Hello everyone! Just when I imagined I might not have a tale to tell this week, I took to the road, albeit the local road to Targu-Mures, and sure enough I got my tale. Oh and the answer to the blank by the way is 'cake'. Of course I didn't take a cake out for an evening, but that's what I managed to say to a mate of mine as I mixed up the words for 'cake' and 'friend'. Her son did give me a funny look. I have had a few perplexing looks during the last couple of weeks when trying to remember my Romanian. Despite feeling as though the language has come flooding back to me, I am still making some quite amusing mistakes. Just yesterday when talking with a hotel receptionist, I asked how much a room would be for one 'sister' rather than one 'night' - the words sounds kind of similar, but the member of staff either thought I was just giving ridiculously pointless information or I was booking on behalf of some new found religious order! - I didn't take the room!
At the hospital life has been pretty tough with some of the patients being particularly ill this week, and it's been a wee while since I have seen some raw elements of psychosis, so me and Ali (co-volunteer) have been coping best we can, supported by the staff! As usual I can't go into details of my work for confidentiality reasons, but you can just imagine walking around a courtyard full of perhaps 100 women, some 'toileting' randomly in front of you (due to illness - there is access to toilets), one woman screaming and hitting herself, and some women just wanting to grab hold of you (inappropriately at times). Some patients being unable to speak simply sit and stare at you.
So with the sun setting and the local grave yard looming next to me I was left with only one option - Hitch! Ok, so I don't mind admitting I was getting slightly nervous after the 20th car passed, and the hillside was now covered in shadows, but luck was once again on my side, as a black car stopped, and a friendly youngish couple, opened their car door and took me almost all the way home. We chatted away, with no mention of socialising with cakes, or booking a room for nuns, and they dropped me of yards from home, refusing payment - I think they had felt quite entertained as I tried to explain just what I had been doing in the middle of nowhere! Ok thanks to you guys, I hope you get to read this one day!
The saying 'a picture tells a thousand words' seems fitting this week, so I'm going to put a few photos in, to give you some idea of my environment, for those of who remember my 'near death' experience last time, walking over the bridge with panels missing, look out for evidence in this weeks pictures!
At the hospital life has been pretty tough with some of the patients being particularly ill this week, and it's been a wee while since I have seen some raw elements of psychosis, so me and Ali (co-volunteer) have been coping best we can, supported by the staff! As usual I can't go into details of my work for confidentiality reasons, but you can just imagine walking around a courtyard full of perhaps 100 women, some 'toileting' randomly in front of you (due to illness - there is access to toilets), one woman screaming and hitting herself, and some women just wanting to grab hold of you (inappropriately at times). Some patients being unable to speak simply sit and stare at you.Now some photos for the health and safety buffs amongst you.. my special favourite is the metal ladder leading up to the electric cables... and the 'the bridge' picture is here too...
So to my eventful trip to Targu- Mures. There seem to bee many spellings of this town, so if today's spelling differs from past blog entries, I apologise! It's the nearest 'city' with a cinema, McDonald's and some lively street cafes. I just wanted to go have a nosey round and to be completely honest, I was searching for a bar that might just let me see some English Premiership football! I got lucky with the bar, and the owner gave me a full family history, clearly I was the only customer in there for the majority of my stay there! This is a picturesque city as some pictures will show you, and the statue of the babies drinking from the wolf, is synonymous around these parts!
But to the point of my story, after having found some reasonable public toilets earlier in the day for 1.5 lei ( 30 pence), a tough feat I assure you, I thought I'd manage the hour long bus ride home. Unfortunately I had not accounted for the pot holed country road through the hills, so after just 15 minutes of the journey I knew I was in trouble! Could I last another 45 minutes of this bouncing bus journey through the Romanian countryside? Ten minutes later I knew the answer to that question.... I had to get off, but could I find a strategically good place to get off in the wilderness? My bladder made that decision for me, and so exactly half way through the hour long journey I descended from the bus just outside the town of Mica (clearly not named after the currently known pop star himself). After some quite wonderful bladder relief (There's nothing quite like it after such a wait is there?) I turned to face the following scenes....
So with the sun setting and the local grave yard looming next to me I was left with only one option - Hitch! Ok, so I don't mind admitting I was getting slightly nervous after the 20th car passed, and the hillside was now covered in shadows, but luck was once again on my side, as a black car stopped, and a friendly youngish couple, opened their car door and took me almost all the way home. We chatted away, with no mention of socialising with cakes, or booking a room for nuns, and they dropped me of yards from home, refusing payment - I think they had felt quite entertained as I tried to explain just what I had been doing in the middle of nowhere! Ok thanks to you guys, I hope you get to read this one day!
Ok, that's enough for his week! I did meet up with my good friend Giany and his sister and son last night two, which also ended in an eventful car journey at 0200, but that's a story for another time. The friendly couple I met at Luton airport on thew way over here, also called me and asked when I was going to visit them in Cluj! That should be another tale altogether!
Regards from Romania
Dan
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