Sponge success

Hip Hip HOORAY! I made my brother a birthday cake and it actually worked - yes, it rose to a magnificent height! Just look at the air in that sponge! Wonderful :)
I was so proud, my family didn't really understand my excitement, but then they haven't had to endure a countless number of dense sponges in the past!!

(This is the best photo of my cake, but not the best of my brother...sorry, cake wins!)

The Dispersion

The Heathfield Girls have all dispersed... I (Fobbs) was the first to leave with much grief and saddness... but to show our true colours we enjoyed a beautiful time of song and dance together which (if I'm anything to go by) left our voices in a less than perfect condition for the Carol Services yesterday and our bodies in a rather sore state.

Packing is underway for the big adventure which begins tomorrow... China- here I come!!! I have found out today that I am to be 'The attraction' at some of the Christmas parties I shall be attending... can't wait to see their response to me!!!! Ha ha ha:)

Ur beautiful...

...Ur beautiful, ur beautiful its true! :) xx

Heathfield Loving

The Hannah Lady and Miss Fran

Christmas

December has been a busy month so far in Heathfield road, Hannah and I have returned from our travels and so fill our time wisely by reading in lectures and stealing sutures from clinical skills sessions.

Towards the end of November Hannah informed the Heathfield Guys that they would be providing us with Christmas dinner. Being good sports, they didn't tell her where to go, and dinner was held in honour of Christ's birthday on Tuesday evening.

Preparation started early (so that as much rum as possible could be injected into the pudding) and Luke created an amazing feast for our pleasure and delight.

After a small amount of trouble with the furniture (we removed some table legs) we sat down to eat some lovely smoked salmon. Some of us had more than others (uuurgh, it's not cooked!)

After the starter we moved on to the main course. The turkey was yummy, as were the potatoes and everything else; even the sprouts managed to taste good! Following on from this course we were treated to a presentation prepared by Mr M Bater on Christmas, although we are still not sure what role Maggie Thatcher plays in it, possibly she is what happens if you're naughty!

Miriam made a lovely cheesecake and Frannie made an awesome Christmas pudding, which we resisted the temptation to set alight in the usual Christmas tradition for fear that the house might actually burn down due to the excessive amount of alcohol she had been pouring into it over the previous two weeks!! Fran and I also managed to turn the ready made custard lumpy - however no one seemed to notice!!

That paragraph was written by a different housemate, can you work out which one?

After pudding came cheese and biscuits with coffee and mincepies, and port of course. Last, but definitely not least for Hannah, came the present opening (the real meaning of Christmas!....or not!)

Before we were allowed home Mr Bater tried to hug us all, even the waifs and strays known to many as Beth and Isobelly Smelly couldn't escape his clutches!

Finally...

Luke, we salute you for your amazing cooking abilities! Bachelor of the Year award goes to you.

Merry Christmas!!

Fran (and Hannah)

xx

Bathroom clean-up

Us ladies at 38 Heathfield Road are not generally known to be house-proud. Many have called our residence "homely" but never clean or tidy. And quite rightly too.
For instance, over the last few months we've had an increasing number of small back spots appearing on our bathroom ceiling (see photo).

Slowly but surely, more and more of these delightful micro-organisms surfaced on our ceiling, and had started to freak me out a little as they descended down the bathroom walls - invasion!! :O

As I have so few lectures this year, and as I will always choose cleaning over studying, today I decided to tackle our little Aspergillus monsters in a brutal but necessary attack.

The first stage of the attack was to remove all of our toiletries from the bathroom to a place of saftey - by the way, all that junk really out to be sorted through one of these days. Then, armed with a step-ladder, bucket of water and a j-cloth (and with musical encouragement from Snow Patrol) I scrubbed as much of the fungi from the ceiling as possible. I then simply painted over what I was unable to scrub away, using a roller and an artist's paintbrush (that was the only brush I could find).

The whole process took a couple of hours (as I thought I'd best clean the rest of the bathroom while I was there), but I'm sure you'll agree the effort was certainly worth it (refer to second photo). Now we have a sparkling-white ceiling and I am happy :)

Mim xx

Ladies' night out

This Friday Beth and I went to a guest night (she was my guest)

Unfortunately due to my fluctuating size I failed to fit into either of my ball dresses (one was too small and the other too big) and had to borrow Hannah's £7 from the charity shop one.

The preparation for the evening became even more difficult when I realised that my face was covered in insect bites picked up in the placement B&B. Luckily the lady at Boots painted my face for free.

Beth, as always, looked beautiful.

Soz (on the right) shared quite a lot of port with me, hence the colour in her cheeks.

Beth met lots of my friends and everyone had a good time.

At the moment the house is full of people, Hannah and I are both back from placement and have catch-up lectures. We are having a house meal this evening and making pizza together.

Fran

xx

Beware...there is a thief amongst us

I have just come back from a random little supermarket adventure in the rain with one of the heathfield guys (who shall remain unnamed).
This particular heathfield lad has , I am afraid to say, fallen into the ways of crime - having placed his bar of chocolate on the check-out to pay for it, he walked out of the store and climbed into my car with a bag of bananas in his hand which , apparently overcome by the distraction of being in my wonderful presence, he had forgotten to pay for!! Tricky!

The Spinster Song

I am not a child!
I am not a little girl!
Am I just a face amongst the crowd?
Will you see me..... as a woman?

A beautiful song I think you'll agree!

Well done to Mal Pope who so beautifully depicted the feelings of Christian spinsters in his musical 'Amazing Grace' set in the 1904 Welsh revival...

Medical one-up-manship

As many people will possibly already know, sneaking a look into my medical notes makes for interesting reading....

When other people get a bit of a bad belly on travelling, I develop dysentary.

While others get let off school with a bit of a tummy ache, I get rushed into hospital with appendicitis.

A bit of a head cold for normal people quickly mutates with me into viral meningitis.

At the moment I have had a grotty cold and a rash for about a week. Upon visiting the doctor this morning (and getting a second opinion from another Dr in the centre) I have been informed that I probably have chickenpox (again) and have to take the rest of the week off, avoid pregnant women and small children, and go back tomorrow for a futher opinion from the big boss Dr who knows about dermatology.

You may well ask why I didn't go to the doctor a week ago, if I had, the chance of spreading an infectious disease round South Wales would have been lost and, as everyone knows, if things go away within a week they weren't that bad anyway.

So... anytime you're free do pop along to ours for a cup of tea and some varicella zoster, the spots really are very fetching. Also if you've seen me recently and you might be preggers, do see a Dr. Ta.

Fran

xx

Heathfield Hobbies- what ever next?!

A worrying array of activity has been entering the house recently... it all started off with Mim investing in some knitting needles and wool... but things took a new found low when Sar discovered the delights of 'Map Analaysis'. This involves sitting and analyzing the numbers of the motorways in Britain. The photo speaks for itself- the sense of delight on her face was overwhelming. PLEASE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, HELP!!!!

BABIES!!

My medical studies have gotten a whole lot more exciting and incredibly, overwhelmingly amazing this week! For the first time EVER i am loving medicine, I'm going in at stupid o'clock in the morning and staying in till ridiculous o'clock in the early hours (like 4am).
What brings about this sudden change of heart? (the clue is in the title of the blog)
Yes its BABY week!
I actually get to see babies being born! It is the most incredible experience ever! (has it put me off having babies...NO! has it made me more broody than usual...YES!)

One thing i have discovered though is that i don't handle shift work very well, especially doing nights and then continue having to get up early for the rest of the week...my poor housemates had to suffer the evil glares of a very sleepy zombified Hannah-Lady this morning (don't think Sar has quite accustomed herself to this weird state of mine yet!)
I did however manage to handle the scary consultant lady who keeps having a go at us because our consultant doesn't teach us (is that our fault - NO - he is a loser!) even in my tired state! Wohoo! One up for me the humble med student!

I'm going to go nap now to try and catch up on sleep! If this blog makes no sense - its cos i'm sooooooooo tired.

The Hannah Lady
xxx

The modern version of Catherine Morland

The learned and well read amongst you willl realise that the title contains an allusion to a book by Jane Austen called Nothanger Abbey. In it Catherine Morland, the antethesis of a good heroine, is scared out of her wits by an overactive imagination and too much reading.

I'm currently in a (mental) hospital called St David's, as a student, not a patient, although that might change as the weeks progress. St David's is an old victorian mental asylum made out of dark stone on the top of the hill away from the town behind a stone wall where the sun never shines and it is always gloomy. Everytime I go through the gates I get scared, very scared.

When I return to my lonely B&B, situated up a very dark single track lane overshadowed by trees I am still scared. I think that there is a monster in the bathroom and the rain taps on the windows as if someone is out there!

Apart from becoming worryingly edgy I have been trying to contain myself by switching on the bathroom light, flinging wide the shower curtains (the landlady come in and shuts them completely everyday when I'm out so you can't see into the bath at all...at least I hope it's the landlady) and telling myself in my head not to be so stupid. I'm still convinced that the man who lives across the hall is an escaped convict but I might deal with that fear soon.

Moving on to happier things, I'm very glad that Sarah has now posted on the blog although I am puzzed as to which anonymous person has commented that she rocks. The list of possible authors is very long, but not particularly distinguished.

Yes they are my wellies in the picture but it's not me wearing them... the mystery continues...

I'm currently so desperate (for company) that I'm missing everyone, even the boys across the road who made me cry!

Fran

xx

Welsh Weather

Hello all, I feel that my first blog should be filled with effortlessly witty and clever comments, but I can't think of any so I'll just talk about the weather.

Pictured is a crazy member of our house (guess who??).......crazy for two reasons:

1. liking gardening; and

2. liking gardening in the rain.

Myself, having recently recovered from getting a cold after walking in the Beautiful Brecon Beacons in the pouring rain on Sunday, am not a fan of the Welsh weather. Much prefer the weather in Birmingham, where the sun forever shines :)

Nevertheless, I have to admit that rain can be fun, especially when being half soaked by a coach on North Road. Oh how we larffed.....heehee :p

love Saire xxx

Crummy Cake- AGAIN!

Mim has been back in the kitchen attemping for the millionth time to rectify her Victoria Sponge making skills... but to no avail.

However hope is on the horizon: The Hannah Lady and Fran have discovered that Delia's Complete Cookbook recipe (which Mim has faithfully followed) is deficient in eggs.

Perhaps joy amongst the Heathfiels Girls will soon arrive.
Lx

The Dental Student Mentality

The following is a text conversation between resident Louise and a coursemate (Caron!!!)

Louise "Jst saw ur new patient cycling, infact the bus is following her. CU l8r! Lx"

Caron "How funny! Hope it doesn't run her over, got a couple of good fillings 2do on her! C ya later x"

The new girl

With the arrival of Sarah, the average attractiveness rating of the house has increased exponentially. She comes from Birmingham and drives a bogey coloured car. Currently unsure of which church to settle in she continues to do the rounds checking out the talent.

Her social work masters is going well, she spends much of her time talking to little old ladies (nothing new for the house there, that's what we all do everyday) and eating cake.

This weekend she and Mim sucessfully managed to make some delicious chocolate cakes even if they were a bit saggy in the middle (the cakes, not the girls.) We even let the boys across the road have some (again, of the cakes, not the girls.)

As well as the human members of the house, we currently have some mice in residence. Lou doesn't like them all that much but we haven't tried them roasted yet so her opinion may change.

Fran

xx

Life moves on...

Life amongst the Heathfield Girls moves on... Vix has dispatched us (although has the honoury position of bloggage access) and Sarah a.k.a misunderstood has embraced us. We have also been blessed with the moving in of The Heathfield Guys (check out their blog too!). An intro to Sar shall be coming shortly...

Lx

101 things to do with a tourniquet

As term drags onwards interminably we are having to wrack our brains for things to do on placement... stare at the fattest patient in the world... dare each other to ask attractive SHOs for hugs... avoid the scariest consultant in the world...

A very productive lunchtime was spent working out the uses of tourniquets after we had walked round the hospital with them clipped round our heads.

1) Catapult
2) Belt
3) Whip
4) Substitute bra
5) Braces
6) Hair Tie
7) Sweat band
8) Funky choker
9) Reins for small children
... the list goes on

all the third years stared at us and listened attentively to all we said, they've also taken to asking my permission before seeing patients on the ward I'm on (one annoyed the house officer so much she sent her to get a history off the lovely old man with multi-lobar dementia)

Fran

xx

Reflections on Malawi

Feel like i should make some comment on recent Malawi trip...

16 people from Cardiff CU in Malawi for 14 incredible days

Actually have no idea where to begin, how to put down into words what we all experienced in the two weeks there.
God is amazing, He brought us so close together as a team, He gave us opportunity after opportunity to share His love with the people we met - whether it be children in the orphanages, villagers that gathered round our trucks to see why 17 white people had stopped in their village (we only needed the loo and to get drinks and ended up singing and telling them about Jesus - its amazing the way God has a purpose in every moment), people in very very remote villages off the beaten, pot-holed track, who we showed the Jesus video to, people in Hospital, people in Prison, God gave us the strength and motivation for everything we did - and we could not have done any of it without Him.
He also revealed Himself to us in the magnificance (is that a word?) of His creation.

What did i learn?
God is almighty, all powerful, awesome, beautiful, wonderful and so full of love and grace.
God can use weak and broken people to do His work.
God is the reason for my hope and my joy and i need to live in Him daily

How awesome! And how hard it has been to hold on to that hope and joy in this country where 'possession and self-interest' is everything and God and relationships and community have so little value.


There is the total of my reflections on Malawi (i'm in a reflective mood right now...you may get the comedy highlights another day!)
Hxx

Fantastic deals on a huge range of holidays, flights, breaks and more...

... a continuation of the lastminute.com theme, since it is after all an on going issue in the Heathfield house.

At 11 o'clock last night a remembered that I was supposed to be moving house today, tricky! After a mad scramble of crazyness, involving me actually getting out of bed during the morning part of the day, (nearly) all of my possessions have been shoved, in no paticular order, into various boxes, the lids of which have no hope of closing, even if one person sits on top whilst another covers them in duct tape.

The feat however can be considered a success, despite the bomb site appearence of my heathfield Rd room. Afterall one car load of clutter is now in the new house, another in my parents Garage, and I didn't have to call in sick. You could almost call it a miracle!

The highlight of the morning came at midday (about the time I had to leave for work) when I recieved a call of distress from a Chinese friend of mine. Disaster had struck, she had called her husband, he however could not make it back from London. So Dad and I went to the rescue. We shoved some tissue paper into the hole that the spider had run into, assured her that it would not kill her, and zoomed me off to work.

The adventures never end, however my time in the Heathfield house nearly has. But what a joy it has been!

Vix

lastminute.com

Heathfield Girls are the personification of lastminute.com: whether it be the 'oh its 9pm but why not to to Greenbelt now?!' (aka Fran and Vic) or 'oh I have an exam tomorrow' type of revision (aka Vic) or 'maybe I should delay my medical studies to study psycology for a year even though the deadline has long gone' (aka Mim). Many more examples could be mentioned but they will suffice to prove a point.
Lx

Make Tea Not War

After nearly a month of gallivanting I have returned smelly, tired, slightly ill and with a new t-shirt bearing the phrase used as the title of this post to Heathfield Road.

We flew out of Stansted the Saturday following all the arrests, it's not everyday you get a free grope. We spent the week doing lots of activities in the French alps, particular highlight- a meal most of the way up a mountain in a tiny restaurant surrounded by goats and cooked by the French equivalent of Dirty Sanchez followed by a lift down a mountain track in the back of the pick-up truck driven by aforementioned frenchmen with added eau de vie (plum flavour.)

The night rounded off with a visit to the locals' club/bar in the village, luckily we'd all had tetanus shots before travelling.

A quick turn-around at home followed before departing in my car for France for a week with my family. I drove without killing anybody even when I was in France- did cut up a really slow English driver on the way into the ferryport on the way home, felt quite bad but managed to avoid a show-down on the boat. We didn't do much, it was a bit of a rest before sorting out the house as Dad has new job starting in DUNDEE, that's in SCOTLAND, where it's COLD and DARK and about 500 MILES FROM PORTSMOUTH. It should be really fun, lovely scenary, lots of things (like sea level traversing and outdoor climbing hint hint) but it is quite a long way.

After visiting the parental home to pot the forest of plant cuttings my mother had entrusted to me I rushed back to Cardiff as we had decided to go to Greenbelt, which had already started.

The story of Greenbelt with all it's interesting people we talked to will have to wait 'til another time as I'm going to go and eat some of the nice food I brought back from France- yes I smuggled both dairy and meat products through customs.

Fran

xx

There's nothing so good for you as dirt.

Many recent reviews of 'good bacteria' containing yogurts lead me recently to the consideration of investment. On futher pondering however, I realised that my organic vegetables come delivered in a rich source of 'good (possibly/hopefully) bacteria' included in the cost. As a result I decided against both the yogurts and washing the Rocket that arrived in last weeks box. Extra humous was used in my daily sandwiches instead, to disguise the taste. Without thinking twice, the same measure was carried out the remains of the rocket this lunchtime; only to discover a mouth full of soil by halfway through my roll. So it seems that the soil tends to sink to the bottom of the bag.

Even I admit I may have gone too far this time.

A hungry Vix

Mim's exciting adventure

This will be my third time to try to write and send this email, as before my computer has either crashed or the electricity has cut out - ah well it´s all part of the Nicaraguan experience!

The most part of last week and this week has been spent travelling round to
different communities and planting Nim and Acacia trees and pitaya plants.
The people we´ve visited have been really welcoming and grateful for the
trees that it really has been a joy. One guy we met was really enthusiastic
about his farm and showed us round his land - he had mangos, lemons, pitaya,
corn and beans growing. When we asked him if he sold his produce, he said
that he didnt because he believed that the earth and all of its produce
belongs to God. He had therefore decided to share his produce by giving it
to his neighbours as a demonstartion of God´s provision. What a principle to
live by! And I´ve seen this sort of attitude in other people too, they are
content with just making enough money to feed their family. There is also a
much greater emphasis placed on relationships and therefore a much stronger
sense of community. How different to the UK where life seems to be so
focussed on making as much money as possible to make life as comfortable as
possible, often at the expense of relationships and community life.

Today we went to another farm and helped locals dig a huge fish tank. Once
the tank is completed they plan to buy 300 fish for 1 cordoba each (about
3p), keep them 3 months till they´ve grown to full size and then sell the
fish for 10 cordoba each (about 30p). Although the land here is so fertile,
harvest can be ruined by a dry season, and so people are trying to develop
new ways to produce food. A fish farm sounds like a great idea to me, and
the people here really do need something to supplement their rice and beans
diet!

Most afternoons we are going to the deaf children´s home, and take crafts
and sports equipment with us. We have a lot of fun and are really getting to
know the kids. Last week we went to one of the members of staff´s birthday
party which involved eating ice cream and dancing. We taught them the YMCA
dance which made us feel like fools, but we gave it our best shot!

There´s one boy at the deaf home, who isnt actually deaf but has cerebral
palsy and is severely handicapped, called Mario. He is 15 but is so frail
that he looks a lot younger and sadly he spends most of his time lying in
bed with the light turned off. The women who work at the home clean and feed
him but give him very little attention or affection. Over the last few days
we have been trying especially hard to show that he is an important person
and one who should be loved as much as the other children. Yesterday we took
him in his wheelchair and out into the garden where the children were
playing. He giggled a lot and loved watching the children blowing bubbles.
It was great to see him being so resposive and hopefully the children and
staff will continue to include him in thier activities. Please pray for
Mario, and that we would be able to encourage the staff to show him love and
value.

Last Friday, Hannah, Sam, Jon and I went to Managua (capital of NIcaragua)
for an all night Christian youth event. This was a memorable experience that
started with the crazy 3 hour bus ride with other youth from churches in
Condega. The event was held at a university campus and was very charismatic
with worship, prayer, drama, dance and talks. Strong black coffee kept us
going till 3am and then we all drove back to Condega. It was great to be a
part of this event and to see how God is working in so many young people´s
lives here.

The water has been off here for the last 3 days so we´re all starting to
smell. Trying to wash out of buckets as best we can but it´s not the same as
a proper shower. There´s road work being done which explains the disrupted
water supply but it also means we have no idea when its going to come back
on.

I could go on and on about all the things we´re seeing and doing, but I´ll
stop here. Nicaragua is such a beautiful country and we really are having
such an amazing experience, there is such a lot to learn from these people.

1000 miles in a week

I reckon I've travelled well over 1000miles in this past week.
Since landing in Heathrow airport just over a week ago (yes they let me through the security!)
I have been from :
Heathrow to Pembrokshire - Malawi Training weekend
Pembrokeshire to Cardiff - visiting vix and Fobbs (plus i managed to lose my wallet!)
Cardiff to Bristol - visiting Bethy (where we baked cookies)
Bristol to Frome - visiting my parents
Frome to Leicester - visiting my almost grandparents
Leicester to Ripon - visiting my brother on camp where i spent 12hrs washing up!!
Ripon to Nottingham - to visit Elisa
Nottingham to Frome - to rest and sleep and to pack for the next adventure
and tomorrow i will be going back to Heathrow again.

So tomorrow i set off for Malawi! All very exciting! Can't wait!

Love
Hx

ever the comforter

Victoria seems to have taken a few lessons from Job's comforters. Having been informed Fobb's neck is tinged yellow she sent two messages:
"R u sure the ga hasn't screwed over ur liver!" 18 Aug 2006 15:34
"Reckons ur heads gona fall off!xx" 18 Aug 2006 15:37

Fobb's operation

Just to let all her fans know that Fobb's operation went smoothly. She spent a comfortable night in hospital before being dispatched. Currently her jaws are elasticated together which is making speaking rather difficult but she has permission to remove them for eatage purposes which is a huge relief for some people (including Dr Oliver) who fear she may otherwise disappear... Special thanks to all those who have prayed, phoned, texted, visited, sent cards, flowers and juice... all token of God's love.

Fobbit/chip-munk

It is a pity I alone currently get to appreciate the beauty that is the fob/chip-munk like creature dwelling in our home. I shall attempt to obtain photo's later, the maxillofacial surgens have created a work of art!

Vx

Expansion of job description

I'm no longer solely responsible for supervising biscuits, but my post has expanded to include the interviewing of potential window cleaners. After selecting four suitible applicants, I invited them all in for a look...and chose the cutest.

All in good days work!

Vix

Some people call me the space cowgirl!

I'm currently sitting in front of the slowest computor in the world, the ones in Romania were about 10x faster, listening to the music station my sister has left on (Ocean fm) the space cowboy was on just now hence the title of this blog.

I arrived home on Sat night after 17hrs travelling, I did stop for a cup of tea in the international hostel and the A3 was closed at Woking so I saw a great deal more of the home counties then I possibly wanted. My sister's floor is very comfortable, Baptiste has mine. For those interested (Beth) Baptiste now eats peas and a few other vegetables, fruit is still inedible in the world of Baptiste.

My mother has volunteered me as the firstaider at DABS- children's club in my village- about 300 kids, mwahahahahaha , I've refused to do Thurs or Fri as have things to do in Cardiff but tomorrow and Wed I'm going to be chief plaster bearer.

Everyone is back from shopping now so I'll have to go help put stuff away,

La revedere

Fran
xx

irresistable beauty

Recognising the irresistable beauty that is locked up within the walls of the Heathfield House we are being harressed, one by one, by photo shoot companies to take up their 'free' prizes. Today I only managed to deter them by insisting I am having facial reconstruction within the next few weeks.

Lx

making money- ways and means

The ways and means of making money are fascinating to consider. Within the house we seem to have various approaches: salaried work for those who enjoy house pottering; temping work (call phone centres/ reception duties/ biscuit monitor/ skiving early), auxillary nursing, a parent's angel (thats me by the way- Mum is working hard to appreciate the Peacock Blue I've painted the front door!!). And some haven't quite got round to making any...

Lx

short men

Urchin and Play Boy (aka students living in 'The International Hostel for the Priveleged') are wonderful examples of short men: the way in which both asert their masculinity by making the walls of my room shake as they climb the stairs is incredible. I especially appreciate this as my early wake up call each day.

Lx

These days of enlightenment

So as my third week of working here in the law firm closes to an end, a new discovery is made. It turns out I'm actually suposed to work 1-6:30, not 1-6.

Oh well, what can you do?!!

Vix
xx

Drawing to a close...

Just realised that, what with the sudden influx of exciting post from the other heathfield girls, i haven't actually posted anything on here for nearly 2weeks!! Craziness! (though i have appreciated having a whole post dedicated to me vix!)

So Brasov time is coming to an end...its been a good two weeks - the summer school with the young people has been great fun! Think we just about managed to get across the point of the Joesph story to them!

We had a very exhausting adventure to Sinaia (correction from frannie's spelling) today, early start, hot day, not enough water! But the castle/palace was much more impressive than i remember it to be - though the last time i was there, 3yrs ago, it was covered in snow and about -20degrees!

I'm going to have fun loading frannie up with my stuff to take back to cardiff tonight! Can't quite believe I've only got one week left here - time has gone fast, yet slow at the same time.

Zoezoe and I are doing our last bit of adventuring tomorrow when we set off again to arad to work with street kids till thurs, then i fly back a week today!

Miss you too vix!
And miss everyone else too!
the hannah lady
xxxxxxx

My last day in Romania (and Hannah's last in Brasov)

Hello everybody, Daf, I would love to come and work in A&E for you but I think the GMC might have a different opinion.

This is our last day in Brasov and so we went on an adventure to Sinea, unsure on spelling, to visit the summer castle of the first Romanian king-Carol 1, previously a German prince. His grandson the ex king Micha is still alive at 84 apparantly. The guide was very proud of the castle and showed us all the modern bits, lifts, central heating and a central vaccuum cleaner, all in place since the turn of the last centuary.

Romania is a funny place, it was once very advanced, as can be seen from the castle, but has suffered a bit of a setback and is only just getting back on it's feet. The buildings are either really old or very new, just like the cars. People either have a rusty old Dacia or a brand shiny new western European car. (There are some brand new Dacias but they make my eyes hurt because they are squashed into a slightly shorter, taller shape than all the others.)

The contrasts between different places in the country are amazing. To get home in a bit we'll catch an electric tram to the edge of the city. At the terminus the likelihood is we'll get into the back of any car which is going to the village (the norm is to stop and offer) and pay the driver (always a him) 1 lei (20p.) It is at this point that the journey becomes most exciting. To avoid the potholes everyone drives in the middle of the road, zooming past the horsedrawn carts and swerving at the last minute to avoid the oncoming traffic. The road markings stop at the edge of the city so from then on it's everybody for themselves.

This evening we are going out for a meal and packing, I think my luggage is going to be a lot heavier coming back as my bag is going to be full of books and things belonging to Hannah and Zoe.

Love

Fran

xx

A strange thing about biscuits

So I think I've finally caught on to the fact that I'm the biscuit supervisor at work. I believe I'm supposed to stop greedy employees eating them all, since they are actually for clients. However, I've spent the last three weeks handing them out willy-nilly, whilst munching away at them happily myself, and keeping the fridge stocked.

It's only moments ago, when my boss came and asked my nicely if she could have a biscuit, that I realised that maby they're not for free access.

I guess that's why the key to the cupboard they're locked in sit's in my desk draw.

Interesting.

Vix

to be imp-ed or not to be imp-ed?

The impish activities of Fobbs' computer have finally been sorted. Praise the Lord! Our kind friend Dave visited this morning and showed me that if I actually log on to McAfee rather than skip the password bit I can access the internet! How clever is that?! So it seems that my computer hasn't been imp-ed. This may be the beginning of epic bloggage on my part...

Fobbs xx

The Hannah Lady

Due firstly to the lack of anything to actually do at work, and secondly sleep deprivation leaving me unequiped to revise, I have been scrolling through past blogs. Seeing you in those stunning pj's, with beautiful face slapped around a big fat chocolate cake, reminds me how much I miss you Hannah Lady! Not long now though!

Not that I don't miss the rest of you, it's just that Hannah's been gone for longer.

xx

Inset bites

First off, I should clarify a few things from previous posts/comments.
Vix, you are a FATTY, in fact I think that you are queen of the fatties.
My Romanian is amazingly bad, in fact it is non-existant except that I know that a pig is una porc and a cow is una vache and a stamp is una timbra and a ticket is something like una biletta, I don't know how to spell them though. I know please and thankyou as well but there's no way I'm even going to attempt the spelling.

I have only been bitten once by a Romanian insect so far and I aim not to have anymore. The bite is located on my left lateral calf and is 2cm in diameter ( the raised bit anyway) the edges are well demarcated and the lump is firm, tender, itchy and fixed in the skin. There is a central red punctum surrounded by paler lump. Around the edge extending a further cm from the lump is an area of redness. It is lovely.

I hope everyone is having fun, it rained here briefly today, coming as quite a shock. The air smelt lovely afterwards.

Fran
xx

One of those nights

Those of you who've had the beautiful experience of living with me, will perhaps know how great my sleeping (in)ability is.

This combined with my tremendous capacity for food resulted in my having my last meal at mid-night last night, my first breakfast @ 4 o'clock this morning, my second @ 6:30 and my 3rd @10:30. I'm currently enjoying a slab of banana cake for lunch (1:51).

Does the word 'fatty' spring to mind?

Vix

In Romania

As I type this in the internet cafe in Brasov (it has a cedilla style thing under the s so you say it brashov) Hannah is next to me typing an epistle to everyone she has ever met and Zoezoe is opposite me behind the computor. We went to a church this morning where they provided headphones for an english translation- very handy as my romanian is not all that good.

Today's lesson:
I am-sunt
You are- esti
He/she is- este
We are- suntem
You (pl) are- sunteti
They are- sunt

Hannah and Zoe are both very brown and possibly very tired as they have been doing lots of exciting things and claim to have been nearly mauled to death by dogs yesterday, the phrase 'mad dogs and english (ladies) go out in the midday sun' has just popped into my head. (claim! It's actually true - it was very close - I had to do a lot of reasoning in Romanian with the owner of the SIX BEASTS to avoid being mincemeat!) the number of dogs involved in this story increases with every retelling.

We caught a crazy minibus from the village into town this morning, my favorite part of it was the HUGE smash in the front windscreen with cracks covering half of the window. I think I'd prefer to travel in the back of the horsedrawn carts only the potholes and drivng skills shown by the car drivers puts me off somewhat. Everybody is very friendly and patient with me and my general stupidity.(frannie's not done anything too stupid yet - though i'll keep you posted! She is wearing a very cool skirt though that i am trying not to covet!!Hannah) 'tis my one from the fair trade shop in Cardiff, I will lend it to Hannah so she can wear it as well.

I passed the year, as did both Hannah and Zoezoe so we are now grown up nearly 4th years, watch out if you need to visit a welsh hospital as a patient anytime soon.

Stand-by for further updates as the week progresses and we have more inspiration.

Fran (and Hannah a bit)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lazyness is next to godliness?

Once again I find myself in the position of doing practically nothing for most of the hours in the day. Today started at about 11 o'clock, got to work for 1, and spend the afternoon at work (the whole 5 hours that I work a day) doing so little I can't believe they're actually paying me to do it.

I'm not sure if this is a blessing from God, or whether I should be weary of some punishment about to befall me?

Vix

What is Hannah wearing?

On many of my recent visits to Hannah's room during her absence, I have noticed a particular abundance of clothing. Strangely, it appears all the clothes she normally wears, including lived in jeans, pj's etc, are all remaining in her wardrope? It really does beg the question, 'has Hannah been wearing any clothes?'. I'm tempted to believe that right now there is a naked British girl, walking the streets of Romania, with only a pink flowery bag to provide any sense of decency.

Disturbing to say the least; I'm just glad that camera isn't working.

Vix

Exciting Purchase of the week

Forgot to inform the world in previous post...
Whilst holidaying on the beach in Romania i bought a bright pink flowery bag thing!
It is obviously Beautiful and doesn't at all clash with any of my many pink flowery tops!
All quite bizare....;since when did i become a girly girl who wore pink??!!! ARGH!!!!!
All i can say is its a shame that no computer in Romania has the ability to upload photos from my camera so i can't show you the bag in its full glory!!

Actually have worked!

Bizarrely managed to get a job, and did work 4 days this week. Crazy! Also will be working all next week, although trickily doubled booked for the majority of it. Not quite sure how that will all work out. I will endeavour to keep you all updated.

Am currently exhausted, due to excessive lack of sleep-age. The Heathfield Rd house turns into a sort of refugee camp over the summer months, during which the general homeless come to get rest, or more commonly, disturb ours. To be fair, lack of sleep mostly related to my own self absorbed stresses, not really blameable on any one else.

Anyway, time for a nap I feel.


Vix

Moving On...

Well beach was great! We are nicely tanned (the burnt bits are receding into quite a nice brown colour!)

We've spent all morning packing everything up...we are leaving our humble abode in Bucharest behind.

The next challenge is getting all out tonnes of baggage toBrasov via metrou, bus and minibus!!
Oh the joys

Love you all
Hannah
xxx

Job, more information

As I sit and write (type) this Vix should be on her way home from work as she got work at lunchtime.

I'm getting a new car tomorrow (Wed) which is really exciting as mine keeps leaking water from the radiator. Also, I've just tidied my bit of the room and found things that disappeared months ago...cufflink things for example, missing since Sept. To complete the list of good things, I handed in my essay last week and I'm going to Romania next week.

However, every silver lining must have a cloud, the washing line broke earlier dumping all the bedsheets in the flower border and most of the people who drive down this street could do with improving their clutch control, especially when reversing early in the morning.

Sweating like a ... (fill in with your own simile)

Fran
xx

Job

The general job/lack of saga continues. Thought I had a job for four of the five days this week, however, on turning up this morning I realised it is actually for next week. Nightmare.

Life continues eventless and moneyless.

Vix

Accents

At church yesterday someone told me that they were suprised I was English, as I have an American accent!!!?!?!
This is not the first time I've been told this since I've been in Romania this summer, however, this time was made worse by the fact that it was an English man who said it!!!!

I do NOT have an American accent!!! GRRRRR!!!

Eight Project Free days....

Well, feels like a long time since i updated this (i really do seem to be the only heathfield girl with anything happening at the moment) - various internet disasters have prevented my blogging activity for a while! (so this means this is going to be an essay!!!)

Summary of how zoezoe and the Hannah lady have been spending there project free time:

Day 1 Sat: We found an exciting little park that we'd not been to before and ate lunch there. Then we watched the wimbledon women's tennis final with some english guys that we met via a friend. Then said english guys took us for our first KFC experience - apparently EVERYONE has eaten KFC (is this true??) (there i've mentioned it now guys - it really did happen!!!)

Day 2 Sun: We went to the international church where the english guys have been working for the past 8months. It was great to worship in english and hear a sermon in English, and not have to concentrate so hard on understanding the words, thus being able to concentrate on the meaning and application more. Oh we also ate Romanian food in a Romanian Restaurant with the English guys. The restaurant was quite exciting - the roof opened and closed and there were chickens and ducks in cages everywhere!

Day 3 Mon: Mountain Adventure 2 - Uphill, Busteni - Babele
Zoezoe and I decided it was about time we went up the mountain the traditional way (rather than our previous cable car cheat!) So we scaled 15m wide mini-glacier type things, edged our way slowly along the tiny mountain ridges and bravely stepped off the edge of a thin snow overhang onto the rock below! Most embarrassing moment was being caught mid-change between trousers and shorts by the only man we'd seen all day! (yes i was dancing on the mountain side in my pants! Oops!!)

Day 4 Tues: Babele - Omu - Bran and onto Brasov
Was rather suprised to wake up and find my legs to be pain free...the night before they had been in agony! So off we set across the mountain top to reach the peak, Omu 2507m. We arrived much faster than expected and after a quick lunch decided to set off on the 6hr trek down the mountain to Bran (the place of Dracula's castle). This seemed like a good idea at the time, we'd finish a day early and all that....2hrs in my legs began to shake and be in generally a lot of pain! The paths were really really steep and my knees weren't made for such trauma! With the help of two big sticks that zoezoe found, we eventually made it down the mountain - and even then we had a 2hr walk into Bran!!
In Bran, we ate a filling meal of good old meat and potatoes! Romanian cuisine is immense!!
We then got the bus to Brasov, where i'd cheekly phoned up the place i'd worked in my Gap Year and got us a bed there for the night!!

Day 5 Wed: Brasov
Spent the day hobbling around in Brasov, helped with day care at the house (its a charity that works with children and young adults with disabilities). It was great to see everyone again, they have a new lady organising the day care now, and she has such a heart and vision for the place, its so exciting to see!! In the evening we got a minibus back to Bucharest ( the driver kept telling me off for putting my feet on the seat...ooops!!)

Day 6 Thurs: Don't remember much from this day apart from Pain, my legs didn't really understand why i'd made them climb a mountain, and being annoyed at the internet not working!!

Day 7 Fri: The most typically english picnic you've ever had....
We met up with the English guys in the park, and found a bit of grass by the lake to sit and eat our picnic on. All was fun...lots of banter! (how i miss being mocked for my crazy ways!!)
Then rain began to fall...but being britis, we decided to stick it out and finish our game of cards!
Then we packed up and went off to play the most craziest and impossible crazy golf you've ever seen!! It was made even more crazy and entertaining by the torrential thunderstorm that decided to start as we all began the 4th hole!! Some holes were actually impossible to get the ball in the hole, others seemed to have no obstacles at all - so we had fun making human obstacles (all very well until certain people called zoezoe decided to whack the ball into my ankle!) We were all drenched by the time we reached the 5th hole and continued to hole 18 in grand form - i even put in a shock hole in one!! Crazy!!

Day 8 Sat: Shopping
Zoezoe made me go to a shopping mall!! (no joke - this was actually zoe's idea not mine!)
I bought my first clothing purchase of the 9weeks so far.
We also bought ice-cream.
Then i phoned up the internet place - and HURRAH!!! The internet works!!!!!


Planned for next week is a trip to the seaside! yay!!

Love you and miss you girlies
xxxx

The good, the bad and the ugly!!

The good
Projects are finished and submitted!! Praise the LORD!!!
We are now officially FREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

The Bad
Its official - All hope is lost, the washing machine will never come. I gave in this morning and went back to the old handwashing technique!
(I have a picture of me in my washer woman outfit but the computer's being STUPID so won't let me load it up!)

The Ugly
Well this was going to be a beautiful picture of momma cockroach - the evil cockroach master who by her call, lured TEN cockroaches into our bathroom the other night - I killed them all but then had nightmares!

Also where are you guys? What are you doing? Are you still alive?

I miss you.

Love and Hugs to you all, with an extra special one for vix

Mwa xxx

Photos from Romanialand

Ok attempt to load up photos is underway..can't work out how to get the lay out how i want but you get the idea


This is the Danube...the land you see is Serbia!!
We passed this as we were on a long hot train journey back from Timisoara





Below left: Zoezoe and I in the rose garden
in Timisoara. Beautiful!

Adventure One (Photos to the right):

On top of the mountains in Busteni! Yes we did cheat...we took the cable car!

Summer

After a brief return to normal Cardiff weather- coinciding with the start of Wimbledon as is tradition- the halcyon days of summer continue uninterrupted.

Germany have just beaten Argentina in the quarter finals of the World Cup, much to mine and Lou's satisfaction and Andrew Murray is through to the 3rd round at Wimbledon. As can be seen from this we are spending much of our time in front of the TV.

I actually had to do some work yesterday as I lead a seminar but it was all over by lunch allowing me to carry on making my dress (now finished.)

Vix has started working 3 hours a day (just about, she finishes early most of the time) and Lou is back in the hospital of doom. Vix and I shocked her earlier by coming down to say hello to her LUNCHTIME visitor in our pyjamas... Rachel loved it!

I feel an explanation of the nightwear worn in this house will clarify why Lou was embarrassed, Victoria was sporting a very lovely bright green t-shirt saying "make trade fair" and some pink dotty pyjama bottoms. I, the picture of beauty and elegance, was wearing huge baggy surgical scrubs bottoms not quite tied up enough and a grey vest. Lovely!

On a trip to shot in the dark last night I discovered where many of the people we see in church socialise, I recognised a fair number of the people in there. Obviously as it's a coffee shop rather than a pub or bar it is ok to visit with friends, especially ones of the opposite sex.

Fran
xx

Adventuring and Doctoring

Well no one appears to have blogged for ages!! Obviously having way to much fun without me!

Weekend: Overnight train trip was very exciting - triple bunkbeds on the train!!
We had a lovely weekend in Timisoara - its an beautiful city with a fairy tale church right in the centre of town!

(Look!! I've managed a picture!! i'm in shock!!)


Then we went to stay with some contacts of zoezoe's who run a charity with street children in Arad (1hr from Timisoara). We went to meet the woman at the train station - she was surrounded by a mass of gypsy people (its probably very politically incorrect to call them that)! It was awesome! We later went and played with abandonned babies in hospital and went to a gypsy "village" (about nine houses) built around the above ground gas pipes. We went with the woman's daughter who is a medical student and was treating some of the gypsies who had cuts and burns. So i got to hold bandages and stuff which was exciting! But it was sad at the same time to see the conditions in which the families were living - never seen anything like it before in Romania.
We are thinking about going back up to Arad to do a bit more work with the charity there in one of our free weeks at the end.


Doctoring quote of the week:
Consultant "what are you doing?"
SHO(very proudly) "I'm talking to the english students about Eminescu" (Eminescu is a famous Romanian writer)
Consultant "Why aren't you working?"
SHO (very very suprised) 'Working!!??!!"

Hilarious the SHO seems to have an aversion to work - he never quite seems to know what he is meant to be doing or which patients are his! That's going to be me soon!! Haha - Hospitals beware!!!

Anyway our consultant guy is away for the next two weeks...so two weeks free to er...uh...Work on our projects of course!!!

We had a lecture this morning on Cystic Fibrosis from the world's number one CF consultant from Imperial College London, UK! It was truely informative and joyous! Zoezoe and I were proudly presented to him at the end, he asked us what our project was on and I was like "er well its just a project i don't know er...um... we're just writing a load of rubbish really" then we ran away!

Think thats about all for now.
I'll love you and leave you.
Hxx

To amend a lie.

To be fair, really haven't been leaving the house all that infrequently, as have been attending many many internationals events. Including hilarious pool party, and various sporting competitions which would have been more hilarious should I have attempted to take part.

And...today Mim and I had the pleasure of one of Frannies open days which was a lot of fun! It's always good to have a little look inside the place where a friend spends a lot of their time. Was cool.

Vix

Actually have job!

Crazy, crazyness. Since dispatching dentistry and no longer spending my days in the hospital of doom, have taken to leaving the house infrequently.

However, I now have a job! Albeit part time, and in telesales...Beware the general public!!!

Vix

The Longest Day

Yesterday was a long hard day in Romania-land.
We completed FIVE activities yesterday (its a new record)!!!!
Generally we don't like to set ourselves too many tasks in a day - lest we fail and then we feel sad. But as yesterday was the longest day of the year we thought we'd go for it!!

1. Hospital placment
Yes this counts as an activity...and in fact yesterday we were in for over 3hrs!! And did lots so thats a definite big activity point for us!!
2. Lunch in the park
This too counts - especially the getting to the park bit - which involved one very very squished bus journey. Everything here seems to take three times as long as it does in the UK!
3. Swimming with two girls from the christian union. That was a definite add to the list of Romania experiences activity! The grubby yellow slime round the water line and all over the bottom of the pool and the hilarity of trying to get a swimming cap on my head (and then having to be seen in public) all brought joy to the day!
4. Dinner at susan's house (though getting to her house could be counted as an activity in itself - it was quite and adventure!). Proper meal with meat in (my Iron levels are being filled up well out here - enough to survive another year in our house i reckon!!) and lots of fun company. Much hilarity playing PIT which involves lots of shouting and mean tactics!! Heeeheee I love it!!
5. Phone conversation with the non-stupid, very beautiful vix! With the added joy of further serenading from the fobbit! Yet again i endured the stares of Romania's watching a crazy english Hannah lady getting very excited during the conversation.

As a result the Hannah Lady is incredible tired today and will hopefully sleep well in her bed on the train tonight as she travels to the beautiful place of Timisoara with her companions zoezoe and whitters.

love you
xxx

Fatty Europian girls!

The girls of this house took one for the fatty white girls of the west this evening. Had many varieties of Chinese food with many tiny tiny asian Chinese/Taiwanese girls.

Must say Fran, Lou and Mim sitting opposite me took up about the same space as the eight chinese girls sitting next to me. Funny thing is Lou and Mim are particularly tiny varieties of Western girls. Work that one out.

Vix

Counting Sheep

How do you count sheep?

Random question I know but zoezoe and I made this bizarre discovery:

I count sheep by imagining them jumping over a gate one by one.
Zoezoe counts sheep by imagining a field of them and counting all the sheep in the field.

Weird...i just assumed that everyone counted sheep like me, but zoezoe's way makes more sense than my way.

Hmm....How do you people count sheep?

Other than the sheep discovery...we have been sweltering away here the last few day, but its the kind of heat thats too hot to sit out in...tricky!
We are thinking of going to an outdoor swimming pool sometime this week...but we need to do research and find out which one has the least number of naked people at it! Also tricky!

Love you
Hxxx

Apology for failure

A house apology goes out to the Fathers of the girls of this house for our general lack of appreciatiation. Apart from Mim who was inspired to run out and get a card for her Dad, to celebrate Fathers day, when he announced that he was to visit yesterday, no other Fathers of this house have yet recieved a card.

We do all love our Fathers very muchly, we know we're rubbish.

No more to be said!

Vix

Project Work

Well no one seems to have written in the blog for a whole day!!
What's going on? I fear that all my beloved housemates may have been abducted by aliens or burnt the house down!!

What to say...
Have done approx half of my project now (how i love waffle!!) actually looks quite good...lots of little pictures and tables! Still haven't found a computer in this land with power point on it though..slightly problematic as project is meant to be submitted as power point (think we need to tell Alcolado that we're going to submit it as a word document!)
Obviously its all the horrible research parts that are left to do!
We have taken hostage of Aidan's and Whitney's laptops for the purpose of project work and have invaded Whitney's house for the day to use her internet...so at last we have been somewhat productive! Though I am getting incredibly BOOOORRRREEEEDDDDD now - only so many hours a Hannah Lady can work for!
Though the tennis is providing welcome distraction (though Tim Henman has just lost - bad line call meant he lost his serve and then he kind of collapsed! Nightmare!...bring on Wimbledon!)

Just realised its Fathers day tomorrow...slightly tricky due to several reasons
i) no way can a card get from here to home in less than 12hrs
ii) my parents are on holiday in France so i can't even do the phone home thing
Ah well yet another father's day will slip by unrecognised by me...my poor dad.

Am getting ever closer to working out how to put pictures on this thing....give me a few more weeks!!!

Love you xxxx

Beautiful day!

Today has truely been a beautiful day!
Spend most afternoon in boat on Roath lake with Busted Joe and Ioney, ah.
Only forgot camera, nightmare.
So instead am attaching a beautiful picture of one of the many beautiful flowers in our garden, as a symbolic picture of my day!






















Vix

P.s If anyone can tell me the name of this flower, would be appreciated muchly.

Our First Visitor!

Today was a very special and beautiful day. We entertained our first guest in our humble place of residence. The visitor's identity shall be kept secret for speculation's sake.
I spent an hour with said guest helping put up posters advertising OSCEB's (the Romanian CU) english camp this summer, we went wandering around all the other student halls near where zoezoe and i live, it was quite exciting and we found lots of bars and restaurants that i'd not discovered before!!
I was zoezoe's kitchen slave for the afternoon and chopped up lots of onions that made me cry and helped her(well kind of hovered around her really) prepare the delicious two course meal! We put our visitor to work (in traditional heathfield style) giving them the manly task of opening the cans with zoezoe's ever trusty penknife!
We had huge amounts of yummy nachos and wraps with re-fried beans and salsa, delicious and nutricious. I feel a proper fatty tonight!!
Then we came with our guest to cafe-nescu, we have sat them with some other friends infront of the stupid football (there's some football thing going on at the moment apparently!) and we are now doing "research" for our projects! (its going really well hence the blogging!- its called procrastination i believe!)

Love you Girlies
Mwa
xxxxxxxxxxx

Deserted, again

It is a Wednesday evening in the house. I have just returned from Rainbows to find that all my housemates have found something exciting to do with their evening.

Iona, Mim and I have just spent a lovely few days on the Gower peninsula. As it is not the weekend the place was nearly deserted and the beaches very quiet.

Monday evening:

We arrived at the campsite and pitched our tent before walking down the road to Rhossili village to the pub. Upon arrival at the campsite we discovered that a group of college students from the noisier end of the neighbour spectrum were also camping there.

Tuesday:

Having awoken early due to heat, lack of space and noise we started our breakfast only to discover that the gas stove bit and the gas cannister were not compatible and sat down for our breakfast of marmite and cheese on bread. A very lovely gentleman in a nearby caravan kindly made us some coffee. We set out for the beach for a morning swim armed only with a towel and bathing stuff. After a nice walk along the cliffs we found a lush little bay (can't tell you the name in case it gets too well known.)

We quickly clambered down the rocks and changed into our swimming stuff. In the bay with us were a school group (we think) and some instructors- they were all wearing wetsuits, buoyancy aids and helmets. Running past them into the water in our bikinis drew lots of applause and encouragement! We spent lots of time jumping through the waves and got very cold, but stayed in to prove a point to the other group who were doing exactly the same thing as us only in slightly shallower water.

After lunch and coffee (we bought a different cannister) we went to Rhossili bay and sat on the beach with books and ate ice cream.

I've run out of inspiration I'm afraid and so will continue the story of our holiday when I can think of something to say.

URRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

urrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh! This word simply does not begin to describe the overall mingingness of my house work today...
... Cardiff has, once again, been blessed with rain:) The plants and vegetables were all pleased and lapped it up. However, the beasts (aka snails and slugs) also appreciated the rain. These beasts are not any old beasts they are HUGE and ugly and slimey and where there are as many as there were today the Fobbit just can't cope. My job was to Kill the beasts! (A slow, painful, organic death in salt water for those interested)
Urrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh! Involves Fobbit like activity including: 1) a loud noise 2) vibration through the whole body 3) tensing of the whole body 4) hyperventilation.
Such is the power of the word that it is still having an effect thinking about it hours later... TRICKY!

Lou xx

Wedding Day!! Romanian style!

Hello,
I'm not feeling particularly inspired today, but i feel that someone else ought to be adding posts other than poor old abandonned vix!

So Zoezoe and I went up to Brasov this weekend for the wedding of two of my friends from my time here before! It was a beautiful rainy day! The bride was only 15minutes late! The flower girl was grumpy and the ring bearer (aged 4yrs) fell asleep!! I also am lammenting the loss of the beautiful body of the best man...who has gained 20kg in weight over the past 10months!(its so sad!!)

Anyway...It was actually a really lovely service, Dan (the groom who is British) said his vows in Romanian and Simona (the bride, who is Romanian) said her vows in English....it was beautiful...i cried!!
The reception afterwards was true Romanian style...six course meal served over 11hours with lots and lots of dancing in between each course (yes i did have to dance with the sweaty, minging, drunk, middle-aged, next-door neighbour too many times! Ugh!!) We also had dancing waiters, lots and lots of lush traditional Romanian food...stuffed cabbage, meat, mamiliga (maize stuff) and deep fat fried vegetables! (its good - we should try it!!) Then the men plotted and stole the bride and the groom had to go and chase them and bring them all beer in exchange for his bride! (Dan looked really upset when Simona was taken away!- Bless!)

It was great though, Dan and Simona both worked at the house in Brasov where i was a volunteer in my gap year working with special needs kids and young adults, and a lot of the kids and their parents came to the wedding and reception, so i got to see them all too, and it was a lovely atmosphere, all the kids from the house were dancing (we even got the people in wheelchairs on the dance floor and spun them around) and all the people from church (who agree with dancing) were dancing and then lots of us volunteers from the house were there especially for the wedding, and then all of Simona and Dan's families were there...it was lovely lovely day...if a little long....zoezoe and i were very very tired by the end of the evening.

Right thats about all for now...i'm going home for a nap! ( we might have been talking till very late last night!...oops)

The Hannah Lady

Medicine, the doss subject!

Whoever said medicine was hard, certainly not me.
The medics are currently on their 'SSE', otherwise known as their structured summer holiday, apparently their course doesn't break up for the summer untill the end of July. Untill then they have to spend their time reading books and visiting the museum, big pit and other local attractions.

They have just left us for a camping trip.

















All these activities are an attempt to turn them into well rounded individuals, less likely to kill off all their patients. In my opinion it is an attempt to give them a stress free holiday, because they won't have time to get a job like normal students. Meanwile, Louise continues in the hospital of doom, with the challenges of daily life, to complex to be reduced to a citing on the blog.

And I, well I have my 'Case Reports' due in, what more can I say?

Do I sound bitter, do I, do I????

Vix

Baptisms

Was Georges baptisms today!

Before:






















After:























Was awesome, love George to pieces! Super Godly girl!

Vix.

Birthday Bash

Just returned from sis's B'day






















Happy B'day Gem!
not the best picture, sure she'll kill me.

And got to hang out with my parents
















Ah, what a lovely couple!

Well, better get on with the dredded coursework.

Vix

Sunshine

The house has worryingly become a picture of quiet domesticity. The kitchen and lounge were cleaned thoroughly yesterday and Mim is baking bread. With two members of the house away it seems unusually quiet and empty. Vix is away this evening as well so Mim and I will be the rejects left behind.

Since our beach trip on Wednesday (which I'll leave Mim to write about as she knows how to put pictures on this thing) nothing much has happened. Vix has been doing lots of work, she's at the library at the moment supposedly studying. The plethora of emails from her tell a slightly different story.

xx

Miracles

The Sun is shinning in Cardiff!
And
Franny is cleaning the kitchen!















What a day!

Vix.

Well its me again - i've been a bit obssessed with blogging this week!
I have returned again to the little Cafenescu which supplies lush coffees and friendly people (who don't laugh at me too much when i mistakedly asked for two journey's instead of two computers the other night - oops!) and internet!
It is early in the morning (well 11:30) Why am i not in the hospital with smelly Mr-Doctor man i hear you cry?? I've been banned for the rest of the week!!! Hehe!! Freedom!! I have a cold and temperature and sore throat and am coughing and spluttering and sniffiling and smelly doctor man has banished me. Unfortunately for zoezoe she doesn't have the described cold so has braved the world of the hospital on her lone-some!Meanwhile i am here, taking up residence in the internet cafe for the day!

Thankyou has to be said to the Fobbit who serenaded me beautifully the other night - was much appreciated. I was very sad when the phone cut me and vix off mid conversation..apparently when the phone card speaks to me and says i have 30 minutes credit left to use, this means you can only talk for 21.27mins and the first warning you get is when the phone goes dead - no warning beeps or anything. Nightmare!!


Last night zoezoe read to me from her story book in a north waleian (walian?Walesian?) accent! It was a beautiful moment! However her soothing story reading voice wasn't enough to get me to sleep...i heard her gentle sleep breathing sounds as i was tossing and turning....

....Why i couldn't sleep:

Cold making me alternate between boiling hot and freezing cold every 30secs

Mosquitos dive bombing me (they may have had their fun last night - i've got 4 new bites this morning - but i killed 2 of them with my bare hands! HAha!)

Cars zooming down the street ALL night (they actually never stop)

Fridge (BANG....clatter clatter clatter HHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM....BANG...clatter clatter clatter...silence it goes ...then starts again....BANG)

Bladder did NOT appreciate the 2litres of water i drank (the cold made me do it!) just before bedtime! Nigntmare! (but i did encounter another cockroach and sprayed it to death HA!)

Anyway eventually sleep came and then so did morning...why is it on days when you can actually lie in you always wake up early?

Hannah

Heathfield girls to the rescue!

This evening we had an adventure truely worthy of a Famous Five story, except that it was more fabulous four. The night unfolded thus:

After a lovely evening spent enjoying gentil conversation and delicious food (cooked by Beth) in the house of Jonesy, Beth and Katie with Marjorie and Mueni we were wandering homewards.

As it is a mild night we were meandering down Whitchurch Road and minding our own business. Suddenly out of nowhere just as we were crossing a road a group of boys (reckless hooligans) crossed our path. They continued along the street perpendicular to us when they happened upon a blue van. One of them put his fist through the window and a loud "crash" of smashing glass was heard. The four (the second lot of 4 things in this story) then wandered down the road before turning down one of the alleys which Cardiff is riddled with.

We all looked at each other groggily having been awoken from our reveries and finally decided that the police should be called. Vix phoned 999 and informed the operator that it was not an emergency. This was very unusual for us, we never phone the emergency services even when we have emergencies.

Wikipedia defines an emergency as: a situation that poses an immediate threat to human life or serious damage to property. A false report of an emergency is usually a crime.

Anyway, after stating the non-emergency reason for the call she discoved that the police considered it urgent/ an emergency and she gave him some details. We were asked to hang around the street corner for a bit for the police. TWO police cars sped to our location ( two people in each so another 4 group) and got a brief description before deciding to play at driving fast in all of the aforementioned alleys.

While they were gone the owner of the van turned up. His own van had been stolen a few weeks before and the now-smashed van was a hire van. He was not particularly impressed.

The police returned empty handed and one of the girls took some details. For some reason everyone else looked at me when she asked who talked the best so I had to try and describe in detail all the boys. It's been a long time since I looked with any great interest at young teenage boys so the desciptions went along the line of erm well... one was probably my height with a black jumper and a cap, the others were shorter and wore teenage boy clothes, would I recognise them again, haha, no!

After a little while the police let us go and we continued on our way home, knowing that we had done our bit this evening to make Cardiff a safer place and a happier community.

Fran
xx

Disaster and Joy

DISASTER:
Well as already explained in comments - i thought i had lost yesterdays blog to wherever all the work goes that computers loose!
Last night on way home from Whitters house, random guy number 5 (men 1-4 were encountered up the mountain but their stories will never reach this blogspot - though random man number 4 did nearly catch zoezoe and me weeing behind a bush at the top of the mountain which was quite funny - especially considering he was the only person we saw on top of the mountain that day!!)
Man 5 was staring at us cos we were talking english i asked him (in Romanian) "what are you looking at?" He said "you are english girls?....(then after some thought, with a slightly distressing glint in his eye)...I like english girls" Zoezoe and i ran for the underground train(that was just approaching the station) fast so we got in a different carriage from him!!

I was happily reading my bible this morning, when suddenly there was a shout from zoezoe...half the crown of her front tooth had fallen out (the nice crusty bread was all too much for her poor little teeth this morning!) So we had slight panic this morning, checking to see whether dental treatment was covered by insurance (its not, unless you are in pain and the tooth is a "natural" tooth). Anyways we decided after much deliberation to go into the hospital and ask the smelly doctorman if he knew of any good dentists.
Doctor man was in a BAD mood this morning, quite stressy, but he phoned the dentist that works in the hospital for us (we were quite scared - dentist in local scabby Romanian hospital...hmm), she wasn't there but someone took a message and we were informed that she would "phone back" - possibility of another lengthy stay in the hospital brought fear to our hearts!

Refer to Joy section for the end of this story!

JOY (part 1)
On seeing yesterdays blog typing efforts there today disaster has be turned to joy !!
After we ran away from man5 on the metrou(i resisted temptation to wave at him through the window on our way past!), we arrived safely at our stop and got off the train, as we were ascending the escalator, man number 6 sat opposite the bottom of the escalator, he was a gypsy guy (probably a bit special) but he was eating a big hunk of bread and had what looked like several bags of food infront of him and he looked soooooo happy, he waved at zoezoe and i and we waved back and shouted "pofta buna!!" (equivelent of bon appetit) He smiled even more- it was soooo cool!)
Smelly doctor man does have three junior(ish) doctors who are lovely who look after us! They teach us relevant stuff that we can understand - and their english is not as good so it means i get to practice Romanian at last!! Hurrah!! (and beth's now no longer the only one chatting to fitties)
At 11am the dentist lady rung back and we got taken to see her. She was really really lovely and looked at zoezoe tooth and broken bit of crown and explained how she would fix it! (i'm sure vic and lou would have loved her little room, which looked more like a workshop than a dentist's room and it was covered from floor to ceiling in horrible tacky plastic toys! Comedy) Dentist lady kept saying things were sterile, and apologising for lack of equipment ( no little suction thing to suck saliva from poor zoezoe's throat, and no little assistent to make the cement-y paste thing to stick tooth back together again!) But despite this lack of certain items, zoezoe's tooth is now mended and looks good!! Yay!!
The even happier ending to this story is that we didn't have to pay her anything at all! We asked twice if she wanted anything and she was completly and sincerely like "no no, you are my collegues and i am doing you a favour" She is lovely lovely! God is good - He answered the prayers i was shooting up this morning!
And even better than not having to pay any money...it meant that we could run away from smelly doctor man for the rest of the day!! Hurrah!!
We have even managed to find the cases for our project this week!! WOW! Miracle!

Other News
i attacked our resident cockroach with the evil insect killer spray last night - i feel justified in this because it had left its agreed place of residence (under the washing machine - that sits taking up most of the floor space in the bathroom, which has absolutely no connection for water to get into the machine so is actually useless!!) and had entered the hallway...so i chased it spraying it quite abudantly until it disappeared into our shoe cupboard in the hall.
I found the cockroach this morning, lying flat on it back, legs twitching sporadically, under my sandal - i put it out of its misery and threw it in the plastic bag tied to the gas pipe that consitutes our bin in the kitchen.

JOY (part 2)
A wonderful man
There once was a wonderful man
Who knew how to cheer up Han,
He put in the post
the thing that pleased her most
A bar of chocolate made by the cadbury's man!!

To that man, who knows who he is...You are amazing! I love you! You brought me happiness and joy today! hehe!

A wonderful woman
there once was a wonderful woman
who decided to post a card to Han
upon the card was wrote
lots of splendiferous notes
from lots of people dear to Han!

To that woman, who knows who she is ( and the man who helped her in her task, who knows who he is, and to the people who wrote the little messages) Thankyou, you are amazing! I love you and miss you all! The card brought smiles to my little face today!!

Hope my "poetry" hasn't scared you all too much!

Here endeth the blog of today
xx

Tonsillitis update

Due to my timely use of antibiotics my tonsils this morning have begun to shrink back to their normal size. This is especially useful as the smell of Mim's cooking is pervading the whole house- she is baking cookies.

It is sunny again today, a very odd situation for Cardiff where a nice day is one where it hasn't rained for a few hours.

The dentists are currently out of the house as they are sitting their last written exam this morning. This should mean that the house returns to it's happy stress-free self and the neighbours are no longer disturbed by the odd noises that Lou has been making.

Mim and I have a seminar this afternoon on science fiction. I dislike science fiction, in fact I would rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than sit down to read or watch anything in the sci-fi genre (except Hitchhiker's Guide which is a parody) oh well, we'll see what happens this afternoon... maybe I'll just skive it.

I must go and get dressed.

Fran

House communication

We enjoyed house bond-age over your recent blog Hannah, thank you! And we love you!

We have together decided it is acceptable for Wittters to stay.

We have also probably/maybe found a new housemate. Not sure you're going to be included in the final decision! Her name is Sarah, hope this explains recent email-age.

Right well, back to the irrevision I say!

We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Vixen, Louise-ige, Franny and stinker)

Here endeth house communication via blog

Smelliness

Well the joys of internet. I can't access my email account, therefore literally my only means of communication is this blog!! (genius idea)
Currently am at Whitney's house (american girl in Bucharest who i met on English camp last summer - who may be temporarily joining the heathfield house if anyone ever responds to the request and says ok!!)
We decided to give up on the hand-washing and have brought two rucksacks full of smelly clothes to Whitney's house to use her washing machine! This has the extra bonus of free dinner! Hurrah-yet another night i don't have to cook!
(Just to note that i logged on to blog just now to show zoezoe and whitney and the only two pictures that appeared were the two of me!! Bizarre!)

Zoezoe and I were most distressed this morning, we've moved wards this week (following our students "friends" on their rotation) and as we left with the students at 11am as per usual to our horror the doctor man said to zoezoe and i "come back in half an hour when i've had a chance to do some work" !!!!!!!!!!! Nightmare. Gone was our leisurely wander home and our meander round carrefour and any chance of afternoon nap-age! We didn't escape until 13h20!! And that was cos we ran away rather than because we were told to!!
Not sure what we'll do if this carries on! I'm a slacker I don't do placement!
The new doctor man stands way to close to us when he is talking...zoezoe and i were backing further and further away until we were trapped by the wall and the smelly doctor! Our brains were frazzled he spoke way to much about medicine type things!! Ugh!!

On a happier note i bought even more expensive new batteries and my camera appears to have come back to life!! Phew!!

We were also strong girls today and carried 20litres of water back from carrefour!!

OOOhhh and i had a letter today and zoezoe didn't!! Heeheee

Keep up the blogging you crazy chickens
Love you
Hannah
xx
(ps is it me or is the blog turning into the house msn/email/communication system? We could start blogging all house decisions and vote via the blog, our money and bills owed could be posted on here on a name and shame basis?? the possibilities are endless)

Sunday

Ah well, another Sunday nearly over. I sense in general the day has been fully appreciated by all in the Heathfeld house. The Lord understands our need for rest and relaxation!

imps

Impish activities seem to be occuring on this blog. Last night an important blog regarding the meadow was posted but today it is no where to be seen.

To keep everyone up to date:
The before shot of Vic and Lou playing in the grass








Stinker doing the hard work








The final result

Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is defined in the Oxford concise medical dictionary as

"inflammation of the tonsils due to bacterial or viral infection, causing a sore throat, fever, and difficulty swallowing."

Yes, I have again aquired this wonderful illness. My tonsils are swollen and the crypts on them are full of pus, yum yum. Luckily I have a fairly substantial collection of prescription only meds squirrelled away including some erythromicin now being put to good use.

Since I went away on Friday the lawn has been cut and the garden looks remarkably different. Everyone appears to have survived the weekend, it was all quite calm when I returned this afternoon.

I would write something more interesting but I'm quite ill. I can't just lie in bed because it's too hot and I can't sleep, last night I think I was hallucinating most of the night due to the fever.

Fran

Dracula, Dorothea, Lunch and Thunderstorms

As this seems to be the new method of house communication i shall re-tell the story of our weekend adventures, though in a far less interesting manner than other posts (i will never be an english student, nor will i ever understand the words that frannie uses!) and also due to apparent death of my new camera (which even new batteries can't revive) there will be no photos (not that i'd be able to work out how to get photos on the page anyway!)

So Zoezoe and i went to Sighisoara - which is the birth place of Dracula (he lived there in a house for the first 3yrs of his life apparently) (if you type in sighisoara to google pictures you get some pretty pictures). On the train journey i was sat next to a Pastor guy from Sighisoara who knew some people who rented accomodation there - so that was our roof for the night sorted.
Pastor guy had his daughter with him. She told me a story:

"There was a man walking in the town and somebody stole his trousers. The man went to the policeman and the police man found the theif and got the trousers back. That was a story from the mind of Dorothea" Dorothea is six. We also made dog sounds and she ate my fingers (Romanian dogs go "ham ham")

Oooh we also had a cultured moment when we went to listen to an organ concert in the church!

OOOOOhhhhhhh very exciting we found a cafe in Sighisoara which served Tetley's tea!! (they still only had UHT milk so it wasn't quite perfect) Just for information's sake - we've already made our way through more than half out tea-bag supply! Tricky!

Saturday we went to Sibiu, which is cultural capital of Europe for 2007, but it currently resembles a building site! We spent a morning there which mostly involved eating chocolate pancakes and finding caffeine and jumping over builders!
On the train home the woman sat next to me informed me that she thought zoezoe and i looked like we were sixteen!!! I was grossly offended by this comment (we all know i aspire to be about 35!) Zoezoe however took this as a compliment!

One of the CU staff workers here (who i know from last years english camp) fed zoezoe and I lunch today! It was fully yummy, there was lots and lots of food (and meat - to further boost my iron levels - which i am now paranoid about following recent measures of certain housemates Haemoglobin levels!)

Currently we are on our third consecuitive day of thunderstorms, all exciting - i'm getting to wear jeans and jumpers for the first time in a while!!

More random facts from the world of vodaphone:
We spend 450days playing sport in our lives (this one i definitely will never surpass - nor do i have any desire to!)

Aiming to start our project this week! Hmm we'll see how that goes.

The Hannah Lady (who is missing the Heathfield girls lots)