Romania!

Hey! So i know its been a few weeks since i went to Romania, but i thought that i'd write a little blurb here with some Photos! (nothing at all to do with the fact that i need to write my report/diary thingy tonight!)

For those that don't know what im on about, i was on a committee connected to our local Boy's Brigade company, fundraising money for a hospital in Craiova. This is the third time the company has raised money for this hospital. Each time the committee has been given the opportunity of personally delivering the equipment to the hospital. I decided that i would go to Romania as i thought that it would be an amazing experience.

Here are some photos and captions of my time there!

The hospital in Craiova where the equipment was for.

This sign is above the entrance to the department that received the Ultrasound scanner and ECG machine. It basically means ‘The emergency mobile service for resuscitation and …’ the last word has something to do with the fire brigade! The ‘SMURD’ ambulances are based in a fire station. SMURD is the equivalent of our A & E department.

This is one of the rooms in SMURD. The hospital has improved a lot over the past five years, however it still does not compare to the hospitals that we have here.

Whilst visiting the hospital we also got to see the neo-natal department, which we had given some equipment to last time, the emergency dental department and this ambulance.

The doctors that we visited were very hospitable and directed us to some of the best restaurants in Craiova. This picture was taken on our last night, when our group and some of the doctors and their families went out for dinner.

At the different restaurants that we went to we got the chance to try a whole load of Romanian delicacies. These included pollenta (which tasted like the smell of wet dog), chillies with sour cream (the cream didn’t make them any less spicy or hot), meatball soup (I’m still not quite sure what the meat was), cascavall pane (sort of like deep fried cheese) and my least favourite of all pork brains. I only tasted a very small bit and I will never ever eat brain again, I do not recommend it!

For one night of our trip we were taken to a chalet in the mountains. This gave us a chance to see some gorgeous countryside, but also to see some of the conditions that the poorer people in Romania lived in. Behind the tractor is a make shift shelter, that I assume was the house of those people.

In contrast to the poor lifestyles of some of the people, this is The Palace in Bucharest. It has the same number of floors below ground as it does above, and all the architects who worked on the palace were killed, as there are many secret rooms which the government did not want to be found.