Money stuffing

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I can't believe it's time to pay rent again! Next week I owe my landlord yet another huge wad of cash. I have to remember to go to the ATM everday this week. I had to withdrawal my maximum from both ATM cards today to pay for my airplane ticket to Taiwan. My grandmother, who I haven't seen in 15+ years, lives there. It will be awkward and fun to see her and my relatives there. I have a college friend who lives in Taipei as well. On my way back I'm stopping over in Macau. The day I'm there is the Venetian's grand opening week. The Venetian Macao is boasting the biggest casino of the world. In 2006, Macau exceeded Vegas' gambling revenue. I read that half of the world's population is within a 6 hour plane ride to Macau. I'm not interested in going to Macau to gamble, but rather I'm interested in checking out the Portuguese influence in Macau, and check out what the "next Vegas" fuss is all about.

I got a call from an unrecogized phone number this evening and I immediately picked up thinking it was my sister (ahem! it wasn't!). And I started to say hello and someone started to mumble in Chinese and I politely said they had the incorrect number. Then the person on the other end said in Chinese, "Fang Jie? No I haven't." Guess who it was? Nanjing army boy! Good grief! It was so random and so funny to me. Oh dear. He did say that he almost didn't recognize my voice since my Chinese was so much better. 😊 Nothing to talk about and I asked if he used email and I forward him pictures I took, but err... the army doesn't use email, apparently! 😉 Poor lonely Chinese army boy!

My sister and my little 3 yr old nephew called this morning. He said hi and then hung up on me and then I couldn't pick up the phone because I was in class. He has such a cute little voice! I felt a pang of homesickness! 😞

I was chatting with Tracy (my tutor) and we started to talk about doctors and health care in China. She told me that doctors get pretty modest incomes because most of the hospitals are public/government supported. She said that surgeons get "additional income" though. I asked what kind and she said that if a family member undergoes surgery, then the surgeon will get a "hong bao" (red envelope with cash inside). I nodded as if I understood - I said that that is a nice way to thank the doctor. She explained that the red envelope is to the doctor BEFORE the surgery is performed. She said that families will get together as much money as possible in order to feel more confident that the surgery is performed well! She said that some shadier surgeons will stall surgeries until the family gives him/her a hong bao! I couldn't believe that the quality of surgeries can be contingent on money stuffing! Sigh. I replied that I believe that a one should feel honored to be able to perform surgery on someone's beloved family member. It's not to say that skill shouldn't be reflected by compensation. Our (American) talented surgeons make money that the average ones, but the cost of the procedure is public and not in the form of a kickback! Anyway, I was somewhat surprised about this. Tracy said healthcare system is definitely improving, but still developing. I often forget that China is still developing... but it makes sense. Just feeding 1.3 billion people already is a huge undertaking!

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Comments

[ellie]

Giving out your digits to soldiers boys I see...somebody's workin' it! HAHAHA...jk. Miss you! =)