As a part of our mini-vacation due to the sports meet on campus at the end of October, we decided to be tourists in Wuhan. We wanted to see all of the “tourist” sights that we had previously ignored as we tried to get used to the city as “locals”. We had a very ambitious list of hot spots including museums, the Yellow Crane Tower, East Lake and Mulan Mountain. The middle of the week was filled with birthday and Halloween celebrations which were followed by a few days of recovery. Our grand plans dwindled into an attempt to go to [View Full Entry]

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To begin with, I would like to say that I highly recommend celebrating Halloween in a country where they do not celebrate Halloween. Between the costumes, the candy, and the extreme proximity to my birthday, Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and I was not about to let it go just because China had no idea what was going on. I taught all of my classes about the history, traditions and general tone of this spooky holiday. We told scary stories and I freaked them out by holding a flashlight under my chin to create the creepy up [View Full Entry]

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I was lucky enough to get to spend my 21st birthday halfway around the world with my best friend. I was on Asian Term with Augustana and Amanda was teaching at CCNU, and our trip to Wuhan was over my birthday. It was so exciting to celebrate such a milestone birthday in a unique way. It was a good night complete with my introduction to the tequila shot and an epic email sent directly from the bar. At the time, I never would have dreamed that I would be celebrating another birthday in Wuhan. The shindig for my 24th was a [View Full Entry]

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We had visitors in town for a few days toward the end of October. Augie's Asian Term was in Wuhan from Oct. 24th- Oct. 27th. It was so much fun to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones. Nick and I met all of the theatre folk at their hotel on Wednesday night. They were staying at the Holiday Inn, so we tried to copy down the characters and say the words for hotel across the river. The cab driver took us in and got right on his cell phone. I have picked up enough Chinese to [View Full Entry]

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...and several weeks later, she finishes her entries on Shanghai. Sorry about the long delay. It has been a long (and great) month with plenty of new friends, old friends and fun pictures. But, all of that wil have to wait. I need to finish up Shanghai. During our final days in Shanghai, we went to the Jin Mao Tower. This building is currently the tallest building in China and one of the tallest in the world (somewhere in the top 10). There are 88 floors total. The first two floors are an atrium, floors 3-50 are offices, 51 and 52 [View Full Entry]

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(Title sung to the tune of “Maria” from West Side Story) We had originally planned on going to the Yu Gardens on Monday, but the weather was looking a bit rainy. What a perfect day for a trip to the museum! We wandered around the People’s Square until we found the right building. Thanks to my trusty old Augie ID, I was able to pay the 5 yuan student admission price (as opposed to the 20 yuan adult price). We decided to split up so we could explore at our own leisure. The building was very bright and airy. There was [View Full Entry]

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(Title sung to the tune of “Bye Bye Baby” by Ok Go) The Yuyuan Gardens open at 8:30, and Lonely Planet, Fodor’s and friends all warned us to get there early to beat the tourist rush. We dragged ourselves out of bed and were assembled en masse by 7:30 to catch our cabs. We wound our way through the labyrinthine bazaar surrounding the garden, paid our admission and stepped into the peaceful garden. It was worth it to get their right at they opened. We had a few blissful moments of serene exploration and contemplation before the throngs of tourists showed [View Full Entry]

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(Title sung to the tune of Holiday Road, the theme song from Vacation, the classic Chevy Chase comedy) East Nanjing Road is known as China’s golden mile. There is a big chunk of it that is designated for pedestrian traffic only. Since we were there during National Week, even more of it was filled with swarms of revelers and peddlers alike. By night, the buildings flashed and popped like Vegas. By day, a seething sea of bodies erupted from every doorway and Metro station. We were constantly accosted by people trying to sell us “Watch. Bag. DVD. Shoes. Shoes.” The [View Full Entry]

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(Title sung to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane) After one month of living and working in Wuhan, we finally got a chance to get out of town and see some more of China. We knew that we would have a week off of teaching for National Week. We were warned that EVERYONE travels during National Week, so travel in China is a bit hairy. We initially looked into visiting South Korea, but the ludicrously high plane tickets killed that idea. Since we only spent a few hours in Shanghai on Asian term, all of us girls were really [View Full Entry]

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The one word that I remembered in Chinese prior to my return to China was jiaozi, or dumplings. From Day One, it has been our quest to find more and more jiaozi. We have found it in restaurants, frozen at the supermarket, and on the street. You can have it filled with the traditional pork and cabbage, pork and lotus root, egg and tomato (or the “breakfast jiaozi” as wee like to call it), spinach, onion, shrimp, chicken, beef. These little pockets can be filled with just about everything. We have had them steamed, pan fried and even deep-fried. Last Friday, [View Full Entry]

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