Gone with the wind

Wednesday was nothing but stress. For simply repeating what someone had said, I was accused of putting words in that person's mouth. That person is afraid to admit having said that .... and the supporter is totally closed off to any possibility that these words were said. Living in a fantasy world that his friends will never make mistakes or do anything wrong but everyone else is culpable. Reality will rudely wake them up.

Wet winter leaf

The weather continues to be cold but not rainy. Though good for outdoor activities, what we really want is rain. The Sea of Galilee must rise another 5 meters to get back to normal. Water taxes have risen and an additional drought tax is imposed. Plus the cold, when heating takes up a lot of electricity as well .... taxes will be exorbitant for many poor people. If it rains then at least the water taxes will be reduced.

As I said, exams are round the corner and I have to invigilate an entire afternoon next week for my course. It's an oral exam but with some 16 students it'll take a lot of time. And I'll be very tired at the end of the day. Will need to take ginseng for energy.

Tomorrow is the Immaculate Conception feast ... and though it's a holiday for us, I still have to work because there's an exhibition where some of our books are on show. I need to take them out to the exhibition centre in the morning and keep them in the evening. Another holiday blown away ...  like the colorful dead leaves falling from the trees.

St. Nicolas day

Some of our students on their way
home from school

The weather continues to be fine and wintery .... sunny and cold. We're waiting for another rainy period but we're not sure when it'll come. If it falls on Christmas it'll be fun. I'll definitely stay at home. Our students are enjoying their weekly compulsory excursions in this weather. But extra-curricular activities (read "shopping, movies, happy hour") are much reduced because exams are round the corner. I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the 1 week Christmas holidays. Meanwhile today is St. Nicolas' feast day ... the original Santa Claus. A little joy and ho ho ho is in order.

Local unhappiness is still rampant though. This time an Apple Store complained about an arab security guard. The Shopping Mall immediately imposed a rule that no arabs may work in their company's security unit. In any other country this would be called racism; if it were a jew it would be anti-semitism .... but it's Israel here. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.757075

Another bad news is a new law being penned to legalise many illegal jewish settlements in private arab lands in Palestine. It's very bold and blatant ... and as usual the world is helpless or rather chooses to be helpless to stop it. Utter shame. If America is quiet about this, then it should also be quiet about Russia occupying Crimea.

I've had another incredibly busy day ... no exaggeration. I can't keep up like this anymore. Had my antihistamine jab as well which makes me very sleepy. But still had to struggle with work. My sciatica still gives me trouble if I have to sit longer than 20 minutes. Walking afterwards becomes a torture. This evening Id decided to take the long route and go home through Herod's Gate. I wanted to buy chocolate milk which suddenly this week is running short throughout the City. Visited 5 stores and none carried it. So I thought I'd go to my friend's shop at Herod's Gate. On the way I met 6 old friends from Israeli security: Ben who is french-moroccan, Avihai the eritrean and others. Haven't seen them in ages ... it was good just to say hi and chat for a few seconds.

Jaffa Gate

Jaffa Gate at 5pm

It was such a busy day I forgot to bring my Ventolin spray in my bag. The "day" started at 3am with class and then work in the library, then 2 meetings, then lunch (which is a chore for me) because the Custos came, then guiding him through the library, then rushing 1km to school for 2 classes. Result: got an asthma attack at the end of the day. Frantically searched my bag for my inhaler only to remember I left it in my room. So wheezing and gasping, I walked to Jaffa Gate to our christian pharmacy. Rami who was making his shift there quickly brought out an inhaler and I got my double dose. Sat in the pharmacy till I felt better.

Going home, I decided to go back through Jaffa Gate and following the City Walls. It was just after 5pm but it was already very dark. Winter time. The lights on the City walls were stupendous. The chill made many people stay indoors so there was no crowd at Jaffa Gate Plaza. Behind the southern wall rose the steeple and cross of the Catholic Patriarchate's co-cathedral. The main cathedral is the Holy Sepulchre Church further inside the City.

City wall with the co-cathedral
behind it

The traffic outside was horrendous: the jam was as long as the eye could see. Then there were sirens blaring and horns blasting because the Prime Minister was coming home. No amount of noise could get the traffic moving so the PM was stuck in the jam like everyone else. That's democratic equity.

Well not everything was so equal. Today in Parliament the Ethiopic and Eritrean MPs blasted the rabbi and his govt. supporters for using their babies as guinea-pigs for circumcision. I mentioned this several blogs back. As long as I can remember, these african jews have been treated as 2nd class in Israel. Several years ago after police aggression against unarmed african jews led to demonstrations throughout the country. Sad.

Well they're not the only ones. AJ news has a video of an old muslim man who survived an air-raid in Aleppo that killed many people including 5 children in a market, cursing the world's muslim leaders because muslims are killing muslims by the thousands each day in Syria and the world's muslims still keep silence. Sad.

Sunny Sunday

Musrara open
market at night

It was a bright and sunny Sunday. It was still cold and in the morning the sky was overcast but there was no rain. Afternoon was lovely and sunny. Life goes on as usual. There have been several moments when military presence spiked but for the rest of the day, things were normal. Coming back from work yesterday evening, I passed through the Musrara open market. It was still opened at 10pm ... with fruit and veggies laid out on the floor. It gives the character of East Jerusalem, the middle eastern atmosphere that its been fabled for. The crisp night air after the rains wafted with the scent of fennel, lemons and other produce brought in from the farms.

Not everyone was enjoying the weather though. Israeli farmers demonstrated with a slow drive of their tractors and big machines down the highway, throwing tomatoes and other produce onto the road. I'm not sure why but it seems the agricultural industry is facing a crisis and the govt is not helping out. http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/israels-farmers-protest-ready-to-fight-25144

The El AL pilots' strike however is resolved with the Union, and they will resume work soon. Many flights had been canceled for the past 2 weeks and tourists have been stranded. This is just as well because the Tourism Ministry is boosting its target on Indian and Chinese tourists as they are the biggest group of visitors for the past year when all other countries have stopped coming. I just hope Israel is prepared for the ugly chinese tourist well-known throughout the rest of the world. http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-is-courting-tourists-from-india-and-china/

Giant Christmas Tree in
Bethlehem's Manger Square

It's the 2nd Sunday of Advent. On the 1st Saturday of Advent, the Custos of the Holy Land enters Bethlehem accompanied by a cavalcade ... a tradition since Crusader times. Very impressive. All the friars and clergy line up in Manger Square to welcome his entrance in order to start the Advent season.
Last night the giant Christmas Tree was lit in Manger Square, followed by a fireworks display. It's much more joyous than last year when the muslims allowed only the tree to be light and no other celebrations. The extremist muslims are everywhere in Palestine, trying to curb christianity.

Storm over

Sunrise after the rains

The rains have subsided and the air is so clear and clean. I have almost forgotten how clean air smells ... without dust, pollution ... just damp wet clean air.

Last night the winds were very strong and that made the rain appear harder than it actually is. Buddy was afraid and hid below my pillow. I had the 2 heaters on ... as they are small and don't warm up the room entirely. Temperatures were around 4 degrees to 9 degrees ... not higher. That's a lot colder than in Tel Aviv which registered 12 to 16 degrees. The streets still have puddles but most of it is dry. That's safe for walking.

Jerusalem Old City after the rain

Just received sad news that a franciscan sister in Congo was murdered. Terrible. And the tragedy in Aleppo is making headlines everyday. Thousands of refugees are fleeing east Aleppo to the west. Hundreds of children and elderly killed. No water, food, or shelter in this winter escape. God have mercy. I cannot imagine celebrating Christmas when I see the suffering of these christians.

There was also a small earthquake near the Sea of Galilee yesterday. 3.8 on the Richter scale. We usually get 4 of these earthquakes each year. Never reaches 4 but then again we're expecting a huge one for several years now ... it's quite a delay.

Have a very bad headache today. Probably stress related as the chinese convent had no electricity yesterday, with water leaking into their corridor, then the convent of european sisters upstairs quarreling with our engineer for not preventing the short-circuit; I had to intervene through countless phone calls and messages while preaching a retreat. Then there is the library .... I prefer a thunderstorm and snowstorm anytime over problems with people.

Christmas Bazaar

Parish Christmas Bazaar in the rain

Heavy rains throughout the country except Jerusalem yesterday night. The Sea of Galilee rose by several centimeters and snow fell on the Golan Heights. Floods in the coastal cities. But Jerusalem only had very strong winds and a bit of rain. Towards 10pm it rained quite hard but for less than half an hour. I guess Jerusalem is the driest part of the country last night. Temp. have dropped though and everyone is out in thick coats and hoodies. Umbrellas are utterly useless because the winds just shred them to bits.

Bazaar at St.
Francis Street

Despite the weather, the parish's Christmas Bazaar went ahead. About 20 stalls selling food and christmas stuff. It's very small scale because the locals are very poor. It lined St. Francis Street just outside the church. Very narrow street and everyone was trying to hide beneath the tents from the strong winds. Still it was a good show of support ... and the Bazaar continues till Sunday so hopefully more people will come to support. It's a nice break from the tension and routine of the Old City.

I'm scared stiff of walking in the roads today. Almost slipped twice. Still I had to go to work and I had to be extra careful on my way there and back. Forecast is dry and sunny tomorrow again. Well hopefully the rains will return in the next few weeks. Snow for Christmas would be lovely ... like last year.

My shoulder still hurts a lot and this morning I had a student help me spray analgesic medicine on it. It did relieve the pain for a few hours. But today e read on the news that Israel has invented a cannabis spray for pain-relief without the hallucination effects. It's the first medical use of cannabis on a commercial scale. It looks exactly like a Ventolin spray except that it's green in color, and you inhale it just like a ventolin spray. This does not counteract the asthma and allergy medications so it's safe for people who suffer from asthma and severe allergies.  http://virtualjerusalem.com/entertainment.php?Itemid=24294

And another wonderful news: arab israelis are joining forces to supply wood in order to reconstruct the Haifa synagogue after it was burned down by last week's fire. It's a great show of solidarity which narrows the gap of suspicion and hatred. They didn't have to do that ... but they did. I wonder if the jew will do the same to rebuild a mosque burnt in the fire.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4886966,00.html

Storm

City wall at night

It's been raining ... quite hard ... but not in Jerusalem. All the coastal cities have been drenched and soon the Golan Heights will be covered in snow. But Jerusalem remains dry. The sky is dark though and there were a few drops of drizzle. Nothing more. Still weather forecast say tonight one of the heaviest storms will whip through the country.

I brought the gas cooker to the chinese sisters last night. Now I'll have to teach them how to use it when there is no electricity. It'll never get as cold as China but when there's no heating, it can get quite bad and one of the sisters is sick. So they took out their extra blankets. On the way home the City Walls looked awesome with spotlights shining on them ... and trees were illuminated. The air was crisp and cold, thus making the view a lot more clear and detailed. It was very nice. I sat at Damascus Gate park and watched it for a few minutes. Well actually I had to rest there because my sciatica and shoulder were hurting too much and I needed to stop for a while.

And the storm over the recent fires is still no over. While politicians were quick to accuse arabs as arsonists, the police today are saying the contrary and fire-fighters are saying it's impossible to determine the source of most fires. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.756012

But not everything is all that bad. Today we read a piece of news regarding the Israeli Parliament trying to pass a law to stop muslim calls for prayer over loudspeakers. The muslims of the village Beat Tsafafa (south of Jerusalem) came to an agreement with their jewish neighbors in Gilo to solve this problem without govt. interference. The muslims agreed to use smaller loudspeakers and have them turned away from the jewish town. Now if only every other place could deal with problems this way. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jerusalem-neighborhoods-reach-Muezzin-agreement-without-politicians-474091

While Christmas is in the air for most countries, the christians in Iraq and Syria are still suffering immensely. The Custos of the Holy Land and the Minister General of the Franciscans issued a letter calling all children to pray for peace in those countries, not to forget that this Christmas many other children will die and others without food or shelter. Hope you can encourage your parish to organize a children's prayer day for this.