Arrived in Wuhan

I’m sorry that it has been several days since I’ve updated this blog. Getting online here in Wuhan is not nearly as convenient as it was in Beijing. I found an Internet Bar (Wang ba) very near the campus, but it appears that I cannot connect USB devices so no new pictures for now.

On Sunday, we boarded the Z37 train at the Beijing West Station. We arrived very early because we didn’t know how much time we would need. It turns out to be a very painless and efficient process to enter the station and board the train. When our train was called, we walked (and walked and walked) to reach our car (ruan wo che). We had soft sleeper tickets, which means that we had a compartment with 4 berths and a door. The train left Beijing at 8:35 pm, so we didn’t get to see much of anything as we left the city. All the announcements while on board were in Chinese, but we ended up in the right place so I guess that’s okay. The berths were quite comfortable, and we didn’t have a fourth person so it worked out quite nicely. I have to say that that was a very nice way to travel. I wish I could sleep (lying down) through the trans-Pacific flight!

We arrived in Wuhan on Monday morning at around 7am. It is really hot here! Wuhan is known as one of China’s “three furnaces” and so far it is living up to the reputation. Yesterday the temperature reached 104 degrees, resulting in the cancellation/postponement of our trip to the Yellow Crane Tower. We had the day to ourselves to wander around and get the feel of the place.

On Tuesday, we had our opening ceremony. We were welcomed by the University vice-president and the director of the International Studies Department. We had live performances of Chinese classical music followed by a campus tour.

Today, we had our first lectures of the program. The morning lecture was on the geography of China and Wuhan in particular. I learned, among other things, that China has two nuclear power plants (Shanghai and Shenzhen) with 10 more on the way, the second-largest network of highways in the world, and that Chairman Mao frequently visited Wuhan and considered making it the capital of the PRC. In the afternoon, we had a lecture on Chinese language and folk songs. We learned some basic Chinese phrases and we sang a Chinese folk song called Jasmine Flower (Moli hua).

They feed us three huge meals a day. I feel like I’m on a cruise, there’s so much food. A lot of it is new to me, some familiar, all top-notch.

I hope this is not too boring for you. If you have any questions for me, please send email. I will delight in reading emails from you all. So please send me some. I’ll try to check every other day or so.

Until next time, Zaijian!