S. Lawrence

The past 2 days I went to see my physiotherapist. The ankle and shoulder pain were so painful I could not sleep for the past week. And when I get up I have this terrible headache all day from the spondylosis and shoulder. After getting the inflammation down, he tied me up with kinesio tape. That helped alot because for once I could sleep without pain. But I know after a day or 2 when I remove the tape, the pain will be back.

The enormous nursery 

It's been very humid the last 2 days. But luckily once in a while a cool breeze would blow. That help alot because the kinesio tape can be quite uncomfortable when it's hot and humid. I had a chance to visit a very large nursery after my physic session. The community wanted to buy some plants and went to the city of Herzliya where there's this enormous nursery with almost all types of plants for summer and autumn. It was incredible. I bought 2 coreopsis which are beautiful yellow flowering plants that can survive the heat of August.

Locally bad news as the night before, Gaza fired over 150 missiles into Israel. Israel bombed Gaza killing 3 people. Yesterday the govt. announced that a war with Gaza will soon start and the israelis living around the border will be evacuated. It's frightening ... another Gaza war ... the 4th. There's talk that negotiations are going on to avoid this war ... and we all know Gaza will lose. But the number of casualties will be enormous and not worth a fruitless fight.

Today we celebrated the feast off St. Lawrence the deacon, who famously brought out the poor people of Rome to brigands trying to rob the church. He famously said "Here are the Church's treasures" and showed them the poor.

Transfiguration

Fresh dates on sale

The Arts and Crafts Festival in Jerusalem has begun. It's a 2 week festival held in the Gehenna Valley featuring artistes and craftsmen of all sorts, each with their small stands. There are also concerts and foodstalls .... food being considered an art. That's one summer must-do I hope to fulfill. Walking down to the valley would be nice in the evening cool .... but walking back up makes me think twice about going. Anyway ... it's summer so why not.

Wild hollyhocks
by the street

Yesterday and today has once again been a busy rush with meetings with lawyers and accountants. Books for the library are being sent back to the publishers without our agreement and taxes on each book is rising. Then the Post Office is forcing us to use one specific company for delivery of the packages ... without this service, all books will be returned to the publishers. This company makes us pay 250 shekels for each package. We receive over 25+ packs of books each week .... how much does that make out? Plus we must pay tax for the book, and other handling charges. All in all we pay twice the amount of money that the book cost. It's a nightmare. Anyway because of this bureaucratic programme I had to cancel my doctor's appointment for this morning. I will have to go tomorrow instead ... but knowing my luck, something else will happen to hinder me.

Yesterday was the feast of the Transfiguration. In the evening I had to meet a large group of chinese pilgrims in the hotel ... 58 of them. It was a nice meeting and the priest leading them was my student 17 years ago. Along the road to the hotel, I noticed wild hollyhocks growing by the street in front of the anglican St. George Cathedral. Beautiful flowers and incredible life force. And all the fruit stalls are carrying fresh dates ... that means autumn is coming. Fresh dates are crunchy and sweet but not like the preserved/dried version which is sickly sweet. And Buddy and Chilli both like them as well. I bought some and the 3 of us were munching on them. So despite the busy day and summer heat, it was fun to spend some time with the 2 intelligent parakeets.

18th ordinary Sunday

Today's breakfast

It's another Sunday ... but today I didn't have to go celebrate the Armenian Mass. I tried to keep the day a little more quiet and low-key. Mass was at 7am and after that it was cleaning up my room and eating my breakfast. That's the best part of summer Sundays. I'm rationing out the Singaporean food brought over by my family and deep-freezed. Each Sunday I bring out a couple of packs and steam them for breakfast. That means waking up at 2am to start the steaming process. But it's worth it. A taste of home.

Painter at Agrippas street

Then it's going to the New City to do some chores. That meant going up near the Mahane Yehuda market to the asian grocery to get coconut milk and curry leaves so I can cook some curry for our indian sisters. I thought of buying some toiletries and stuff but decided I should save instead. They're not so important and I can do without them. Usually I get into a dialogue with myself ... arguing if I should buy something or not, weighting the pros and cons, and usually I end up convincing myself not to buy it. I guess people think I'm nuts when they see me talking to myself in the streets. But who cares? It saves me money and time not to buy things. Well I did buy a huge net though ... the museum staff asked if I could get one because the open cistern was getting polluted with fallen leaves and insects. Along the way at Agrippas street, I saw an old artist painting a street scene. It was about a metre long so it must have taken her several weeks to paint it. Perseverance.

The jewish nation-state law is again the burning topic today. 40 former israeli diplomats called for the end of this law but an ex-PM aid told the protesting Druze to go to Syria if they are not happy in Israel. That is very provocative since the Druze have fought side-by-side with jews to establish the modern state of Israel.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5322838,00.html
and  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5322806,00.html

Meantime we received news that for the past 2 months, jewish extremists have destroyed over 2000 arab trees and orchards but were never investigated, arrested or charged. This is the consequence of a jewish nation-state law ... it makes all non-jews targets.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-more-than-2-000-trees-in-west-bank-villages-destroyed-in-two-months-1.6336657

St. Vianney feastday

Morning walk to Mass everyday

Today is the feast of St. John Vianney ... the simple country priest who showed you don't need much to become a saint. I guess it's a meaningful feast for all my students who just have been or soon will be ordained priests and deacons. There's a total of 27 of them this year. Let's hope they follow St. Vianney's example.

I had a good sleep last night and for summer I wake up a little alter than usual ... at 5am. I have to walk to Mass at the Convent of Ivrea in an arab village outside the City which takes me 20 minutes or so. The walk is always pleasant because the air is fresh and sun is already above the horizon. I enjoy it and the old sisters there are very appreciative.

Early this morning we received news that one of our professors died ... he's an old friar specialised in Wisdom Literature. He assisted in both my Licentiate theses but due to illness and dementia, he could no longer guide my PhD research. He lived in the room next to mine and I had to constantly be on the watch that he was all right ... he had nightmares and insomnia. Last year he finally returned to his province in Assisi and lived in the infirmary next to the original chapel of St. Mary of the Angels. From what we were told, he had  very high fever last night and died in hospital. His uncle was the famous fr. Rufino Niccacci who saved many jews during WWII and made into a film called "Assisi Underground".  R.I.P.

Msahan dinner last night

Last night the lady who cleans our library made msahan for me. That's roasted chicken on taboun bread with fried onions and sumac. One of my favourite arab dishes. Today the guy who works in my other library was going off for his annual leave and he bought me AFC to show his gratitude. So now I have a lot of chicken to eat. I gave some to our Indian sisters ... they were asking me to cook something spicy for them. I'll cook some curry tomorrow ... hope they'll like it.

While the summer heat beats down on us ... there's been criticism over the jewish settlements wo siphon off water supply from arab villages and pumping into their swimming pools while the arbs go for weeks without water. It's shameful but it's news that you will never hear about.   https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-hebrew-university-s-disgrace-and-the-occupation-1.6340866

St. Mary of the Angels

My roses on our
BVM altar

Yesterday was the Feast of the Portiuncula or St. Mary of the Angels. That's the very tiny chapel that St. Francis rebuilt with his own hands ... one of a dozen ... and which he loved so much he was brought there to die. There's the famous indulgence of the Portiuncula ... a very unique one ... in that its privilege is extended to all franciscan churches and it can be attained in as many times as you enter a franciscan church during that feast day. Well we're only 4 of us at home so there wasn't much of a celebration. I did cut all my roses and placed them in a vase for our BVM statue in the refectory. They are stunning and they smell incredibly sweet.

On a sad side, I noticed yesterday that 3 very old Sleeping Hibiscus bushes were chopped down and uprooted from St. Helena's Courtyard at St. Saviour's monastery. What a pity ... the cold stone courtyard looks lifeless now. They were already quite ancient when I was a student 28 years go. It's really too bad.

Empty courtyard without the hibiscus

I've been feeling sick still and with my ankle hurting again, I decided I won't go to work in the other library today. Everyone at home told me to rest and sleep ... I managed to do that for a couple of hours in the morning. After lunch I had confessions and some meetings. I hope to keep the rest of the evening as slow as possible. No more stress ... at least for today.

Someone on a FB group posted this complain about banks. All I can say is "been there, done that". Banks are a nightmare. My advise to the writer is "keep your money under your pillow". This is her post
"Am I the crazy one?
Recently I did a job for a client abroad and got paid $300. Bank Hapoalim took $30 for the transfer fee and now they want another .19% for changing it from dollars to shekels. 
Does that sound normal to all of you??

Back to the jewish nation-state law, police and security chiefs have voiced concern over it and now the State Prosecutor personally criticised it. Somehow with all the assurances, minorities still feel their rights are no longer protected.   http://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/state-prosecutor-criticizes-jewish-state-law-calls-for-upholding-of-minority-rights/

Sick again

Ticketing office at the Film Festival

I missed the showing of Grease at the Film Festival yesterday. It's the 40th anniversary of the movie and the Film Festival paid tribute by not just showing the film but also a singalong with the movie. I had gone there half an hour earlier and there was a live interview onstage with Shababnik ... an orthodox jewish rock group. But before the movie started I received  message from a very good friend to say he's free and would like to meet up. So I gave up the movie and met him and we had a nice chat for 2 hours over a cup of coffee. He's an animator and while still understudying, has done a few animated movies and shows. There was a lot we talked about ... it's not just simply sketching but a study of movement, balance, physiognomy, culture and history. very interesting.

That was when I fainted ... at the cafe. I was feeling unwell all day but stuck inside a tiny cafe with heat and noise ... I blacked out. Luckily my friend was there and he brought me out for some fresh air when I got round. I think exhaustion played a large part ... I could feel the exhaustion all over my shoulders before I blacked out. And the stress of dealing with banks and lawyers and post offices and taxes and seizures and confiscations .... summer holiday is not at all what I wanted or expected. It's worse than school term.

My roses in bloom

Anyway I managed to sleep for 4 hours last night before it was time to go to say Mass for the aged nuns in the arab village in the morning. Today I still feel very queasy and luckily one nun from the hospital was over at our house. She took my BP and said it was normal so it's either my diabetes or exhaustion that's wearing me down. I tried to rest after lunch but I had to go for confessions and a bible talk and adoration. Yes I am exhausted. I hope things won't get worse during the weekend. I need to rest.

Well in Gaza the people there are also exhausted ... Israel has stopped all fuel and gas into the Strip so the gazans have no electricity or fuel. The israelis are tired of the gazans setting fire on israeli fields. The gazans are tired of the israeli blockade of daily necessities for the past 7 years.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-no-fuel-no-gas-israel-clamps-down-on-gaza-over-airborne-firebombs-1.6338412

Meantime up in the north ISIS entered within 200 meters of the Israeli border with Syria. Israel took no chances and killed 7 terrorists as they were carrying weapons and suicide vests. No chances ... any breach will be devastating and too late to regret.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-strikes-several-armed-terrorists-in-syrian-golan-heights-1.6339208

1.8.18

My vantage point for the movie

So yes ... it was a film festival in Jerusalem. I took a walk in the evening and saw many spot with screens and people sitting down watching movies. I went up to Independence Park and there were 2 screens, one up on the hill and one below. The area was fenced off with one entrance and there was a ticket office so I thought I'd ned to buy a ticket which I cannot afford. So I stood on the opposite hillock and watched the entire film free-of-charge. It was a horror movie ... I think it was called Scream. In the dark, there were people dressed in black with the Scream mask frightening people. All in all it was a fun evening, after all it's summer. Tonight I'll go and watch another film but I'm not sure which venue is filming one that I would like. Anyway that's one more summer must-do that's covered.

Obviously I had recovered enough yesterday evening from my cold, to go watch the movie. I had a good sleep when I came home from the movie and I felt better this morning. Which was just as well because this morning I had an important meeting at the bank with our lawyer and accountant. We needed to unblock the utterly bureaucratic process of our account and then closing it entirely. It was blocked for 2 years and finally we've managed to resolve this. So the morning went well ... though with all the bureaucracy, it took good 4 hours. Just waiting our turn took 1 hour. This would never happen at any bank in Asia.

Anyway today is 1.8.18 ... which will only happen once in a 100 years. I hope to enjoy it ... any excuse for the summer!!