More and more random thoughts:

1. I played a John Hyatt song for my students and one of them said to me, “Oh, you like crazy music?”
2. Emily told me that she doesn’t want to have a baby boy.  When she gets pregnant, she wants a baby girl.
3. When I stayed in Beijing, I paid $20/night for a hotel and I thought that was a great deal.  Then the next time I stayed in a hotel, with another person, we paid $10/night each.  Then I stayed in another hotel with two other people and we paid $7.50 each.  Last night I stayed in a hotel and it cost us about $4.50 each.  I think I have reached the bottom of what I will pay and tolerate in hotel accommodations.
4. According to ta story I read in China Daily (March 30, 2012), the average price for a license plate for a car this year is 58,000 Yuan (about $8500), almost half the price of a new car.
5. I also read that the birth sex ratio is 117 males for every 100 females.
6. I spent the day with medical students today and they complete their medical training through a five year college program.
7. I visited a section in Zhengzhou where there are 10 universities in one area and about 200,000 are enrolled in these schools.
8. All of these students have access to hot water between 6PM and 8PM only.  They wait in line with their big two liter thermos and fill their thermos and lug them up to their dorm rooms.  That is their hot water supply until the next day.
9. For some reason, the women get their men to carry their purses.
10. Most people in China are atheist.  And I have never heard so much discussion about integrity, honesty and goodwill as I have from the Chinese people that I have met.  They are very principled and it is very important to them to be honorable.
11. There is a law that does not allow the dead to be buried.  They have to be cremated because farm land has become too valuable so no land can be wasted.
12. My students think the Dali Lhama is a despicable person who is manipulating the world into believing that he is a man of peace, when in fact, he is a made of war and is trying to engage China in war.
13. We just finished two days of sports competitions.  All classes were cancelled and we had an opening ceremony, similar to the Olympics.  The school band first played the Chinese national anthem and then they played the USA anthem for the foreign teachers.  My students wanted to know why we cheered at the end.
14. The school’s cheerleading squad has 200 members but they never cheer at any events.  They did perform for the opening ceremonies and they took up the entire field.
15. One of my students told me that she learned in her history class that Gorbachev is in exile in the US because of his role in bringing down Communism in the USSR.  He is portrayed by the Chinese government as cowardly and an enemy of China and communism.