Here in Tarnaveni, the biggest news is that we are cold and wet.... but I am hopeful more trips to the outdoor swimming pool are not far off... Karen the new volunteer has settled in fantastically, and we have had many memorable moments, both good and bad, seeing Karen's initial shock and concerns and looks of horror at the hospital conditions, which we must have had on our faces during the first week. Our daily schedule has changed slightly as Karen gets up first without fail, which acts as a good alarm clock for me... she has a similar background to myself and has just been working in a community mental health team in Warrington, so shares some of my despair at the lack of any concept of community care here.The hospital remains lively, and I could tell you more disgusting things I have done for patients this week, like cut and clean this blind,, Hungarian man's seriously overgrown fingernails, with serious growths beneath them.... I was very nearly sick there and then... the patients continue to love to sing folk songs and dance to random music, (mainly Abba) but I am slowly introducing the idea of salsa, but most patients get dizzy too quickly...I think we have all realized that for the patients, having just one hour in their week, where they can choose what they want to do, and they can sit without fear of competing with each other for food / drink, or for the women who can be made to feel like females, rather than patients, it’s a real benefit, even if we feel like we could be doing more to help with the mental health condition itself, or trying to help them move onwards. But as you only go home if someone is willing to take you, the system seems so unfair and encapsulating!...but I want to focus more on the town again this week. I promise I will get to writing more about the hospital soon...By the way, they showed the England game last night, which was a bonus, unfortunately we didn’t realise it was on until we had watched most of Romania's game against Belarus... never mind!
So Friday night, Helen's boyfriend came for the weekend, and she went off to meet him at the airport, so me and Karen decided we would stay out for a beer with the interpreter, and then go to the disco... this is the first disco we visited called ‘Infinity’, which is ironically how long it feels like you have been in there after just 5 minutes. We got a drink costing about 3 quid for a gin, lemonade and over a pint of beer... then sat watching several different types of 'dancing'... the music varied from light dance to the following tunes (all of which saw me and Karen spring from our seats to relive past era's...: road to hell (Chris Rea), ‘rhythm is a dancer’, ‘come a chameleon’, ‘girls just wanna have fun’, ‘dirty dancing’,.. all serious classic tunes... hmm... but believe it or not, we were not the oddest sight on the dance floor during this time, several young couples appeared to be moving, in a style I can only describe as 'jiving' which seemed bizarre to say the least...
...other highlights this week included:1) being told off for the second time by a serious baton waving security guard for not using a shopping trolley to but one item in a supermarket... it seems this is not negotiable no matter how many time you say ' I only want shaving cream'!2) going to our Dutch neighbours house (or should I say palace) and seeing the type of luxury I forgot existed, like flushing toilets, warm rooms, and a big TV! the point of the visit was to see all the amazing work her and her husband have done with the Roma (gypsy) people, building a village for them to live, its completely mind blowing when you see these people making their own bricks from mud, just to build a rough house, after floods washed away their old houses...3) the shop I go to most week days for lunch, the women now get me my two slices of ham, without me even asking for it, when I go to get lunch during the week.... and as people don’t queue here whatsoever, when the queue is big, they take me by the arm to the spare until and let me pay... it’s so friendly...So life continues to offer new experiences, here, but I think I need to get out of Tarnaveni a bit more because it’s feeling smaller and smaller each week...Anyone wanting to call me from UK can call the following numbers 0871 801 4840 (7p a minute) or 08444 300 181 (3p a minute), listen to the voice prompts then call my house number: 0040 265 442 969 or if you are outside UK, get a phone card, and call my house number as above.P.S.. Liz, thanks so much for the postcard, it was great to receive it...
hope everyone is well!
Regards from Romania
Dan
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