Jerusalem Knights Festival

So it's November ... time for the annual Jerusalem Knights (nights) Festival which takes place every Thursday night during the month. A very fun and family event. The streets are always packed. But this year the route was switched from the Christian Quarter to the Armenian Quarter and out through Zion Gate and along the City Wall (Gan haBonim) back to Jaffa Gate.

Gravita - the aerial
acrobats at Jaffa Gate

This year's events were not as spectacular as the previous years. Less spectacular except for the aerial acrobats at Jaffa Gate. What was more fun were the arab stalls set up in a hurry to cash in the busy trade of thousands of visitors. Arabs selling toy swords, strobe lights, balloons, sahlab (hot winter beverage) and juice.

Anyway this year there were stilt-walkers, a witch, a medieval fashion show and lots of music ensembles playing medieval music. Most performers were in period costumes. There was an Arts and Craft fair included: potter, cobbler, mandolin maker ....interesting but there was hardly any space to see them at work. I thought it was badly organised. The route was too narrow and the performers were on ground level instead of on a stage where everyone could see.

Trumpeteers on the turrets of
Jaffa Gate

Music ensemble with
performers in period
costume

Day off in Tel Aviv

Sufgoniot breakfast at TLV

It might have been a day off but it was very tiring. Woke up at 3am to do all my chores before leaving for Ramat Gan at 5.30am to see my doc. Arrived there at about 6.30am ... the taxi-driver lost his way (again). A ride at that hour costs US$180 .... very expensive. Finished everything at 10.30am and went off for a late breakfast with doc. We both wanted sufgoniot so we went to downtown Tel Aviv's "Coffee & Bagel". Nice company and great comfort food. Doc is actually one of my best friends.

Then had to rush off to Rothschild Boulevard (it's been 2 yrs since I last been there) to visit a former student who's now a chef at Cafe Noir. He cooked lunch for me, even though I just had breakfast. Good food ... good chef. Good to see my former student doing well. Starters was a plate of calamari and prawns in tomato sauce, followed by veggie risotto with pesto sauce. Main course was fettucine with chicken liver and mushrooms. Exquisite. Shared it with an acolyte from our Jaffa parish who came along. He suffered a stroke recently.

At Rabin Square

After lunch, went off to Rabin Square (memorial to former president Rabin who was assassinated there). It's a lovely park right in the middle of the city but an oasis of calm. A large tranquil pond with carp and goldfish line one side of the park. Water-lilies of red, orange, white, pink and purple hues were blossoming everywhere in the pond. Lazy chairs all along the pond were snapped up by people taking their lunch-break,  soaking up the sun, listening to birds chirp ... and the constant hum of the traffic. I actually fell asleep out in the public on a lazy chair ... that was how tired I was.

Then it was a visit to my community in Jaffa. No one home except the former superior who let me in. Fell asleep on the sofa there for over an hour. Then it was a rush back to Jerusalem because Ah Ling of Mandarin Restaurant called me over for dinner. Special food again. Couscous in veggie sauce and stewed pigs' trotters. Really nice. And she and her husband refused to accept payment.

The evening ended with a walk down the annual Crusader Festival in the Old City held every November. his year's theme was The Knight's Hall. Tell you about it tomorrow. Right now am so tired from a day off ... I need to sleep ... again

Of weather and parchments

The past 2 days saw heavy downpours throughout the country ... floodings and a dip in temperature.

Sara and a beautifully
decorated choral

But not one drop of rain in Jerusalem. Locals say it's a punishment on the Holy City. Nights can become as cold as 8 degrees. I finally have my heaters out. What a relief!

The bombings in Lebanon are causing jitters down here. Regional instability always has a domino effect in the Middle East. Yesterday morning Israeli jets bombed Gaza again after mortars were fired into Israel.  http://www.jpost.com/Defense/IAF-strikes-targets-in-Gaza-Strip-332303

A magnificent 16th
century choral in parchment
once used in the Basilica of
Bethlehem now in the library

Despite feeling very weak, I've been working full-time. That means walking up and down the City from one library to the other ... a total of 2 kms uphill and down. It's terribly tiring especially when my blood pressure is low and I'm feeling giddy all the time. But the "discovery" of ancient manuscripts, incunabulae and other treasures tucked away and long-forgotten in corners of the library is always a great moment. A student from Italy, Sara, is doing her doctoral research in ancient chorals (enormous hymn books used by monks, all handwritten on parchment) and she hunts through the library for these precious relics from the past. Once found, she has to literally lug them (some weigh several kilos and are over a meter in height) to a special table where she cleans each page, studies the contents and calligraphy, and write out a descriptive report. A long slow process but it's the first time a catalogue of the ancient chorals is being compiled.

Well the cold weather is good for bringing out and cleaning the parchments but the rain and damp can be very destructive. Will have to find a suitable place for Sara to do her research.

Cold

Sunrise over Mt. of Olives

The temperature is steadily falling night by night. It gets so cold I cannot sleep. I haven't managed to get my heaters out of the attic. Yesterday night was so cold I had a splitting headache. Today I found out I wasn't the only one. It's so cold the canaries are dying one by one. From 38, it's down to 10. Have to transfer them into a smaller cage and keep them indoors. But one thing nice about the cold weather is that the skies are clearer and sunrises are stupendous.

Inversely there's a rise in violence between Jews and Arabs. A Jew was killed in Afula near Nazareth and now revenge attacks against Arabs are taking place. There was a bombscare 2 days back in the usually busy Hillel Street. The whole street was blocked off by special police while the suspicious package was detonated. Winter doesn't look good.

Lost 2 great Bible scholars in one week: Francois Bovon and Jerome Murphy O'Connor. The latter was my professor 15 years ago at the Ecole Biblique. Went to his funeral Mass.

Healthwise the wounds are healing. A little pain when I sleep on my side as pressure tends to build up on one side. Have to sleep face up only. But the breathing is much better. However I'm still feeling terribly weak. My security friends all say I look so exhausted and weak and pale. They tell me to go and rest ... but I miss their company and laughter. Word has spread among them about my op. so they all come to ask if I'm ok. They're great guys. Some of my arab friends also call me everyday to ask if I'm ok and need anything. I appreciate that. It's comforting to know people outside and from different religions care so much for a foreigner among them. So-called "brothers" do much less. Thanks to all who made this op. possible. But I'll have to go for another op in a couple of months ... this time probably at an Israeli hospital. Don't look forward to it.

Another day

Another day of recovery. Still with swelling but very little pain. Thank goodness. Mouth ulcers are very painful though ... a sure sign of my lack of vitamins and general weakness. People are telling me to rest more but that is an impossibility. The medicine makes me very sleepy but already a load of backlog is forcing me to get back to work. Sunday was my feastday but with the situation I'm in, there wasn't much to feast about.

View of the northern section
of the City : Damascus Gate
and Schmidt College looming
on the upper righthand corner

The weather is still cold but the sun brings in a nice warmth if you stay outdoors. At least that's one good thing happening. Last week I had the chance to go up one of the buildings in Khan ez Zeit and had a spectacular view of Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter from a different viewpoint. And talking about weather - the disaster in the Philippines is in everyone's mouth. It's silencing the daily whining and crying of the disgruntled people in the streets ... when they see the utter suffering of the filipinos in the hands of Mother Nature.

Winter has set in. The sun sets by 5pm and darkness shrouds the entire City while people try to continue with work and life in the cold. Not much rain though ... we're expecting a dry winter.

Thanks to Maven, M. Fok, C. Lee, J. Tong, Cavero family, Angela, Rose Chiu, Monday and Wednesday classes, Grace Leung, Gigi and Katie. Received everything.from hoodie to TimTams to medicine to gifts to wellwishes. Appreciate everything.

Recovering

So a week has passed ... and the operation went well. It was supposed to be 2 hours but a complication occurred and it took 3 hrs instead. I survived so I'm grateful. Prior to the surgery, 2 docs came to examine and after some tests, said my blood pressure was very low and was generally too weak. "Must eat more red meat" - that's what they said - "Cannot be a vegetarian!" Well I do eat red meat ... like once in a blue moon. But then again, I hardly eat anything anyway. No wonder the docs said I was too weak. Thanks to everyone who made this possible - spiritually and materially - I can breathe better and had not had an asthma attack all this week.

Season for sufgoniot -
Hanukkah is back!

Most of the time during recovery was spent sleeping. The medicine made me very drowsy. Whenever I was awake, I read Potolsky's "Mimesis" - a good introduction to the theory and history on this subject. Ah Ling from Mandarin's was very kind. She boiled chicken soup with chinese herbs and wanted her worker to bring it over to the hospital for me. But it's not possible for Israelis to enter Palestine, so I told her to leave it. Yesterday when I got home, I passed by Mandarin's and she had 3 packs of food for me to bring home ... all without charge. And insisted tomorrow I had to return and drink the chicken soup that she'll boil tomorrow morning. The Sisters of Mother teresa were also very kind. They cooked plain white rice for me and accompanied me home (carrying my luggage) as I could not see properly.

My arab friends called me everyday to ask if I was ok. When I got home yesterday after the stitches were removed, they came to meet me and though I was tired I stayed with them. Being poor dispossessed people who cannot enter freely into Israel, they can only gather around corners of the eastern (arab) side of the City - so we met along the City wall and sat and drank and chatted for several hours under the trees. They can offer me nothing but their friendship, and I'm glad I have them. And I'm glad I have you too as my friends - it's in times like this taht you realise the value of true friends.

All Souls Day

City Wall by night with
the Latin Cathedral inside

Yesterday was All Saints Day and we were all reminded by the 2nd reading that we too are called to be saints in our own small simple way. Easier said than done. But that's the challenge.

Nerves must be getting on me as operation day draws near. Was pretty nervous and down yesterday ... in fact extremely. Some terribly unjust thing was dumped on me as well .... My two best friends decided to take me on a walk. We sat down on Mamilla Promenade and spoke and drank. It was very quiet ... as Sabbath set in. And it was freezing cold. It was good of them to be with me. I needed that.

Then its All Souls Day today. Lucky for the dead ... no more suffering injustice. Remembered all the souls who have passed on ... friends, relatives and benefactors during Mass.