Bufta buna!

That means 'bon appetit' in Romanian - I just realised that I should probably lighten up the blog for today with some stories from my trip to Romania in April - i.e. the most amazing experience of my life!

Of course there were sad bits: we were doing charity work in one of the poorest areas in the world, and there was one story that caused me to burst into tears (and trust me, I'm a right hard man usually). A homeless man's young daughter was very ill in hospital, and a simple operation should have her on the road to recovery. However, the girl's doctor was requesting a bribe (from a HOMELESS MAN) in order for him to perform the operation. Sickening, right? Unfortunately, Maria (who worked for The Smiles Foundation) told us that this is a normal occurence in Romania.

Absolutely disgusting.

However, there were some lovely moments, for example we met this guy called Zebby who lived in a tiny shed, with no job and no family, but when asked how he coped with this, replied (quite brilliantly) "Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." You've got to smile when a Romanian man quotes - in perfect English - Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks has never spoken wiser words.

And of course the banter was unstoppable - it was a great group of us going and the boys even went so far as to create a House of Banter, each boy with their own aliases - Benjamin Bantlin, the Pink Banther, Tutanbantmun, Sir Bants-a-lot, the Banthom of the Opera and (maybe a bit less PC but I laughed when I heard it) Osama Bant Laden.

Stephen, our lovely Yorkshire guide, was another source of banter, with his terrible Romanian dialect ('ROOmania', 'BUHFTAH BOONAH' - classic), and just his general loveliness - he was adorable. Big love to Stephen fo lyf.

I'll probably talk more about Romania at various points - it really was the best holiday of my life and I'd encourage everyone to do it at some point - it is a beautiful, if tragic, country.