept. Ran up one floor and went to the counter. The lady said "Too bad. We have no internet line now. You must wait." So I waited. And waited. After 2 hours I was deadly famished so I went down to Meir's Gelateria to eat a waffle. Couldn't get a cappucino because the machine was not working. Set there for another hour. Then went up again to be told the line isn't yet connected. Come back later. So went down to Signora Lelia's photo shop to belly-ache about the system that doesn't work. She fully understood and offered me a cup of coffee to calm me down.

Judas Trees in flower

Decided to go back again to the visa dept. immediately and was told come back later in the afternoon ... no line connection yet. Then rushed home 1km away to use the toilet because my diarrhea wasn't good. There are hardly any public toilets in Jerusalem!!!! Went back to the Visa Dept. 1km away. Finally the computers were connected. Got my visa after a 5 and a half hour wait. Nerve wrecking. And it was freezing cold and raining.

However I snapped a pic of the Judas Trees in front of the Visa Dept. that were flowering. Beautiful sight of violet flowers all over the trees while the branches remained bare of leaves. A small consolation to an otherwise crazy day.

Sushi at Sakura

Later in the evening went out with a friend for dinner at Sakura. Simple meal but it was comforting to be able to relax again. My knees and my feet were painful to say the least after all that running around. A little sushi did alot of good!!! Then we went to Habibi's for a drink and nargile before going home.

It had been a tiring day ... and I'm totally exhausted from the running up and down. Hope this is the last time I have to go through this crazy day again.

Hail again

Mamilla Pool with water

Went back to Kiryat Atidim to collect the rest of my documents. Another US$100 of transport expense, another 3 hour journey back and forth. It's unbelievably expensive living here. And there was a shower of hail in mid-morning while I was traveling. Well rain has been forecast for this week and the sky seems to be right on track. The Mamilla Pool is still filled with water from the rains and snow of the past month. Nice to see it with water again ... it's been dry these several years. It was here that thousands of christians were slaughtered by the Persians in the early 7th century.

Got home and even before I could sit down, got a call to go to Immigration immediately. It's a kilometer away uphill and I rushed up ... only to be told I have to come back tomorrow morning. This is crazy. I was extremely tired and unhappy. Then as I was sitting in the shop of Signora Lelia - catching my breath and complaining to her - got a call from a friend who was coming to the Old City for lunch. He asked me to join him. So I met him in the Muslim Quarter. We had a nice and very local kabab with pita. Then we went for a carrot juice, and then tea and nargile, and then he went to buy coffee beans and olives. And he showed me some sights that I didn't know existed even though I love here only a couple of hundred meters away. Eye-opening! Well this nice afternoon made up for the horrid morning at the bureaucratic inferno.

Road-divider tulips and pansies

The canaries have started nesting - some 12 eggs in all but 4 were later abandoned. Too bad. Hope the rest will hatch as we lost 6 canaries last year to the cold.

Regarding the gangfight, I hear one has gone to jail (one of the two brothers) and others injured have been treated. I think there was a pow-wow yesterday and things are back to normal. So now we wait for the next fight .....

Gangland fight

What a bash up yesterday in front of our front door! Arab thugs hired to bash up two shop-keepers over business rivalry - not that those two shop-keepers are nice people. But in typical Hollywood fashion, about 4.30pm a black van crashed up our street in front of our door, about a dozen young thugs with metal bars and bats jumped out, and bashed up the two shop-keepers and smashed up their shop. Chaos in the streets. Panic. Hundreds of pilgrims got caught up and ran pellmell. We had to close our doors for safety. Tourists trapped in our courtyard were let out from a backdoor. Soldiers and police came in and the thugs fled. What a melee .... A few minutes later I saw another group of young tough thuggies (about 20) coming up to defend the shop. They had their own bats and bars .... and a huge monster pitbull which they chained to the main door of the shop. The street remained tense the whole night and even into this early morning. Most were closed even at their usual opening times. It was only much later that some surrounding shops began opening up a tourist groups flowed in. Well, I think as is usual in these areas, there'll be a pow-wow later when both parties will sit down to discuss a peace deal. Heads of both families or communities will lead the pow-wow over cigarettes and coffee.

Shaqshuka on Annunciation Day

So 20 years have flown by. Very quick. Its the feast of the Annunciation and most people have gone up to Nazareth for the feast.

Mass was celebrated on Mt. Calvary this morning. Several concelebrants: Shi, Johnny, Pedro, Niccacci, Matteo, a guest from South Africa, Fan as deacon. The sisters of Mother Teresa were there, Mara from the Silent Workers, Hidri, Emmanuela from Telepace, Antonio from St. Saviour's, Mila and Huang from the Dominicans, Molly from Singapore and another Singaporean volunteer at Ecce Homo and several other people. Mass was as solemn as you can make it in 25 mins with Gloria, Credo and homily. Remembered you all at Mass there. Gist of the homily: be another angel Gabriel, announce good news to everyone, tell them "Be not afraid! The Lord is with you".

It was good to meet with Sr. Molly again. Knew her back in Singapore some 25 years ago but lost contact all these years. She's doing a sabbatical course at the White Fathers' in St. Anne's (Probatica Pool).

Al fresco breakfast at Kadosh

After Mass we walked to Kadosh Restaurant for breakfast. Can't believe they only asked for croissant and caffe-latte. So I ordered shaqshuka for them. They never tasted it before. It's poached eggs in spiced tomato sauce with bread and pesto. Supposed to be a north african breakfast created during Ottoman times and inculturated into Israel. I think they liked it. As usual I had a sahlab. And no one among them knew what it was. Sigh ... they should come out more often and experience local life and culture.

After breakfast, walked up Ben Yehuda with Hidri to buy some cakes for my kitchen staff (Khalil, Nadia, Firas), the doorman Majed and his sons, and the nuns working at our place. It was an expression of my thanks for their care, concern and hardwork all these years. So I bought a kilo of black forest and cheesecake and another kilo of strudel. Gave some of the strudel to Mother Teresa's sisters on the way home, and they gave me a huge tupperware of pancit that they cooked for me. The staff and nuns enjoyed it. Nadia baked some sfiha (mini-pizzas with lamb meat) for me. I can't possibly eat all that so I split the pancit into two packs, as also the sfiha. One will go to Osvalda, our librarian and best friend all these 20 years. The other pack goes to Camillo, my new friend from Colombia who works as a volunteer at Gethsemani - he has no dinner included in his volunteer package.

Tonight the students at Ratisbonne are organising a party. Will be there at 7pm. They're fantastic guys and I'm sure I'll enjoy the evening with them.

Thanks to everyone for the journey these 20 years. Its been a hard walk, but worth it. No regrets, no regrets.

Borat Borat Borat

Had the best laugh ever! When Kazakh gold medalist took to the podium for the national anthem, they played spoof Borat anthem instead. Hahahahahahahahahaha http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17494812

The group at St. Joseph's

Thanks to the group that offered Mass for me. Tomorrow morning on Mt. Calvary I'll offer Mass for all of you. Thx for journeying with me, all of you. Thx for listening to my constant complaints and aches and pains .... it made the journey more fun and palatable. Thx for laughing with me, crying with me. Thx for being there when I needed it.

It's been a long journey ... and I've made it so far ... across countries, cultures, war and peace. Perhaps its the Borat in me that was my survival kit - outrageous and unconventional, satirical and sardonic ... I think I take the gold medal for that; and you can play Borat's anthem.

Our daily bread

World Water Day was celebrated yesterday. Don't know if you knew that. I did the CNN WWD quiz and failed miserably : 0/10. A little water education is required on my part.

The death of the Toulouse killer leaves more questions than answers. One thing for sure, the fear of individual terrorists is now greater than institutional terrorism. The war on terrorism must change tactics and  strategies if it wants to stay one step ahead.

Boy carrying bread for sale

And while tragedies ebb and flow through our Middle Eastern streets, everyone tries to live as normal a life as possible. Life must go on ... despite the setbacks. I took this pic of a bread-seller carrying his bread out of Herod's Gate to sell for breakfast. Its a daily scene here, but probably a rare sight in your part of the world. I wondered what story that guy had to tell: if his siblings are too poor to continue studies, if a member of his family is addicted to drugs, if he lives in a windowless cistern called a house, if his mother was sick and has no money to pay the medicine bills, if his selling bread is the only means of income to support his family. He is strong, he is young... on his head is not a board full of bread; it is a load of worries, responsibilities and the solution to escape from it all - if only someone would buy the bread first.

A sad piece of analysis on the future of Christians in the Middle East. Ever increasing violence and persecution will eliminate the roots of Christianity, its cradle and hearth. http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-future-looks-bleak-for-middle-east-christians-1.420140  But as if any one else in the rest of the world cares. I think we who live in the Middle East have resigned ourselves to the fact that the Christians in the rest of the world live in their local insulated spheres of belief .... they may be christian but they have lost being "catholic". The sense of universality, collectivity, unity has long been eroded. I wonder what a christian in a wealthy country thinks when he/she says "Give us this day our daily bread"; and what a persecuted christian in the Middle East thinks when he/she prays the same verse. I wonder if "daily bread" means the same thing to both christians.