Today is Saturday, Feb. 28th, 2009 and it is now 4:55 AM here in the Philippines.
Back to me...
So, I had taken the fragnments of a single bullet (probablly AK but of course , as often happens, I did not see the actual gun which hit me).
Out of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, I was given a few days to hang out, and then put back into the mix but in-country for a month and a half because my Battalion was in the field right then, finishing the Operation I had been wounded on, neutralisation of SAM batteries and the Syrians protecting them.
Attached to what would become "Home Front," I was given the lovely task of keeping Christian Pilgrims safe as they hobknobbed amongst the Christian shrines that populate Jerusalem and the surrounding countrysside (Bethlehem after all is less than 8 kilometers from the city).
There is a catalouged mental illness known as "Jerusalem Psychosis" that I have talked about in my BL Journal I believe. Otherwise "normal" people come to Jerusalem and because of the proximity to things made central to their lives (whether consciously or otherwise) they loose it. Most recover perfectly, while others can be seen begging for alms and shouldering plywood crosses (some with rubber wheels on tyhe bottom!) for many years to come.
Interestingly, here in the Philippines they have a peculiar Christian custom of literal crucifixion! Varrious European Nations, though usually Iberian, have so called "secret socities" that have such Penitent Rites like self-flagellation, etc but actual full-on crucifixion I do believe is unique to this land.
One would imagine, given life on Mindanao that it would take part here or points south but alas, no. It takes place on Easter up north in Pampanga on Luzon. Pampangans actually have alot of customs thast others (including Filipinsos) find digusting.
Pampangans, an ethnicity with their own language, live around Subic Bay, Clark Air Force Base (or former base, now a Free Trade Zone and home to umpteenth mail order Rx outfits) and especially in Angeles City, the red light capital of SE Asia...and THAT is saying a WHOLE LOT!!!
I rarely go to Luzon, actually almost never save travelling in and out of the country. I could fly directly in and out of Cebu but i do not trust Customs and Immigration there. I am well acquainted with the process in Manila and since I usually carry (although legally prescribed ALWAYS) controlled substances I do not want any hassle , or at the very least steep bribe attempts.
In Manila, at the International Airport (Ninoy Acquino) the biggest bribe is to the ever present police who will nicely [pressure you to buy them a drink of wwater for 300 Pesos (which is enough to buy more than a cse of bottled water , although granted not at Airport prices), and then rarely unless you look lost.
Cebu though? Who can say, although I do hear tales from ex-patriates about the requisite bribe at Customs no matter what you are carrying, etc.
Anyway, regressing, Jerusalem is at least a very colourful place. Most are totally unaware that all those shrines they frequent are absolute nonsense! for example, the sector I patrolled for those 5 odd weeks was home to the Via Dolorosa (Way of Pain, in Latin and Spanish).
IF Jesus was ever curcified (let alone lived, but that is another story), he would not have walked the way of the Via. He would have marched in the diametrically opposite direction! The site for crucifixion was in that opposite direction.
Or , take the Church of the Holy Selphucre, the site believed to hold the site of Jesus' grave. It is located in what would have been central Jerusalem in that eras. Jews, of which Jesus and ALL his disciples were , do NOT bury their dead anywhere near the living. It is the most ritually unclean site, and since Jerusalem was wehere Mt. Moriah, the Temple Mount was located a grave in that location would have rendered the Mount unclean!!!
So what hapened? When Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, his mum Helena went to the Holy Land looking for relics and such. imaguine you live in a very, very poor land and some extremely rich old lady starts offering you cash to show her places. Are you going to say, "We really have no idea" or "It is right there!"?
Of course most said, "Right here" and so it went. there is a place competing for the claim to the site of the burial, and that is in a garden run by Protestant groups outside the Old City. I tend to put more stock in the Protestant site although archaeology has determined that it too is not the right place. Still, it is alot more sensible than Selphucre!
At Selphucre it is divided amongst all the old Christian groups: Catholics, Eastern Orthadox, Ethiopian Orthadox, Armenian Orthadox and so on. you would imagine that with a faith like Christianity that you would have an atmosphere of love and kindness, right? WRONG. They have fights with weapons over the right to hammer in a new nail!
A Muslim clan have the keys to the front door because since the time of the Crusaders the Christians cannot decided who does what.
So, I was working that sector. Around lunch 2 of my mates were dragging a tourist who was bewildered, because he had been caught breaking a piece of a brick off of the outside of the building as a memento. A pretty common occurrence despite the many signs warning not to, the men had rescused him from irate Armenian monks who were going to throttle him.
My mates were getting fed up with the guy because he did not seem to understand them, and they spoke little English if any so I intervened.
I got them to release the bloke and sure enough, that man ended up becoming my present father-in-law!
More on that next time...
Back to me...
So, I had taken the fragnments of a single bullet (probablly AK but of course , as often happens, I did not see the actual gun which hit me).
Out of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, I was given a few days to hang out, and then put back into the mix but in-country for a month and a half because my Battalion was in the field right then, finishing the Operation I had been wounded on, neutralisation of SAM batteries and the Syrians protecting them.
Attached to what would become "Home Front," I was given the lovely task of keeping Christian Pilgrims safe as they hobknobbed amongst the Christian shrines that populate Jerusalem and the surrounding countrysside (Bethlehem after all is less than 8 kilometers from the city).
There is a catalouged mental illness known as "Jerusalem Psychosis" that I have talked about in my BL Journal I believe. Otherwise "normal" people come to Jerusalem and because of the proximity to things made central to their lives (whether consciously or otherwise) they loose it. Most recover perfectly, while others can be seen begging for alms and shouldering plywood crosses (some with rubber wheels on tyhe bottom!) for many years to come.
Interestingly, here in the Philippines they have a peculiar Christian custom of literal crucifixion! Varrious European Nations, though usually Iberian, have so called "secret socities" that have such Penitent Rites like self-flagellation, etc but actual full-on crucifixion I do believe is unique to this land.
One would imagine, given life on Mindanao that it would take part here or points south but alas, no. It takes place on Easter up north in Pampanga on Luzon. Pampangans actually have alot of customs thast others (including Filipinsos) find digusting.
Pampangans, an ethnicity with their own language, live around Subic Bay, Clark Air Force Base (or former base, now a Free Trade Zone and home to umpteenth mail order Rx outfits) and especially in Angeles City, the red light capital of SE Asia...and THAT is saying a WHOLE LOT!!!
I rarely go to Luzon, actually almost never save travelling in and out of the country. I could fly directly in and out of Cebu but i do not trust Customs and Immigration there. I am well acquainted with the process in Manila and since I usually carry (although legally prescribed ALWAYS) controlled substances I do not want any hassle , or at the very least steep bribe attempts.
In Manila, at the International Airport (Ninoy Acquino) the biggest bribe is to the ever present police who will nicely [pressure you to buy them a drink of wwater for 300 Pesos (which is enough to buy more than a cse of bottled water , although granted not at Airport prices), and then rarely unless you look lost.
Cebu though? Who can say, although I do hear tales from ex-patriates about the requisite bribe at Customs no matter what you are carrying, etc.
Anyway, regressing, Jerusalem is at least a very colourful place. Most are totally unaware that all those shrines they frequent are absolute nonsense! for example, the sector I patrolled for those 5 odd weeks was home to the Via Dolorosa (Way of Pain, in Latin and Spanish).
IF Jesus was ever curcified (let alone lived, but that is another story), he would not have walked the way of the Via. He would have marched in the diametrically opposite direction! The site for crucifixion was in that opposite direction.
Or , take the Church of the Holy Selphucre, the site believed to hold the site of Jesus' grave. It is located in what would have been central Jerusalem in that eras. Jews, of which Jesus and ALL his disciples were , do NOT bury their dead anywhere near the living. It is the most ritually unclean site, and since Jerusalem was wehere Mt. Moriah, the Temple Mount was located a grave in that location would have rendered the Mount unclean!!!
So what hapened? When Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, his mum Helena went to the Holy Land looking for relics and such. imaguine you live in a very, very poor land and some extremely rich old lady starts offering you cash to show her places. Are you going to say, "We really have no idea" or "It is right there!"?
Of course most said, "Right here" and so it went. there is a place competing for the claim to the site of the burial, and that is in a garden run by Protestant groups outside the Old City. I tend to put more stock in the Protestant site although archaeology has determined that it too is not the right place. Still, it is alot more sensible than Selphucre!
At Selphucre it is divided amongst all the old Christian groups: Catholics, Eastern Orthadox, Ethiopian Orthadox, Armenian Orthadox and so on. you would imagine that with a faith like Christianity that you would have an atmosphere of love and kindness, right? WRONG. They have fights with weapons over the right to hammer in a new nail!
A Muslim clan have the keys to the front door because since the time of the Crusaders the Christians cannot decided who does what.
So, I was working that sector. Around lunch 2 of my mates were dragging a tourist who was bewildered, because he had been caught breaking a piece of a brick off of the outside of the building as a memento. A pretty common occurrence despite the many signs warning not to, the men had rescused him from irate Armenian monks who were going to throttle him.
My mates were getting fed up with the guy because he did not seem to understand them, and they spoke little English if any so I intervened.
I got them to release the bloke and sure enough, that man ended up becoming my present father-in-law!
More on that next time...