Cold and wet

Rain

 Heavy rain and very cold .... 5 degrees at daytime. The streets are flowing with rainwater and overflowed drains. I had to go to work in the rain carrying my bag, a mass kit packed with chalice, chasuble, missal, wine, a bag of food for my lunch and a huge book wrapped double in plastic bag so it doesn't get wet. With both hands full with 5 kg of things, I couldn't carry an umbrella. I could only wear a waterproof jacket and walked the slippery streets for 1km uphillto get to work. Everyone was telling to get an umbrella and some offered me umbrellas but ... I have no hands to carry an umbrella. Each hand has 2 bags already!!!!

When I reached my office the blood vessels in my hands burst and there were bruises all over. Then I had a meeting with a local Israeli prof who wanted some information on her research. Then another meeting with a PhD candidate from America who also wanted information on her research topic. Then a surprise ... I was told to go to the Holy Sepulchre (in the rain) to celebrate Mass for a Canadian group without a priest. It turned out the small group was made up chinese vancouvians whom I had taught 15 years ago. What a surprise! They didn't expect to see me either!

Anyway I'm stuck here now waiting for the rains to stop as I cannot go home carrying all that stuff. The roads are very slippery and its all downhill. And the wind and rain is very strong. I've called for help. Hopefully someone will come and accompany me home soon. It's cold and wet out here.

Nightmare

On the way to
the bank

 Absolute horror story today ... a nightmare. That's going to the bank. No other country in the world is quite like here. Walked 1km to the City to deposit money because of many books bought for the library and the account was very low on finds. Usually our central financial dept does all the deposits and transfers bu now with a new director, each institute has to do its own banking operations. So I got there and firstly I couldn't register and get a number because the machine kept rejecting my ID. Then a lady teller came to help but she turned into Frankenstein's bride. One hour of screaming and yelling at her colleagues for not giving her the answer she wanted. I was moved from one dept to another and back to her office where I got her to speak to our financial people back at our office. After 10 minutes of hassle, she finally understood and said I am allowed to deposit the money. Yes ... it's about depositing money. You can't deposit your own money here unless it's approved by the bank manager or something like that. She wanted to know where the money came from and I couldn't prove it's provenance. So she didn't allow my deposit to go through. Utterly unbelievable. 

Then when I was allowed to deposit, I was sent to a teller at the other end of the bank. And she couldn't find our account on the computers. 20 minutes of searching with name, account number, passport number ... nothing. Then suddenly she said she found it. By the time the transaction was finished an entire hour had passed. And it takes me an hour to walk back to my office. It was a horror story. You feel utterly abused by the whole drama. All I can advise you is if you're coming to Israel, don't open a bank account. Keep your money under your pillow.

Almond blooms?!

Bonfire by the road

More tit-for-tat attacks today. Newspapers say an arab car was burned in Ramallah. Police are at every corner of the New and Old City. The tension is palpable. But daily life trudge on despite this ... people need to make a living.

It's definitely winter when arab youths start bonfires in the streets and alleys. It's not like they have no heaters back home ... it's a cultural thing that helps social cohesion. Neighbours gather around the bonfire and chat and eat. It's harmless enough except under the tense situation we're in these days, these gatherings round the bonfire are viewed with suspicion and fear by others. Police stand a short distance away, keeping those groups under scrutiny.

Almond blooms

It's not cold as it should be in winter. This morning was 16 degrees and very sunny. And surprisingly I found an almond tree in flower! It's too early for almond blooms!! And it's the only tree in bloom around the Old City district. Climate change is real and very tangible here.

I went for a walk in the New City today ... avoiding as much as possible crowded areas given the present tense situation. I walk slowly and watched life unfold around the City center ... bustling with life, dotted with police every corner. It reminded me of the Intifada days.

One thing I managed to do with duty was go visit Pomeranze bookshop. Michael the owner whom I knew for 30 years had died last month and it was good I went back to offer my condolences to his son Nahum. It brought back so much memories back 30 years under the same situation ... it was the 1st Intifada back then when we first met. R.I.P.

Violence

Tourists at Damascus Gate

Terrorists attacks for the past 3 days. Today 2 jews were shot at the Silwan (biblical Siloam) neighbourhood south of the Old City. Yesterday 9 jews shot dead outside a synagogue 5km north of the Old City. All these were revenge attacks for the Israeli army killing 9 arabs in the town of Jenin the day before. On that same same extremist jews entered New Gate in the Old City and attacked Christians and their shops, just outside our monastery door. Tension is high all around. Police have stepped up their presence.

But tourists continue their visits, oblivious to the violence around. Shops in the Old City are opened but everyone is weary of each other. Police stand at every corner. Jews going to the Wailing Wall to pray rush through the crowds, afraid they'll be stabbed or shot. For sure there'll be more revenge attacks on both sides. We just need to be careful when we go out. 

Jews and Arabs

No rain

Sydney-sider Chinese
group in Shepherds
Field

 It's already the 6th day of the CNY and I haven't updated the blog. Well on one hand I wasn't feeling well. I still have great difficulty climbing stairs. The pain and breathlessness is terrible. On the other hand I was very busy ... so many visits from university students, new manuscripts coming, tons of payments and of course a high volume of Chinese pilgrims. I had to meet various groups from around the world ... the diaspora community that's travelling freely. Only China and Hong Kong are missing. Because walking far is difficult for me, I usually have someone accompany me in case I faint or have a heart attack. I really need the 2nd operation to solve my heart problem.

The weather has warmed up and though it's quite pleasant, we have no rain. This is bad news. It'll be a drought year. We had only a few hours of rain this winter. That means veggies and fruit will go up in prices; water tax will rise. I just checked the weather forecast ... it says this winter is above average in warmth. That's not good. Let's pray for storms.

3rd Day

Spring fruit on sale

 It's the 3rd day of the CNY. It's quarrel day ... so most traditional people stay home and don't visit friends or relatives. Well no fear of that here ... no friends no relatives. 

It was an early day's work as I had to prepare a small exhibition for the Hebrew University students. It's the second group to come in 2 weeks. They're students of medieval history so I brought out medieval manuscripts and illuminated codices to show them. Those that came last week were 2nd and 3rd year students and several have contacted me for further meetings because they want to write their thesis and think they can find material in our library. That's good. Today's students were 1st year and so had less questions.

The weather is warm like yesterday but the nights continue to be chilly. My hands have been bruised again because I've been carrying heavy bags and books. I know I should get someone to help me but the reality is there is nobody around to help. I must do everything on my own. I just have to get creative and find ways to move heavy things without carrying them with my hands.

Meantime the cold spell is making Spring fruit grow faster. Lots of strawberries, citrus and other colorful fruit. I keep telling myself I want to try every type available ... but some are not good for my health. 

2nd Day CNY

New Year decorations

2nd day of the New Year but it was back to work for all of us chinese and east asians. The weather was rather warm ... 15 degrees and very sunny so it was a lovely day. But we couldn't enjoy much of it because we have to work.

I was especially tires as there was so much paper work to do ... closing the financial report of 2022. It was going up and down, to and fro from one dept to another. And it's not over yet. Tomorrow will be another morning of this.

Ah Ling from Mandarin restaurant made tang yuan (rice balls) - raw - so I can boil them later this week to eat with others. I found out the local grocery sells gulah malaka .... so I can boil it with the tang yuan.

I've not followed the local news so I don't know what is happening these days. It's the New Year so I don't want to know bad news.