1st Friday of Lent

Fasting and abstinence today. That probably means lentil porridge for lunch. Definitely not my favourite hence a perfect penance for me. Then again I think I'll do a full fast and skip the lentil porridge ... hahaha.

At the pita bakery

Maybe a simple piece of pita would do for today. I visited a pita bakery last week. They do it with machines nowadays instead of baking it in mud-ovens. Hundreds are churned out every hour and quickly transported to various venues for sale. Pita is the rounded flat bread that locals eat at every meal.

Purim is also round the corner - the jewish feast that recalls Queen Esther outsmarting Haman the conspirer to kill the jews. Jewish bakeries are selling Haman's ears - triangular biscuits filled with dates. Nowadays they put chocolate, butter-scotch and anything else you can think of. Nice for tea ... but not on a Friday in Lent.

Those of you who have want to make the Way of Cross in a special way in the Holyland, visit http://elwebcast.blogspot.com and make a virtual devotion. Very nice video.

Healthwise I've not been very pleased. Two suspected melanoma patches found on my face. Dr Rizan removed one from my lip two years ago but it seems it's back again. Will have to make an appointment with the hospital for its removal.

There's an article in Haaretz praising the pope for setting the example of humbly accepting old age and leaving office ... and that rabbis should learn this lesson from him: "A group of clueless nonagenarians, feeble in body and mind, are not capable of handling these existential crises. The rabbis would do better to take a page out of Benedict XVI’s missal and make way for a younger generation of leaders, hopefully better equipped to navigate the 21st century."

Flowers

Alot of goings on today ... Valentine's Day. Jews, Muslims and Christians are all celebrating it though without it's religious significance. Pretty sad I think. I think Valentine's Day should not just be a day to appreciate love and romance but above all it should be a pro-life celebration.

A Judas tree in full bloom

And talk about life ... the trees are waking up from winter sleep. Almonds trees are the first to blossom even before the leaves appear. Same with the Judas tree. Winter flowers of course are in full swing of its flowering season, especially cyclamen. It's an amazing sight to see swarths of cyclamen flowering in the wild across stony cracks of walls and cliffs. Wild mustard are also beginning to flower, providing explosions of yellow flowers hugging roadsides. And the anemone is also just sending off buds. After this year's heavy rain and snow, the wild flowers will be a stupendous sight.

Meantime things are cooling off in the Old City after the red alert on a possible terrorist strike in the city. I don't believe it's lifted yet but people are less nervous. However this morning the country was engaged in a war/earthquake exercise in all schools. Better safe than sorry. A bit of a damper on Valentine's Day.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday with a smile ...

So Lent begins ... the period where physical and material renunciations reflect an inner conversion of heart and mind. It a very fitting time for Benedict to announce his resignation. It caught everyone by surprise but then again, there's nothing to stop a papal resignation; there have been precedents. What I was surprised was the negative way people took it - one going as far as to say the year of the snake began badly, a poisonous snake year. Well my take on that is snakes shed skins in order to grow bigger. The snake remains the same though the skin is sloughed away. So too the papacy remains the same even if the pope changes. Benedict's choice was brave and intelligent and love-motivated. He knows he cannot continue his ministry with the same vigour and it will not be fair to the Church if an incapacitated pope stays in office while everything stagnates. His choice would ensure that the office continues to function optimally through the next decade. Smart man.

Israel is on red alert for a possible terrorist attack in Jerusalem. http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=303024   What a way to start Lent.

Healthy and successful New Year to you!

Reunion dinner

The annual New Year's eve reunion dinner was a success. Besides the chinese who are studying or volunteering at my school, I invited 3 professors, Osvalda our librarian and 2 other students along. It was avery nice group - alot of chatting and laughs. The food was also great - all specially made. Soup, dumplings, lion's head meatballs, sweet and sour pork, steamed fish, sesame shrimps, vermicelli, tofu with mushrooms, spinach, noodles, rice, dessert ...

On New Year's morning, our sisters made paczki (jam filled doughnuts) for breakfast for me. And for lunch my friend's family made a nice arab meal of kousa maashi and warraq dawali (stuffed zucchini and vine leaves). Dinner time, Sr. Nimfa our filipina student gave me Phad Thai. So it was very international this New Year's day ... at least in terms of food.

At 5am on New Year's morning, I went to the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate the New Year Mass. Remembered you all in my prayer. Then this morning we got the shocking news that Benedict XVI is resigning as pope. Well he certainly is brave to make such a decision. Thus the Year of the Snake begins.

CNY round the corner

The past few days of cold wet weather has finally been broken by solid sunshine today. A very nice change despite the fact that we need the rain. And some very nice things have happened as well during this time - a very good friend has found a job despite very difficult circumstances; a sick friend recovered; a friend in desperation found hope ... I'm happy for them.

Gifts from the pack

Today a lovely package arrived full of gifts - TimTams, book, chinese couplets for the New Year, a Peanut calendar ... but what I really enjoyed were the newspapers that wrapped the package - all Sunday comics! Haven't seen these in umpteen years! Thanks!!

That was a great pick-me-up because the past few days have been horrid healthwise. The asthma has practically crippled me. Then there's the nausea and headache. Yesterday's fainting spell actually scared me ... I didn't think it could get that serious. But I still have to teach. So I float between illness and work. Hope this ends by the weekend ... after all it's the Chinese New Year.

Comfort food

So there's more tension in the streets. A new police leadership in Jerusalem has seen numerous raids and arrests in East Jerusalem. The arabs are perturbed. The newspaper headlines read :

Operations included numerous arrests, roadblocks to inspect vehicles, tax collection, house demolitions, shutting off water, various fines, searches and random checks of identification, and more.

  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/changes-in-jerusalem-police-brass-bring-crackdown-on-arab-residents.premium-1.501246

Meantime up in the govt eschalons, the 2 new kids on the bloc (Lapid and Bennett) are teaming up to form a center-right coalition to force the incumbant's hand (Netanyahu) against the ultra-orthodox religious. It's going to be messy and divisive.

Orange cake 

The political weather is reflected in the skies - very cold winds with occasional sunshine. And that's affecting me. I guess it's the weather and work-stress that's getting to me. Been having fainting spells today, nausea and the asthma that refuses to go away.

But a nice consolation yesterday. My good friend Firas made an orange cake. It was really good ... comfort food. It softened the awful week I'm having. Need to rest more. Am totally exhausted. A piece of orange cake would help.

Stromata

The people are tense though I can't say the country is. Israel's attack in Syrian territory has shocked everyone. But while everyone is talking about Syrian retaliation through Lebanon, a possible war ... I think it's most unlikely. It's not the first time Israel has attacked a target inside Syria and the event just passed by and was forgotten. The govt knows this so there's no warning for extra security measures. Life goes on as usual.

Then of course there's the attack of the USA embassy in Turkey. Another reason for jitters here ... but while people are talking about it, there's no panic in the streets. Life goes on as usual.

Now what really upsets the people is the cold weather we're having. Snow up in the north and central highlands, rain in the south. Strong blustery winds that are very cold. I dread having to go out in this weather. So I'm finding every reason to stay in my room. Heaters are on, hot tea on the boil. No appetite to eat today. And had extremely bad asthma the last 2 days. Had to be helped back to my room yesterday morning when a severe attack cut me short from a trip to the library. And I'm on the verge of total mental exhaustion. Told you I "lost' my phone last week only to find I unconsciously threw it into the dustbin 3 days earlier. Now I lost my set of some 30+ keys for the past 3 days. Frantically searched for it, and lots of people helped. This morning Nadia called to say she found it in the store-room while cleaning. I'm losing my mind. Wonder what I'll lose next week ... oh yes, my mind.

Dinner yesterday

One nice consolation - my palestinian friend's mum made another lovely dinner. Spiced rice with roasted pine nuts stuffed into veal. Loved every bite of it. And one hot fresh green chilli to go with it. Sure takes the cold out of the body after a meal like that. Well it was a pleasant happening as it was the first time he invited me to his house - very neat and tidy as all palestinian muslim homes are. I enjoy visiting local houses and sharing the food and culture and history of the land. Unless of course it gets too cold for me to go out. But it's the only thing that keeps me sane ... so I guess I'll have to brave the cold and go out to visit his family ... if only not to lose my mind.

My friend Vasile defended his thesis yesterday and earned his MA. He'll return to his wife in Durham and continue with his PhD.