Day Eight (3/8)

Today we started a little bit later, nine o’clock (after eleven hours of sleep!), and headed towards the Republic of Moldova. It was MUCH closer than the monasteries; we were surprised at how fast we got to the border crossing. You have to stop twice: once to leave Romania, and once to enter Moldova. The border police were very stern, but Radu put on the charm, and we got through. They did however inspect the car, and make us all get out, but apparently it was a lot easier than it could have been. Then we exchanged money at the border, and headed to the city of Ungheni. In Ungheni we walked around (although it is still frigid) and bought lots of chocolate. Then we went to a restaurant in another town that was really pretty, and I had an omelette and French fries. After lunch we still had lots of Moldovian money left, so we went back to Ungheni for more chocolate (and Vodka for some). Then we went back through the border crossings, with more scrutiny, and back to Iasi. In Iasi we had a quick tour, and some coffee before heading to the train station and back to Barlad. Our group has a new obsession with Romanian animal sounds, we practiced them for hours in the car with Radu (to his entertainment), and now use the duck sound of “muck muck” when we don’t know what to say (but I can’t say the border guard found it as funny as we did). Today is also women’s day. In the morning Radu greeted us with flowers, and then at the coffee shop they gave us each more flowers. All the guards at the border posts wished us a happy womens’ day as well. Apparently it is a pretty big holiday here, there is also a function going on at our hotel for it tonight. We are all excited to get back to the clinic tomorrow morning to see our babies, and see if any from the hospital have come back yet!