Summer

Summer sun

It's summer time ... the days are getting longer. In fact I've been tracking the muezzin's call to pray before sunrise. Today it was 3.45am, which in solar time is 2.45am. It'll get earlier still until next week when the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. Then sunrise will gradually become later and we prepare for autumn.

Yesterday was another day of violence ... from local triad societies. In Nazareth, usually quiet and calm, a series of killings the past weeks has been perpetrated. Yesterday one was shot dead and another wounded. In the southern city of Ashkelon, another was shot dead. This culture of violence has to stop ... or the younger generation will have no future.

I'm still in contact with the Sisters of Charity to organize a summer camp for the poorest children in our parish. It's also a break for the mothers who spend the entire day at home cooking and cleaning all through the school year. They too come to the summer camp and enjoy the fun. The camp may be short, but for these poor it's an event to look forward to; a break from routine and the pressures of living in poverty.

Hateful spitters

Villagers selling fruit

The weather has settled this week .... hot summer days but chilly nights. The streets are filled with village vendors selling fruit and vegetables. Very colourful and tasty ... and expensive. Lots of apricots. The figs are also making an appearance but we all know the first figs are tasteless. You need to wait for August for the best figs. Grapes are best in September. Right now it's apricots, peaches, cherries and some exotic tropical fruit like pineapples. I rather like this season for the variety of fruit that we can eat in this heat ... if we can afford it.

Tensions continue in and around the City. Anti-Christian jews are more defiant at spitting at us now that they have been videoed and condemned by many jewish sectors. Even the Chief Rabbi issued a statement condemning it. These jews come en masse and spit at our churches every Friday morning after their prayers at the Wailing Wall. Jewish professors from various universities organized a conference on this anti0Christian issue but the venue organizers were pressured by the spitting jews to abandon the conference or face the consequences. Ultimately it's the rabbis who're pulling the strings and making their lackeys do their dirty work. The conference was moved to the Armenian Monastery. This anti-Christian attitude is becoming more aggressive ... it has already led to vandalism, burnings and destruction of Churches, Christian property and attacks on Christians. But the world is very quiet about this. Imagine if one jew was spat at in Europe or America.

Thunderstorm

Cherries galore

The weather is back to normal summer. No heatwaves ... but the ground is still thick with the desert sands during the sandstorm. Friday we had a very strange thunderstorm that should not have been. This is June. There was thunder and lightening ... it was like in winter. It was all very strange. Some religious jews are saying God is angry. This is the harvest of the wheat and rains will destroy the crops. Still it was quite spectacular to watch the lightening cutting the skies all night.

Well the cherry harvest seems to be good ... red, orange, green ... all colours. But I thought they're very expensive. 40 shekels per kilo. Other fruit are also in season: lychees, pineapples, peaches and apricots. They're all quite expensive. But then everything else is also expensive after Covid.

Summer

The weather continues to be hot though not as much as the heatwave last week that went up to 40 degrees. There's a cool breeze blowing so that's good.

Police stop-and-search

Tensions continue to rise as clashes in the palestinian towns are provoked by israeli raids. Stone throwers along the highway to Nablus are also reported to injure motorists. Police are stopping youths and checking their permits in many places in the Old City and around. And the summer heat is not helping to cool tempers.

Exams in the schools are also making university and secondary school students nervous and edgy. Skirmishes are more frequent in the streets between students as a result. Primary school students on the other have started their summer vacation. Busloads are going to Jericho each day to swim in public pools. It's good for the children to go out of the City during summer. The claustrophobic ambiance within the City Walls, and the constant menacing presence of police are very disturbing for growing children. It's not normal. Luckily schools organise such trips but the cost may be too much for poor families to afford. Instead the poorer children will be working as vendors or in shops and restaurants to earn a little something. I really wish I could sponsor them for football classes or something in the Arab Sports Club here in the Old City. I used to do that with the extra reserves of donations but now Covid has depleted all our resources. It's these poorer kids who need a break, to be able to run and laugh and kick ball without police chasing them away.

Off to Jericho swimming pools!

Full moon

Full moon between
the palms

The sandstorm has abated but not the heatwave. Daytime temp still soar above 35 degrees and the nights are 20 degrees. Only the full moon makes the nights something to look forward to. Its brilliant ... rising above the City walls, in between the palm trees. Unfortunately the tense atmosphere meant nobody was looking up at the moon. Everyone was just hurrying by ... hoping the police don't stop them to ask for IDs and permits.

There's been violence around the country. A 2 yr old boy was shot and consequently died today ... a casualty of gunfights between the police and palestinian gunmen. The toddler and his father were mistaken and shot. The Egyptian border incursion has also led to a lot of internal investigation as to how this could have happened.

All I can say is that with this heatwave and tense situation ... summer is not quite fun. One has to always be careful going out, avoiding crowded places.

Heatwave

For 3 days now a sandstorm and heatwave is hitting us hard. The Electric Company could not match up with demand and thousands of homes had no electricity in this sweltering heat. It's been 40 degrees and the dust is making the sky yellow. The sun is blotted out. It's really bad weather for asthmatics. I've been indoors for 2 days now with this sandstorm blowing. People are coughing alot.

There's been cross-border violence and injuries ... today from Egypt. It won't escalate but it does sound unsettling. Left and right wing israelis are still holding counter protests against each other. Raids are still being conducted against palestinian cities and towns. Yesterday a father and child were seriously wounded ... innocent bystanders. That makes you think twice each time you want to go out ... will it be safe? Will I come home alive?

Sandstorm in the
night sky

End of May

So I've been so exhausted working I finally fainted ... yesterday. Luckily I was with a group of volunteers in our rare and ancient book collection so they caught me on time before I hit the floor. 

Marian altar yesterday

So why was I so exhausted? I had to single-handedly organise a meeting of Asian delegates on short notice (2 weeks). Had to deal with flight tickets, health insurance, train tickets, visas, pickup at airport, daily schedules that had to be coordinated with many offices for speeches, talks, visits. Then when everyone is resting, I have to compile minutes, photocopy documents for their reading and discussion ... Yesterday on the last day, I just collapsed. I spent the rest of the day in bed.

Today my legs are still wobbly and my head is giddy. I stayed home as much as possible, going down to the kitchen only to get food. I have no appetite probably because the docs have put me on Metformin. So I'm getting thinner as well. I only eat because the medicines require some previous food intake. The medicines make me drowsy and lose focus.

Yesterday was the end of May. Typical to our local tradition, we have a huge procession with the statue of Mary carried from our parish church to the Patriarchate and back, with a Mass celebrated before that and rosary after. It was very grand. And the flowers on the makeshift altar were abundant. I guess it helps to keep the people happy and hopeful despite the terrible economic crisis and social persecution.