"It never snows in Wuhan!"

Everyone who’s traveled seems to have their public transportation horror story. I had mine the other night. Well, it’s not exactly deemed worthy of a “horror story” title, but it’s my first of the year, so the most “horrish” thus far. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was hanging out with some of my Chinese friends singing KTV (karaoke). When we came outside afterwards, we saw that it had begun to rain and snow. After we had dinner, I was hoping to get a taxi home. But since we were over the river and through the woods from where I live (literally, over the Yang Zi river) and the weather made a free taxi impossible to find. My friend suggested I take a bus to get in to my district of Wuhan, and then it will be easier to find a taxi from there. I’m very comfortable with the bus system now, so it was no problem. So I hopped aboard a crowded bus and rode for about ½ hour until I reached a familiar location. By then it was raining and snowing pretty profusely, and the streets were a mess with cars, buses, and people (first snow of the season). When I got off the bus, it didn’t take me long to realize that I was not going to find a taxi. Every free taxi that pulled up to the curb was instantly swarmed with people, so much so that people were driving around in their private cars offering rides for a fare. I knew where I was, and I knew the bus that I could grab home, but I couldn’t find the bus stop. I walked around the streets for about 15-20 minutes, and none of the bus stops had the bus I was looking for. I finally found the bus station on a side street. It was a single bus station solely for this bus. I didn’t have an umbrella with me so I ducked under the overhang of a shop to wait for the bus. It was getting close to the time that the buses stop running, and I was a little worried that I’d be waiting forever for nothing. In my 20 minutes or so of waiting, this woman who spoke a little English struck up a conversation with me. She reassured me that the bus would come, and she was going to the same stop I was so I knew I was at the right place. Another barrier I almost hit was money, I wasn’t sure if I had any small bills or coins with me. It’s always imperative to have the right change when you get on a bus (or close to it), because I don’t know how to ask for change in a store. But luckily, I had just enough with all my really small coins to make 2 Yuan, and I didn’t have to worry about getting change somewhere. So the bus finally arrived, and heaps of people made a mad dash. Not having been in China long, I haven’t perfected the “push and shove” method of getting a spot on a crowded bus yet, so I got pushed to the back of the heap. Now in the States when you think of a crowded bus, you probably think of not getting a seat right? Well a crowded bus in China means there isn’t one square inch of you that isn’t touching someone else. For a few minutes I couldn’t even get up on the first step of the bus. But I was not about to be left behind, so I just sort of flattened myself against the crowd and hoped that the door would clear me when it closed. It did, and that woman I had met sort of watched out for me and was able to pull me up a few steps. My next dilemma was getting off at the right stop. I couldn’t see out the windows because of the weather and people, and I can’t understand Chinese well enough to know when they call out the name of my stop. The woman helped me, though, because she was at the same stop. By the time I got home, I was wet, cold and tired. But proud to be able to say that I braved my first mini-dilemma all on my own, and made a new friend (the woman) who I’m getting together with for Chinese-English practice.

Snow on the walkway from our apartments to the school

The school field

Me on the roof of our apartments. I loved the way the snow made Wuhan so beautiful!

Fall !!! ...or lack there of

Last Sunday afternoon I was walking around in my short sleeved t-shirt. Monday morning I woke up to frigid frigid cold! I had heard that Wuhan only had two seasons (Summer and Winter), but I had never in my life felt a weather change that drastic! I found out, though, that there was more than nature at work. Beijing had been going through a drought, and to conquer it the government decided to send 180 rockets with dry ice up into the air (same as they did during the anniversary celebration) to cause it to rain. Only instead of rain, the cold weather made it snow! They got the earliest snow fall in nearly 20 years. So they did that on Sunday, and we got the cold front on Monday. Luckily, by Wednesday it was back to bearably cold, and now its back to t-shirt and light sweater weather, allowing me some more time to stock up on warm clothes. Being in California the last 4 years, I’m seriously lacking in that department. During the two cold days we had, I got a little taste of what it’s going to be like to teach this winter. The Chinese are obsessed with the idea of “fresh air” and refuse to close the windows in the classrooms no matter what the weather. They also don’t run the heater (just like they didn’t run the a/c during the heat), so the kids sit in class bundled up and wearing gloves while trying to write. I bought some gloves without fingers to make it easier for me to write on the chalk board. This is going to be very interesting experience.

Last month, I realized how cheaply you could actually live in Wuhan. When I came back from Beijing, I had 900 yuan of spending money to last me the rest of the month (3 weeks). 900 yuan is about 130 U.S. dollars. I budgeted a bit and was able to make it to payday with 200 yuan left! I say budgeted a ‘bit’ because I simply had to watch how much I spent (ate most meals at the school, etc), but I was still able to do a lot of things.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my co-teachers the other day. We took a field trip to an orange orchard about an hour away, and I sat next to her on the bus. I was asking her about her husband, because I knew she got married last year. She told me that what they have isn’t true love, but she likes him and respects him. He’s even tempered and can take care of her. I was a bit taken back that should would just come out and say that. I asked her if it was her decision to marry him, or her parents’ decision. She told me that she first met him, and introduced him to her parents. They liked him, and told her they wanted her to marry him. He had the decision of saying yes or no, and he said yes. She said that she agreed to it because she trusts her parents’ judgment more than her own. She was afraid that if she were to choose her own husband, she would make the wrong decision. She also mentioned that looking for a mate is so tiring and this was easier. I’ve been trying to get someone to talk to me about Chinese marriage practices since I got here, so I was glad she was so open with me about this. She ended with saying that she thinks she made the right decision in marrying her husband, and she is very content and close to being truly happy. The rest of the field trip was really fun! My first graders had just learned the word "orange" so I got to listen all day to them say "whats this? It's an orangey." Here's a little video of them crowding me (as usual). If you can't understand what they're saying, it's "fanatastic" only they say it like "finetastic".

I had fun celebrating my first Chinese Halloween! Pip and I both work part time at a kindergarten in the area, and they invited us to their Halloween party. We got decked out, and were by far the most dressed up. We hung out with the kids and played games, but most of the time we spent having our pictures taken by parents. Foreigners dressed up in costumes are a real photo opp! Here are some pictures of the Halloween party.

With the holiday season approaching, I thought I should include my mailing address, just in case anyone wants to send a Christmas card (or cookies) this way :) Here it is:

No. 259 Jeifang Rd

Wuchang District

Wuhan

Hubei Province

P.R. China

430060

You can also check out my pictures in my photobucket. I need to update the pictures and hope to do that soon. Check 'em out! www.photobucket.com/ahnainwuhan

Fun Fact: China is the oldest civilization still in existence today. I don't know why I never knew this before, but that is so cool to think that I am living in the oldest surviving civilization in the world!