Sick today

Snoozing cat under a public bench -
that's what my summer holiday
should be

I think there's another festival in town. New Gate is closed and a stage is set up in front of La Salle College. People tell me it's a film festival but it looks more like a music festival. There were bands playing further down in Mamilla Mall. Well good ... another must-do for summer ... go see what's happening.

I was terribly sick today because yesterday I came home all wet with sweat from the very hot weather. Went straight to the aircon library to work ... and caught a cold. Fever all night long with nausea. This morning I was very dizzy and couldn't keep my balance. Now evening, I'm feeling better. Still nauseous but less giddy. Lost all appetite today. I really hope I won't fall sick for the rest of summer. Once in a decade, I want to enjoy the little free time that I have. I'm not taking any medicine though. Just hope it'll pass.

To those who don't believe how draconian Israeli banks are to foreigners .... just read this article. Every cent that goes into your account must be explained to the bank.  And to take out money from the account is even more complicated.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-are-israeli-banks-asking-customers-where-their-money-comes-from/

The Nation-State Law is causing alot of discontent from non-jewish minorities. The most vocal is the Druze community that serves in the Israeli army and are considered the most loyal citizens. Now they feel left out by the law and are protesting. One druze officer was suspended for writing a protest letter to the PM.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5320286,00.html

Meanwhile other minorities are organizing protest marches throughout the country. The one in Jerusalem today was called off though. The Church here has also issued a strong letter condemning the law as discriminatory and divisive. As it is, christianity is a minority within a minority, and with this law it becomes a distant marginalized entity ... almost an illegal religion. Yet christian pilgrims are bringing the most money into Israel that holds up the tourist industry. An opposition member of parliament puts it as "shamelessly deciding to rank Israel’s citizens: Jews as type A, Druze as type B, Arabs and LGBT type C — with racism approved by the Knesset and anchored in the Basic Law.”. https://www.timesofisrael.com/catholic-church-slams-nation-state-law-calls-for-christians-to-protest/

Quiet day

Empty streets in
summer

All is calm in the Old City and surroundings. The streets are quite empty in the mornings as there is no school to attend. Life has slowed down a lot in summer. Those who can afford have gone on holiday ... mainly in Turkey which is cheap; but tours to Thailand are equally cheap and many arabs who have passports and money are already gone. Only kids attending summer camp are seen walking out of the City and waiting for buses to collect them.

Summer camps are a big thing in East Jerusalem. It's a good way to keep the children under watch while parents have to work. The children don't actually stay in camp ... they go in the mornings and come home in the evening. But most camps now are very expensive and you can see the poorer kids still roaming the streets during the daytime. There are different types of camps ... some focussed only on sports, others are a mixture of play and study. My dream is to organise one with a religious theme and sponsor the poorer kids to participate. I'll need the help of our seminarians though ... I'm too old to catch up with the super-active kids.

Char Kway Teow
at Thai House

Work goes on as usual but come August 1st and both the libraries will be closed so I'll have a little more breathing space. Theoretically. Still I hope to fulfil my must-do list. There're a couple of concerts at Sultan's Pool that I want to hear. Can't remember which opera ... but sitting on the opposite hill free-of-charge ... I really don't mind. Another must-do is eat char kway teow at Thai House in Tel Aviv. It's far so I can only do it when I plan a day out there. And when I have the money. It's costly in Tel Aviv.

Then I have to prepare for my operation in October. A little worried. I thought the docs would transplant someone's bone into me ... then our monastery doctor explained that in Israel they have developed artificial bones and they'd use that for the transplant. That's a big sigh of relief.

Well one more day and August starts.

Of curry puffs and holidays

Rain clouds in the morning

The weather has been like this all week ... dreadfully humid and cool in the mornings but very hot in the afternoons. It's so cool in the mornings, dark rain clouds pass over us for at least over an hour and the ground is always wet with dew. I guess it reflects what's happening in Europe right now ... the heatwave and rainstorm.

The earthquake in Indonesia this morning came as no surprise as the wave of earthquakes have been rocking our planet the past weeks. And the fire storm in California is unprecedented. Seen individually they seem to be tragic events ... but seen together they seem to point to systematic chain reaction.

Curry puffs for breakfast

Politically things are less tense today. Police presence has gone back to normal and life is back to its routine. There are still random stop-and-search by police on arab youths but it's less vigorous than before. There's no spread-eagle against the wall with stripping and body search. The police just ask for IDs to be checked. I guess the relaxed atmosphere is partly due to the police choice to keep the mosque open to everyone. Previous years when police restricted entry to the mosque to only men over 50 yrs resulted in more tensions and violence. Now with free entry, there are no muslim grievances so things are a lot calmer.

Sr. Susanna

This morning I woke up at 3am to warm up some frozen food from Singapore for my breakfast. It's one of my summer must-do list ... eat home food. I had some buns and curry puffs at 5am ... which was very nice with a hot cup of coffee. The sun had just risen and the full moon is still on the west so the sky is a strange orange colour. Breakfast alone that time makes summer vacation feel special .... especially since I've not had a vacation for over a decade. I just needed to break from the routine. Do something different, eat something different ... to create a holiday feel. Poor me. From over 40 guys in the house, we're now down to 4.

Later in the morning I had the armenian Mass when I thanked Sr. Susanna for her service. She's a korean sent here to help for the past 3 weeks. I managed to teach her to sing solo for several hymns in the armenian Mass.

Umm Jack our assistant cook (also known as Nadia) was all made up today when she came to work. Yesterday her youngest son Johnny was engaged to be married. There was a party in Beit Sahour (Shepherds Field) in Palestine which I found strange since the couple both come from the Bethpage on the Mt. of Olives. Eventually I found out it was because events cost a lot less in Palestine than in Israel ... almost one third the price. Apparently all arabs hold their parties in Palestine because of the price.

Eclipse

Summer fruit galore

After yesterday's clashes, the Old City remained tense but with no violence. Military presence was stepped up and young men were stopped and searched by the numerous police at every corner of the City. There was notably fewer muslim worshippers coming to the Mosque this morning. Yesterday's clash was a wake up call as well as a remainder of what could be worse. Let's hope everyone remembers the past and refrain from worsening the situation.

As night approached, everyone's attention was temporarily distracted to the lunar eclipse. It started at 9.30pm, turning blood red and by 10.30pm the eclipse was clear. It ended at about 2am because when I woke up at 2.30am, the moon was back shining brightly. I guess many people were out taking pictures ... I wasn't bothered doing that. I can see the moon from my window and sleep is my priority. My painful ankle was also in agreement to stay indoors.

2nd round malabi

The passion fruit malabi was so delicious last Wednesday, I decided I had to have another one yesterday evening. I couldn't get good quality malabi ... just the type for children to enjoy. But adding fresh passionfruit instead of rose syrup ... it really was great and refreshing. The sour tang of passionfruit balanced the sweet milk pudding. I really enjoy it ... and I shared it with the sisters. They liked the passionfruit but not the malabi.

My summer must-do list is coming on well. I saw the opera Madame Butterfly at Sultan's Pool in July, ate passionfruit malabi, had a few hours of rest and sleep in Jaffa; ate char kway teow at Thai House, ate Char Siu rice at Peking Duck restaurant. Now I still plan to take a quiet walk in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood; another walk in the Rehavia-Talbyah neighbourhood; read some Shakespeare; learn Armenian; brush up on my french and german; eat every type of summer fruit available in the market; watch a couple more concerts (cheapo way) at Sultan's Pool. And I only have 8 weeks of summer left. Somehow this is getting stressful ... the irony of life.

Clashes

Dawn in Tel Aviv 2 days ago

Fierce clashes inside the Al Aqsa mosque compound this morning. The reason why Israeli police entered the compound is still not clear but it resulted in muslims throwing stones at the police and finally stun grenades were fired and the compound gates were closed. It's the fiercest clash we've had for a year now. Last year 3 Israeli police were murdered at the Mosque's gates and Israel imposed metal detectors at all the Mosque entrances which resulted in muslims rioting for over a week. Today several were injured on both sides and arrests were made. Things will pick up again tomorrow morning I guess. And our streets will be heavily policed and road blocks will be imposed.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5318112,00.html

Figs galore at the Carmel Market

Meantime the ongoing Friday clashes at the Gaza border today ended with another Gazan dead. Obviously the heat has not deterred the violence ... but then again today is a lot cooler than yesterday ... about 5 degrees lower. These disturbing events just round the corner from where I work and in front of where I live is terrible now when children are on school holidays and families are spending quality time together. The violence and the security measures that follow turn our lives upside down. Just 2 days ago I was watching the beautiful sunrise in Tel Aviv and enjoying the sights and smells of the Carmel Market ... and suddenly we're back into a state of semi-war. However I must say I'm lucky I missed the actual clashes by 10 minutes as I was on my way home for lunch. My painful ankle and right shoulder mean that I cannot run or react quickly when a riot breaks out or stun grenades are fired.

Today 2 volunteers in my library finished their service and returned home. They were a big help as I have no regular staff and am practically alone in dealing with 70,000 books ranging from the 12th century till today, in over 20 languages. The volunteers are essential to my work. So now I am stressed out again ... working without help in the library. What a summer.

Tonight there'll be the century's longest lunar eclipse ... but its nothing compared to the eclipse of peace and harmony in our area.

Ss. Joachim & Anne

Full moon over Damascus Gate

Today is the feast day of the parents of Mary ... and the principal sanctuary for this feast is just 70 m down my road ... at the Church of St. Anne (also the same site as the Bethesda Pool). Byzantine tradition has put this dwelling close to the Temple since Joachim was probably a priest serving there. Anyway there was the usual solemn Mass with the presence of the French Ambassador ... since the Church is French territory. A full moon is shining tonight and it makes the feast a little more significant.

The weather continues to be extremely hot, nearly 40 degrees ... though a cool breeze blew once in a while. Poor Greece was ablaze with wild fires but suddenly today it rained with flash floods, and land burnt with no more shrubbery and plants had earth washed off ... leading to landslides. Absolute disaster.

Malabi with fresh passionfruit

Well one of my summer must-do is to eat malabi with fresh passionfruit. Malabi is a rice milk pudding eaten as a dessert with rose syrup. But it's too sweet for me. I thought I'd try it with some passionfruit ... and luckily for me both were on sale in the market. Believe it's very delicious ... and you should try it in summer ... it really helps cool the heatwave.

During the fast of Tisha B'Av last Sunday, the extreme far right municipality lawmakers forced an arab bread seller at Jaffa Gate to stop his hawking. Well, force is not the right word ... they overturned his cart and threw all his bread unto the ground, making them unsaleable. And the lawmaker had the gall to praise himself on twitter that he protected the jewish character of Jerusalem by doing so. This is the direct result of the Jewish Nation-State Law and the move of the American Embassy to Jerusalem. It has embolden the rightwing to force non-jews to obey jewish law. That is NOT democracy which the PM panders overseas. Today left-wingers came to buy bread from the old hawker ... giving him flowers and words of support.

A missile from Syria was shot into the Sea of Galilee!!! Horrors ... the war has entered into Galilee territory. How will Israel manage to safeguard its borders when internally the rightwing is tearing the country apart? That is the sin of Sinat Hinam (baseless hatred) that destroyed both Temples remembered on Tisha B'Av.

The Druze have become the first minority to challenge the Jewish Nation-State Law. The Druze have been the vanguard of the Israeli army and their anger at being relegated as a 2nd class citizen by this new law will shake the countries security. The PM is worried and is promising to give them special position in Israeli society ... but obviously not full citizenship because they are not jews. I wonder what poor Ss. Joachim and Anne would say to all this.

Heatwave

Clock Tower in Jaffa

The heatwave is hitting us like it's it the rest of the world. Greece is on fire with love 70 people dead. Here it was 41 degrees. The sun beat down relentless. Luckily there have been no forest fires or casualties. The govt had warned the elderly and children to remain indoors. On the upside, heatwaves always see a drop in violence and clashes. Soldiers cannot fight well in boiling temperatures, equipment melt or are destroyed by the heat. Well if it brings some cessation of war up in the north and also in the south ... then let's suffer some heat.

Yesterday I had gone to Tel Aviv to see my physiotherapist. However he had to cancel the appointment as he was called up by the National Sports Centre to work. I wasn't ready to travel another hour home in the heat and walk 1km ... so I stayed back at our house in Jaffa. Luckily there are aircons in that house. The humidity was 100%. It was suffocating. But in the evenings, a cool but strong sea breeze blows though and makes it alot more bearable. Still for some, they choose to sleep outdoors because the rooms are like ovens.

Cooking Phad Krapao in the market

This morning I accompanied an Indonesian friar to visit the wet market in Tel Aviv. There were marvellous arrays of fruit and food and veggies. And I found a small stall selling Thai street food including Phad Krapao. The young thai lady was very nice and cooke d the food right in front of you. So we ordered 2 takeaways and ate them for dinner. It's really street food and it cost half of what we pay in the Thai restaurant. I'm definitely going back there whenever I can. It's really delicious. I also found stalls selling chives which practically are non-existent in Jerusalem. Our chinese sisters love to eat chives so I bought 5 bunches for them.

It was a relaxing day and all good things must come to an end. Took the long journey home again 4 hours ago and survived the journey. But the Phad Krapao made my day. It was worth even walking in the heat to go buy it.