Life In Wuhan

Our group leader warned us that life would really change when we arrived in Wuhan. He said the hotel was a Chinese Motel 6 and the food was, well, "troubling." In previous years many American teachers were sick in Wuhan, whether from food, water, travel fatigue, or very high temperatures and humidity. The first two weeks of this trip we have enjoyed very good hotels and excellent Chinese food. I think we all expected that this teaching assignment would be handled in the efficient way our travel tour was handled. For example, I think we imagined we would have a University campus map, a Wuhan city map, a short list of good nearby Chinese restaurants, and information regarding the location and cost of laundry, xeroxing, and computer services. In fact, none of these things were available. This has been good news and bad news. The bad news: Each person has to pioneer a solution to each problem unless he happens to run into another teacher who has already solved the problem.

The good news is this: The necessity of solving all these logistics problems by ourselves has forced each of us to learn the ropes. Although this trial and error method has used up considerable time and manpower, I can easily get around on my own now. I can hail a cab in this traffic, direct him to my destination (even though cab drivers speak no English), and pay the driver correctly. I found a copy place that I can walk to to reproduce teaching materials (it is located outside in an alley and has one copy machine). The price is very right, and the owner knows me now so we have no trouble making the transaction.

I shop in the local supermarket for Chinese peach yogurt (terrific), Australian oatmeal, bananas, tangerines, and some powdered cappucino. The best and cheapest beer is Snow or Tsingtao (we drink beer because bottled water is seldom available in restaurants, and we're really tired of soft drinks). Tea is always served, but it is often very different from tea served in America. Coffee is seldom served except is 5-star places. Fortunately, I brought some instant coffee with me. I also know that the closest Starbucks is about 2 miles away, exactly 9.4 yuan by cab. We often know when we've arrived at a specific destination by checking the cab fare. For example, the Italian restaurant is 7 yuan from our hotel. All the signage is in Chinese (no English sub-titles).

We've all figured out that leaving our laundry at the hotel desk is 3 times as expensive as walking about 500 yards to the tiny outdoor laundry nearby. We also now know that you must say "wash and iron" or just "wash."

In short, after a week, I wear clean clothes, get around Wuhan independently, shop for the things I need, and have the supplies I need for teaching.