Alex’s update from China – August 12

I woke up early and rounded with Dr. Martin and the nurse.  I spent most of the day just playing with the kids, especially three boys in the “Nemo room”.  They divide the larger rooms for the kids by theme.  Two of the little boys had unrepaired bladder exstrophies.  Despite their condition, they were rambunctious little kids.  During the afternoon, I accompanied Dr. Martin and the nurse, Erma, to Beijing United Family Hospital to take two girls for some checkups.  One had hip surgery and was in a really cumbersome cast.  The other little girl needed some prescriptions for her heart medications.  It was funny because we had to wait quite a while for the prescription, so I ran to the store and bought a baguette.  When I came back, she grabbed the bread and devoured the rest of it.  She has quite the appetite.  Every time I’ve seen her she’s wanted some sort of food from me.  Maybe it’s because she seems to catch me when I’m snacking!  In the evening, I watched Forest Gump with one of the long-term volunteers, Shannon.  I had actually never seen the whole movie.  Now that I’ve seen the end, it’s one of my new favorite movies!