Busy weekend

The Netanya community at Mass

It's been a super hectic Saturday. Well Friday I made sure I finished all the work of the week because the weekend would be full of activities. On Saturday morning at 6am it was Mass at the Holy Sepulcher in the Empty Tomb for the Block Rosary Group of filipinos form our St. Anthony Parish in Jaffa. Over 25 members came for the Mass. Immediately after I had to give them a Bible Class from 7am to 8.30am. Once finished I had to rush back to house work and within 2 hours it was off to our other Jaffa parish of St. Peter. Went there to pick up wine, hosts and vestments because I had to preside at the Mass in Netanya for another community of filipinos. It's 60km from Jerusalem to Jaffa and another 60 km from Jaffa to Netanya. I had to turn down another penitential service at Rehovot which is 30 km drive away from Jaffa because there was no way I could rush there in time.

Sunday Mass at
St. Peter's church

After Mass there was blessing and confessions and then back to Jaffa which was already almost 10pm. The superior there told me to stay overnight as it was late and I was tired. Sunday morning there was another Mass at 9am at St. Peter's ... a much smaller community of expatriates attend this Mass because Sunday in our country is the first working day. Most catholics cannot make it.

The week before Christmas will be equally busy. Several Masses in various cities along the coast. I think on the 24th Dec I have a Mass in Bethlehem for a filipino  community, then rush off to Jaffa for the Indian Mass at 4pm and immediately off to Netanya again for the 7pm Mass.

Luckily there were no traffic jams along the highways. There was drizzle tough and the skies were dreadful dark and the winds bitterly cold. In a way it feels like Christmas 25 years ago.

Just read the horrible news that over 25 copts were killed in a bomb blast in their cathedral in Cairo. Still no news who is responsible. A terrifying christmas for the egyptian copts. Another bad news is that the first reading of a new law to expropriate palestinian land for jewish settlements has passed. It's amazing that this is happening in broad daylight and no one is saying anything. http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-1.757846

Christmas soon

Our wild poinsettia

Another Friday. The first thing I noticed about this morning was .... the muezzin's call to prayer at 4am was much less loud than before. Apparently the govt.'s imposition to silence or lower the volume of the loudspeakers have gone into effect. It was significantly softer, the loudspeaker of the Al Aqsa Mosque that lies directly in front of my window. The other smaller mosques were so soft I could not even hear them. What a difference! Today however we read in the newspapers that the PM is now going to enforce this low volume even during the day.

The Tourist Ministry just reported that November saw the highest volume of tourists in the year, a 38% increase from last year which comes up to about 300,000 people. Chinese and Indian tourists make up the bulk of this visitors and the govt. has decided to pump more money to attract asians because the market in America and Europe has dropped significantly. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4890567,00.html

Christmas is fast approaching and streets in the Christmas Quarter are decked with buntings and lights. It's an italian tradition that Christmas trees are put up on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (yesterday) so most shops and houses have had them up by evening yesterday. Our courtyard has a huge poinsettia tree, almost 2 meters tall and it is flowering profusely. That's our christmas tree ... it looks very festive in green and red, and evokes the spirit of christmas to every visitor that comes to our place.

Immaculate Conception Day

Weekend with cloudy skies

From sunny weather to cold cloudy skies. Huge change in weather this morning. Went out to work in warm sunny climate but within 2 hours it must have fell to 9 degrees. As it's a feast day, no one is working in the libraries but we still have 3 books on loan to an exhibition and I must go at 8am to deliver the books and collect them at 5pm when the exhibition ends. So I had to celebrate Mass early this morning at 4.30am in order to arrange all my work and get to my delivery mission on time. Then there was a series of emails to respond, bookings for volunteers, work schedules to be organised and luckily for me, a very nice lunch break with my best buddy Aviram. Haven't seen him for over 2 months though we keep in contact. He's been always there for me during my toughest times and I really appreciate that. And he had wonderful news when we met ... an institute just offered him an internship a few minutes before he left his house to come for lunch. He was very very happy. And I'm happy for him too. He's a really bright guy and passionate about his studies.

The other day I went to Rami's pharmacy to buy Tiger Balm plaster for my shoulder. It's been hurting so bad I cannot sleep because of the pain. Well Rami was out of it but had another type of plaster, less powerful and stinky. No choice ... had to buy it. But it worked out good .... I had minimal pain last night after keeping it overnight on my shoulder. Will have to use it again tonight. Well I also kept the shoulder warm by wearing double t-shirts.

Icon of Mary's birth
in St. Anne's Church

So it's the Immaculate Conception feast day. At St. Anne's Church (Bethesda Pool or Sheep's Pool in John's Gospel) there was a solemn Mass celebrated at 10am because traditionally that's the place where Mary was born. I think almost all the seminarians of the 5 seminaries in Jerusalem were there. And of course the many religious and priests as well. Few people know that it was our 14th century theologian Duns Scotus who defended this dogma when many were against it. He was vindicated only 400 years later when it was declared a dogma but he remained in the shadows until 16 years ago when Pope John Paul II beatified him.

Latest bit of news ... a stabbing attempt at a check point. Hope this will not sour the Christmas celebrations should Israel decide to close the borders and not allow christian arabs to come to Jerusalem.

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.