Blogs from Wuhan, Hubei, China, Asia - page 8

I attended high school in my hometown and went to college a whole hour away from home, so I had never celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas without my family. Also I quite liked the tEp fambly New Years celebrations where we usually cooked dinner together and did some stuff like play Risk or watch Star Wars. This year, Thanksgiving happened in the middle of a work week. There is one other foreign graduate student here, a nice guy from Iraq named Gazal (spelling?) who I recently met when we both represented the Atom/Molecule team during an Institute-wide tug of war competition (we won! prize = shampoo and conditioner, wat). He already got his Ph.D. in Iraq, but had to start over here in China. Maybe we can start an International Students Association (membership: 2). Anyway, there aren't ... read more

img=http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/72704955.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FD3D6E8E24F8AD364CE4A3FED40F05E8434E17D391174706014A5CA3D98B00E0B3 It is the week before Christmas and all through the town, Very few people realize what is coming down. One tree can be seen at our nearby large mall It's not really a tree, but at least it's quite tall. Covered in plastic candy, and circles and bows, And cone-shaped and colorful, it even quite glows. Metro has some tunes that it plays as you shop But it's only three songs and they don't ever stop. How many times can you hear the same Christmas song Before you go crazy.....but don't get me wrong... Christmas in China is not that bad And there are many things for which I am glad The weather is great, high teens every day No snow to shovel leaves more time to play. Friday off this week and only four ... read more

I got the apartment cleaned up and modestly decorated. My old roommate went to go do research at Yale and I got a new roommate Chen Jiao, a very sweet girl my age who is in her 5th undergraduate year studying veterinary medicine. (All medicine undergraduate programs are 5 years.) She was just living by the Chinese Academy of Sciences so that she could complete her undergraduate thesis research here. Now she finished her research, so she has already moved out. We had fun jogging, watching some Chinese movies I didn't understand and also Desperate Housewives together : ) Also one evening she and her boyfriend made me dinner which was really nice of them. I feel bad one night I invited her to Vox without knowing what the band would be like and it was ... read more

Wuhan or 武汉 in the Chinese characters is the capital of Hubei province in central China. Wuhan is situated in the middle of Hubei Province, 113°41′-115°05′ East, 29°58′-31°22′ North, It lies at the east of Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han River..Arising out of the conglomeration of three boroughs, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, Wuhan is known as "the nine provinces' leading thoroughfare"; it is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city. The city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of approximately 9,100,000 people (2006), with about 6,100,000 residents in its urban area. Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational and transportation center of central China. The metropolitan area comprises three parts - ... read more

Yes, this is officially blog number 100 since my first entry on February 18, 2008 . 66057 words and 1816 photos later, the China saga continues! We have certainly settled in to life in China and feel quite comfortable getting around compared to when we first arrived. Ok, so this one is a little late in coming but better late than never. What with personal issues combined with the end of term, it has been a busy couple of weeks. This is the third Halloween party we have had at the school. We have come a long way from "What the hell is Halloween?" to where we are now. It is not a big deal here, which is surprising, since most people love to dress outrageously at the best of times and the ability to get ... read more