Wuhan (More like WOOOhan)

I’ve been in Wuhan for about 2.5 weeks so I figured that it’s about time I write something. It took me a while because when I first got here, I disliked it intensely. The pollution was at a record-breaking level (click there!) and I came in the middle of the week and started work right away, so all I knew of the city was the bleak, smoggy walk to the office. We looked out the office window to find zero visibility; everything was gray as far as the eye could see, except for the red sun. Over 300 is considered to be the most hazardous and for most of the day, it was around 600. I briefly considered sleeping in the office where we have air filters to protect my lungs. There are significantly less westerners here than in Shanghai and I was also annoyed at all the shameless staring whenever I went anywhere. Needlesstosay, I was a grouch, so a blog post would not have been a good read.

Typical gathering of ladies dancing in Wuhan

 

My apartment

Since arriving, I have had more time to explore and the city has grown on me, plus the pollution has returned to the regular unhealthy levels that I am used to from Shanghai. Wuhan is split into three districts, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang. I live in Wuchang, with a view of the Yangtze River from my window, and my office is across the water in Hankou. I share an apartment with two French girls, one Canadian, one Chinese guy, and a sweet dog named Champion. They were all super welcoming when I got here and made me dinner the first night. One flatmate showed me this huge fresh food market right down the street, which connects to a cute coffee shop street called Tanhualin. I went to one of the coffee shop about two weeks ago and when I went back today, the guy remembered me and that I ordered a latte for take-away. I also walked beyond that food market

Doupi (豆皮)

one day towards the famous Yellow Crane Tower, but it was pretty smoggy so I didn’t bother to go up (plus I heard it is not really that special and I’ve seen quite a few pagodas in my 5 months here). I also went to Hubu Xiang (Alley), a popular snack street in Wuchang, and I tried various treats, among them Wuhan’s famous doupi (豆皮) which is really just rice. Last weekend, I went to an area called Chuhe Hanjie which is the river and pedestrian street that connects Shahu Lake and East Lake. It was filled with Western brand stores such as H&M and Gap, and after a little shopping (blech) I treated myself to a nice dinner.

Coffee shop on Tanhualin

小龙虾 (xiaolongxia)

As for the reason I am in the middle of central China, I am really enjoying my internship at the US Consulate. There are very few people working in the office so I get to be involved in all the departments. The staff members are all very friendly and quickly welcomed me into the Wuhan family. We all went out for dinner the other night and had crawfish (小龙虾) which I was luckily a pro at eating thanks to my rugby road trip to New Orleans last year.

My current project is scanning tons of business cards into the computer, which is admittedly extremely boring, but I am most excited for my public outreach opportunities. In order to help people practice English and bridge American and Chinese culture, I will be attending various “English Corners” to give talks on American college life, a topic in which I am clearly an expert. I already went to a college fair with a representative from the Guangzhou Consulate and got to speak to a few students and parents about U.S. college life, and I enjoyed being able to ease some nerves and help families with what can be a very stressful time. We are also hosting an Independence Day banquet next week, which I will be the MC for, and the office has been very busy preparing for that. 

Another project of mine is my intern diary, which is another reason I haven’t been blogging on here. I write a weekly blog on my experiences in Wuhan, and then they post it every Friday on the Consulate’s Weibo account, which is Chinese twitter. These posts have even gotten some likes and comments including, “Can I make friends with her?” and “Woman-man?” followed by a confused smiley. Anyway, here are the other blog posts so you can read more about my internship and experience in Wuhan, if you are so inclined:

 

http://weibo.com/usconsulatewuhan- Good luck trying to navigate through the Chinese to find my two blog posts, I will try to upload the two Weibo posts in English later :)