Too much

Full moon

 It's been 31 degrees and above the past few days. The sun is scorching. But the nights are very cool and breezy. The muezzin starts singing the call to prayer at 3.30am (2.30am legal time) and it was noticeably louder these past nights ... perhaps because of the tensions around the City. A lot more arabs from around the country are flocking into the Old City for weekend prayers these weeks ... a reaction to the Jews entering the Al Aqsa mosque compound. By 4am the compound is full of young and old praying.

This morning was a mad house. I had so many things going on at the same time, it was out of control. 2 phone calls at the same time, a team of conservators and restorers to study the state of some of our antique books and a visiting professor from the University who wanted to see our books. Then another call to help a seminarian change money, another message to say someone is leaving old clothes with me for the poor, another series of messages asking if I have a place in the car to bring them to Tel Aviv tonight for the solemn Mass at 8pm, then the chinese sisters calling to ask if I can find rooms for them in Tel Aviv tonight because they want to join in the Mass there too, two workers came to ask me to bring them to a convent where they must do repairs, booking the car to bring us to Tel Aviv for the Mass, looking for another car for tomorrow to bring us back ...... it's one of those days where things are totally out of control.  I'm too old to handle this stress.

Cherries

Anyway it's preparation time for Mass in Tel Aviv. I'm exhausted so I need to rest a little before the solemn Mass there.

One consolation after all this stress ... I got lots of fruit to eat! Mini-apricots and cherries! Grapes also! And vanilla ice cream! Weekend will be great with these summer fruit!

Feast

Full red moon on the right

 Today my worker is in hospital so I have to stay in the office the whole of the opening hours, opening and closing the library because it's still exam time and students need to use the library. 

Last night the full moon was out ... so very large and red. It shone through my window and kept the room alight. It was very nice but I don't have a good camera so the photos are blurry. The moon is enormous and red. Amazing. I thought the blood moon phenomenon was over, but it isn't.

Great home food

Last night the chinese sisters cooked up a great dinner and invited our Custos, the vicar and the economo over. Their term of office is almost over and we wanted to thank them for their help all these years. The food was really professionally done ... restaurant level. There was my favourite cold noodles, fried beansprouts, dumplings and lots of other stuff. We ate alot.

It's Corpus Christi today. There was a solemn Mass at the Holy Sepulchre and every other church is holding its own celebrations. It's the last feast before the Transfiguration in August. But by then most of our guys will be away for their home leave so the feast is much less crowded than it should be.

Processions

Procession of St. Anthony

 I must be tired. I can't remember words or things for the past day. For the past 3 nights I've slept only 3 hours each because I've had too much to do. The old brains are giving up. 

Monday evening I had gone to Tel Aviv to the migrant chapel to concelebrate the feast of St. Anthony for the Konkani community. There wee many worshippers, and the little children wore Franciscan habits as a sign of consecration to St. Anthony. There was a public procession around the block with police escort, followed by Mass in English and Konkani. There were 4 deacons and 8 priests and the sanctuary was small and the chapel had no windows so it was very hot and stifling. The Mass ended at 10pm and when I reached the bus station, there was no one and no bus. It was scary. The station is famous for drug addicts, thieves and lots of violence. I called the deacons for help and they can to accompany me back to Jerusalem by train. It was my first time and I didn't know where the station was. Neither did they. We needed a Filipina parishioner to bring us there.

Little Anthonies

When I reached home, having to take the tram as well, it was already midnight. And I hadn't eaten anything all day. It was past 1.30am when I actually to sleep but by 4am I had to be up for work and meetings. I was feeling very light-headed and nauseous all morning. So at 3pm I decided to go home to rest. Simply too much activities. I'll have to recoup my energy because this Friday there'll be another procession and Mass for the Malayam community in the night and Saturday morning I have Mass for the Konkanis. All in Tel Aviv far away.

There was no drizzle as predicted. instead the heat has come back ... over 28 degrees. I must remember to drink lots of water to stay hydrated otherwise I'll be fainting.

St. Anthony

St. Anthony & relic in
our main church

It's been 4 days since I updated my blog! I'm ok ... just very tired easily, swollen feet and sleepless nights due to phlegm accumulation in the windpipe. I've barely slept 3 hours a night now. And we hit a new high of the heatwave. Last Saturday recorded 40 degrees. It was stifling hot. You could feel the ground burning through the soles of your shoes. The today it's all cloudy and cold ... and drizzling! Drizzling in summer? This is so weird. Everyone is just talking about the rain. It's definitely a good respite from the heat but it's totally out of character for summer to rain! Now the rains have stopped and the heat is back. Forecast for another day of 40 degrees.

On Saturday night, when it was 40 degrees, it was too hot to sleep so I went out to the terrace where a cool breeze was blowing. Then I witnessed an altercation below my house. 4 jewish youths attacking an arab youth. They sprayed pepper spray at him and he managed to run off to his home. Police then came ... to defend the attackers and tried to enter the arab's house ... not sure to interrogate him or arrest him. All I know is that the injustice here is unimaginable in any other country.

Violence continues sporadically throughout the country. We're not sure if it'll get worse. We certainly don't want our first corona-free summer to be spoilt. And newspaper reports are saying ... we're not free from corona yet. There's a 30% rise of infected cases, with many more unreported. I'm still keeping my mask.

Today is the feast of St. Anthony. It's a solemnity here in the Holy Land because St. Anthony is the patron saint. He had wanted to come as a missionary and die here but was not allowed. Anyway he got to the the patron saint so that's good. The Indian communities here have a great devotion to him and they all had novenas prior to the solemnity. Let's pray that St. Anthony will protect the Christians here from persecution and keep us safe.

Smart cat

Patient cat at Broaster's

 I felt sick at 11.30pm last night. Was coughing and feeling unwell so I couldn't sleep till now which is 17 hours later. I vomited twice at 6am. Now I'm very exhausted and my eyes are burning. But I have no appetite. It's a horrible feeling. I'm hoping to be able to sleep tonight. The weekend will be hectic as I've to help several indian communities for masses ... both konkani and malayalam. I hope to recover by tomorrow. I need to travel to another city 65km away for these masses.

Last week as I was walking down Salahhadin street - which is the main artery for East Jerusalem - I saw a very hopeful cat sitting at the door of Broaster's Fried Chicken ... waiting for a free meal. It was very hot and the cat was cooled by the aircon there at the entrance. Smart. I guess many people will also wish to be like him in this weather and financial crisis.

Met an old friend and friar who's been working in Greece (or America?) for over a decade since I last saw him. He said I looked exhausted and I should take a rest and leave all the work behind. It's good advice ... and I will ... this summer I hope. There's so much going on it'll need some planning. 

Wednesday

The long road to Tel Aviv

 Another hot day, another busy day. Tensions continue to be high around the country as incidents happen here and there. Yesterday I saw a small boy of 7 or 8 having to open up a huge luggage he was carrying and taking everything out ... by the side of the main street, because police wanted to see what he was carrying. Poor boy. No one dared to intervene.

In this heat, and with schools closing soon, we'll see lots of arab kids working to help the family finances. Many times I feel sad ... seeing small kids selling things in the streets, working in restaurants and shops in cleaning or carrying stuff around. They don't have the luxury of holidays. I remember several years back when a small boy maybe about 8 yrs old going to the Fried Chicken shop asking for food. It's a very sad fact. People are that poor. Children go hungry. And just now there's the news that Jerusalem is the 15th most expensive city in the world. I'm trying to figure out with our Aid Office and the sisters how we can help this summer the poor families. It'll be a busy summer.

Hectic day

Singapore consulate

 Yesterday was a tiring day as all Mondays are ... class starting at 4am (5am daylight saving) and then work all day through. This morning I had to leave for Tel aviv at 5.30am because after waiting one month for my new passport to arrive .... and it apparently went missing for a month ... the honorary consul told me after my daily calls that there is a passport with a chinese name but not my english name. That was me ... only I never use my chinese name here since nobody can pronounce it anyway. So I had to rush and get it. It's far away and the traffic jam was horrific in the morning. It took me well over one and a half hours to get there ... and then waited for an hour for the consulate to open. Then it was another long traffic jam back home.

Impromptu exhibit

The consulate shares office space with 2 Guangzhou companies or trade-missions. The chinese flag flies big everywhere ... but not a single Singapore flag. Only the crest was at the door. I was rather disappointed. It's about time Singapore opens an embassy here and get it's own official place.

After returning home, which was already 12pm, I had to rush and organise a make-shift exhibition for the francophone commissariats of the Holy Land. They're here for a renewal course and I brought out four 16th century books on french travellers to the Holy Land. They found it interesting.

After that there was alot of financial arrangements the Economato wanted to close because it's the end of a 6 year mandate. We had to tally everything and it was all good. But I'm mentally exhausted since this morning. No rest. No lunch. Only one 5 minute toilet break in 12 hours. I really need to rest early tonight. I feel sick and nauseous.