End of April

There's a local video going viral ... a young woman setting a gas pump (and car) on fire because the man she asked a cigarette from did not give her one. Amazing what people can do.  http://www.haaretz.com/video/1.654142?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

Yesterday there were marches and clashes in the Al Aqsa mosque compound and Bab Hutta area between muslims and israeli soldiers. Chants can be heard from my room and explosions of stun grenades. This Friday could be potentially an explosive one as tensions have reached a new high.

Amidst all this, I had a very touching visit from an old nun from Lebanon, Sr. Sophie. Somewhere in her 80s, the little nun wept continuously as she recounted the sad situation of christian syrian refugees in Lebanon: of children scavenging for food in the streets, mothers abandoning babies, people dying from hunger and sickness. The situation is horrific for these refugees and Sr. Sophie tries to do her best to help them. I gave her whatever money I had in hand. It's the least we can do for our christian brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution in our northern region.

A sea of huge rose blooms at
Notre Dame Centre

Bad luck this week as my computer broke down ... and so did my trusty rice-cooker. The latter had served me for almost 12 years now and I especially like its function of steaming food. Anyway all broken down ... like my health.

It was a hectic start to the week that I'm still recovering from. Mondays are total and absolute nightmares ... this time I had to wake up at 3am for classes and working non-stop with classes till 11pm, finishing with a conference in Bethlehem to a group of religious on a study tour. It was 20 full hours without a meal and my asthma was killing me. Tuesday was just as bad ... woke up at 4am to prepare the church for a group's Way of the Cross in the early morning, then work till 9.30pm finishing with a talk to a Singaporean group. That was 17 and a half hours of work. The asthma was a little better but the diarrhea was bad. I clocked a total of 37 and a half hours of work in 2 days while suffering severe asthma and diarrhea. I think I need a break. Maybe give up teaching totally ...  no longer have the strength or health to keep up with it. And resign all my jobs. And just lie in a coffin and wait to die. That's where my asthma is leading me to. A couple of those lovely roses from Notre Dame on my coffin would look nice.

Summer returns

Calla lilies blooming in
my small garden

The govt, has admitted that violence between arabs and israelis have been snowballing rapidly these few months. Over 995 attacks on Border Police were attempted or made since last year. And the rise of lone wolf attacks is particularly disturbing as these attacks no longer are organised by groups hence difficult to trace.

The tensions in East Jerusalem continues. I saw the street next to our house strewn with rocks ... there must have been a scuffle with the soldiers there. Stun grenades continue to be fired in various villages east and south of the City. Sirens from police cars and ambulances blare all day and night. In 2 week's it'll be Jerusalem Day when Israelis celebrate the unification of Jerusalem into a jewish city; arabs will celebrate Nakba Day which recalls the lost of palestinian land to the jewish occupation during this "unification". These few weeks are definitely tense and small bursts of violence will occur. Rabbis have warned jewish youths yesterday not to provoke and attack arabs during Jerusalem Day - something that has become very common the last few years. Let's hope these militant youths heed their rabbis.

The earthquake in Nepal has triggered fears in Israel that a similar catastrophe would meet with inadequate response. The country is not ready for a major quake. A report made by a govt commission stated that at least 7000 people will die, 170,000 homeless and 30,000 buildings destroyed. Not a nice scenario.

The weather has warmed up so suddenly and quickly ... yesterday shot up to 32 degrees. Everyone is in T-shirts again. Sounds very relaxing ... but the background droning of war is preventing us from expecting a lovely quiet summer.

Senseless violence

And even more violence as yesterday night ended with a car ramming into a crowd, injuring 3 people. When the Mayor of Jerusalem came to survey the scene, his car was stoned. Meantime a video is going viral here of a teen throwing a blind puppy over a high wall while his friends laugh ... utterly horrific, it makes you sick. But it follows that if people can be so violent with animals, sooner or later they would treat humans the same way. Watch the video but be warned ...   http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.653502?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

White sweet pea flowers

And the violence is not just between the two races. Just today alone, 2 mafia attacks were perpetrated on trival gangs: an explosion in an apartment in Tel Aviv, and a shooting of a car in Eilat wounding 3 children. Like I said earlier, there's something evil in the air. Everything seems so strangely unlike this period of the year as in previous years. And of course the weather is the most notable. Yesterday it was down to 5 degrees ... today it was suddenly up to 30 degrees. It's all too weird and inexplicable.

I guess news like this gets me down ... physically and psychologically. My asthma is so bad today I couldn't even walk. No inhaler can help. But I don't want to go to hospital because it will be the same prednesone and other steroid medication that makes me feel even more sick. I've switched my daily medication and for a while it worked ... but not now. And I've a splitting headache as well ... due to the lack of oxygen, of the heat and the phone calls that keep interrupting my sleep.

Herbal soup and dumplings

Some good news though to brighten an otherwise negative day. 3 baby canaries hatched this morning. My first sweet pea flowers blossomed among the red rambling roses. And yesterday evening, tired out by the asthma and dreadfully hungry, I went to Mandarin's. Ah Ling had chives dumplings steamed for me, and she also boiled some herbal soup. It was good to eat something hot, it relieved the pain in the chest.

Rise in violence

Things are getting from bad to worse. This morning we learnt that an arab youth attacked soldiers with 2 knives near the Mt. of Olives and was shot dead. Riots broke out in southern and eastern Jerusalem all day into the night. Stun grenades can be heard being fired throughout the day.

Then right now at this very moment, news is coming in that another arab youth had stabbed soldiers in Hebron and was also shot dead. Things are escalating and no one dares to think where it's leading.

Armenian prayer service in front
of the Empty Tomb

The Armenians on the otherhand have been celebrating the genocide centenary all weekend. This morning there was a prayer service in front of the Empty Tomb attended by all major church leaders. It's a sad moment for them to recall the lost of 1.5 million people by the Ottomans. Turkey refuses to recognise it has a genocide though it did acknowledge the deaths of many on both sides. This is quite a progress ... compared to japan's denial of it's atrocities during the WWII where in China alone 21 million were killed, not to count koreans and other south-east asians.

Well I'm tired of all this tension. Life has become so complicated here. Perhaps a good night's sleep will shake this all away.

Armenian commemoration day

There's something evil in the air ... something unnatural and disturbing. The freaky weather seems to be orchestrating the string of violence that's enveloping the City this last week ... violence which we've never seen during this period of the year. Continuing from the tit-for-tat attacks, yesterday saw another incident which at the moment I cannot remember ... too many to follow up. But added to that, I witnessed a fierce police chase from the tunnel under New Gate to Musrara. Didn't know what it was about but certainly it was serious when 4 police jeeps had to jump lanes. And now to think about it, the day before I witnessed 4 security guys jumping an arab in the park next to New Gate. Handcuffed and arrested for something or other. This morning we learn that the body of a jewish man from Tel Aviv was found bound, gagged and stabbed in the boot of his car that was driven to East Jerusalem. 2 arab men were arrested.

Now this racial conflict is getting serious ... it's turning religious since yesterday news leaked that muslims have removed an old carpet from the cave below the Dome of the Rock - sacred to muslims and jews. A war of words is now full blown because the Crusader period mosaics beneath the carpet might have been destroyed in the process. Israeli antiquities people are indignant ... and muslims are aghast that Israel should dare meddle in internal mosque affairs. Looks like this summer (if summer is ever coming) will be a troubled one.

Armenian youths march through the
Old City in commemoration of the
massacre

Yesterday almost every christian in the City observed the 100th anniversary of the genocide of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. All churches tolled their bells 100 times at 6.15pm. Prayer services in the Holy Sepulchre and Gethsemani were conducted in memory of the event. Franciscan friars were closely involved in this memorial service because many friars were also killed during this massacre. It's also the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign that ended in disaster ... all in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

And this weather ... how can one describe it? It should be summer but now it's only 8 degrees, the sky is dark and rain with hail fall suddenly 3 times already. It's all very strange. It's like a huge backdrop to a tragedy on stage.

Independence Day

Enormous waves crashing into
Tel Aviv and Jaffa

Today's weather was utterly freakish. Started off rainy then the winds blew up to gale force. In Jerusalem we had a sudden heavy shower with hailstorm. Tel Aviv was wrecked with enormous waves and powerful winds. Jerusalem was only 10 degrees. It looked like we're back in winter again.

Incredible Tom Yam

That utterly ruined the independence Day celebrations. The fly past by the Air Force was reduced to just 6 sets of fighter jets and I think the Navy cancelled it's sail past. The waves were simply too high for people on the shore to see anything. And anyway the crowd which used to number in thousands were only a few hundred this morning ... the weather was the prime culprit in keeping people home.

Char Kway Teow and Pad Thai
at Thai House

I had gone to Jaffa to visit the doctor but stayed to watch the fly past but as things turned out, I missed it. Anyway I had a nice lunch with some friends at Thai House. Char Kway Teow and Tom Yam soup ... nice and warm in this cold wet weather. It was so good. It's been a very long time since I came to Thai House. They reworked their menu, keeping their signature dishes. And it's so crowded they no longer accept walk-in diners. Everything is by bookings only.

Am looking forward to any visit to Thai House. But as things are, I'll be too busy. So I'll have to wait till maybe the summer holidays.

Remembrance Day

It's market day as usual in
East Jerusalem

It's Yom HaZikaron or Remembrance Day. A sad day for many Jewish families who lost a loved one in war or conflict here in this land. But in this country, every event has it's other side ... in this case it's the arab families who also lost there loved ones in the same conflicts. They don't have a day to remember their fallen and a sense of bitterness pervades the atmosphere during this period of time. Life was as usual in the arab side of Jerusalem. Nevertheless the national siren sounded at 11am ... and the jewish part of the nation stood still for 2 minutes. On a controversial note, the Israeli govt decided also to commemorate the arab boy who was burnt alive by jewish youths last year during today's Remembrance Day. I know of many jewish people who didn't agree with that move.

And talking about losing lives in war, yesterday's news that ISIS executed 30 ethiopian christians in Libya has shocked us all. The massacre and persecution of christians is getting worse and the world remains quiet. The world has lost its conscience, it has lost its soul. Worse still - for us here in Israel, we just learned that 3 of these christians were deported by Israel back to their country for illegal migration when they were kidnapped by ISIS and executed. Israel should have pity on these people and grant them refugee status instead of forcefully repatriating them ... leading them to death.

Pyralvex

Can anyone help me buy Pyralvex? It's a liquid medicine for mouth ulcers. I can't get it here in Israel. It's mainly salycilic acid (willow extract) and rhubarb extract  ... terribly bitter but excellent in doing the job. Just 24 hours is enough to heal the ulcer ... at least for me and those whom I share it with here in the house. Strange but it's not on sale here in Israel. Would really appreciate your help with this. The bottle that I'm using expired in 2009 but it still works.

Healthwise my asthma has reduced quite alot after I changed medicine. The plantar fasciitis on the left foot is very painful though and makes walking the first steps almost impossible. I've also been feeling very dizzy and the diarrhea is dreadful ... not sure if it's a side-effect from the new medicine. But I'm hanging on as people around are not willing to let me die.