Quiet

My sore throat is over. Drank lots of water and used lots of gargle. But now I have a cold ... it was quite warm last night and I slept without the blanket. Regretted it by 3am when I got up shivering and sneezing. And Mass in the freezing chapel at 6am was no help. So now I've got a runny nose and sneeze attacks. My nose is tickly all the time. I've taken cold tablets so I hope by this evening it'll be over.

At the hair saloon

Yesterday was Valentine's Day but we don't celebrate it because it's also the feast of Ss. Cyril and Methodius who are patrons of Europe. It's not popular among the jews and muslims either. Only christians celebrate it but with the economic difficulties, hardly anyone nowadays even pay attention to it. I saw only one shop in Jaffa Street in the New City with balloons and buntings .... and it was a jewish hair saloon.

We've just got news that the war in Idlib in Syria is getting quite bad and residents in nearby Aleppo can hear the bombs and missiles exploding. The friars there are calling for help to stop further killings of innocent lives. Most syrians living in the area are christians. Unfortunately the world is silent. What would St. Valentine have done in such a situation?

Anyway there was relative peace yesterday. And so far no news of clashes today either. This might be one of the quietest weekends we've had. It won't make a difference to my work as I still have lots of it this weekend ... but it certainly makes the atmosphere around work alot less tense.

Warm weekend

The last count on viewers of my blog yesterday is 32. Compare that with the 1360 views the day before and something smells fishy.

Palm Plaza at 11 degrees

The weather has certainly warmed up alot. Last night was 11 degrees and the highest today was 18 degrees. The muezzin start their sunrise call top prayer at 4.55am which means daylight is getting longer .... and so summer is on its way. I do miss summer though I never get to enjoy it. And anyway the weekend is upon us ... and though I do look forward to it, I also won't be able to enjoy some free time as weekends are full of activities and masses and classes as well.

This afternoon we'll celebrate the graduation of Fr. Pedro. He defended his doctorate on Monday and will soon return to his mission in Taiwan. Our little chinese community of priests and religious would like to congratulate him and wish him the best for his future. Now our community will become even smaller as no new chinese-speaking priest or religious is coming to study.

The coronavirus is taking its toll on Israeli tourism. A newspaper report says it all.   https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-virus-concerns-hit-israeli-tourism-1001318287?fbclid=IwAR0fXCQCbgFXK4zqqFqxrb5VUioduB8ln4Xrh4wJqTiXRMi3SajTRRHD8go

I've been extra careful in washing my hands as I have to go and return from work walking through the City. You can never be too careful. Yesterday I started having a sore throat which scared me ... but I realized it was because I ate alot of chicken curry that our indian sisters had cooked and that burnt my throat. It was spicy and I had also microwaved it very hot .... totally burned my throat after that.

Meantime the Gaza's have agreed to halt sending incendiary balloons into Israel. Thank goodness. That should ease the tension in the south at least. At least this weekend will see some peace and calm there instead of the usual clashes and injuries.

Weekend starts

1,360 views in total yesterday .... whoever the perpetrators are, they're not afraid to be blatant. Today 23 views. See the exaggerated discrepancy? It's not normal.

An uproar this morning in the coastal city of Rishon le Zion when 2 sisters got kicked out of kindergarten because they just came back from a China holiday and their parents did not put them in mandatory 2 week quarantine. Parents and teachers were horrified and kicked the girls out. Big uproar.    https://www.janglo.net/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&page=display&catid=99&tid=480327&Itemid=0&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2BRoEKjVy19sE1y1oCLadqTAL09zRZ-tUhaXTtOHRv_ln6CUGd3HUicss

Indonesian tourists at Mandarin rest.

Yes the coronavirus is scaring everyone here ... and no more chinese groups are around. El Al had stopped all flights into Hong Kong till next month. But there're lots of indonesian groups still around. They're not part of the ban as it seems they have no infection cases there yet. There're also many american filipino and vietnamese groups. So the Chinese tourist bubble just burst. Gone in 3 weeks. That's how unreliable the tourist market here is. It can be extremely profitable and politically crucial ... but just one mishap and everything crashes.

Work continued today .... a very full day and after classes and meetings and conferences, I've now got a sore throat and headache. I've decided to skip vespers though I'm hebdom this week. Just can't do it ... so I got someone else to substitute me while I go to sleep. There comes a time when enough is enough.

Sun is back

Desert and a glimpse of the Dead Sea

OK ... so now today I have 1,354 views. You believe that? And it always peaks at midnight exactly. Someone is really messing around with my blog and this is getting serious. It's bad enough that my phone number has been hijacked and I'm not getting any calls, and I was locked out of my FB and WhatsApp several times ... now my blog is also targeted daily.

Otherwise ... the weather was fine today. It rose up to 14 degrees and at noon it was hot enough just to wear a pullover. I went out to enjoy the sun ... since my friend just bought a new car and wanted to try it out. We went up the Mt. of Olives and had a lovely view of the City of Jerusalem on the West and the marvellous clear view of the Jericho desert and the Dead Sea on the East. It was a good break to get out of the City and work. And the air was very fresh and clean after the past days' rain.

City of Jerusalem from afar

Other than that one hour outside the City, it was hard work the whole day. Bureaucratic paper work, lots of correspondence with publishing houses, book acquisitions, organising the boxes of books that had arrived for various libraries etc. It can get quite mind-boggling. I was running from one dept. to another so many times I actually forgot why I came to one dept, and who I was suppose to see and what I was suppose to do. I think I should retire.

Well tonight I'll get a good rest and tomorrow it's another full day of classes and meetings. And so far ... no coughing or sneezing or any signs of a cold. Fingers crossed. I'm washing my hands a lot with alcohol gel these days. and avoiding crowds. I use the alleys instead of the main streets where tourists are crowded. Better safe than sorry.

Still cold

Abundance of fruit

The drizzle has stopped but it's still cold ... about 3 degrees average. Forecast points to a gradual warming of the weather and by this weekend it should be up to 16 degrees. I guess it's about time summer came. The heavy rains up north have filled the almost empty Sea of Galilee to almost full capacity. Everyone is exhilarated ... it's been over a decade since we've seen this level of water there. However climatologists warn that this is only temporary and the following years will see longer hotter days which will deplete the Sea of Galilee of water as had the last drought.

And despite the cold, fruit have been flourishing. I find in the streets lots of grapes which is actually off season now. This is the time for persimmons and they are delicious after the rainy spell .... full of juice. One strange thing is I've not seen flowering almond trees yet ... they should have blossomed a few weeks back.

Police presence in and around the Old City is still high. They stop and check many youths ... including jewish ones. There's so much provocation from both sides, we just have too be careful. Everyday, a group of 10 orthodox jewish youths come to our church and spit at us. That's besides the 5 jewish girls who do the same everyday twice a day. But the police do nothing about it. I guess it takes someone to be injured to dead before the police takes us gentiles seriously.

Meantime the northern arab city of Jish where St. Paul's parents came from, has been attacked for the 3rd time by jewish extremists. 170 cars and mosques have been vandalized so far.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/170-cars-mosque-vandalized-in-northern-arab-town-in-apparent-hate-crime/?fbclid=IwAR2Jt5nm88DWL5n_6KaYeR7tyUszo0OvfP4faQieYOdqVQUPHyHTpJignS0

And the anti-asian racism is not abating. Only this morning on my way to work, a group of youths were yelling obscenities at me and coronavirus.

Chap Go Meh

Freezing cold and empty streets

The whole of northern Israel was in snow ... and all the high places in the south as well. Everywhere except Jerusalem. Just a few specks which melted before they landed. What a disappointment. It's the coldest day this winter. It went down to zero degrees at 4am this morning. Lots of drizzle ... but no impressive snowfall like 4 years back. The temp will rise from tomorrow and hit 16 degrees by next weekend. End of winter.

It's Chap Go Meh or Yuan Xiao festival ... the 15th and last day of the Lunar New Year. It's a big celebration in many parts of east Asia ... but here in Jerusalem .... nothing. Except for the lovely full moon that dominates the sky. Ah Ling had given me some frozen tang yuan ... I think I'll boil them in lotus soup. Some chinese groups had brought lots of powdered lotus roots for me. It comes to good use now.

Missiles have been fired back and forth between Gaza and Israel. It doesn't seem to be lessening despite the cold weather. A Gazan military compound has been wiped out today. And as if that war wasn't enough ... the newspapers have acknowledged another war in Israel ... the racism against asians on the onset of the coronavirus.    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-coronavirus-claims-new-victim-in-israel-tolerance-of-chinese-students-1.8509016?fbclid=IwAR3jQ7VlJ0JYE8YZHJuebxdsAVd3HpAgxZFXKOgSzDf73agG5LyZY9NwIIw

Snow?

... and there you go ... yesterday's 460+ views was suddenly switched to 55!!! Someone is playing around with my blog. Help!!!

Full moon on a cold night

The storm has stopped a midday today ... trickled to a drizzle but the cold is stinging. It's 3 degrees now and will drop further tonight to zero. Forecast is for snowflakes to fall but no accumulation on the ground. Just as well .... no need to shovel the terrace. The full moon can be seen clearly in the wintry night sky. It's beautiful and many people have stopped to photograph it at Damascus Gate.

Today was a very busy day ... presided Mass at 7am then armenian Mass at 9am then Bible Class at 11am and a meeting at 1pm. Came home at 3pm to eat my first meal of the day. Had a terrible diarrhoea ... probably I didn't warm the food up enough. Well work isn't finished yet ... I still have to preside at Vespers and then serve dinner and wash the dishes ... that's about 40 persons in all living in our house.

Traffic jam at Damascus Gate

The trade war between Israel and Palestine is turning for the worse as both signs are adding onto the list of banned foods. The consumer will suffer as prices of food will rise. As it is, Israel is now one point above Singapore, making it more expensive in living cost than Singapore. I guess there'll be no more special breads for me on Sundays.  

Israel's Health ministry has extended travel restrictions to most asian countries in order to avoid an outbreak of the corona virus. It's the only logical thing to do ... but it also means it should restrict entry from those countries as well. The viral outbreak is unbelievably rapid and every country is trying to catch up with its mutations. Reports are out that Israel has been conducting military drills with a friendly country affected by dozens of coronavirus victims. It has decided to continue with the exercises.      https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-holding-joint-drills-with-soldiers-from-country-hit-by-coronavirus-617015