Baptism of Our Lord

Gloomy gray sunless skies today

Today most of the local Church made a pilgrimage to the Jordan River to celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord. I didn't go. It was too cold and sunless and a had a lot of work to do. I guess it was a little warmer down in Jericho ... and perhaps a little sunnier. Anyway it must have been a good break for the seminarians to leave Jerusalem for a change in environment during this tense exam week.

Had a nice chat with the Jewish security guys this evening. Haven't done that for a long time. In fact I didn't know some of them as there were several who are new recruits during the past 2 months when I didn't get a chance to chat with them. But some of the old gang were still around: like Shvuli, Strausberg, Itamar, Rotem, Avichai my best friend and King Kong (can never remember his name but he's the tallest largest guy of the lot) while I made new friends like Menachem and some others whose names I still have to remember. It was very gloomy and cold so chatting up by the street was a nice way to get warm. Those guys have very different political views regarding the Peace Talks and things got animated (to put it nicely). Anyway the guys were very nice when Menachem said I needn't express any personal opinions as the war was not mine but theirs.

Anyway I dread this week ... just a tonne of work waiting for me. I hope it doesn't drag on through Chinese New Year. I want to spend it work-free and worry-free.

Buds and blooms

The 1st anemone bud

Somehow there is a high alert in and around the Old City. Soldiers and police everywhere. Have been trying to figure out why ... then I remembered ... the ex-PM Sharon died. A controversial military and political figure; loved by Israelis but hated by Palestinians. No wonder the high alert. But nothing happened of course. As always it's just positioning. Frankly the younger generation of arabs don't even know who he is. Sharon's famous entry into the Al Aqsa Mosque esplanade ignited the 2nd Intifida 12 years ago.

Asthma has been under control today but with several initial attacks. The thing I learned is: I must not panic. The more I panic, the more the asthma worsens. I'm not taking prednesone ... I can do without its side-effects. I'm just keeping to Lebanese bread, homemade hummus and boiled chicken as my staple food. The nights are less painful ... with one major attack usually at around 2am. Wake up choking and must sit up or walk about for 2 or 3 hours before it passes. This is very tiring and each morning I'm weak, exhausted and sleepy. But there's alot of work to be done.

Daffodils in bloom

The weather is still cold and clammy. It rained the whole night and I think it'll rain tonight as well. Good for the plants. The daffodils are flowering and the first anemone bud is about to open. The freesias will bud later when the weather gets warmer. I planted all the bulbs myself and it's very satisfying to see them grow and bloom. Just hope the cats don't come and dig them all up. My poppy seedlings have been eaten by the birds and only the nasty smelling Marigolds remain. The snowstorm destroyed all my nasturtiums. Nevertheless Spring looks promising with lovely flowers. Watch this spot for more photos.

Stromata

Despite the rain, as forecast, and cold - 6 degrees - I must say today passed relatively well as my asthma was under control. Had several initial attacks but managed to keep it down. It's been miserably cold though ... and dreadfully damp. And my workload was not any lighter. But with my asthma under control, I could do a little more than usual.

Last sparkle before the
lights go down at
 LaSalle College

The Christmas season is coming to an end, with the Orthodox celebrating Epiphany soon. By next week the decorations will be taken down and life will be back to its routine trudge. Don't know what 2014 holds for us ... with the peace talks toggled by violent attacks from both sides and the govt. going ahead with building more settlements inside Palestine. Still surprises are not wanting ... so anything can happen. Routine might not be so routine after all.

Reports are coming in that a record 3.54 million tourists visited Israel last year. That brought in an income of 11.4 billion shekels. That's keeping the Israeli economy afloat. All I can say is - Israel, treat us christians well and the tourism boom will continue. An MK (=member of parliament) is proposing a bill to separate christians from the generic title "arab" (read "muslim") from identity cards and passports, granting christians a different status like the druze with rights, privileges and obligations. Some christians are against the idea ... only because of fear from muslim retaliation. I think its a good idea. But then, I'm only a foreigner here.

First week 2014

Sunrise over the City

The asthma attacks after becoming worse these few nights. In fact it goes on 24 hours. Cannot breathe at all. But I don't want to use prednesone yet even though I know I must. It drains every bit of life ... hardly sleeping 2 hours a day. What a way to start the New Year.  The weather is still very cold despite the sun shining. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular ... but not even that is helping my asthma.

Violence is growing by the day ... mainly by extremists on both sides of the political and racial world: jews and arabs attacking each other ... but we all know it's just positioning in the face of Peace Talks brokered by the US. Each side is trying to take the upper hand ... but as leaders of both sides agree ... violence will not lead to anything.

Exams are in the air. Students are slogging and the libraries suddenly are full of hardworking students who have never entered the library the past 6 months.

Christmas greetings are being exchanged formally between the various Church denominations - the Orthodox having just celebrated the feast a few days ago. This year the Armenians and Greeks didn't fight over the cleaning of the Nativity basilica in Bethlehem. That's probably because UNESCO has stepped in to restore the broken down basilica hence both denominations have suspended their traditional cleaning.

Post-Epiphany

Don't know what I'm so busy with, but I'm busy and time flies. Yesterday was Epiphany and almost everyone was on Bethlehem for the celebrations. I was at work moving some 700 volumes of books from one part of the library to another. Must have hurt my shoulder because the left hand is numb and tingling. Probably squashed a nerve near the neck.

The weather has been awfully cold in the nights. Forecast is for rain during the weekend. A friend called to chat so we drove up the Mt. of Olives and chatted. Nice view of the City in the night. But freezing cold. But it still was a good break after a very tiring day.

Mr. Bird in my laundry

Mr. Bird is getting very inquisitive now. Follows me everywhere and if I move to another part of the room, he'll walk about to check where I am and stay closeby. He even allows me to tickle his head and back now. Finally the savage beast is tamed. His favourite game is hide-and-seek. And he's found a perfect place to hide - in my laundry. He hides himself behind the laundry basket or in the laundry and then whistles so I start looking for him. When I find him, he refuses to come out and if I try to get him out, he bites. Sore loser.

Received a cartoon about the wise men gathering gifts for their visit to Bethehem in Epiphany: Caspar carrying gold and Melchior carrying incense, turn to Balthasar and sigh "We said to bring myrrh ... not beer". Sounds better in italian though (mirra and birra).

Thieves strike 3rd time in a row

The crib-thief struck again. Yesterday she and her husband came back to steal the statues of the shepherds. Sr. Giacinta and Majed our doorman chased them down the 3rd Station where Israeli soldiers stopped them. The couple were russian and so were the soldiers ... so they got protection from their own co-nationals. Nothing could be recovered as Sr. Giacinta didn't want to call the police. But that irks me alot because if the Church does something wrong, newspapers scream for blood in a secular judicial court .... but when the secular world wrongs the Church, the Church is expected to be merciful and forgiving and sweep the matter under the carpet. So people can continue to rob the Church  with impunity ....

Mr. Bird is curious

There's been several stabbing attempts around the City. Police and Military presence everywhere ... though not to catch Church thieves. It's generally tense throughout the country. And the dreadful cold is not helping. Today's maximum was 7 degrees.

Mr. Bird has been very good these 2 days. He coos like a pigeon and lowers his head so I can scratch him. Then he wants to follow me everywhere I go. That's abit complicated as he can also fly and if I bring him out of the room, he'll fly off. Or the cat will get him.

So the first week of January 2014 is past. You'll see how fast time flies this year. Much faster than Mr. Bird or the Russian thieves can fly ....

New Year 2014

NY Eve's dinner

So the New Year came and went. Pretty boring for me as I was all alone. Everyone else was out celebrating. My arab friends went to Eilat to party for 3 days, the Israeli security guys had to work as usual. The rest of the profs and students are back home. Anyway in Israel, the western New Year means nothing to them. They celebrate their New ear in autumn.

Ah Ling of Mandarin Restaurant called me over to eat dinner though. It was very nice ... for one, it was the first hot meal I've had in a long time. She cooked braised lamb shank, buo chai, lao guo tang and rice. Everyone in the restaurant was offered a glass of white wine. I was of course alone but I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Went home and fell asleep till midnight when countless stupid messages wishing a happy new year kept me awake. They were not meant for me but messages for a group that I somehow was included. Weird.

But at least on New Year's night I had company. Nicolas and Antoine - both french students preparing to go their misisons in China and Thailand went out with me to Habibi's for a drink and nargile. It was a good chat.

First sunrise of 2014

The New Year was just another day. The sunrise was spectacular though. Anyway it was a normal working day for me. However I've been suffering from severe asthma every night. I choke and suffocate. It's very scary. Many times I thought I wouldn't be able to make it through. It's very severe. As a result I only sleep about 2 hours a night ... the rest of the time I must sit up or walk in order to breathe. Dread every night. It's a nightmare.

The temperature has been rising in the day ... up to 12 degrees. But the nights remain 4 degrees. Very cold especially when the wind blows.