Summer cheer

Sunrise at 5am

It's total confusion again ... for the past few days I've not been able to tell which day it is. Yesterday while meeting several commissions, people had been reminding me that it was Tuesday and not Monday. Then today I was rushing through my schedule for Thursday only to have my 5 volunteers telling me it's only Wednesday today. I don't know ... I've lost all sense of time and space. So now I'm totally lost ... it's Wednesday and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I need to recalibrate myself.

Transporting food to the poor

Meantime I guess I'll spend time organising clothes and medicine and food care-packs for the poor around the country. There're lots of it and it'll take some time to organise them and distribute them to the MC sisters in the 4 regions of the Holy Land. At least the poor will have a little summer cheer.

Today's national tension is not jewish-arab but jewish implosion ... a leftwing activist was attacked and slashed by 2 right-wingers in Tel Aviv. The country has become so rightwing and vocal ... it's dangerous being a left-winger nowadays. They're considered traitors to the State and more of a threat than the arab enemies. As long as this implosion continues, the country will be divided and remain vulnerable. https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-activist-assault-in-tel-aviv-should-be-wake-up-call-for-israel-s-ordinary-people-1.7486047?fbclid=IwAR1CxhU6kiQ1Y9xnLvauK2XqwuJKyum6QLu1zZ1ZOA_UQACUNki-8U9N-NU

And the implosion deepens ... between secular and ultra-orthodox jews when a bus driver refused entry to a woman because it was an all men's bus going to an ultra-orthodox neighbourhood. And another implosion this morning when the mayor of Ramat Gan planned to run a shuttle service in the city during the Sabbath ... and a backlash from the ultra-orthodox  rabbis who are now threatening him.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5547298,00.html?fbclid=IwAR3QwfNePAyrhf6TJspnVMohZ7nobQ5K1XenXMvD9g2_woJB-bHRASXxpgU

OK so now I'm slowly sinking into the fact that it's Wednesday. What am I supposed to do today?

Bethlehem

The Wall & graffiti 

It was a sudden decision to go to Bethlehem this morning as our sisters had a lot of food which they wanted to give to the poor. The MC sisters in Jerusalem are busy with the parish youth camp and they have no fridge to store food, so I decided to bring it to the MC in Bethlehem. As we passed the checkpoint and along the separation Wall, some bottles fell out of the boxes and we stopped below the Wall to reorganise the boxes. It was the first time I've come so close to the Wall. It is massively high ... and the graffitti are actually very well done ... especially of course the Banksy ones. Anyway mission accomplished. All the clothes and food were delivered and I came back safely. I consider that my morning off. The wide spacious mountains and desert is so refreshing from the concrete jungle which is Jerusalem.

My booze ruqeb

Then it was work in the library and special class. Several times thoughts came about how I wanted to pass this summer ... studying more armenian and arabic, eat at my favourite Thai and Chinese restaurants, leisure walk along the Tel Aviv beach at sunset .... all dreams now ... It'll be another working summer vacation. I try to make it up by sleeping early ... at least I can spend more time sleeping in. Nowadays I sleep at 6 or 7pm skipping dinner ... and have at least 5 to 7 hours of sleep which I lacked during school days. And that is nice. And last Sunday I had my first Booza Ruqeb ... homemade ice cream peddled by vendors walking the streets of the Old City. It didn't taste anything fantastic ... but Booza Ruqeb is a summer institution which the poor people can indulge in. I'm glad I had one.

Meantime saber rattling is the game of the day. The PM threatening Iran because yesterday Iran threatened to attack Israel. We've seen it before and we're not too worried. More immediate danger is the discovery of tunnels from Gaza leading into Israel ... luckily the army destroyed them otherwise terrorists would have been able to infiltrate the country. And local politics are heating up in preparation for September's 2nd election. But that's all bit too much for me ... I'm into vacation mode despite work.

And I still can't find my wallet and bag of notes and cap ..... my memory is really going or gone.

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!!