Cold raining days

Well the rains may have stopped but the skies continue to be dark and damp and the winds are very cold. We've switched back to solar time and so the sun sets at 6pm. Coupled with the massive military presence in the Old City, the evenings become very quiet as everyone prefers to stay at home to keep warm and out of trouble.

The rains however continue to pour in the coastal cities and floods occur in the plains. Unfortunately the union of electric workers went on strike and till today some 5,000 homes remain without electricity. Newspapers are laughing at the PM, saying he can fight terrorists but he can't fight the union. And its not only the terrorists that the PM is unable to fight ... newspapers are also pointing out that extreme rightwing settlers are running the country and its internal policies while the PM provides excuses for their terrorist tactics: remember they burned to death the arab family, burned our churches ... and till today not one of the perpetrators has been caught, or charged.  http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.682565?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

And dreadful news just broadcasted: the young arab lady killed pointblank by Israeli soldiers in Afula Central Bus Station, was not a terrorist nor intended to attack anyone. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.682928?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

Soup and salad at HaSalatiah

Anyway the general violence seems to have moved geographically. These few days the attacks all occur near Bethlehem and Hebron. The tombs of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah) in Hebron have always been a flashpoint for violence as both muslims and jews pray at the same spot.

Despite all this, I wanted to go out and eat something (tired of the frozen bread I bough last week). Aviary my friend was not working last week so we went to HaSalatiah to have a salad lunch. It was a massive serving and I had to share it with Aviram. He wanted instead an "orange vegetable soup" which in essence is a thick soup of pumpkins, carrots and sweet potatoes. It was a nice lunch, but the company was better. That took out some of the stress of living in this place.

More rain

Shawarma breakfast

Rain continued to fall today. While electricity has been restored in many parts of the country, still some 60,000 have no electricity. The powerful winds had knocked down electric poles or fallen trees had pulled down the wires. In the Old City, electric outages occur because the wires are underground ... but since there are many cisterns underground, when the water fills up, it touches the electrical wires and short-circuits occur. Till now even the Internet is not working. Dreadful.

The Torch Grill replaces Shualeh

But the dark skies and cold winds make it feel really that winter has finally arrived. This makes eating a warm meal such a great experience. This morning I had a swarm for breakfast at The Torch Grill Restaurant ... fancy name but it's actually renaming of the old Shualeh Restaurant in Salahaddin Street which once served the best shwarma in East Jerusalem. Don't know why the Shualeh closed since it was always crowded and its shwarma was very famous. I had beef roasted on a spit (shwarma) in pitta bread; with a spread of hummus, turkish salad (spice), pickles and amba (Iraqi sour sauce). Tasted really great ... but as usual I had cramps and diarrhea 15 mins after eating. But I still enjoyed it ... something warm on a very cold morning.

Terror attacks continued today ... but mostly in Hebron. Jerusalem is quiet and tourists are flocking back. Let's hope the rains will not dampen their trip.

Rain

Heavy rain today

This morning there was a very strong wind blowing through  the country. In Jerusalem it was like a typhoon. Very very strong and swept the City clean of all the rubbish collecting in the street corners. But along the coast like Tel Aviv it rained very hard so that streets were flooded, trees fell, electricity cut. One person died and another wounded. By afternoon Jerusalem also had rain. It wasn't too heavy but it was constant. All the grime from the streets were washed off. Unfortunately the gutters are not used to so much water, it's clogged up and dirty water is flooding the streets. Nevertheless it's good that it's raining. The forecast is more rain tomorrow too.

Thanks to Gigi's family, Sally, Alice Ko, Sr Frances, Agnes Chiu Lee, Auntie Yvonne, Rose Chiu, Angela, Auntie Chan, Teresa/Roger/Eugene/Shan Shan/Gerard, the pilgrimage group for all the donations and stuff. Received everything including scarf, food, books, medicine etc...

We had another series of attacks and counter attacks throughout the country especially in Gush Etzion near Bethlehem and Hebron area. Jerusalem remained quiet in the midst of heavy military presence. Tensions are less as young arab men are now allowed to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque. Shop keepers along El Wad street are not so happy though. They are being punished for not helping the victims of several stabbings that took place in front of their shops. They are not allowed to open their shops are a certain period of time

2 green ringnecked parakeets
eating fresh dates

Well it's getting very cold by now. Most of the autumn fruit are in their last stages. The dates growing in Palm Plaza (next to Damascus Gate) are heavy and maturing ... incredible sight. But a flock of wild indian ring-necked parakeets are eating them off, leaving bits and pieces scattered all over the plaza. And they make a lot of noise. The flock consists of some 12 - 16 parakeets and they nest in the huge eucalyptus trees in Mamilla park. Miss Bird is an albino version of them. Every morning the flock flies pass my room and make a lot of noise. Miss Bird and Buddy answer back and get very excited. Well I'm afraid I can't let them fly off with the flock because they're too domesticated. They'll die out in the wild, especially now that winter has set in. I think they're happier with me. They get terribly spoilt.

Weekend begins

The panic among jews in Israel over arab attackers has grown out of proportion as mob lynchings are becoming a frequent occurrence each week. And worse ... the victims are often jews mistaken to be arabs. Here's footage of the latest lynching of a jew mistaken to be an arab. Horrifying. Now israeli jews have more to fear from their own kind than from arabs.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/WATCH-Struggle-with-man-in-Jerusalem-mistaken-for-terrorist-moments-before-his-death-429787

A group enjoying a break at Cynthia's
Cave restaurant near the 8th Station

The chaos is not denting the tourism trade as I saw myself the huge crowds of tourists packing the Holy Sepulchre church.  However the groups make quick entries and exits into the churches, and seldom visit shops and restaurants ... for fear of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Many shops have since closed as a result.

This weekend Bethlehem is closed off due to the feast of Rachel, wife of Jacob the biblical patriarch. Her tomb is just at the entrance of Bethlehem and thousands of jews are expected to go visit it. The police have therefore closed off the entire area including roads leading into and out of Bethlehem so that only jews can travel there. There is only one road open for tourists and I think it would be jammed with traffic. What a nightmare.

Anyway winter is in. Daylight saving ends this Saturday midnight. Sunrise is now after 5am and the sky is dark by 6pm. And it's chilly in the nights though daytime can still be quite hot. We haven't had torrents of winter rain but we hope it'll come. It's been too dry for too long.

Tourists are swarming in ...

Incredible sunset over
the Old City

Although there have been a couple of stabbing attacks outside of Jerusalem, there's a strange development in the terrorist attacks ... a rise in car hit-and-run incidents. In the past 2 days some 5 incidents have occurred outside of Jerusalem. And they're all lone-wolf attacks. Nevertheless the draconian measures of the govt is having effect, and incidents have been greatly reduced.

The worrying part of this is the rise of panic among the jews and the rise of mob lynchings. And yesterday a jew on board a bus attacked 2 soldiers and tried to steal their weapons. He was shot dead. But the police were clear: he was not a terrorist. If he were a non-jew he would be a terrorist. Double standards??? http://live.jpost.com/Israel-News/Man-tries-to-stab-passengers-on-bus-steal-weapon-428685

Pilgrims venerating the relic of
the Cross

Tourists continue to come ... and churches are packed with them. But they move quickly from one site to another ... or to the guides' advantage, to visit jewish sites instead of christian sites. That's the end of the christian pilgrimage. It's a jewish tour in the name of a christian pilgrimage. Hopefully christians who pay good money to come here are not fooled by this; but being christians, they usually are. Why can't we form intelligent christians who have the courage to denounce and stand up to ruthless manipulation and tricks? Rhetorical question ......

Midweek and all is calm

Jerusalem continues to be calm and trouble free these last 2 days. Military presence is still heavy and spot checks including strip search are still enforced. Outside Jerusalem, things are a lot different. Road blocks and car checks are draconian. Traffic jams snake for up to a km at times. People are late for work, angers flare, frustrations raised. It's in the name of security ... which i can agree ... but it also smells of collective punishment.

Miss Bird begging for a pat

The last few nights I've been suffering badly from asthma ... yesterday I felt I would choke to death. It was that bad. Then I realised it could be linked to gluten. I had some rice for dinner previously. So last night I ate nothing. There was no attack of asthma or phlegm suffocating me. One problem solved ... I hope.

All the security blocks meant that I stay home more often ... and spend more time with Miss Bird and Buddy. Miss Bird has changed a lot ... from a nervous parakeet to a calm secure bird that wants to be patted on the head. Buddy on the other hand, being hand-raised, demands a lot of attention. Being a typical conure parakeet, he likes to snuggle  and sit on my shoulders. Some quality time with the pets.

I'll be busy the next few days guiding a group. Funds are getting low and I need extra work to pay for the new medicines I need. Hope Bethlehem and some other parts are calm enough for pilgrims to visit.

Fatal mistake

Today marks the 1st anniversary of the death of our student Ilie, a young romanian orthodox priest, just ordained and married for only a year. He was on his way to celebrate Sunday Mass when a drunk driver drove into him. It shocked us all ... and still is a bitter and sad memory for all of us. Rest in Peace, Ilie.

It's the season for sufgoniot

And yesterday saw Israel at its worst ... a public lynching of a foreigner mistaken to be a terrorist. The innocent died after a brutal onslaught by members of the public. The real terrorist shot and killed a soldier and wounded many others at the Beersheba Central Bus Station. In the chaos, an Eritrean asylum seeker was running and was mistaken to be an accomplice. Police shot him, and while he laid wounded, another shot him dead while members of the public stomped on him, kicked, smashed his body with chairs while shouting curses. All caught on camera. An innocent man dead. But what is worse ... it reveals the panic of the Israeli public. It no longer thinks, it reacts with animal instincts. It shows the level of utter helplessness by the ordinary person, and the inability of the govt. to contain the situation and assure the public. This crisis has taken a fatal twist and there is no turning back ... Pandora's Box is opened.

As if nature too was crying at all these misdeeds, it started raining today. In fact right now it's a lightening storm.  Lightening flashes every few seconds. In a way it's pleasant. We miss the rain after all these years of drought.

And it's the season for sufgoniot (ponschski) - doughnuts with no holes. Ate a couple at Talpiot the other day with 2 students as we went to shop for some winter clothes on sale. Talpiot is the southern suburb of Jerusalem which has several shopping malls like the rest of the world ... a little sense of normality.