Shavua tov

Mr. Bird has a companion,
Mr. C 

While Sunday is the weekend for all of you, here it's the first working day of the week. We wish each other "shavua tov" meaning "[have] a good week". My Sunday always begins with the community Sunday Mass at 6.30am, then a cup of coffee before cleaning out the bird cages, feeding the birds (canaries, finches and parakeets), cleaning the courtyard and watering the plants. Takes an entire hour for that chore.

Mr. Bird is having a tense time trying to live with a new companion - a cockatiel whom I named Mr. C ... abandoned by his owners for making too much noise and mess after 10 years. Mr. Bird puts Mr. C in his place, and Mr. C doesn't make so much noise as he did back with his previous owners. It's all about attention ... he needs people around him, talking to him to keep him entertained. He's still very distrustful and bites ... but was Mr. Bird. It took a whole year for Mr. Bird to overcome this and now he's much calmer and walks on my hand and loves to get petted and talked to. Lots of work with Mr. C now I guess.

The monster moon over
A-Tur village

Yesterday was a busy day as usual, with half day's work in school and had a rest in the afternoon. Been very easily fatigued and listless. And diarrhea has been striking hard again. Had to rush off in the evening to meet a group, then met up with my best friend whom I've not seen in 2 weeks. Chatted and found out he had been having problems with friends and family so he's gone to live with his sister. We saw the awesome monster full moon as scientists were touting. It was alot closer to earth and looked incredibly huge.

Well it's 10 days to my op ... so I need to rest alot and get my blood pressure up. "Eat lots of red meat" the doc said. I'm not eating anything because of the diarrhea. Not having much of a shavua tov ....

Friday 13th

Light show imposed on Damascus
Gate depicting the history of some
famous buildings in Jerusalem

June 13th is the Feast of St. Anthony and our parish in Jaffa had a solemn feast. Lots of locals went there for the celebrations. But falling on a Friday, you'd think that Friday 13th would be bad luck. Not here in Israel. In fact I think they see it as an auspicious day ... it's the beginning of the summer vacations and the beginning of lots of summer happenings. It was the opening of the Israel Book Fest celebrated in every major city in the country; it was also the opening of the Jerusalem Festival of Lights ... this year definitely better and larger than last year; and it was also the Tel Aviv's celebration of  the annual Gay Pride Parade. Too many happenings ... and more to come if the political tensions keeps its head low. The kidnapping of 3 yeshiva students is rising alot of anger and fear on both sides of the Wall. We're not sure where summer is heading ... violence or fun.

The fall of some major Iraqi cities to muslim extremists is raising alarm throughout the region. Now we learn that they have a cell inside Palestine as well and could have been responsible for the kidnapping of the jewish students.

Anyway I managed to sleep some 10 hours with only 2 phone calls to disturb me yesterday. Was simply too tired. Blood pressure too low and have to raise it up before the operation, otherwise the docs will cancel it. Feeling nervous.

Summer lilies

Today was pretty rushed as I have to finish 2 year end reports, classes and hands-on training for some staff. My head is spinning still. Have to make 9 copies of each report (30+ pages each) and send a digital version to the secretary as well. What's with all these reports? And classes? It's the year end already. Tomorrow is the final exam!

My lilies

Luckily one stress-reducing thing is watching my lilies bloom. Despite the scorching heat, pink, orange and white lilies continue to bloom. They're very beautiful. Until someone decided to play football on the terrace and knocked one pot over.

The strong winds that we're having is great for kite-flying and lots of arab kids are up on the roofs flying kites. School is over for them. And in 2 weeks it'll be Ramadan. Some of our neighbour's kids had their kite stuck on our barbed-wired fence. They were shouting at me for help while I was in the courtyard feeding Mr. Bird. They were up on the 9th floor next door and our courtyard is on the 5th floor. Had to climb up the 7th floor to get the kite unstuck. But the kids were happy. And flying kites on the roof beats getting into trouble in the streets.

And it's time for more pre-op checkups. I hate that but it's necessary. I don't want to spend another day choking for air as the asthma worsens. What really scares me about ops is the last breath I take as the anesthesia takes over. I choke. My lungs seem to stop functioning as no air is getting into the lungs. I try to breathe in but the lungs are not moving. I try to shout but I'm paralysed. Then I'm unconscious. Next time I open my eyes, the operation is over. But the initial suffocation with anesthesia is scary ... I don't want to go through it. Wish there was some other way to get anesthetised.

Preparations for the Light Fest

A test run of an amazing light
exhibit in the gardens below
St. Savior's Monastery (New Gate)

The City is bustling with activities. Workmen and artists are etting up exhibitions inside and outside the Old City for the annual Festival of Lights beginning this Thursday. The starting point is Jaffa Gate where the same Light Dome dominates the huge Square like last year. Again like last year, there will be 3 routes: one through the Jewish/Armenian Quarter, one through the Christian Quarter and one along the City walls down to Damascus Gate and the border between teh Muslim Quarter and Christian Quarters. There're no exhibits in the Muslim Quarter as there'll always be vandalism and fear of violence. This year there's an addition to the Festival - a tower of light at the Jaffa Road junction. There'll be music and performances as well. Will be quite an experience.

In Damascus Gate's Palm Square, workers are stringing lights between the palms. Should be an interesting exhibit. Most of these exhibits along the City Walls are from international companies. Those inside the City Walls are local productions.

And the cold night winds will be welcome during the Festival of Lights when the streets and alleys are packed with thousands of visitors. Huge crowds plus high powered lights build up the heat by several degrees and can become very uncomfortable.

The asthma has been unbearable ... attacks now occur even during the day. Ah Ling of Mandarin Restaurant boiled herbs with pork ribs and called me over to eat last night. It should strengthen me for a while as I've been feeling terribly weak and listless. But that'll not stop me from walking the routes of the Festival of Lights. It'll be a nice break.

Twisted ankle

Yesterday Pentecost saw a flurry of events. There was our usual Status Quo celebrations but this year without the Custos as he had to rush to the Vatican for the last minute organised Prayer Summit between the presidents of Israel and Palestine with the Pope. The Custos not only represents the Holy Places in the meeting, he's also the Pope's translator from italian into hebrew and vice versa. He's very talented. Watching the video at Catholic News Service fb ... wow ... our Custos was walking on the same line as the powers that be. Says alot.

The Hooded Rider
strikes again

I was busy as usual ... clash of various appointments. Had to juggle and cancel some. I'm just so exhausted. This year if there's going to be any summer renovation jobs, I'm NOT going to supervise them. I'm NOT going to burn another summer vacation which I did for the past 2 years. I'm tired, exhausted ... I need to rest. And my asthma has become very very bad as well. Hardly sleeping for the past 2 weeks. Now the attacks even come during the day. And the morning nosebleeds are getting more severe. Am due for a pre-op checkup soon. Something must be done quickly or I'll choke to death one day. And with all the rushing from one work place to another, I twisted my left ankle again. It's the same old injury ... the left ankle is simply too weak to take the strain of heavy work anymore. Instead of climbing up and down the hill some 1 to 2 kms everyday for work ... I'm thinking of getting a motorbike license.

Weatherwise the heat wave is terrible. Scorching during the day but the nights get so cold. The Festival of Lights begin this Thursday. I hope my ankle will be good enough for me to walk around the City and see this.

Pentecost and exams

Students slogging in the library

So a whole week has passed. The heatwave is hitting us with temperatures of 38 degrees on Tuesday but dropped to a cold damp Wednesday. Perfect weather for viruses. You never know what to wear as heat and cold just changes so quickly. The Jewish Pentecost came and went without much major incident. Several zionist ultra-orthodox jews tried to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque area but were stopped by police. Now it's our turn for Pentecost.

The Pope's invitation to Israeli President Peres and Palestinian President Abbas to the Vatican tomorrow for a Prayer Summit is our only hope now for a peaceful solution to the dead-end talks brokered by the USA. Let's hope the Holy Spirit will descend on all and inspire some breakthrough to the stalemate.

Sr. Nimfa our graduate

Exams are underway ... and some already finished. Nimfa, our filipina student and PDDM sister graduated at last. It was a proud moment for her and her community. She treated her classmates and professors ... and me ... to a great dinner at Notre Dame Center. Soon she'll return to the Philippines to teach but I hope she'll also do her PhD soon. Meantime other students are slogging to get through the exams. Our library is full even on a Saturday. Even students of govt. schools are doing their exams. Tense moment for many families especially those doing Tawjihi or matriculation (A levels). It'll determine if they get to further studies or out looking for a job ... which is practically impossible as unemployment is at an all time high both in Israel and Palestine.

Giant Teddybear

The heat is on ... forecast for tomorrow is a superhigh 34 degrees! But the nights still get very chilly. That makes people sick ... and all us asthmatics are suffering big time every night. The sand in the air, typical of the hamsin sandstorms during this period (Pentecost = hamsin = 50) is bad for us with respiratory problems.

Tensions seem to have died down. No religious feastdays for all 3 religions this month .... so things will be alot more calm. Exams however are on and students are nervously gathering in street corners studying. Most stay at home in the nights to study as well ... so less trouble in the streets.

On a lighter side, seen in the Nahalat Shiva neighbourhood ... a teddybear of King Kong proportions climbing up a construction crane. Brings a smile to everyone who notices it ... and mind you, not many people do. Everyone is busy with their cellphones and smartphones ... no one ever looks up anymore. I believe we'll soon have a generation of people suffering from neck problems and poor body posture ... everyone is hunched forward, focussed on the tiny screen on the phone.

Today was really fantastic ... mainly because I had no class at 4am (solar time). And in the afternoon I had a rare opportunity to sleep another 3 hours until a phone call disturbed me. But it was good to be able to sleep. I really need it as the nightly asthma attacks keep me awake.