Help?

Can anyone help me acquire a couple of bottles of this medicine? Thanks

Herbalgy Touch: pain
relieving liniment

Of quirks and idiosyncrasies ...

What is it with arabs from Jerusalem? They, and only they, will say "sini" ("chinese") at me as if I don't know that already. So take the case of last night in Tel Aviv. Hundreds of tourists and local Israelis passed me by, but one had to stop and say "sini" at me like as if in a zoo. My fed-up response was "yaaa arabi" ("hey arab!") to him back. So he got shocked that I could speak arabic. So he said again in arabic "You're chinese right?" and I asked back "And you're arab right?" and I added "You must be from Jerusalem", and he got even more surprised and said "Yes how did you know?" ..... like is there any other dead giveaway???? Only Jerusalemite arabs say that "sini" stuff as if seeing a martian. I don't get it and I won't even try.

A typical road in the Old City
If only life could be so
easy and straight without
any quirks

So I had to go see my physiotherapist yesterday afternoon in Tel Aviv (actually Ramat Gan) as my neck and shoulder problem was getting worse. I couldn't even lift up my left arm. For 2 full hours my physio adjusted my shoulders and neck and analysed the different pains I had in my joints as all interconnected. "One millimeter of mis-adjustment in the foot would result in a centimenter shift in the neck" he said ... and that made sense. Anyway it was good because after that I could lift my left arm and even touch my toes.

With the physical pain gone, I now had to deal with psychological trauma - the workers who were supposed to come to do the renovation had again failed to come and start work. It's the 3rd day running that they promised to come but didn't. What is it with these arab workers? They have an allergy to work? I can't take these quirks anymore .....

Bomb scare

Police blocking the road

The road from the 3rd Station up to our door was closed off last night because of a suspected bomb. No one could pass through ... and I was returning home after a farewell dinner for Leonardo. Got stuck there. Talked to the police and finally convinced them that it's only a short distance. The police told me "Run! Hurry!" And the arabs standing around were all cheering and shouting "run run". I was the only one allowed to pass through. A Greek Orthodox monk who came out was told by the police to go back in. And a couple of our friars coming out were also told to return back. Actually I wasn't sure what was happening as they never explained why the road was closed. But I noticed an arab friend standing among the crowds so when I got home, I called him to ask what was happening. He laughed and said "bomb! bomb!"

That's life here ... so reminiscent of the 1st and 2nd Intifada. Never a dull moment.

Exhausted

I worked like hell ... believe me. With only half a medium pizza to last me 36 hours, and moving 2500 volumes of books and manuscripts ... believe me, I've reached the end. I'm so tired and exhausted. And it was worse because there was this arab guy who's contracted to work 5 hours a day for 5 days a week; but he actually comes 3 days a week and works 3 hours a day. And he was supposed to help me move these books. Every 2 hours he went out to smoke and have a coffee while Hidri and I worked flat through with no break. I'm going to fire him. He won't last a day in Asia. This kind of crap can only exist here in the Middle East.

Happy Amir with his new outfit

Well at least one guy is happy today - little Amir. He got to join the summer camp for young footballers and was chosen from out of thousands to be in the training camp. He got a new outfit for the camp including shoes. Now that's one happy boy ... and you should know he comes from a very poor family with no luxuries. He's the 2nd son of our doorkeeper.

The moon was gloriously full last night. Many people noticed this ... it was so bright it lit up the City like it was day. If only my days were just as bright ... now with all this frantic work in progress.

Thomas the doubter

So today we celebrated the feast of Thomas the Apostle, better known as the doubter. Actually one should be more sympathetic to him, as it surely must have been difficult under those circumstances to believe in anything.

Landmark carob tree chopped into
little pieces

And if he had to go through the pressures that I had to go through today, he'd probably throw up his hands in the air and gave up. I never had such a crazy day as I had today - workers suddenly showing up and wanting to work while everything was not yet ready. I had to round up an emergency crew to clear p as much stuff as possible so that initial minimal work can get started on the renovation. Ran out to the New City 3 times to get extra keys done. Then everything else is blanked out ... too exhausted to remember anything. Started work at 4am and only finished work at 6pm ... so that says alot. Totally stressed. Felt like the old carob tree that was felled in Independence Park - totally in pieces.

Anyway managed to relax a little when a friend called me out to chat. Change of atmosphere and mood. Had a lemonade and shared an anchovy pizza with him. He works for the UN in the Territories and has lots of interesting stories to tell.

So Thomas was totally stressed and his doubts ... but who can blame him? Welcome to the real world.

The big picture

Outspoken and unconventional rabbi Eliezar Berland calls for intervention in Syria to "save the Ishmaelites" - "even though some may grow up to be terrorists".  http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/yeshiva-head-calls-for-intervention-in-syria-to-save-ishmaelites-1.448289

Dinner: spaghetti alio/olio
what's left of it

And a disturbing video of Israeli soldier kicking a 9 yr old arab boy while another holds him.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=276003   Mind you, you should also remember that the soldiers are under alot of pressure in Hebron; and arabs are known to kill their daughters for going out with the wrong guy, wrong clothes, wrong attitudes. So I'm not making any judgments here. Just simply telling you to see the big picture in which the small picture takes place.

Lunch: corn on the cob
what's left of it

Yesterday's lunch was unique - a corn on the cob that I bought and boiled. Haven't eaten corn for a very long time. Actually I bought 4 to feed the canaries, but decided to eat one myself! Then I realised it was an experience of what poor people have for their meals. It did fill the stomach though. Evening I had a terrible craving for spaghetti so I went to Bolognese Restaurant for an Alio e Olio. Not the best that I've ever eaten, but I finished everything on the plate. So that's the big picture for you - lunch plate is a meal for the poor, dinner plate for those who can afford. If I had only shown you only one or the other, you'd be thinking that I'm eating poorly or extravagantly. Well the truth is always somewhere in between.

Meantime Jewish extremist elements have vandalised the famous remains of an ancient synagogue in Tiberias, causing millions of dollars of damage.   http://www.jpost.com/nationalnews/article.aspx?id=271844  Maybe rabbi Eliezar should call for help to "save archaeology" from the fanatics, those who fail to see the big picture.

New triad on the block

Yesterday saw another series of social protests throughout several cities in Israel.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=275826   And there was trouble at Damascus Gate late night. Police everywhere. Another gang fight involving a shop. No one is saying - but observing from this regular attacks by hoodlums from outside Jerusalem, coming in a black van, dressed in black, armed with metal bars ... the modus operandi is all too similar with other previous attacks in the last 6 months. Looks to me like an arab triad is trying to take over the shops' "protection" through coercion.

Also yesterday the former PM Isak Shamir died at a ripe old age of 96. His advice for the peace process: hold on till the opponent tires out and blinks. http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=275812  I guess the triad is not waiting for shop-keepers to blink.

Hoopoe looking
for insects

Meantime the hot dry days are still giving way to windy cool nights. What a relief! Only problem is my room is still like an oven. The stone walls absorb the heat from the morning sun till evening and in the nights, the stones release the heat. It's like an oven. My room is one of two that gets hit by the summer sun for a good 12 hours a day. Thanks to the nifty portable aircon unit, I can have some sleep ... unless I get an attack of asthma, or the arthritis worsens. And of course the insect problem is made worse as mosquitoes, flies, ticks and bugs flourish. But that's good news for the woodpeckers, swallows and hoopoe. Independence Park is suddenly full of these birds - this morning we saw 2 woodpeckers and a young hoopoe which is the national bird of Israel. I was barely 2 feet away from the hoopoe and it was not afraid at all.

I guess the canaries aren't fairing well in this heat though. They're drinking alot of water and bathing too. But they managed to bring up 9 young birds that are all flying around happily in the big cage. In the second batch of nests, only two survived and are growing up quick in their nest. All the other eggs have dried up in the sweltering heat. And the cats are voracious in this heat. Well, perhaps the canaries should pay some protection money to the hoodlums to keep the cats at bay.