I have off every Friday morning, which is really nice. This morning I am lazing around, savoring a pot of jasmine tea, and thinking about last night's entertainment. The medical school is in the middle of a foreign language festival and last night the students put on short plays in English. They were all funny, campy, crazy plays, but with very high production values. They spent a lot on costumes and lighting. Here is what I can say about Chinese humor: they get a big kick out of gender-reversal. They are not like the English, who just love to put men in dresses. They like to put really big men in dresses, and cast them against very little women in trousers. Sometimes they like to cast women in both romantic leads. They also love hoop skirts. Almost all of the female parts, whether played by men or women, were dressed like Scarlett O'Hara, but with glitter. Snow White was played by a man, as was her wicked stepmother, but all the dwarves were women. One of the dwarves was named Basketball, and I don't know why. Prince Charming was also played by a woman. In one of the funniest sketches, the central couple was dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, instead of wearing a suit and evening gown. They were in love in China, but the woman decided to move to America to become a reporter for the BBC. In America, she fell for another man, and she called her Chinese lover to tell him it was over. He gave a monologue about how he would track her down and kill her, based loosely on Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. It was very, very weird. He killed her, then killed himself, and in the end, they both turned into butterflies. The strangest sketch was called "A Celestial Couple by Divine Destiny" and it was about a Bull King, I think, who had a new concubine. His brother, the Monkey King, fell in love with the concubine. There was also something about a magic sword, but I really didn't understand what was going on. The whole thing lasted three hours. I was very surprised to spend my evening that way. I am always surprised in China. I never know what is going to happen, because when people explain things to me I don't understand. And I don't think anything could have prepared my for last night, in any case.