St. Blaise

Sunrise

Yesterday was an incredibly busy day. I had to meet 3 students who are writing their theses with me, correcting their work, suggesting changes and guiding the direction of the research. That took the whole morning. I was mentally exhausted. In between sessions I rushed off to buy some buns as I hadn't eaten dinner the night before nor breakfast in the morning. I bought a sausage bun which is the usual because it's the cheapest and it fills the stomach. But feeling extra hungry I decided to get an omelette bread as well. It's a typical arab pastry ... round pitta with upturned edges that hold an omelette with minced mutton. But I got a shock when the guy told me the bun cost 5 shekels and the omelette bread 10 shekels. Everything has gone up by 2 shekels. Things are getting so expensive here. Soon we'll not be able to afford to buy bread.

Sausage bun &
omelette bread

Yesterday was also the feast of St. Blaise. After Mass the celebrant blessed our throats with 2 candles. It's suppose to be a blessing against asthma and the like. Well I've had this blessing for over 25 years and I still have the illness. Only thing helping me now is the change in medicine. My heart is still weak so I've slowed done a lot in doing everything. I really feel old. And my memory ebbs back and forth. But St. Balise can't help me with that. Maybe St. Anthony can help me ... he's the patron of lost things ... I lost my memory.

After the massive storm we had last week ... with waves that flooded all the streets along the coast ... Israel has installed a tsunami alarm system. Signs are put along the streets of Tel Aviv and that alarmed people!!  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5081085,00.html

And another more alarming news ... Hamas in Gaza are warning of an impending war with Israel in the coming weeks.  http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Report-Hamas-believes-war-with-Israel-will-break-out-in-the-coming-days-540620

Presentation Day

Super blue moon over Damascus Gate

It's the feast of the Presentation ... that means one month after the birth of Jesus - a period of purification - Joseph and Mary brought the child to the Temple to be dedicated to God in accordance with jewish Law. The Church dedicates this day also to all consecrated peoples. There was a solemn Mass at the patriarchate and many religious went to participate. I couldn't go because I was overloaded with work.

Goodies from Gloria

In fact I could not even concelebrate our community's Mass as there was too much to do. I celebrated alone at 5am. Then it was a rush to get documents which higher superior wanted ... while in the meantime trying to call the spanish sisters (they never answer the phone) frantically because the parish in Jaffa needed hosts for Mass and I had to get them there in the morning and the car was waiting. Rushing between 2 offices and the shop that the sisters work in, I finally manage to catch Sr. Regina who was carrying a bag of hosts. I took it from her and she shouted that it's for Gethsemane. Well mine was an emergency and the car was waiting so she gave them to me and I rushed off to Jaffa which is 60 km away. Being the weekend there was no traffic and once there I got to meet my friends Mair, Rudy and Shlomi who are vendors in front of the church. It was very good to meet up with each other again. Then it was doing some chores and handing the hosts in the sacristy before going home. I had to return before 12pm before there are no workers in the library today and I have to get back and man the reception.

One nice surprise at Jaffa was a visit from a filipina, Gloria, who leads the migrant community in Jaffa. She had returned to the Philippines and on her way back to Israel, she transitted at Bangkok and bought me some goodies. It was very nice of her. Freeze-dried durians and Tom Yam shrimps.

The weather has warmed up a lot. Jerusalem was 15 degrees and Tel Aviv was 19 degrees. Lots of locals wearing T-shirts already. I miss summer ... I hope it comes soon.

February begins

Our landmark bedouin begger

It's the first day of February. Unbelievable how fast time flies. Students here are still having their exams so time for them seems to drag. The weather is still the same - cold but very sunny during midday. The temp. hovered around 10 degrees and with the sun, you could just wear a t-shirt. The only problem is the occasional wind that is very cold. For the past few nights I could not sleep because it was freezing. It was around 2 degrees and we had that kind of temp. before but it never felt so cold like these past 3 nights. Both my small heaters are on but I still have to cover up with 2 blankets to stop from shivering. And I'm not sick.

St. Stephen basilica

This morning on my way to work. I passed by the old bedouin lady who begs by the walkway between Damascus Gate and New Gate. She is old ... like 80 something ... and very very small like Yoda. She's been around for some 15 years and usually when we pass her by we give her a shekel. In summer she would sometimes ask me to buy her a bottle of water .... or coca cola. She's an expensive beggar. We have a regular joke that she collects so much money she could go to the Bahamas during winter while we freeze here. Anyway this morning we chatted about the weather and she liked the cold sunny day.

Yesterday I made a rare visit to my former school - the french Ecole Biblique runned by the Dominicans. I can't remember the details of the school 20 years back ... but it felt good to be back there ... the enormous gardens, the old basilica and belfry. It's the place where the first martyr St. Stephen was buried. There's a statue of the martyr kneeling in the middle of the atrium of the basilica.

We just heard the news that a family in Gaza was killed because of a family feud over inheritance. 8 dead including children and 20 injured. Greed and avarice kills. The suspect brought canisters of cooking gas and lighted them, blowing up the entire house.    https://www.timesofisrael.com/seven-gazans-killed-in-gas-explosion-after-family-row/

And talk of a summer war is getting more urgent. The US army is in fact here on a drill with the Israeli army in the event of a massive missile attack. The soldiers are prepared for such an attack ... but for people like us, we'll probably die.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-troops-arrive-for-drill-simulating-massive-missile-attack-on-israel/

What a way to start Spring and February.

St. Bosco feast day

Blue moon over Damascus Gate

It's the feast of St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians. We celebrate him as a 3rd Order Franciscan which he was. The Salesians at their University held a solemn Mass presided by the Nuncio. I couldn't go as I had library duty. We're still short of a couple of workers who for some reason or other cannot make it to work. I've been running from one library to another covering for them ... which is a total of 4 kms in all. That is stressful physically and mentally. Then there were the meetings and contracts to resolve or confirm ... running in between lawyers and offices. I think I have done more running than anytime in my life. Good exercise.

Blue moon over the Mt. of Olives

Everyone is talking about the blue super moon. No one could miss it. It is so enormous. Many of us spent the early evening at about 5pm watching it come up from behind the Mt. of Olives. It was incredible. Yesterday it was hanging over Damascus Gate when I got home from work at 10pm. It was blue ... literally blue. We were expecting the eclipse but it was not too early for us and the moon wasn't up from behind the Mt. of Olives. However we did get a spectacular moon rise. Nice coincidence on St. Bosco's feast day.

Yesterday an American consular delegation was attacked by palestinians in Bethlehem during a convention. Well knowing how the arabs feel about Trump's declaration about Jerusalem, the delegation should not have even considered going there. It was foolhardy.  https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/palestinians-disrupt-u-s-business-delegation-in-west-bank-1.5772168

Arbor Day

My potted anemones in bloom

Tu B'Shvat is Arbor Day for the jews ... the new year of the trees. It started this evening and will end tomorrow evening. That's practically the beginning of Spring. The trees are bursting with buds ... new leaves and many start with blossoms instead of leaves. Another sure sign that Spring has come is the blossoming of the ubiquitous red anemones. They're an incredible sight from far away ... especially in the fields and deserts that suddenly bloom overnight after the rains. The Chinese New Year which heralds the Spring is in 2 weeks time ... well I guess because it's heavy snow in the Far East so Spring comes a little later.

White rice dinner

Usually Arbor Day is celebrated with walks in the nature reserves and picnics in the parks ... enjoying the blossoms. But the dark grey rain clouds and cold - it was 6 degrees today - was very discouraging. So it's partying indoors tonight ... or in the pubs.

Well in this gloomy cold evening I just wanted so much to eat some hot white rice ... but I don't want to wash up in the icy cold water ... so the alternative was to go out and buy it. A good 2km walk to the Sushia mini-restaurant at the corner of Hillel Street. But it was well worth it. Nice hot white rice with some fried beef. Well I guess it was some sort of comfort food as I really needed something to fill up after a very stressful day. The library fire alarm broke down and was wailing all morning. The students who were studying for the exams were disturbed and the profs were obviously angry and of course I had to solve the problem ... like the elevator breaking down as well. It was a mad rush looking up for contracts and guarantees and countless phone calls ... while trying to calm the students and profs. Well most of it is solved and this evening I really deserved this hot dinner ... eaten alone in my office with no one to disturb me.

Back to the mass deportation of african asylum seekers, nobody wants to do the job so the govt. is on a big recruitment drive to hire anyone to do it. It's like bounty hunting.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Interior-Ministry-to-pay-civilians-9000-bonus-to-deport-African-refugees-540110

Even the lawmakers got into a fight at the parliament (Knesset) over the deportation issue.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-interior-minister-third-country-will-accept-african-asylum-s-1.5769852

And we're getting a warning of a major water crisis this year despite the rain we had last week.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/israel-is-getting-closer-to-a-severe-water-crisis-1.5769555

Grey and gloomy

New Gate: re-pavement work

It's almost the end of January. Time flies. In a couple of weeks it will be Lent. And the fasts and abstinences will start .... well we actually abstain on Wednesdays and Fridays all through the year anyway. The weather seems to fit well with the Lent atmosphere. It's been grey and gloomy all day. Drizzle all day as well. Many people are feeling sick ... headaches, nausea and general listlessness. That's probably because the air pressure has changed ... it's very low pressure now and that affects the body. Nevertheless work continues ... and everyone tries their best under such conditions. New Gate was closed because work was underway to repave the road. But the workers were lethargic.

Municipality Square: no more palms

What a shock for many of us ... the beautiful palm trees at Municipality Square were all chopped off overnight. They had been cordoned off for over a month now. And then they're gone. Apparently there's a beetle that's becoming a plague to palm trees throughout Israel, killing the trees from the core. The trees then collapse and people walking below are injured. The palm plantations in Jericho are in danger of being closed down because of this plague. It's quite a crisis in the agricultural sector and scientists are looking for a means to stop these pests.

An Israeli jew has been arrested for a sting of attacks on arabs ... the latest being a car ramming. Well it's a good sign that at least the police are arresting israelis. It'll help to show that justice is practiced. But whether he will be charged and whether he will serve time is another matter.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-settler-suspected-of-targeting-palestinians-in-attacks-1.5770538

Tomorrow is the jewish New Year of Trees (Arbor Day) or Tu B'Shvat. I doubt there'll be picnics in the park if this gloomy weather continues.

Winter is ending

The first almond
blossoms

It's Sunday again. Today I had to preside the liturgy at the Armenian Catholic church at the 3rd Station. The congregation was a little larger than usual ... about 20 people. Several pilgrims and the rest are local armenians. It's not a very big community of armenian catholics but many have gone to other churches because there has been no resident armenian priest for a very long time. We had an armenian franciscan, Fr. Talatinian, who helped out on Sundays for many years but he died at the age of 103 several years ago. Since then an armenian priest comes occasionally from Rome to celebrate the major feast days. For the rest of the year it's up to 2 of us to preside the liturgy ... and I am the only one who knows a little armenian to do parts of the Mass in that language.

Kitten on a sill

3 degrees again last night and this morning. Even people from eastern Europe say it's cold. AT noon it was 10 degrees and should feel a lot more warmer ... but because the sun is shaded by dark rain clouds, it feels as cold as 3 degrees. The ground is also wet. I saw a kitten sitting way up a windowsill  of a pharmacy to stay dry. Not exactly a cat on a hot tin roof ... rather a kitten on a cold wet sill.

I saw the first almond blossoms just outside the Old City ... in the abandoned lot below Notre Dame Centre. That's a sure sign Spring is coming ... the almond tree always blossoms in the last weeks of winter and the Joshua tree blossoms in the first weeks of Spring.

Not everything is so cheery though. We've had 2 "price tag" (revenge) attacks by jews on arab property south of Jerusalem. It's a frightening escalation of confrontational violence, tit-for-tat attacks which we saw as starters to an intifada.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jerusalem-hit-with-second-Price-Tag-attack-in-2-weeks-539965

So the cold will continue for the next few days. The Municipality has issued guidelines to follow in case of bad weather. That's very helpful as many foreigners and locals don't know what to do or who to contact. They also have guidelines in case of earthquakes.  http://www.janglo.net/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&page=display&catid=99&tid=435596&utm_content=buffer09b3b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Am already dreading having to wake up at 3am for class in 2 degree weather. I'll be frozen. Can I have a better start to the week?