End of May

Peter and Vanessa informed me about the 2008 summer teams. The visits will take place in July - beginning of August, and we all look forward to it. The most important part of our job is erecting a shelter for drying clothes. Besides, we are financing the spring capture project and the electrical project of the replacement of all the fuse boxes. Also jobs in the surgery, care work, computer installation...So plenty of work, there.
Contacted the gravel driver guy, and got the prices for the gravel and for the transportation.
Early next week I'll go to Mina to find out how they stand with the digging, also find out about the welding kit and make a pressure test for the dental compressor.

Another news, just found out that in the school where we want Karina to go from September, so far only 6 children are on the list from the Hungarian class. There is a minimum of 10 children to start a class, so there is a possibility that the Hungarian class will be cancelled and we have to try a different school from a further distance. As we do not want this to happen, I just called Mr. Attila Kovacs who is a deputy in the Romanian parliament, and informed him. He was giving us some hope, saying that till September there is a possibility to find 4 more children and to start the class here, so do not drop our hope.

Sunday, 1st of June is the children's day so we have to surprise the kids somehow.
Also on Sunday are the local elections in Romania, when we shall vote for the mayor, local and county council members and for the president of the county council.

Meeting with the Brasov city mayor

Monday evening I was in a special meeting. The Hungarian speaking churches organised a meeting with the mayor of Brasov, Mr. George Scripcaru as we hope that he will be the future mayor as well after June 1st. At the meting were all the catholic, lutheran, unitarian, reformed priests and also myself as the church secretary and a fellow churchman representing the Hungarian Baptist Church from Brasov. Had a nice meal together, and had a good time with the mayor, who is catholic too. In a few words he mentioned the work he has done in the past 4 years, also the goals for the next 4 years.

At the meal all church leaders had a chance to inform the mayor about their needs and current problems.

Mr. Scripcaru offered his support for the churches for the next years as well if he will be re-elected.
Has to be mentioned that locally, the Hungarians Democratic alliance (UDMR) has a good relationship with the mayor's party (PD-L) liberal democratic party.
Photos are low quality, taken by phone only.

Karina famous

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Amadea, day out

Amadea in the park

Grass cuting

Grass cuting with an ordinary pair of scissors can be fun too. Not to mention very tiring...

Taps and lorry driver

Bought 3 sets of stop taps for the surgery, as Peter requested. Also met the driver of the lorry, who used to deliver the gravel. I will keep in touch with him, as we need gravel for both of the projects. Probably in a few days we'll know exactly about the gravel and the transport prices out to Mina...

Garage

I took the car to the garage, and the propshaft has been repaired. As for the fumes, they did not discover anything wrong, it was dry and clean, no trace of fuel leaking at all.
I am now going to check prices for building materials in a few stores.

Also washed and polished the car today.

Documents delivered, talking to head nurse

Today I delivered 3 important documents - offer of donation - on behalf of the charity at the office of the director. Emphasised that these are important.

Also talked to the head nurse who was VERY happy for the mincing machine and also very thankful. Also she said that the boys will start digging around the forest spring next week.

Offer of Donation

The offers of donation on behalf of the charity are ready now. These cover the mincing machine, the cable and 3 phase box and more importantly the contract with the new electrical contractor, its value and its terms. Tomorrow planned to meet Dr. Grigoriu...

The survey visit is over

The survey team left today Romania. It was a succesful visit as they all agree. We accomplished everything from our agenda.

Team photo

Peter talking to Vanessa at 1950 m high, at the Postavarul peak Enikő and myself
At the medieval Brasov festival

Having a break

The new industrial mincer delivered

The new mincer

The kitchen staff is very happy now.

15 May

Today, we had an agreement with the electrical contractor SISELEC. They will replace all the 7 fuse boxes in the hospital. We made today the advance payment, and the final one is due when all the work will be completed.

Also today, we bought a new industrial mincing machine for the hospital kitchen for about £333.

Survey team, 14 May 2008

The new road to the village In the meeting In Brasov

Survey team arrived

Survey team arrived safely today: Peter Tolson, John Roche and Reg Hunt. The Easy Jet plane seemed quite good. Of course everybody was tired after a sleepness night.
Arrived in Brasov, and had a meal at "Terasa Ceasul Rau". This place was newly refurbished, food was excellent and service too...
Later on stopped in Codlea at Penny Market. Did the shopping as usual.
Arrived at Mina 1 Mai around 6 p.m. This was the first time when John Roche actually went into the "John Roche Surgery".
To our suprise the whole road to Mina 1 Mai from the junction was having a new tarmac layer, so you can drive well, no more pot holes! This must have been done in weekend as last Thursday it wasn't repaired yet.
Unfortunately the photos I took took today are erased, but tomorrow hopefully post some new ones.
Meeting with the electrical contractor set for Thursday morning.
Weather was excellent, after many rainy and cloudy days today had a lot of sunshine.

Car prepared

Today, I paid the full insurance for the car, what we call CASCO. I made a new contract for another year and paid now for 6 months, at Asirom S.A.
Called the hospital, talked to the head nurse.
Also washed the car, hoovered it, filled up with petrol, put air in the tyres and checked it.
Tomorrow morning I'll drive to Otopeni Airport to meet the survey team from UK.

The new Dacia Logan MCV - advertised in Germany

Railway accident

Valea Calugareasca, Prahova County, 10th of May 2008, at 5 p.m.

2 people died and several casualties taken to Bucharest by helicopter.

New generator

A new generator has been installed in Mina 1 Mai hospital. See the attached photo. It is not working yet, but soon it will!

Also the 2 new wards from the former carpenter workshop are now finalized, patients moved in.

The quotation from Siselec

The quotation for the Mina 1 Mai hospital, regarding the new fuse boxes arrived last night from the Siselec Company (former PREX).
I have informed Peter and Vanessa about the prices.
The company have good quality equipment, skilled labour and offers warranty as well.

Meeting with Robert and Judith Edwards

I met today Robert and Judith Edwards in Brasov, who are the new directors of the Humanitarian Division of the LDS church in Romania, than we had a chat, and went out with the Dacia car to Mina 1 Mai, where I showed around the dispensary, the dental surgery and the whole hospital. They have met friendly, smiling staff there, and were happy to be there.

Also enjoyed Romanian food from the kitchen...

The Rainbow

Is a symbol of the covenant between God and the mankind.

How often we can see it? We surely did yesterday...

Perhaps, the best african poem

The Best Poem
This poem was nominated poem of 2005 for the best poem, written by... an African kid. Amazing thought!!!

When I born, I'm Black,
When I grow up, I'm Black,
When I go in Sun, I'm Black,
When I scared, I' m Black,
When I sick, I'm Black
And when I die, I'm still black.

And you White fellow,
When you born, you are Pink
When you grow up, you are White,
When you go in Sun, you are Red,
When you cold, you are Blue
When you scared, you are Yellow
When you sick, you are Green
And when you die, you are Gray
And you calling me colored?

Things went wrong yesterday

A few things went wrong yesterday:

1. The car's lock has broken. It was impossible to lock it. The good news is that before the evening it was repaired.

2. The quotation from the electrical company did not arrived. Hope it will come today.

3. The phone I bought I did not liked. As the 2 years contract with Vodafone expired, I went to renew it. I got another phone now, a Sony Ericsson, but instead of connecting to PC by USB, it connects only by IRDA (infra red). Good news it looks that it will be sorted.

4. A day before the lawn mowers came by and refused to do it in the front of the flat as they said it is private area. Yesteday, in a heavy rain, they did it after they got 5 Lei (1.2 Pounds). So that means that after paying 5 Lei is no longer private land?

Prince Charles in Miclosoara

Prince Charles is having a private visit in Romania. Today he met in Bucharest the president and the prime minister of Romania. Later on today he arrived in Covasna County (Szekler Land) in the village of Miclosoara (Miklósvár), where he will be the guest of count Kálnoky, at his residence. Also he will visit the Kálnoky castle.
This is the exact place which we visited some years ago with Wendy and Bert. Prince Charles is interested in the Transylvanian villages...

Karina: winner of the main prize

The Citybank Romania recently organized a great contest for children. The kids had to bring an Easter egg to the Bank, and the nicest egg will win.

Karina's egg was the most beautiful, so she won yesterday the big price: A Harry Potter DVD game (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

Of course her egg was the most beautiful: combining her painting skills with the good quality British paint is an excellent combination!

Unbelievable!

About 15 years ago I saw on the National Geographic an african village, with a huge poverty. It was interesting as they showed some houses, which you could hardly call a house, people with no clothes on them, no food, but they had...satellite TV, as the big satellite dish was on the top of the so called house.
Now, after these years, we have seen the same, here in the middle of Romania. It was unbelievable! The photos were taken yesterday just outside of village Zizin, the area entirely populated by gipsy people. They do not have a bred on the table, but they surely have satellite TV. And this is not happening in a few houses only, but on the majority of them.

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And finally, see the satellite dish on the top of... the shed of the sheperd! I bet he watches CNN while slaughtering the lamb...


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RTT at Mina 1 Mai

The RTT television from Brasov (the same one whom we called in August last year) was today in Mina 1 Mai. They interviewed several villagers including Vladimir from the pub, and the mayor of Vulcan asking them if they remember how they celebrated May 1st before. The name of the village is the Mine of the 1st May, and as today it was 1st of May they wanted to show the contrast between the past and present.
In the past, May the first was a holiday and big feast, usually celebrated with the traditional "mici" (little Romanian spicy sausages) and beer, and a lot of music especially brass bands.
Today, according to the TV network, only 500 people live in the village, they do not celebrate much, most of the people left the village, and who are still here, work and they are very nostalgic of the past, when they were proud of the name of their village...

Family out at 1st of May

1. At the Szeklerland
The Szeklerland starts about 25 km north from Brasov. Szekler is Szekely in Hungarian and this land actually is populated by the Hungarian ethnic minority. Here they are the majority as over 80% of the land is populated by Hungarian Szeklers.

We had the famous "Kürtös kalács", the fresh ans hot home made bread, which came out right from the oven, and also you can get very cheap potatoes.
Visited the lake Maksa too.

2. At Zizin valley

Zizin (Zajzon) is famous for it's natural mineral water. This village is about 20 km east from Brasov. The village before it, Purcareni, at 16 km from Brasov, is the place where my father is buried. He used to live in that area. Actually is a group of 3 villages (Tarlungeni, Purcareni and Zizin). All these 3 villages have Romanian and Hungarian population. In some the Romanians in other the Hungarians are the majority. In fact this is not very important. What is important that after Zizin, it is another small village entirely populated by gispy people. Their number is in continous increase. The people from Zizin is speaking about the gipsy like a different village of different people. The gipsy would tell you that they are still part of the same Zizin village. Further to them is a very beautiful valley, and people go out there for weekends or holidays for a barbacue or even for a few days out. This part of nature hasn't been spoiled yet.