Seafood market

Weekend seafood
market

 The past few days was very uncomfortable ... I was very listless, lacking concentration and energy. The 30+ degree weather wasn't helping much. I had a terrible headache, and I still have difficulty breathing when I walk. Dizzy and nausea as well. The BP remained in the 130+/90+ and that makes me feel very ill. The chinese sisters have been giving me acupressure massages and that helps me sleep deeply each night ... though lowering the BP will take time.

I've tried to get out of my room at sunset to walk around and lower the BP. It's usually to the bakery at Musrara open market about 800m away. There's always a large crowd, with a few people wearing masks. The Delta plus variant is spreading rapidly here but no one seems to bother because the symptoms are light and there are not many serious consequences. Unless it's on someone like me .... it would be devastating.

Yesterday being Friday ... the first day of the weekend here, the seafood stalls were brimming with produce from the coastal cities. I saw huge squid and crabs and fish for sale. Most customers packing the stalls were asians ... filipinas, chinese and indians. Arabs are conservative eaters and dare not try anything outside of their bedouin cuisine. Jews wont eat it because it's not kosher. For asians, it's a rare treat that's available only on weekends, and it's very costly. A kilo of anything would cost US$15 at least. I'd love to cook some things with those fresh seafood ... but the price is too forbidding. Anyway I need to watch my diet ... to lower my BP and sugar levels.

I intend to take the next few weeks slowly. No stress. It'll be my "summer holiday." That means I might switch off my phone.

Futile

1500 yr old church in Samaria

 I wanted so much to stay home and rest today but as usual there are so many demands cannot be rejected. An account had to be opened with the Post Office tax dept. and a consignment of books was scheduled to arrive this morning from our printery. Under the hot sun, I slowly made my way up to our offices 1km away, feeling still dizzy and nauseous as my bp is still 140+. Reached the Printery office only to be told the books are not ready and may only come this afternoon. Went to our finance dept to resolve the taxation account, and the worker took a day off. I just wanted to cry. It took me so much effort to walk up ... and nobody, nothing was around. It's so surreal ... and nightmarish.

Incised cross from
the church

I walked home slowly in the heat ... my ankle hurting and with difficulty breathing. School kids were going to summer camp ... which takes a load off working parents. Summer camp here means going back to school for half a day ... with play activities, sports and nearby excursions. It's not much, but for most of these underprivileged kids, it's a nice break. I have always wanted to organise a summer camp based on religious formation for the kids... but never found the help I needed. Maybe one fine day my dream will come true.

The heatwave is still hovering over us. Luckily my old portable aircon still works and with the cool air in my room, the nasty insects don't come to bother me. It's all weather driven ... anything beyond 32 degrees and those bloodsuckers are flying about. Below 25 degrees and they disappear.

I'm hoping to finally get some rest now. Photos of the ancient church ruins of St. Mary built by Emperor Zeno at the top of Mt. Gerizim to replace the Samaritan Temple after their revolt was squashed.

Day out

donations at MC
convent

Today I made the long journey to Nablus to bring medicine, clothes and donations to the Missionaries of Charity. They haven't had Mass for a week as the parish priest there is constantly going out for weeks and abandoning the parish. I celebrated Mass for them. It's been well over a year since I visited them. Sr. Joan had recovered from a fall and a broken hip. Sr. Joshita is new and is fitting in well. The rest of the community: Sr. Mary Emma, Sr. Jeanne and Sr. Ambrosina are all doing well. I'm glad for them.

On the way I paid a visit to my friend Ilan who's the manager of the Mt Gerizim archeological site. The site is as usual quiet. But up on the mountain, the panorama of Nablus and ancient Shechem is breathtaking. And there was a cool crisp wind blowing to offset the heatwave.

Anyway I'm exhausted. I need to rest. More news tomorrow.

R.I.P.

 I managed to buy an insect repellant and it seems to be working against those horrible mosquito-like insects that have very sharp bites and causes a lot of itching. Problem was I forgot about it and left it in my office ... so last night I was bitten alive by those horror blood-sucking monsters. 

Mass at MC convent

Yesterday I received news that my only surviving maternal aunt passed away. It's very sad ... but I'm happy she passed away peacefully from old age. She was 90+ years old. I told the MC sisters and they spread the news to their other 3 communities in the Holy Land and they started offering prayers for her. This morning I went to their Bethlehem community to bring medicine and clothes for the poor, and celebrated Mass there with the sisters ... offering the Mass for the soul of my aunt.

Nationwide the violence and clashes seem to have stopped. It's all in the weather ... when it gets as hot as this heatwave hitting us right now ... some 40 degrees ... no one is going out to fight and throw stones. Mother Nature has a way to control human behavior.

Healthwise my BP is still fluctuating between 160/97 and 131/77. It may not be much to you, but for me it's definitely high. Eveyrone is telling me the big one is going to come ... this is just a warning sign. Well I really don't know how to prepare or prevent the big one.

Terror mosquitoes

Sunrise at Palm Plaza today

A very busy morning for me today. I started working at 4am: throwing out the garbage of the community which means carrying the sacks down 5 floors and bringing them to the dumpster out in the streets, then preparing the bread for the community breakfast, then watering the plants in the courtyard because the heatwave is withering every single tree and flower. Then it was shower time and cleaning the room before going to the Ivrea Convent for Mass at 5.50am which is 1km away. 

After Mass there I had to walk 3km across the City to the western side where I had to celebrate Mass for the Ethiopic community at 8.30am. Though the chapel is quite far away, I enjoy going there because the eritreans and ethiopians are such nice people ... very shy and spare in speech ... but very devoted and pious. And their singing is legendary.

Mosquito bitten

After that 2nd Mass, I walked back to my office at New Gate because I was simply too tired.  My bp was 147/89 ... which may be normal for some people but it is high for me. The heatwave didn't help. I stayed in my office with the aircon on in order to keep my temp down and hopefully lower the bp. There I repotted the mostera plants at the library door that were getting too old and lanky. The 4 pots were heavy and repotting them into bigger pots required alot of energy. Still I managed to do everything alone ... which is a good sign.

The tiny "mosquitoes" ... I think they're something else ... continue to torture everyone. They're so small you hardly see them but their bite is 10 times worse than mosquitoes. Spraying repellant only helps for a short while. I hope the heatwave ends as it's encourage these bloodsuckers to proliferate. Sometimes they give me a fever and nausea, but the worst is the itch. You just want to peel off your flesh. It's the perfect torture ... it drives you mad without killing you.

Heatwave continues

Buddy is molting

 The heatwave continues to beat down on us. I think it's around 40 degrees now. The ground is seething with heat. I'll need to spray water over our terraces to keep the rooms below cool and avoid cracks in the terrace. The heat is quite capable of cracking the seams due to expansion.

And both birds are molting because of the heat. It's a mess. Feathers everywhere. Buddy plucked a tail feather yesterday and started playing with it like a quill. They enjoy the cool in the toilet and stay most of the day in there. As I've been home for the past 3 days, they have had lots of quality time playing with me, eating with me ... and especially napping together. Buddy sleeps on my shoulder and JJ sleeps on my knee. They get pretty calm after their sleep ... which is generally from 7am to noon and then from 1pm to 5pm. Yes they sleep alot but when they're awake, it's eating and playing non-stop. 

My blood pressure has been very high today ... 160/97. Felt terribly giddy and nauseous but phone calls kept coming that I must go to work. 3 meetings and one search for books because a student from Haifa University needed them but cannot come over. I need to get them scanned and emailed. 

I am really hoping for the next month will be quiet and relaxing so my health can get back to normal. But I'm not optimistic.

Early dementia?

Sprinklers at Rockefeller Park 

 It's bad enough that the heatwave is upon us ... now we're attacked by mosquitoes and ticks. Everyone is getting bitten. Both my feet are dotted with red bite marks that itch terribly. Ticks from stray cats are everywhere and a walk through the streets will ensure feet bitten by hundreds of wandering parasites. The stray cats are a major problem in the Old City ... but without them the rats will proliferate.

Unfortunately I have to walk through those streets every morning because I've been assigned to celebrate Mass for the Sisters of Ivrea who live 1km away from the Old City in the neighbourhood of Wadi Jooz (Kidron Valley). It's a nice walk as the sun is already up ... the sun rises at 2.30am now. By 5.30am when I go to their convent, it's bright, hot and sunny. Some kids enjoy their holidays and come early to Rockefeller Park to play. The sprinklers are on early in the morning as well, so the kids play around the water. The air is rather clean at that time so I take a slow walk around and breathe in some clean air which I cannot get in the Old City.

Ancient olive trees

I had another class this afternoon ... but I was struggling so hard to find the words. I could hardly finish a sentence ... the words are stuck in my head. It's alot more serious than last week. I can see it's deteriorating. People tell me I'm overworked and stressed. But that's not going to stop the workload. I can feel the physical and mental exhaustion weighing down like the heatwave.  I might just slowly lose my cognitive senses and get dementia.