Money Matters

Thank you all for your wishes of speedy recovery. I guess they worked since Matt is now out of the hospital and back at his own house, which is a relief for all of us. He was supposed to get out yesterday afternoon, but there were more money problems and he ended up having to stay another night until it was all worked out. The problem was, his insurance company faxed over the guarantee of payment and it asked if the hospital wanted a check or money order for payment and the hospital is only equipped to handle cash transactions. China seems so developed sometimes and then you run into problems like this and you remember what shambles their financial system is in right now and that they still have a ways to go. This is one of the best hospitals in Sichuan and our bill was upwards of 40,000 yuan and it still can only take cash. Luckily, the school was able to authorize payment (in cash) to the hospital, Matt's family will wire money to reimburse the school and then hopefully file a claim to get reimbursed from the insurance company. But at least he's out and on the way to recovery. However, unfortunately he will not be able to accompany Laura, Carly and I to Xinjiang this break. His doctors think it would be a bad idea because if it got infected there is nothing he could do in Xinjiang. He is inclined to listen to them and will be giving his ticket to Ben, another classmate who wanted to go but didn't know if the money would work out.
Yesterday my bike was stolen as well from outside the soccer field where we play rugby. There have been alot of bikes stolen recently because it is spring and I guess I just wasn't careful enough. Now I will always keep it where someone is watching it. Anyways, Laura and I went back to the stolen bike market today and bought a bike. It was, if possible, even more sketchy this time. We were approached right away by a guy who asked if we wanted to buy bicycles. After we said yes he lead us behind a building and through multiple back alleys and finally though a locked door where there were 5 or 6 nicer bikes set up. I told him that these bikes were too expensive and I just wanted to spend 100 kuai. So then another guy went out to find me a 100 kuai bicycle. It looked a little bit like my old bike, but is orange and has the word "GBBDP" - Laura and I think it stands for "Got Bike at Back Door Place". I still haven't thought of a name though. We got them to throw in a lock as well and then they convinced me to by another lock to put on the front wheel as well because that would make it harder to steal. I thought, they would know, and it was only 8 kuai so now I have two locks as well.
Other than that, it has been raining alot here. On Tuesday we went to quiz night again and Matt played from the hospital. We got 3rd place, which was pretty exciting.
But mostly I'm just excited to go to Xinjiang on Sunday!