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Blogs from Wuhan, Hubei, China, Asia - page 8
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October 19th 2010
Thanks to Catherine's Dad's heroic driving we've been able to get around the city pretty well. But I would be lying if I told you I wasn't just a bit terrified of the daily commute. Last time we were here in early 2009 the traffic was really bad. Now it is definitely horrendous! Wuhan's been developing at such a break-neck pace that it's transportation system hasn't been able to keep up so the roads are clogged with cars, buses and black smoke belching transport trucks. It's really kind of hard to describe what driving is like in China so I'll try to sum it up by giving you what seems to be the unofficial "rules" of the road: 1. There are no rules, just drive however you want. 2. Red lights are only a suggestion for ... read more
October 15th 2010
The weather is quite warm here at around 17-23 degrees but the first 5 days were rainy. We spent a lot of time eating as usual since Catherine's mom loves cooking and seems to have an unlimited amount of recipes. We visited her sister's newly built apartment. It has a very modern chic design including mult-level ceilings, spotlights and an impressive chandalier that flashes with different color LED lights. Shopping was also top on the list of things to do and in Wuhan there seems to be an endless number of choices. There's one cellular store that's about as big as a grocery store, a mall so big it takes more than a day to see all the shops and the variety is just stunning. Back in Canada there may be a lot of stores too ... read more
October 13th 2010
My wife and I are making our 3rd trip to China to spend time with her family in Wuhan. As usual we spent the night at Toronto's Airport for our 6:30am flight to save some money as the tickets are very expensive for such a long flight (about $3200 total cost). We could have taken a direct flight to China but decided to take the best deal with Continental which involved making a connection to Newark in New York, Shanghai then to Wuhan. This was our first flight to New York and thankfully the sky was clear allowing us to get a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. It was a bit far away to see many details but it was still an impressive site to see the wall of skyscrapers along the horizon. Our flight from ... read more
First Blog & Photos of Wuhan Generally (H and S)
Published: September 13th 2010Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan
September 13th 2010
This first blog has a few photos from our first week in Wuhan. There's nothing too exciting here but just to give you a flavour of what its like in Wuhan and on campus! **We'll keep updating this particular blog as and when we take new photos of life around here generally, check back a few times for more updates!**... read more
September 13th 2010
Jianghan University: The university is outside of the main Wuhan city centre, in an area that is undergoing heavy development - round the clock building work, and lots of swanky office blocks standing empty. The city as a whole is humid and the air is filled with smog - I've heard a rumour that it's the equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day but I don't think it's quite that bad. The campus is vast, but I'm making my way around it slowly. It is surrounded by the Sanjiao Lake which lends a more pleasant feel to the university. Many of the buildings are testament to Chinese construction - uniform, drab, grey, and huge. Our apartment block is no exception. Whilst the inside is clean and simple, the outside is covered in repairs work and looks ... read more
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September 10th 2010
I cleaned up the kitchen and experimented with cooking a bit. All the food here is pretty oily so sometimes I like to take a break from it. I mostly know how to follow recipes and make things that require an oven or western ingredients, but recently I've been picking up some vegetables from the shop down the street and seeing what I can do with some vinegar, soy sauce and spices. Sometimes the results are good. My friend here helped me look at an online forum to get a used bike from a student at nearby Wuhan University. One weekend I rode my bike around the East Lake to Moshan park. Unfortunately one uses the word "shan" from the smallest backyard hill to Mount Everest, and this particular shan was quite small. It was still ... read more
黄鹤楼/Huang He Lou/Yellow Crane Tower and New Friends
Published: November 20th 2010Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan
September 4th 2010
My second week in Wuhan was better. I was reunited with the internet! I had gone about a month without regular contact with friends and family and it was comforting to be connected with the outer world again. Also I after a week of bumming around I really wanted to hit the lab. I was told to wait until our weekly group meeting on Monday afternoon. Then everyone would make introductions and I could get set up with some work to do. Well group meeting time came around and I was completely overwhelmed! Turns out there are 40 people working under this professor - a handful of assistant professors and 30+ grad students. Only 2 of the grad students are girls. Unsurprisingly, the whole meeting took place in very fast Chinese. Also some people had rather ... read more
September 1st 2010
Coming back to China has been a very different experience for me. When I was at the airport in Vancouver, I was fighting back tears saying goodbye to my friend Danny, and then literally turned around and immediately had a smile on my face as I saw another friend Lindsey with all her bags packed to go to China as well. Instead of being nervous and checking out the people, wondering who my future friends would be, I was relaxed with people who I shared the last year of my life with, and who know me and can relate to me in a way that no one in Canada truly can. With all the new teachers already in China, it gave the returning teachers time to catch up and share stories of the summer. This was ... read more
September 1st 2010
Arriving in Wuhan marked the end of my transition from a big program where everything was scheduled and taken care of, to traveling with a friend who spoke Chinese better than I did, to being all alone! The plane got in very late at night, so I stayed in a hostel. The next morning, I made my way to the research institute to meet Shi Tou, the HR guy who would help me figure out my visa and get settled. For some reason, I thought the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics would be more well-known within the city. The people at the hostel helped me look up the address and gave me some directions for taking the public bus that I don't think I quite followed correctly. I didn't want to be late, so I ... read more
August 10th 2010
I moved out of my old apartment on the 30th of June, the day before I left for Canada so needless to say I didn't really have everything where I wanted it. I moved into a fellow teacher's apartment Alan. Alan taught computers with me last school year but has decided to move back to teach in Thailand. He moved because the climate and pollution levels are much better and it's a slower pace to the community there. I moved out of my old apartment because of some serious mold problems that developed in the spring. There was nothing I could do as the air circulation was not existent at the main floor apartment. The summer vacation is Canada was great. I spent the first 10 days in Victoria. There I reunited with my mother, grandmother ... read more
