The First Post (and the first pun - sorry)

Welcome to this first blog where I will attempt to record some of my experiences on being a volunteer with VfMH (Volunteers for Mental Health) in Târnăveni, România.  This post is being written two days before I travel and is a bit of an experiment to see if I can actually make the blog technology work.

Firstly, I want to make sure you can link to the VfMH website which is http://www.vfmh.org.uk/

Have a read of that and the following might just make some sense.




Not Romania but Rochester, Kent where I had been living
It will be interesting to compare castles - and cathedrals

 Although I have been thinking (and preparing?) for this placement for the last 4 months or so; am I really prepared? and do I really know what to expect?  In truth, probably not.  I hope to try and give a flavour of the day to day experience - assuming I can get the blog technology to work - which I hope will be useful to other prospective volunteers as they ponder over whether this could be the placement they are looking for.  I also hope that it will encourage some people to visit the donation part of the charity's website and feel proud of themselves for helping to finance and keep such a worthy venture going.





I met up with quite a few of the previous volunteers from the last 20 years at a recent VfMH reunion.  It was great for me to hear their experiences first hand to help me understand what I was letting myself in for.  It was also really positive to get a real tangible feel for just how far things have moved forward in that time. 

I am sure that the six months ahead will be enjoyable and also quite challenging.  However, at the moment I can't seem to be able to see past the immediate challenge of getting everything I think I need into what once looked like a very large suitcase, but now seems very small indeed...

One thing I am determined to do is to pick up some Romanian language skills.  So I will sign off for the moment with,

Pe curând!
(which I hope means, 'see you soon')

Paul