Cold, very cold

Today morning when I took Karina to the kindergarten, it was very cold. No wonder as now there is -17C in Brasov, and early morning was -19C, and we are in November! In other words we shall use a lot of gas for the heating again. We have to. It's just it seems to early for this winter...

Hi 5

From now, you can check my profile at szakalist.hi5.com
If you have an account at hi5 we could be friends, just let me know.
Its' good to keep in touch, share photos...
Here are many photos of our family in several galleries.

Some good changes

The good news for you is that on Sunday 9 December I am off all day long. The church service which I had to lead will be held a week in advance on the 2 December. I just found out this morning.

Good bye Phil!

Today are the funerals of our dear friend Phil Connor. We all will miss him. Good bye and rest in peace in the Lord!

England, where are you?

I just wonder what made England so "strong" in football? Why is Croatia better?
Last time Romanians watched on TV as England played, this time England will watch on TV live as Romania will play! So who has a better team?

Elections, elections...

Today is election day here. Voting the first time for the members of the European parliament. Also is a referendum day in Romania. People will decide what kind of electoral system they want: choosing each parliament member individually by their names or vote for the list of party, as it was till now. Neither of these are perfect, in fact both systems have their pros and cons.
I just been voting... for the Hungarians, of course.

Avoid these restaurants

I remember in August, we decided with the team to go out, have a nice team meal together. We have chosen the ESCALA Restaurant from Ghimbav, near Brasov. Actually we were there before, in March, just after the opening and we enjoyed there. But now I must say everything was different. New staff were there, who were young and without much experience (not their fault, but not ours either) than we had a power cut for over an hour, and they instead of dismissing us, they rather wanted to keep us there no matter what... Food came very late, soup was cold, the meal was not exactly what we ordered...They did not had about 75% of the dishes presented in the menu, only one type of wine, instead of ice cream they brought us a certain cream which was tasteless and we gave it back immediately, and... they put that on the bill as well...the bill which was over 750 Lei (about 160 Pounds)...not cheap! We were disappointed. Not recommending it to anyone!

In September I went with the Mormon people to have a meal at Timisu De Sus, a restaurant, named Pensiunea GEIZER. A huge place, entirely empty. It was interesting! The waiter came, who had no idea what meal do they have and what they don't... We had to order and then he came back saying that what is available and what is not. As the cream soup was not available we could only choose between the pork sour soup, and the peasant beef sour soup. These two look like the same but tastes different. I ordered beef the lady next to me ordered pork soup. Than he came with the soups on a big plateau, and he did not know which is which! So he places a soup in the front of me, another one in the front of the lady. I asked than is this the beef soup? he said : "I don't know, why don't you just taste it?"!.... Unbelievable! So I tasted and it was pork, no beef, but what could I do, should I have given to the lady?
What would you have done?

Obituary to Philip Connor, written by Peter Tolson

I just added the below message from the charity's site.

May God rest you in peace dear Phil!

Obituary to Philip Connor who passed away on the 19th November 2007
Philip Connor (Team Member 1993 -2007)

It is with great sadness that the North Nibley Romania Team announces the death of one of its longest serving members.
Phil as he was known to the members was a “Liverpudlian” through and through. He carried with him the typical Liverpool sense of humour which always cheered people who came into contact with him.
He was the charity historian. He was also responsible for our yearly newsletter which was so popular. This was difficult to produce but he never failed to deliver.
Phil has been to Romania on numerous occasions, and in fact my first meeting with Phil was behind the wheel of our van after an epic journey to Romania by road, some 1800 miles each way.
This journey, he was to repeat many times until he encountered heart problems, which sadly spelled the end of the travels that he loved so much.
Everyone who undertook the journey with him grew to love his ready wit, calming manner, and his wonderfully big heart. He was also a very good driver which reflects in the number of trips he undertook.
Even though his visits to Romania ceased, Phil continued to work tirelessly for his Romanian friends, and always included them in his prayers. I cannot remember many meetings where Phil was not present. He always blessed our meetings with a prayer at the start, and finished the meeting with a prayer of thanks. He contributed to our discussions with a wise head, and always kept our feet firmly on the ground.
Phil is one of the bravest men that I have ever met. He knew what the likely future was, but not once did we hear a word of complaint. He always had a kind word for everyone and a word of encouragement where needed.
Phil never wavered in his faith, and was an active member of the Congregational Church in Market Harborough, right to the end.
The world is a better place for the time he spent on this earth.
He did make a difference.
We can only try to live up to his shining example.
God Bless you Phil

Roof tiles and mattresses

Below you can see a few photos, taken in October. About 61 mattresses altogether were delivered to the Hospital. All in excellent quality. Now, these mattresses are used and appreciated.

Also delivered there 1400 roof tiles. These are fitted now. No more rain inside!

This is the road between Codlea and Vulcan. At least they are working on it. Or not?

Mina 1 Mai report

I have just visited Mina 1 Mai. The school just finished the activities for today. I spoke to the caretaker, who informed that hopefully next week the school and the kindergarten will decide about the dates of Christmas celebrations. So they don't know yet...
Recently the school and kindergarten has been decorated, walls are white, but Garofita was asking me last time if I know someone who could paint some nice things on the walls. Actually I do know. There is a baptist pastor in Sacele, (about 6 miles East from Brasov) who has a degree in arts and is a professional painter too. He could do it. But I am not sure if the school will be able to pay him?

Going further at the hospital I met the head nurse and the doctor, Ropotan's daughter. I informed them about the donation of the Mormon's, the fridge, the freezer and the washing machine. I also pointed that the Mormon people are there because of the NNRT. They should never forget this.
Than I informed them about the team visit between 8 and 12 December. Made an appointment for Monday 10 December between the head nurse, Laura, Andy and myself. Informed them that our intention is to make and give Christmas presents for all the patients. She told me that now there are 145 patients. I bet the patients will be very happy...

I was informed that the medical authorization for the dental surgery is on it's way now. It will be separately from the hospital and hopefully will get to them by the end of this month. However this will be for the last time, as starting from next year, the dental surgery will be part of the hospital and the hospital's authorization will automatically cover for the dental one. That is good!
The head nurse told me that the old boiler house is almost finished being converted into carpenter workshop, and the former carpenter workshop is "almost" finished being converted into wards, they "only" have to lay the floor tiles, and some other minor things. Perhaps by the end of the year they will do it. Perhaps.

She also told me that the roof tiles are all fitted and they were enough and they are very happy as they have no more roof leaking.

Another important thing is that a private company started now to install new central heating system in the hospital. I haven't seen the boiler yet, but apparently will run on diesel (just like the old one) but I have seen new copper pipes laid in the building where we have the flat. In fact they have changed so far several radiators, at the dental surgery, at the sewing ladies, in the toilet area, at the hallway and hopefully they will put new radiators in the flat area too. But everybody complains as the old ones were long ones and the new radiators are small, very small I should say. I doubt that this will be more efficient than the other one. So said the head nurse too. The idea is that in a week or so they will finish this building and than comes the OT room's building and finally the hospital, probably in the mid winter. So this is the Romanian way of doing things around... changing the heating system in January. Wonderful!

As for the flat it was OK. I saw 1 sleeping bag there. Probably I will have to buy another one. Just confirm this please. The storage room was very cold. I recommend for sleeping the dining room and the usual bedroom.

On the way back I stopped at the John Roche medical center dispensary. The fuses were on, and the heating panels were on too. To be honest it was very warm inside, even the thermostats were fixed on 15C. As I saw that, I reduced it to 11C today, for I must say inside the dispensary it was at least 22-23C, which is a bit too high when is not in use.

On the way back I gave a lift to the doctor Boesan, Ropotan's daughter who was asking me to come back to Brasov.
On the road between Mina and Vulcan there was plenty of snow. From the junction the roads were clear and almost dry.

It's just beginning...

Everything has a beginning. Even starting of a blog. Hope that it will serve a purpose...