Tea man

The tea man is back

It's summer ... and we can't stop being reminded because yesterday the arab tea seller was out at Damascus Gate vending his famous traditional tea in his Ottoman attire and ancient copper teapot. I should really try it one day ... imagine all these years and I've never tried a cup of this legendary tea. Time for a first cup. And it's summer time when the sun rises at 4am (3am solar time) and the muezzin starts his call to prayer ... and I take the half hour walk to Zahara neighbourhood to celebrate Mass for the sisters. On the way I meet some israeli security friends, the arab shopkeeper from whom I buy yoghurt, the bread vendor at the road junction whom I sometimes buy kaik - the sesame bagel famous in Jerusalem ... it's all that summer experience. Only thing missing will be a vacation in Jaffa which I had planned but must be cancelled (YES cancelled) because of work.

Fra Johnny and my
armenian cross

Meantime the tensions from our borders seem to have disappeared ... or at least not reported. I'm not sure what to expect ... but the main talk around town is not war but the weather ... how hot it is and how to avoid the sun. I guess that's a lot better than war.

My armenian seminarians came to see me today and gave me a lovely armenian cross from Armenia. We had a good time the past year celebrating together the armenian Mass and making many armenian catholic friends. Now they will go to their apostolates in Italy, Greece and Lebanon. I'll be alone for the liturgy as even the organist is on summer break.

Apparently the Ethiopic jewish community is calling for another day of demonstrations as police investigations conclude that the police man shot at the ground and the bullet ricochetted and killed the youth. I hope the demonstration will not be violent like the last time. We don't need anymore tragedies.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5545966,00.html?fbclid=IwAR1ePu8CkEktEVVuUQgU7hVHPUPgn66zQY2pjfRibb9iI8Qndq-gyMvXWnw

Sincere thanks to Mavien, Agnes and Anthony, Maria Tong, Miriam/Raymond/Laila, the Caveros, Irene, Angela, Yvonne and many of you for your kind gifts and thoughts. Really appreciate it.

Food day

Fresh barley bread

Sunday again ... on a very hot and dry morning with the sun beating down at 5am. I was out to buy barley bread for breakfast and the streets were already crowded with school kids and muslim devotees going home from prayers. At the 24 hr bakery at the end of Musrara open market, I found the barley bread have just come out of the oven ... piping hot. It was nice. Bought 4 of them and walked home. Our sisters were already setting the breakfast table and we put the barley bread in a basket.

For lunch an arab family had invited me over. They were refugees from Lebanon but have since been naturalized with Israeli citizenship. The wife makes the best feteh ... breadcrumb salad with veggies, yoghurt and roasted minced meat topping. Absolutely fabulous.

Feteh for lunch

For the dinner the chinese cooked some fish and rice. Nice asian plate. So today I really ate alot. Usually I eat only one full meal a day ... but today I really binged. And I deserved it. Though the docs will probably wag their finger at me. Did I tell you the doc said I am obese and need to reduce 10 kgs. OK you guys who met me recently ... am I obese?

There was a ramming incident this morning and police suspect it's a terrorist attack though. 5 soldiers were injured. Let's hope it's not the start of a trend. I don't want my summer to be ruined.

So far my summer vacation is full of teaching assignments. I've been very busy ... and I'm being booked for more summer courses in August. So if you don't hear from me ... know I'm busy teaching. A great consolation will be eating another feteh.

Weekend

Torch lilies

It's the weekend again. There's no news of riots and violence from the jewish ethiopic community ... so that's good news. The police presence in the Old City was high .. being the Sabbath ... but nothing extraordinary. No mounted police so that's a sure sign things are calm. However things were different at the southern Gaza border. some 7000 gazans protested at the border and the altercation with israeli soldiers led to 40 being injured.

The hot weather continues to beat down on us and I've been having dizzy spells all day. Quite bad. I don't want another heatstroke but I still must go to work ... which means walking the 1km uphill in this dreadful heat. I drink a lot of water in order to cool down, but I still have these dizzy spells. Yesterday evening on my way home I saw torch lilies on sale at our christian florist. They had no perfume but I thought they were unique enough so I bought 4 and placed them at our Madonna statue in the refectory. They look exotic. And the night jasmine in the courtyard is blooming profusely. In the night its strong perfume covers the entire courtyard and reaches up to the 2nd floor of our house.

So there was an outage in Facebook images. I was wondering if my fb was hacked again. That's a relief.    https://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-photo-outage-reveals-how-ai-sees-your-photos-2019-7?utm_content=buffer2b1ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi&fbclid=IwAR1lWGAMRHiWj00KfTAaKUpgtk5Eh2EmCnj-lQl7ptCP79WHijFz3wolFs8

It's the weekend. I'm hoping I'll get a good rest.

Summer heat

Golden cross shining on tower

The weather continues to be very hot ... but the ethiopic protests have turned off the heat by calling off future demonstrations. The violence we saw the past 2 days was unprecedented and no one wants it repeated.

The rising heat has attracted swarms of jellyfish into the coastline, choking power plants in the southern city of Ashkalon. If this continues, there'll be power shortages in several parts of the country soon. Swimming int he beaches this summer could be dangerous as these jellyfish sting.    https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jellyfish-attack-Rutenberg-power-station-594612?fbclid=IwAR121__HJw_WhfiQK0mCQpcH_kjDwOVOrBgSEF67Sc4Sum_vQWYRXttmZNg

3 types of apples

One thing great about summer heat is the sunsets it creates. On summer evenings like this week, the sun hits directly on the golden cross on top of the enormous Russian Orthodox  monastery at the Mt. of Olives. It glitters and attracts the attention of everyone living in the Old City. The other great thing about summer is the fruit ... we're having an abundance of mulberries, plums, apples and early grapes. Yesterday for lunch we had 3 types of apples. Today I bought a kg of grapes from an old bedouin. They were full, juicy and sweet. So summer isn't all that bad.

Implosion

New Gate last evening

The country has been rocked by riots and violence the last 2 days. Jews against jews .... ethiopic jews who decry that they are being discriminated and racially-profiled by white jews. All this after an ethiopic jewish teenager was shot dead by a white off-duty officer. Major highways have been blocked by protesters, cars burned, attempted public lynchings .... makes the 2 million people march in HK look like a party. And the local police have zero tolerance ... even though most drivers in the traffic stoppages did not complain by waited in silence ... tacit support for the protestors. This ongoing implosion will not end ... it resurfaces every few years ... unless the govt. faces the ugly facts and makes concrete legislature against racial discrimination.   https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5542717,00.html?fbclid=IwAR0DEla5iUriGXgAweIoJoD_DnERUocCh3pkR4EpWYoj5GX6BVrMrBLW47o

Bread vendor boy at New Gate

I figured the illness that overcame me several days back was heatstroke. Because I wasn't the only one. Even today walking out in the midday sun made me sick. Nausea, giddiness, headache. This summer sun is very harsh .... and early. It should only get this hot in August. Now it's just the start of July .... everyone's dreading what August will be. I pity the vendors who start work in late afternoon at the Light Festival. Yesterday I saw a youth carrying a tray of bread on his head for sale ... under the hot sun he walked from Damascus Gate to New Gate ... uphill. Poor chap. I've tried to stay indoors as much as possible and move around offices only when it's cooler in the mornings or evenings.

JJ the white cockatiel

It's not much of a summer vacation for me as work continues. I have a little fun with Buddy and JJ who've both grown up quite alot ... and demanding attention. But they're my faithful companions ... JJ has learned to fly but doesn't know how to land yet so he crashes into everything. They make my summer a little more different because I get to spend more time with them than when I have classes. They chatter alot ... and eat alot. And they've been trained to poo in only one location (in the cage) so they are very clean. If they're on my shoulder, they'd fly back to the cage to poo before flying back to me. That's how well trained they are!!

Last night, today

Arab drummer and jewish guitarist

I was utterly appalled yesterday when I watched the destructive rampage in Hong Kong's LegCo. It was not justified nor justifiable ... so please don't make excuses for them. At the same time it must not be generalised as the entire protest movement. It was not. It was committed by a minority fringe who did not reflect the ideals of the peaceful majority.

We've had our share of violence as well today. An israeli shot dead an ethiopic jew and now ethiopic jews throughout the country are demonstrating. It's another moment that black jews feel discriminated by white jews ... like the unprovoked beating of an ethiopic soldier by israeli police several years ago. It led to major demonstrations and riots in almost all cities in the country. My jewish ethiopic friends all tell me tonight things will heat up in the City. I'm just wondering if I should go out and see the demonstration ... it'll definitely get complicated because the Festival of Lights is still on.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5541869,00.html?fbclid=IwAR0UDIWq89RcqKlK-N0ZeRkKntc8Pr8gmYV_lh8Z0mWrneNOrcX7_bJYFgg

Anyway last night on my way home from work I saw an encouraging sight at the Festival ... an arab drummer and a jewish guitarist making music. Only arab passersby stopped to listen and watch ... so I decided to stand there in support and took photos. Immediately other jews also stopped and took photos ... they were just scared to stop and stand next to arabs until they see strangers doing it. Differences can be resolved if only we have the courage to stop, and share what is common between us. The greatest enemy is fear. The greatest sin is unfounded hatred  (sinat chinam in hebrew).

Bad news Monday

Crowded street in
Old City

The Hong Kong protests are misguided. Accept the fact that you're living on borrowed time ... that in a few years HK will return fully into chinese authority. And any changes demanded now can and will be reversed then. Instead of wasting time and energy fighting the inevitable, it's more constructive to study how to adapt. Such violence I am watching now on the news is disturbing and very destructive to future plans.

And down along the bad news line ... Israel bombed syrian military positions early this morning. 16 killed. Now we'll see if Syria and Iran will respond. Doesn't look good. Trump's weak and contradictory response to Iran is threatening Israel's security. If America is not going to be firm with Iran, Israel will. Shows you who's the boss around here.

And a newspaper report says that lots of arab teenagers are being arrested. Israel should realise that jail is no longer a deterrent or scare tactic to prevent future attacks. Jail is now a status symbol ... a mark of honour and adulthood and heroism among the arab youths.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-jails-hundreds-of-palestinian-boys-a-year-1.7021978?fbclid=IwAR2X_Sp4MV-dfg3LfpbzDBsVDyB40CghC_v6l6q0lm3N6bTUwlIhwNMtmPw

Families picnic at Rockefeller Park

A general strike was scheduled for tomorrow at the airport and all immigration crossings. It's scared a lot of tourists. This morning I heard the strike might be called off of the workers are paid. They have not been paid for the past month. Horrible. I don't blame them. The cost of living is high and without a month's salary, you just can't survive.  

And yesterday while watering the jasmine bushes in our sisters' courtyard, a small snake fell near my feet ... apparently it was curled up on a jasmine branch. It slipped away quickly behind some pots. Now everyone is scared they'll get bitten. I'm wearing shoes from now on when I go out watering the plants.

I'm still sick with fever and pain and dizziness and nausea. It could be heatstroke after all. So much for all the bad news on Monday. Garfield would have been proud.