Weekend again

Beautiful colours

It's the weekend and it's unusually quiet the day yesterday. The police and soldiers are less and the tension has been much reduced. Everyone has noticed that the flashpoint for violence has now shifted to Hebron - the traditional site for clashes and uprisings. In fact most of the perpetrators of this month's violence in Tel Aviv and other cities all come from Hebron. The police has decided to prohibit some 2500 hebronites from entering Israel. And now we receive news that the police is also closing off several villages known for producing perpetrators. Not good news. It will only inflame anger and provoke more violence.

Today the violence picked up again with a couple of car-rammings and one stabbing in Nahariya with is near Tel Aviv.

The cold nights and relatively hot days are causing the leaves on trees to change into a kaleidoscope of colours. It feels more autumn than winter. While beautiful on the trees, the leaves cause a lot of mess in the streets. I might collect of these colourful leaves to decorate my table. Perhaps around my Advent wreathe.

Palm Plaza during the day

Yes Advent will begin in 2 days!! Another year has passed. I'll be busy preaching some 5 retreats during this time. It'll be quite tiring. The first one begins this Sunday for the english-speaking sisters of the Judean region. I hope I can find some time to rest. I'll need to go back to hospital for follow-up on Monday and while the course of some medication will end then, other medicines must be taken for another 3 weeks. My stomach is feeling quite sick with this heavy medication.

Sahlab season

Sahlab is back on the menu

The weather continues to be cold ... actually chilly is the word. Lots of people are sick. Tourists are not prepared for this sudden cold. Too bad. I noticed many shops are starting to serve sahlab ... a sure sign that winter is kicking in. I like ti very much but I must order it without the peanuts that tops it. Sahlab is the flour made from an orchid tuber, mixed with milk or water, with drops of rose or orange water or even rose syrup. It's nice for a cold rainy day. I wonder when I'll be well enough to go out and get one.

Much less violence today. Only one near Hebron in the south. Jerusalem continues to be tense with heavy military presence but people are getting used to it and life goes on as usual.

I'm into my 6th day of treatment and the steroids - among them the dreaded Prednisone - is about to finish. My wheezing is over, fluids in the lungs are almost all out though the sinus problem continues to be a bother. No signs of improvement. Nevertheless I've started work. It's tiring as the medication is very strong and makes me tire easily. One of the most tiring is visiting the many groups of tourists/pilgrims after diner time. I have to give them talks. This week alone there are 2000 chinese tourists and not enough chinese guides. That makes my work all the more important to visit them in the night. But that's a lot of work both day and night.

Holy Doors

The temperature has dropped drastically. Last night was as low as 5 degrees. Today is no better ... the wind is bitterly cold. And many many people have fallen sick. Thank goodness I'm getting better!! Doc said I should have my flu shot as soon as possible once I'm off the steroids. I think I'll go for it tomorrow.

Heated debate at Bible Society 

There was less violence today ... one hit-and-run so far in the Territories. But there was a minor disturbance in Jaffa Street ... a small group of ultra-orthodox jews were protesting in front of the Bible Society. They were not happy that the Torah was placed with christian books. The christian workers there came out to speak with them and there was a heated debate, but no scuffles.

Meantime we received news of the opening of the Holy Doors for the Year of Mercy. Each Rite has its own Holy Door, so from Dec. 13th till Dec. 27th, half a dozen catholic cathedrals will have their Holy Doors opened: the Maronites, Greek Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Syrian catholics and of course the Latin Catholics. We latins have 3 basilicas with Holy Doors: St Catherine's in Bethlehem, Basilica of the Agony in Gethsemane and Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. That way catholics from the north and those in the Territories will have a chance to celebrate the opening of the Holy Year since those in the Territories will not be able to come to Jerusalem.

Well if you do come to visit the Holy Land next year, you'll get to walk through the Holy Doors. After all it was here in this land that God's Mercy was fully expressed by sending His Son to die on the Cross for us.

Weekend over

Hitching a ride

So the weekend passed with quite a lot of violence again. After the lull, there have been an average of 4 stabbings or hit-and-runs throughout the country. Jerusalem has had several instances, though not in the Old City. They occur quite far away from the tourist areas. This morning there was the stabbing by 2 arab girls: 14 and 16 yrs old. A security video of the stabbings has gone viral on the Internet. One can see that the girls were waving
scissors and not frantically stabbing anyone before they were shot by security guards. The word in the street is they wanted to be shot, they wanted to die ... why? Street wisdom says they might have been forced into marriages they didn't want and they chose to die instead.  Be that as it may ... it's troubling that youths at that young age have been the main perpetrators of these few months' attacks. It's not normal.

Th weather has been very cold lately. Everyone is out with winter jackets and hoodies. If this keeps up, Christmas will be very cold. I have to keep warm though with my pneumonia and infected sinuses. The medicine makes me tired easily but after 4 days of no work, today I had to get back to the office otherwise the backlog will be too much to catch up.

The PDDM sisters in Jerusalem

Sunday was Christ the King feast but it was also St. Cecilia's feast day. I had the usual Armenian Mass at 9am but since the superior of the PDDM sisters community in charge of the Armenian Catholic Basilica is Cecilia, they had a feast day lunch and invited me over. They were very nice to specially cook food that I could eat, asking beforehand what I was allergic to. PDDM stands for Pious Disciples of the Divine Master ... one of the congregations founded by St. Alberione and forms part of the Pauline family. This Thursday is their feast of Alberione their founder and they have asked me to preside at Mass. And they'll prepare dinner as well!

Tense Friday

Self cooked lunch today

Last night I really slept well. About 5 full hours. Got up twice only to cough up phlegm. The medication is strong and I feel weak and very thirsty all the time. There was one medicine Aerovent that is not available in East Jerusalem (meaning the arab side of town) so I had to walk 1 km yesterday evening to the western side (jewish) to buy it. The evening was really cold ... it dropped to 8 degrees! I walked around the City for an hour and that always clears my lungs. The fluids are drained away, my wheezing stops and I feel much better.

Military presence was building up when I was taking my walk. An hour earlier 2 people were killed at Gush Etzion, 7 km south of Jerusalem. And an hour before that 3 people were killed in Tel Aviv. It was a very violent evening ... after a week's lull in the violence. Tensions are high as today is Friday and thousands of muslims will be entering the Old City to get into the Al Aqsa Mosque. With my recuperation, I should ideally be in bed resting ... but there is always urgent business that I must attend to: first a Polish bishop wanted to come visit the school and I had to wait for him at the entrance to welcome him and his entourage and bring them to the school. Then immediately I had to go to the Bishops' Conference Office to pick up 2 documents.

In the afternoon I decided to cook some food to strengthen my constitution: what rice, steamed minced beef with mui choy; and anchovies with bean-sprouts (kana her and towgay). It was a nice poor man's meal.

Buddy the good boy

Don't know if this afternoon there'll be the Way of the Cross. Anyway I'm too weak to go downstairs again. Will stay in bed and do some reading if I can't sleep ... and if the 2 parrots stop giving me trouble. Both are now very jealous of each other. If I let one out of the cage, the other will be screaming his/her lungs out. The other guys at home are not happy with the noise and sooner or later they'll be asking me to get rid of the birds. I think Miss Bird will have to go as she's the loudest and most destructive. She bites through all my electric and computer wires, destroyed countless books and pooped all over my bed. Any wonder why I get sick?

More tests

Amazing connecting corridor between
2 buildings at St. Joseph's Hospital

Was at the pulmonologist yesterday for more tests. My lungs are working only 64% maximum. And an X-ray showed that my sinus is infected ... my old problem that I had previous to my nose operation. Apparently the infected fluids flow into my lungs, causing the asthma especially at night and also resulting in my pneumonia. Now I'm on lots of medication: back on prednisone which I dislike ... and 7 other tablets. Then I have to use the nebuliser 4 times a day. Some medication must be  taken for one month. I don't think I have the patience.

Entrance to the Emergency Ward

St. Joseph's Hospital, where I had gone for Emergency service and tests, was a rundown building; cracks, cockroaches, dark corridors stacked with abandoned equipment ... it's like entering the Walled City of Kowloon. The saying in Jerusalem is: you go in alive, you come out dead. Now the hospital has got a multi-million dollar renovation. Unbelievable. In structure and setup, it's comparable now to any metropolitan hospital. Clean, bright, quiet, no one smoking indoors. The reception service is also very good now: polite and informative. Finance department was also very prompt and professional. Now it leaves to see if the medical service is on par with world standards. Letting my blood sample coagulate before it got to the lab was not very promising. But X-ray department was prompt. The doc who saw me at Emergency was polite and kept apologising for the pain caused by the injections. Let's hope the hospitals reputation changes for the better.

Emergency Ward again

I have pneumonia ... added to a severe break of asthma. Landed up in Emergency Ward again. The French Hospital has been renovated beyond recognition .... from a rundown medical centre that nobody dared to enter (because you usually come out dead), to a very modern high-tech, bright and clean place comparable with any hospital in a metropolitan city. I got lost in other words. Couldn't find my way to the registry counter, or exit or x-ray dept. 

8th visit to EW

Anyway I could hardly breathe anymore. It became worse when I the right side of my head began to have a throbbing pain and my right arm was numb. Thought it might be a stroke. And I blacked out twice. So I went to Emergency as soon as I felt strong enough to walk out to Damascus Gate which is half a km away. 

When the nurse in charge saw he, he moaned "Oh no ... always coming at the last minute" ... They know me well I guess ... I never go to the hospital unless I absolutely need to ... which could be a week later. Anyway they know what I needed so I got 5 types of medicine injected into me, then a nebuliser. After one hour the doc decided I needed another dosage, this time plus oxygen. And they took blood "from the heart" ... which scared me. It hurt like hell when the needle was poked into the artery. And after 5 long minutes, the sent the phial of blood to the lab. 5 mins later the nurse came back and said "Sorry the blood clotted. We can't use it. We'll need to take another sample". I absolutely refused. It hurts worse than the enormous antihistamine injection which burns.

Anyway I'm supposed to stay in hospital for 3 days. I can't possibly survive that. But I need the rest ... the quiet away from the Old City.