Weekendul cu Cruce Roşie

Last weekend was the annual summer meeting of the Norwegian Red Cross (Røde Kors) and the Romanian Red Cross (Cruce Roşie) in Târgu Mureş. I was honored to be invited to take part in their weekend activities and become a member. This was a great international effort with so many projects aimed at helping Roma communities and promoting health and well-being throughout the city. Here are some pics:



Delivering some much needed used windows to a local Roma community


















A VIP tour of the SMURD unit (the emergency response team in Târgu Mureş)and their chopper















The tent where we offered health information, condoms, and blood pressure tests















A few special people who received much deserved recognition and certificates for all their extra efforts in their Red Cross service















These charming Romanians... See how they just steal kisses!















A good team: Moi, Magda, Flavius, and Hochen

Laundry Day (Ziua de Curăţătorie)

Every Saturday I walk towards Cartier Zorilor (uphill) with my giant bag of laundry to wash at the spalatorie (trudge, trudge, trudge) and until a couple of months ago, when it opened, I spent my entire weekends washing all of my clothes in the bathtub, piece by piece, trigger finger aching all the while. I feel such relief now that I can actually go to a real laundromat where a machine washes my clothes and all I have to do is lug them there, dirty... and lug them back wet and clean to hang them on my balcony. I have grown so accustomed to this luxury that I forgot, until last week at the river in Floreşti , the grueling nature of hand-washing.This is laundry day in Floreşti where the children complete their daily summer chores and hopefully take a dip in the cool water too! I felt empathy for them but I must admit... they looked like they were having much more fun than I did washing clothes in my bathtub!