Storm

,,, and yesterday 469 views on my blog. Weird things are happening. And my WhatsApp yesterday was continuously "unavailable" .... not sure if the rest of you had this problem or whether it's only me.

Rainy morning

As forecast, the weather dropped and the bright skies turned dark and gloomy. It rained most of the night and the morning saw very strong winds and occasional forceful showers. I had Mass at the Sepulchre but going out at 6am in the storm was something I hadn't experience in 30 years. Streams of water gushed down the steps and streets of the Old City. Awnings were flapping in the wind. The only noise to be heard were the heavy patter of rain on the zinc roofs and the howling of the wind. Tonight it'll be even colder and tomorrow there may be snow. If don't mind if it lasts for a day. So long as it doesn't accumulate on the library terrace so I have to shovel it.

Mass in the Empty Tomb was very cold. A visiting Salesian priest joined in with 2 of my deacon salesian students ... so I let him preside. After Mass it was a short class with the group on the Bible. The group usually brings a meal for me as I never accept a stipend from them for the Mass. Today was spaghetti and fried fish and dessert was filipino puto ... a type of sweeten wheat bun. I appreciate the food they make despite their heavy working hours. They have to get up at 2 or 3am to cook before setting out of Tel Aviv for Jerusalem at 5am.

With the storm blowing, I've decided to stay home. I have another class at 3.45pm and then this evening begins my turn to be hebdom. It'll be a busy week ... presiding at Masses and communal prayers, blessing each meal, washing all the dishes for every meal, preparing the dining room for the next meal.

By the way Israel yesterday began testing travellers from East Asia including Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore at all its borders. The virus is really getting serious and is mutating too quickly for any cure to be definitive. I'm doing my best to stay home ... which is not the safest place to be actually because thousands of tourists come by our chapels. Some chinese tourists are coughing and sneezing and refuse to wear a mask, while mingling inside our chapels. We try to stop them from entering our courtyard but they wriggle through the crowds. A perfect way to spread the virus. No civic consciousness whatsoever.

Tense Friday

Sunset yesterday

So there you go ... even yesterday I got 872 views on my blog when I have less than 70 friends. And today it's 434. It's hacked and tapped. What's going on???

I remembered to take my medicine today. And so I'm not breathless or dizzy. Amazing how 3 small pills can hold up my health for 24 hrs. But that also means if I don't take them everyday, my health will decline. The fragility of life ....

Yesterday after the 2 terrorist attacks, there was another outside the City. Israel raised the number of soldiers to 1000. I expect there'll be raids inside Palestine especially in Bethlehem. The expected clashes after Friday noon pryers were nipped in the bud when police stopped busloads of muslims from the northern regions and turned them back ... hence the Mosque was not as crowded as it could have been. There was relative calm inside the Old City ... well until this evening's prayer.    https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Hyv5KiKfU?fbclid=IwAR2qjhkwcsmSGhES4asqSht4V2zQpeDbwQMmgEyUoXAsvjjMGg0Tw0hWacE
and
https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Temple-Mount-Israel-police-send-home-worshipers-ahead-of-Friday-prayer-616828

Yesterday morning there was also an earthquake in the north. It was 3.8 on the Richter scale. Not massive but enough for people to feel the jolt. Scary.

Here's an interesting insight into the tourism industry with regards to the chinese market.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-chinese-tour-groups-vanish-from-israel-amid-virus-scare-1.8500727?fbclid=IwAR2-iRArxsjFsivgOTM4_8U3hhA6dlbbY7iIzvQ5tvzWqhfbCToOGsF7MiI

bad morning

Deserted streets in the City

So I'm 100% sure my blog is being hacked because yesterday I get 9 viewers and today 464 viewers ... and I don't have so many friends. My phone number, as I have said earlier, was hijacked by someone who used a call-forwarding app to intercept all my calls. With my phone number he has also accessed all my social media including blogspot, FB, WhatsApp etc. Sounds unbelievable but it's true. Yesterday I tried twice to call out from my phone but someone else answered. And then I received a couple of calls not meant for me. It's all messed up. So be warned that all my social media are being tapped and hacked.   https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/twitter-says-iran-israel-malaysia-may-have-accessed-users-phone-numbers-1.8493438?fbclid=IwAR3UPsi0EQZmwsaldWa0qshOOJS7JLntHtUK5sBRVAHr5GSjYJzA5D8iqEE

What a morning of violence. It started out at 2am with a car-ramming attack that injured 15 soldiers near the old train station. Then a palestinian soldier was shot dead by an Israeli soldier inside Palestine. Now there's a stabbing attack in the Old City at Lions Gate. The violence has not been so intense as today. It spells a bad summer for us.

Hot soup for dinner

I've figured out why I was so breathless and dizzy yesterday. I forgot to take my medicine. 5th time in 2 weeks. Yesterday I was in an urgent hurry to get to hospital to visit our cook .... and so I guess I forgot to take my medicine. I was quite worried as the breathlessness and fatigue are signs of the coronavirus. Well I don't have it. I was at the doc's yesterday evening to check up and there's definitely no sign of it .... no fever. But we couldn't figure out why my breathlessness until this morning when I saw my medicine for Wednesday still in my pill box. One day I will die from missing out on my medicine.

Yesterday I went to Mian restaurant to collect some used clothes fro the poor. Billy and Linda the owners asked me to wait for a while as they bought a cake to celebrate the birthday of their junior cook. He's a very hardworking guy and has learnt to cook chinese dishes.

And on my way home last night, again there were racist comments thrown at me. It's not funny .... and it'll get worse.

Sad day

Custos blesses Beit Mamilla

It was a sad but in a way happy morning. I received a phone call at 7am from our cook ... he's in hospital for treatment for terminal cancer. I had tried to visit him several times in his house in the Old City but he was in hospital ... and then I didn't have time to travel there. But this morning he called and said he wanted to see me. I just dressed and left immediately ... had to borrow some money for the transport there.

I didn't know where the oncology depart. was at Hadassah Hospital so I had to ask around for help. Went around in circles till I found it. He was awake and eating some breakfast ... something he had not done for the past 3 days when he slipped between consciousness and unconsciousness. We spoke for 2 hours ... recalling old times when he worked in our kitchen for 8 years. Every year he would cook up a special dish for my birthday and every Christmas his wife who is a pastry chef would bake me a fruitcake. And of course the annual cheesecake for my feast day. It was sad ... the cancer had been very aggressive. But still it was good to have met him again and to reassure him that all will be well with his children ... the youngest is less than a year old. We pray and wish him the best.

I left feeling confused with mixed feelings ... seeing how fragile life is ... that I bumped into a very large russian nurse who growled "Use your eyes when you walk".

Comfortable rooms at Best Mamilla

Yesterday afternoon I went to the blessing of our new hostel ... a boutique style bed only facilities in an old wing of the Mamilla convent belonging to the St. Vincent de Paul sisters. They call it Beit Mamilla ... and I found out that Mamilla (which is also the name of the neighborhood) is a shortened form of Maximilla ... at least that's what the Crusaders thought .... apparently there was a byzantine church and then a crusader church built over it in the area of the convent devoted to St. Maximilla. Anyway the new facility is small, with enough rooms for 20 people. It has 2 kitchens ... every handy. And the location of course is superb ... right in the middle between the Old City and the New. You have to try staying there ... it's worth it.  

On racism and reason

Strawberry season

And while the anti-chinese and anti-asian racism grows, there's been calls by some newspaper editors and commentators for reason and compassion. Not sure if these calls will be heeded as social media continue to show locals reacting negatively when approaching asians. The greatest scourge is not the virus but the irrational hatred that is generated from ignorance. That one will linger for generations while the virus itself will be eradicated. We should fear the virus and not the victims ... that's the common call throughout social media.

The needless death of a cerebral palsy teenager because his father was quarantined is a wake up call on how compassion and reason has been lost. It is such a tragedy.  I continue to stay at home or at work ... not going to buy anything except from a couple of closeby shops who know me well. A couple of nights back when I was coming home from work, there were some local youths calling out "Corona" and "Get out" at me at New Gate. It's not a safe feeling. Well this afternoon there is the inauguration of our new hostel in Mamilla and I must attend. It'll be an exception. My friend had invited me out to lunch earlier today but I finally decided not to risk any ugly scenes in the restaurant by declining. The poor chap was all dressed and came from quite a distance .... I guess I'll make it up to him one day.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/BkQsenUzI?fbclid=IwAR1EIomAJd5ux2dA1n3EsDjA1iLPsZ6D4DAyn_-zQuRMcMn848q-bTQOhX4#autoplay

Meantime Spring seems to be ending and Summer has started. In fact the jewish "Arbor Day" feast or Tu b'Shvat starts this Sunday evening Feb 9th and will end the following sunset. It's known as the birthday of the trees ... and it's not simply a fun feast day to celebrate the coming of warm weather. Rather it was meant by the ancient Israelites to count which trees are taxable based on the age of the trees. Though such taxation is no longer in practice because there is no more Temple, the feast day is still observed.

Rising racism

A field of clover ... blanket of green

Another new week has begun ... another month. Exams are over and the new semester begins. Summer is what I'm looking for. Though winter is wonderful for Christmas ... and Spring is full of beautiful flowers and greenery, it doesn't give as much opportunity for public events as in Summer ... such as open-air concerts and bazaars and lovely sunsets. Not that I actually have the chance to join in any of these ... as the last few summers have shown. I'll probably be neck-high with work and this Summer will pass me by like the past 7 summers. Still it's fun planning for it.

Some time back I mentioned my lost of memory. It hasn't stopped. I still mix up days, lose documents, not knowing why I go to a certain place. And worse ... I forget to take my medicine. OK .... now I forget why I wrote this. OK ... next topic.

There are still protests and clashes along the borders of Palestine and Israel over Trump's plan. But little has happened here in Jerusalem except for some chanting and scuffles.  Street talk informs me that once when the weather warms up, more violence is expected.

Asian veggies at the asian grocery

And because of the coronavirus, we're now facing rising racism. People in the streets make remarks about chinese, they cross the roads ... but so far they have not chased us out of shops and restaurants. My friend who owns a lebanese restaurant was telling me how a chinese couple came for a meal on a very rainy day last week. His first reaction was to say the restaurant i closed ... but his elderly father said "Have pity .... it's raining and they are hungry". Fear versus compassion. Believe me fear usually wins ... so I'm avoiding any unhappy incidents and am staying home as much as possible. Well one thing on my side is everyone in the Old City and also the New City know me and trust me. A FB post from a northern Israeli city by a chinese person lamented that nasty remarks were made at her over the coronavirus. Yes it's started in other cities ... and I'm sure it'll reach Jerusalem. I'm staying home ... and going only to shops and restaurants who know me.

02/02/2020

Cold wet night

So now there's bird flu as well. Things are getting from bad to worse. Israel's cabinet met this morning to discuss steps to take if the virus enters the country. But in a realistic step, the PM declared  that it's impossible to totally keep out the virus so emergency steps must be prepared. Wise.

Though the temp has risen by 4 degrees during the day, it's still cold and the sunshine lasts only a few hours before the cold dark clouds come back to blanket the sky. I had planned to do some gardening ... and maybe graft some roses on the old rootstock which is a climbing rose. I got the cutters and water and earth and fertilizer all ready ... but then I was called to do some other work.  Nevertheless the Spring flowers have bloomed. Lots of anemones in bloom ... and my first narcissus is also bloomed. Wonderful. The cold and lots of rain this winter has given the bulbs a huge boost.

My first narcissus this Spring

One thing though, this morning's Mass at the Armenian Church. 4 kids came and their presence and singing made the Mass so enjoyable. I was very happy that they came. Hopefully we can start a kids catechism class soon. Me and my seminarian helpers are doing so much to get the armenian catholic community to revive. I have a deacon, readers, acolytes and choir. These seminarians are amazing. Their sense of mission is so strong. I really appreciate them.

And today's is the unique once in a lifetime 02/02/2020. I purposely got up at 02.02 last night to post on my FB on this coincidence of time. But it also reminded me how fast time flies ... January is over and we're already in February. Carpe Diem!!!