Memory lost

Morning 

 I'm down with a severe cold, with fever and cold sores and tiredness. But worst is the phlegm that chokes the entire nasal and lung passages. And I'm not the only one. Many others have it too. People are saying there's a virus in the air. Perhaps. But I can't see the doctor these days because it's the end of the Jewish feast of Sukkot. That means offices are closed, in fact everything closes like on Sabbath. When they reopen tomorrow, it's the muslim Friday so my clinic in the arab side of the City will also be closed. After that is the Jewish Sabbath and then the christian Sunday. I'll only be able to see the doctor next Monday.

As it's a national feast day, the borders are also closed so our workers from the Territories cannot to Israel to work. That means I have to stay in the office to make sure work continues. Being sick at the same time makes work a little more difficult. 

Morning tram

My memory has been worse lately. On Monday I came to work but forgot to carry my backpack with me. It's over 3 kg. After half a day in the office, I realised I didn't have my backpack with all my documents, medicines and telephone. After frantically searching for it, I called home and was told I left it on the terrace when I went out to water the flowers early in the morning. The next day I went home but forgot my wallet in the office. Yesterday I went to the pharmacy but forgot why I went there. And when I got home, to my horror, I realised I locked JJ and Dudu in the toilet all day without water or food. I forgot to let them out when I left for work in the morning. The poor birds were very quiet but hungry and thirsty after 12 hours. Poor things ate a lot when they came out, and both slept with me all night as they didn't want to leave me. This is getting serious. I must see the doctor about it. It may be the start of dementia.

Weekend

Seemingly calm Tel Aviv

The clouds of war still loom over us. Fighter jets roared over our house at 3.30am last week, shaking our windows and waking us up. Tel Aviv looks calm, with beach-goers taking up the last warm sunshine before winter comes. But there is no denying that the residents in this iconic care-free city are nervous of another drone or terrorist attack. I saw videos from our northern churches, of missiles flying overhead and surrounding fields and lands bombed and on fire.

It's still taking time for the demise of our friends last week to sink in. It's so easy to preach about getting over and moving on, but the reality is a lot harder. 

I'm down with a cold or an infection that's making me cough, chest pains and fever. I was caught in a cold draft while walking home 3 nights ago, wearing only a T shirt. Since then I've had a runny nose and all the symptoms above. Lost my voice too. I'll see my doctor tomorrow if it continues. 

Netanya community

Despite my illness, I went to Tel Aviv yesterday for the Chinese Mass, then to Netanya for the Filipino Mass in the evening. It's well over a 100km away and with the traffic, the traveling time was lengthened to almost 2 hours each way. I came home only at 10.30pm and was totally exhausted. The medicine for cold makes me very drowsy. Anyway it's been many years since I last celebrated Mass for the filipino community in Netanya. Many old faces are no longer there. It's a relatively new community of migrant workers. But the choir master is still the same. We spent some time catching up. It was good. 

R.I.P.

 Our loyal friend and dear colleague Katie passed away this morning from a short and sudden illness. May God grant her eternal repose and peace in the kingdom.

Katie Lai

Acorns

Acorns mean autumn

Almost a week since I updated my blog. There's a lot of work to be done. But also the psychological toll is weighing heavily on me. Yes Jerusalem is safe and has not had any problems ... but the indirect casualties are everywhere. People may laugh and seem to carry on like normal daily life ... but unconsciously everyone is affected. Economically prices of everything is going up. Subconsciously people avoid going out unless necessary. Gatherings are less frequent. Migrant workers too are traumatised, and a clear reminder was 2 days back when a Thai migrant worker was killed by a missile in Galilee.

Talking about deaths, yesterday evening we received news that one of our workers but more a friend to everyone, Shibly, died after a long illness. He was an orphan that the Franciscans took in, gave him an education and job. He eventually became the head Kawas or dragoman, who leads all public processions of the Franciscans; and private chauffeur and bodyguard of the custos. Then he was diagnosed with liver cancer last Christmas and was home for almost 9 months now. Everyone feels sad.

It's not been a happy week to say the least. I've lost my memory several times. Yesterday was the worst. Three times I stood by the road not knowing where I was or what I was doing outside the Old City. My muscular control has no been good and my shaky hands caused me to spill coffee over my keyboard and totally destroyed it. I needed to go to the shop to buy a new one but I forgot where or why I was going out for.

Autumn

Bread seller

It's been getting chilly and humid this week. The dew is heavy in the morning and the stone pavements are wet and slippery. People are wearing hoodies and jackets. The autumn harvest has begun and because autumn here is very short - only a couple of weeks - winter will soon start. We hope this year it'll rain and even snow. We need it as last winter here was no rain at all.

Schools open and close depending on the situation of the war, and the jewish feasts. Borders were closed on the jewish New Year last week, and will close again today for the Day of Atonement for several days over the weekend. Some of my workers will not be able to come to work ... our institutes will be running on half the personnel; lessons will be taught online. People try to live as normal as they can. This morning on my way to work, there was a bread seller with bread (called ka'ek) on his head, walking 1km out into the open market at Damascus Gate to sell it. Each piece used to cost 4 shekels but now I'm not sure. It's probably higher now.

Our monastery in Tyre which served as a station for passing refugees from south Lebanon has closed due to the encroaching danger of bombings. Everyone has moved to our other monastery in Beirut further north. It's a little more secure but missiles have no eyes and no one can guarantee one won't land near or on the monastery. The friars there continue to provide food, water and shelter to passing refugees but we don't know for how long this will continue as food is running out.

Solemn profession

Five days have passed since my last update. The violence has increased, cities on both sides of the border have been bombarded. People have been killed, injured and displaced. Properties have been destroyed. Fighter jets and helicopters continue to fly overhead. Police stop and search anyone on the streets.

17 new friars

Today marks one year of that terrible4 day that started the war. We are spending it in fasting and prayers. May this tragedy never happen again. Too many innocent lives have been lost. And in the end, nobody wins. Those not affected by the war are still affected indirectly ... with the rising cost of food and services. Many businesses have ground to a halt.l Unemployment is high. Tourism is almost non existent.

Solemn profession of vows

I spent the weekend at Jaffa where I have to substitute the filipino chaplain who's stuck in Dubai. Fewer people come to Mass as many are afraid of more missiles landing on us. On the highway, cars fly pass quickly to reach their destinations ... and avoid being caught in the middle of a journey when the missile sirens sound.

Despite the tensions and difficulties of travel, some people made it to the solemn profession of 17 of our seminarians on Saturday. The church was not very crowded as expected. But our brothers braved the situation and went ahead with their profession. All come from Asia, Africa and Latin America. There are still many vocations there. There's still hope for young instruments of peace.

Night of lights

Missile over Al Aqsa

Last night's barrage of missiles once again reminded us the fragility of normal life here in this region. peace is not elusive, Peace is not wanted. 

It was about 8pm when alerts were sounding on my phone. Then the sirens sounded and the sky was lighted up by almost 200 missiles. The fact that no one was hurt except one unfortunate guy in Jericho killed by missile debris, shows that it was an orchestrated event to please the local public.

Empty streets

The missiles kept coming for about half an hour. Then all was normal again. We can only just pray that things will calm down instead of escalating.

Today the streets and roads were empty ... few if any one were out. Schools were cancelled, shops closed and offices too. I wasn't told that so I went to work only to find I'm the only one working. The main gate of the compound was closed. Well I decided to stay in office instead of walking back 1km home. I tire too easily. I need a long rest. These events are too fast for me to catch up.