Hello everybody,
Well just one hour before coming here today, I was wondering what I was going to write.. we have had major frustration at the hospital, a day trip to Turges Mures for winter clothes shopping, and a hitch hiking experience.
So leaving them aside for just one minute, I want to talk about toilets! I know some of the more prudish readers may not want to read on, but this is part of everyday life here in Tarnaveni, and something I think you will find more amusing than distasteful. I know I have mentioned the lack of flushing toilets in our own home, but this adds to our hope of all hopes that each time we go out, we can find a working toilet to use, thus preventing the need to use our own temperamental, weak flushing, no toilet-paper allowed, monstrosity! To this end, I must mention the toilet I used at a cafe/bar just around the corner from where I am sitting at this moment.I mention it because each time we now go somewhere new, there is inevitably an ensuing conversation about the cleanliness, lighting, paper type, and flushing ability of the aforementioned appliance! Today's 'visit' consisted of walking out of the back of the cafe/ bar, weaving through a yard (which was so filled with crates of bottles, rubbish, and stones of varying sizes, it was more like negotiating the old krypton factor assault course, sorry for the English reference to my non English readers). Whilst walking through this yard, two older town residents were clearly looking through the 'yards contents' though there seemed to be no way out of the yard and I had not seen them come through the bar... when I finally reached a separate small building I was faced with a small space containing two sinks and some paper towels. Two further doors stood directly in front of me (one for women, one for men, thank god for conventionality!) the men's area had two urinals, and a door leading to a standard toilet, whilst the women's area was just one cubicle (with a working light). I unfortunately needed the cubicle, which in the men's area had a light, that was not working, and no light switch insight anyway! I'm pleased to report the paper, the flush and cleanliness in this case were sufficient, if not the lighting! I just got to thinking that the idea that Romania will have to comply with such laws as the disability discrimination act's section on public access is just not even plausible!
To other events.... whilst I must be careful of confidentiality, I must talk of our frustration this week in relation to the hospital... we have basically been pressured into having patients come down to the 'club' every two weeks, rather than weekly, in order to reduce the number of patients in each session, the thinking behind this idea, is to reduce the risk of patients absconding (running away) whilst in our care... the irony is, we have better staffing ratios than the hospital staff, and patients have escaped more from the ward and not once from our attention.. I must state this is my personal opinion here, both to defend the staff and charity, I believe the problem here is two-fold.. firstly, the system here aims to keep as many people happy within a controlled environment, and therefore the weakest people are not heard and their needs ignored... this is driven from the politics of the country, and relates to lack of resources and funding.. which is in turn driven from the ever increasing need for Romanian government institutions to be seen to conform with more developed European rules, and standards of living/ care... the second problem is a result of the first... patient care is not delivered her with the needs of the individual in the centre, in fact the needs of the individual actually come second to the needs of the institution / society.... which some of you may recognise as being a left over affect of such a communist rule... these issues will invariably take so much time to work out, but Romania, like many other states is rushing (and being pulled) into developing a more European standard, before it is even close to being ready to deliver these changes... testing times are ahead...
To my final tale of the week, on Tuesday evening my good Hungarian friend Rebeka invited me for drinks with her friend before she was due to leave for Switzerland the following day.. problem was, she was in Turges Mures, (1 hour away by bus) I could not get the 1830 bus as I didn’t finish work until 1800, she suggested I hitch-hiked... well it was the night of the Steau vs Seville (football) match, so I headed off to the town outskirts, where several dozens of cars passed me by without so much as a glance... I then saw one of the infamous maxi-taxi's which had stopped just 200 yards away... I ran like 'Forrest Gump to a box o' chocolates' but just as I reached the damn thing, it pulled away!!! But hey despite knowing I had to leave Turges Mures on the 2230 bus to get back, and it was now 1915, I thought I'd give it another go... a little van pulled over just 10 minutes later, with three cherpy looking older guys in, they offered me and a female hitcher a lift, and chatted away for the entire trip... not to me though, as they quickly realised I could not understand some of their banter... anyway, the guy even refused my offer of money of which I made him take eventually, and I walked off happy in the knowledge that a beer and two pretty Hungarian women were waiting for my arrival!!! (ha ha) the upshot is I’d definitely hitch again here, as it is common practice and so much better than the overcrowded bus!!!!
So with just one week away from my official half way point, I'm happy to report (dodgy toilets aside) life continues to surprise me every day, here in Romania.
Regards from Romania
Dan
Well just one hour before coming here today, I was wondering what I was going to write.. we have had major frustration at the hospital, a day trip to Turges Mures for winter clothes shopping, and a hitch hiking experience.
So leaving them aside for just one minute, I want to talk about toilets! I know some of the more prudish readers may not want to read on, but this is part of everyday life here in Tarnaveni, and something I think you will find more amusing than distasteful. I know I have mentioned the lack of flushing toilets in our own home, but this adds to our hope of all hopes that each time we go out, we can find a working toilet to use, thus preventing the need to use our own temperamental, weak flushing, no toilet-paper allowed, monstrosity! To this end, I must mention the toilet I used at a cafe/bar just around the corner from where I am sitting at this moment.I mention it because each time we now go somewhere new, there is inevitably an ensuing conversation about the cleanliness, lighting, paper type, and flushing ability of the aforementioned appliance! Today's 'visit' consisted of walking out of the back of the cafe/ bar, weaving through a yard (which was so filled with crates of bottles, rubbish, and stones of varying sizes, it was more like negotiating the old krypton factor assault course, sorry for the English reference to my non English readers). Whilst walking through this yard, two older town residents were clearly looking through the 'yards contents' though there seemed to be no way out of the yard and I had not seen them come through the bar... when I finally reached a separate small building I was faced with a small space containing two sinks and some paper towels. Two further doors stood directly in front of me (one for women, one for men, thank god for conventionality!) the men's area had two urinals, and a door leading to a standard toilet, whilst the women's area was just one cubicle (with a working light). I unfortunately needed the cubicle, which in the men's area had a light, that was not working, and no light switch insight anyway! I'm pleased to report the paper, the flush and cleanliness in this case were sufficient, if not the lighting! I just got to thinking that the idea that Romania will have to comply with such laws as the disability discrimination act's section on public access is just not even plausible!
To other events.... whilst I must be careful of confidentiality, I must talk of our frustration this week in relation to the hospital... we have basically been pressured into having patients come down to the 'club' every two weeks, rather than weekly, in order to reduce the number of patients in each session, the thinking behind this idea, is to reduce the risk of patients absconding (running away) whilst in our care... the irony is, we have better staffing ratios than the hospital staff, and patients have escaped more from the ward and not once from our attention.. I must state this is my personal opinion here, both to defend the staff and charity, I believe the problem here is two-fold.. firstly, the system here aims to keep as many people happy within a controlled environment, and therefore the weakest people are not heard and their needs ignored... this is driven from the politics of the country, and relates to lack of resources and funding.. which is in turn driven from the ever increasing need for Romanian government institutions to be seen to conform with more developed European rules, and standards of living/ care... the second problem is a result of the first... patient care is not delivered her with the needs of the individual in the centre, in fact the needs of the individual actually come second to the needs of the institution / society.... which some of you may recognise as being a left over affect of such a communist rule... these issues will invariably take so much time to work out, but Romania, like many other states is rushing (and being pulled) into developing a more European standard, before it is even close to being ready to deliver these changes... testing times are ahead...To my final tale of the week, on Tuesday evening my good Hungarian friend Rebeka invited me for drinks with her friend before she was due to leave for Switzerland the following day.. problem was, she was in Turges Mures, (1 hour away by bus) I could not get the 1830 bus as I didn’t finish work until 1800, she suggested I hitch-hiked... well it was the night of the Steau vs Seville (football) match, so I headed off to the town outskirts, where several dozens of cars passed me by without so much as a glance... I then saw one of the infamous maxi-taxi's which had stopped just 200 yards away... I ran like 'Forrest Gump to a box o' chocolates' but just as I reached the damn thing, it pulled away!!! But hey despite knowing I had to leave Turges Mures on the 2230 bus to get back, and it was now 1915, I thought I'd give it another go... a little van pulled over just 10 minutes later, with three cherpy looking older guys in, they offered me and a female hitcher a lift, and chatted away for the entire trip... not to me though, as they quickly realised I could not understand some of their banter... anyway, the guy even refused my offer of money of which I made him take eventually, and I walked off happy in the knowledge that a beer and two pretty Hungarian women were waiting for my arrival!!! (ha ha) the upshot is I’d definitely hitch again here, as it is common practice and so much better than the overcrowded bus!!!!So with just one week away from my official half way point, I'm happy to report (dodgy toilets aside) life continues to surprise me every day, here in Romania.
Regards from Romania
Dan
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