Medical Adventure...

This AM my husband and I dragged our 2 little ones to the hospital to get our medical reports done for our homestudy/dossier. Now, I have 2 little girls, so I have spent too much time at the hospital so it has become routine for me. BUT, perhaps you would be interested in a hospital adventure over here in the middle east.
First, it took me a while to realize that when someone was going to the hospital, it was not necessarily a major problem. Here, you go to the hospital (or to hospital, as they say) for everything. There are private doctors, but most of them are affiliated with one of the major hospitals. There are two hospitals that are frequented by westerners. The one we went to is the one I gave birth in both times. It used to be the main hospital in town until the newest one opened about 4 years ago. Now, most of the westerners go to the new one. I actually prefer the old one. Sure, there are no appointments but when you get there you receive a number and you know exactly how many people are in front of you. The new hospital takes appointments (assuming they decide to answer their phone the day you call, but that is rare) but somehow intermixes the appointments and the drop-ins. It is not uncommon to wait 3 hours there- with an appointment! And, the new hospital has a beautiful kids waiting area complete with a TV playing cartoons, toys and colorful chairs. There is one MAJOR problem with this seemingly wonderful setup. The well kids intermix with the sick kids and I have never seen them clean it. So, we stopped going there after the 3rd time my kids came down with a sickness that was worse than what we were there to see the doctor for.
So, this AM we were off to the City Clinic Hospital. We got there just after 8AM and my husband checked in and then I did. Apparently one of the other receptionists logged a patient between my husband and I so we had to wait for someone between us. There was only one person waiting in front of him, but that took a while. First the 4 of us hung out in the men's waiting room. Yes, men and women have different waiting rooms. Although you rarely see them mix, I think it is kind of ok for a woman to be in the men's area but it is not ok for a man to be in the woman's area. There was a TV playing an Indian soap opera, I think. We had a stroller with us full of toys and snacks to amuse them but in the end the best entertainment was to walk the halls. The setup was circular so we could follow the halls around and end up back at the waiting rooms. Eventually they called my husband and he went in while I went with the girls to the women's waiting area. We cause quite a spectacle wherever we go, particularly in enclosed areas like a waiting room. Actually, the girls were well behaved and we sat and read books and they ran around pushing their dolls in the doll stroller. I think we can get away with stuff like that here more than in the US.
Anyway, it looks like our medicals will be easy to do. Turns out that the doctor is Italian and married to a Palistinian. They are wanting to adopt from Gaza, although they aren't sure if that can even happen. What are the chances of finding a doctor in the middle east who wants to adopt!? Very small! There is no concept of adoption in this part of the world so very few people do it. So, she did the exam and tried to claim most of the tests to our insurance. She pointed out to us that it would be difficult to claim the Hep and the HIV tests as "necessary" since that would look bad for us in the adoption process. So, fortunately for us, it looks like we'll be able to get insurance to pay for much of the physical. yea!