CNY soon

Clear blue sky today

Another busy day. The temp shot up to over 20 degrees today but the forecast for the next few days is another dip to 7 degrees. The New Year will be a little chilly. And that's ok .... it suits the season. Previous New Years, I remember there was sleet, snow and heavy rain. 

Well this year, Mandarin restaurant is closed. Ah Ling has gone back to Shanghai because the lockdown is not helping the F & B sector. For the past 15 years, I've always organised a Reunion Dinner for the Chinese-speaking community of religious and laity. This year ... none. The sisters and I will do a little home cooking. This year we're only 5 in number. However there're several Vietnamese sisters and seminarians ... all feeling homesick and their senior priest Fr Douan is sick and cold not organise a Mass and meal with them. So they hinted to me ... and being the 2nd senior asian priest in Jerusalem, I have to organise something for them. So this afternoon I went to the asian grocery to buy some stuff. Friday morning I'll be busy cooking lunch with the vietnamese ... and one thai.

Tonight I'll have to think over what I should cook ... and how to transport it 1km up to the little garden behind the library. 

Lunar New Year soon

Almond blossoms

The temp. has dropped drastically this afternoon. The cold front from Europe has arrived. Greece is snowing heavily ... and the cold winds have blown over to our region. By 4pm I had to turn on my heaters as I was shivering from the cold.

Yesterday I was terribly busy ... as was today. Being the first week of the month, I have to prepare the salaries of our workers for the past month. There's alot of paperwork to do: getting the tloush (salary slip) from the Human Resource department, backchecking on the hours worked, then cashing the cheque with the Finance department, putting the individual salaries into envelopes. It takes a whole day for this.

More blooms

The govt has decided to reopen schools in places where majority has been vaccinated. That's a wise decision. You can't keep the kids from school for a year. Parents need to go to work, not stay at home to watch their kids. Infection rates have fallen to 4000 a day ... that's good news. But the rate of mortality per day is rising. Scientists blame the mutant strains from Britain and S. Africa. That's scary.

I went to see my doc this morning. He said now that 3 weeks have passed, it's unlikely to find any virus (if I've had it) in y system so it's useless to do a swap test. Better to do an antibody check ... if I've had the virus, my antibodies would be high ... which means I'm immuned. well ... I hope so.

The New Year is in a couple of days. I'll have to spend Thursday with the chinese religious in Jerusalem. Then on Friday I'll have to prepare lunch for the thai and vietnamese seminarians. They're feeling very down because of the partial lockdown and they don't have a proper community to celebrate the New Year. I'll be busy cooking. Seminarians have huge appetites.

Lockdown over

Damascus Gate today

 At 7am this morning, our 3rd lockdown was over. Crowds flocked out into the streets ... with masks of course. People sat along the cavea of Damascus Gate soaking in the sun. Many shops reopened. Business was plentiful. And the police were much fewer in the streets. City Gates reopened and barriers removed. The sun was shining brightly and the temp was a delightful 14 degrees. It was perfect. 

I decided to go for a walk through the park to the old Train Station, about 2.5 km away. It was a pleasant walk; and one of our students accompanied me. He needed some fresh air and a stretching of the legs. We noticed that most of the hotels remained closed but they are taking the opportunity to upgrade their buildings. The trees and bushes in the park were tall and unpruned. Lots of birds were around, not having been disturbed for a month. And insects too. It was beautiful to see nature reclaiming the land.

City Walls seen from the park

My plantar fasciitis is playing up again. Though the outing today was great, my foot ached terribly and I had to walk slowly. I really hope some cure is available soon for this ailment. It is crippling. Meantime my sore throat and diarrhea is long gone. People tell me the Ministry of Health advisory is: after the first 10 days, covid victims are no longer contagious. Hope it's true. Because now that lockdown is over, I have to reopen the libraries to our full time students. And I don't know if they were infected or not. All the State rules regarding libraries are still in place so I must enforce them. Back to grind of 9 to 5 work again. I was getting used to the slow and leisurely workless days of lockdown.

Storm

Storm clouds over the City

 And it rained all afternoon yesterday, and all night and is drizzling today as well. Well at least the forecast was correct. It isn't too cold ... 10 degrees now. I think it's because there's no wind blowing. The rest of the week is cloudy to sunny ... and that'll be nice for the Chinese New Year. 

And much more so because the govt late last night decided to end lockdown on Sunday at 7am. So we can gather for the New Year Mass and Reunion Dinner.We have to start organising now ... what a rush. I don't know of any place that will allow 6 migrant workers from all over Israel to stay overnight. We'll have to ask around. This is such a blessing.

Rainy street

The infection rate is still very high an the govt is worried ... it'll take a month of so to see the vaccines working and the rate decline. But so long as people continue to be cautious, wear masks, wash hands and stay away from crowds, it should be contained.

Today my superior drove me to work as he needed some books from the library. That saved me a wet walk 1km uphill carrying 1kg of books that are being transferred from the university library to the other one. It was an extraordinary sight .... not a car in the streets. Not one!!! Don't know where everyone went ... but it was eerie. Even during the wars, people travelled in cars. Today was haunting ... no cars, no people in the main roads.

Hopefully all these will be over when lockdown expires and the Lunar New Year comes round. There'll be no chinese cookies and other homely stuff this year ... but that's ok as long as our small community can meet up at least for an hour to celebrate Mass in thanksgiving despite 

Stromata

Monument to the Crusader
knights of St. John

 I'm still reeling from the fact that my Covid test result was lost. Unbelievable. Now I'll have to be double sure and make an appointment with a doctor and get it done with a clinic so it can be traced or that someone can be responsible for it. Anyway people who were infected told me after 10 days, I am no longer infectious ... so I can go out and without fear of infecting others.

The temp has dropped again and the sky is full of dark rain clouds. Forecast is stormy weather today and rain for the next 2 days. I hope so. Then I'll have an excuse to stay in my room instead of going to the other library to work. 

There's been a series of wild jackals attacking humans for no reason. Experts say it's a sign of rabies. Terrible ... as if Covid isn't bad enough. There are wild hyenas and jackals in the outskirts of Jerusalem but thankfully I don't go into those parts. Not a good experience being bitten by a hyena or jackal!  https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/S1hPckPeO?fbclid=IwAR1LCaUpeJlrk0IvqjACFuHz7h2PAjFr_PqDkkkqCd8RCIneyBkhT1-04W8#autoplay

Posted a photo of the monument to the Crusader Knights of St John who built their first monastery and hospital here in Jerusalem next to the Holy Sepulchre basilica. Later through the centuries they would become St. John's Ambulance and the Red Cross.

I have class today and several chores to do ... like going to the pharmacy and buying more medicine for the MC convent in Bethlehem. The Palestine authority apparently has run short of medicines and cannot provide the sisters anymore so they called me to help out. Am buying over US$500 worth of medicines and will transport them to Bethlehem when the lockdown is over.

Lost Covid results

Amazing sunrise

 I didn't even realise yesterday I hadn't uploaded a blog. Time flies. I was home all day ... studying and reading. And I managed to sleep for several hours in the afternoon as well. That was mainly what Buddy and JJ were looking forward to. Some quality time together ... Buddy sleeping on my chest and JJ at my feet. They enjoyed the quiet and remained calm.

This morning there was an amazing sunrise ... a haze from the west made the sun visible ... and it was resting on top a tree on the Mt of Olives. I took several photos as it slowly rose higher. That was almost 6am. I had my breakfast while watching the sunrise ... a submarine sandwich with cheese and a cup of coffee. It was nice.

Empty Mamilla Mall

This morning I had to go to the other office to work. Requests for books and return of books and lots of payments. I didn't want to be hassled so I worked slowly and got everything done by 12pm. Then it was class at 1.30am and after class I came home but I took a long way through David Street and the Suq (market). I stopped by Mr. K the burger place to buy a sandwich for dinner. Rossini's ... the iconic restaurant is closed and the workers rented a smaller place to sell burgers, calling it Mr. K. 

Now the bad ... infuriating news. After waiting 6 days for my Covid test, I heard nothing from the Ministry of Health. Called my clinic and they said they cannot find it on the computer. Got 3 other arab friends to call separate and the answer was the same ... my Covid text result is not on the computer. I must redo the test as soon as possible. Everyone who heard about it was aghast ... lose medical record????

1.2.21

Father and son enjoy-
ing the sun

Today is 1.2.21 ... will never happen again till 2121 or 2221. Enjoy it!

The news today is all about the 2 funerals of 2 venerable rabbis in their 90s, hours apart, who died from corona. Tens of thousands of ultra-orthodox came for both, disregarding face-mask and distancing. There's an uproar in the country over this especially when many have locked themselves indoors for 4 weeks now, lost their jobs and income, lost their quality of life. What has raised the ire of the citizens is that the police did nothing. Later in the day a spokesmen said policing is different in Jerusalem than in Tel Aviv, where sitting alone by the beach means getting a fine of 500 shekels. Many of my expatriate friends have expressed total disbelief how this was allowed to happen. It's a shock. Utter shock. Read all about it.    https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Hko5JLSxu

Wild mustard

The weather has warmed considerably, the max temp this afternoon was 17 degrees. some people have dared to venture out and enjoy the sun. A new lockdown ruling has raised the fine to 5000 shekels .... but I wonder if it's applicable to the ultra-orthodox. The streets continue to be deserted, shops shut in fear. We hope and pray the worst is over and we can slowly return to some semblance of normality.

One thing which is enjoying this pandemic is nature, I've never seen so much wild flowers growing in inconceivable places as this year ... cracks in walls and pavements!!! My potted anemones are flowering, as also the freesias. It'll be lovely in 3 weeks time when all will have blossomed.