Return to Wuhan

I arrived back in the city of Wuhan on Saturday morning after an overnight journey on a sleeper train. Travelling at this time of year, the trains are always busy as people begin returning to work or school after their summer vacations.

I arrived in Wuchang railway station at 5.15am and even at that early hour it is already busy. I had to take the subway then a bus to get to my destination, so waited (along with many others) for the subway to open, for some reason that I was unable to discover, the subway was late opening and it was about 6.15 before the first train arrived. I used lines 4 and then 2 to get to Optics Valley Square or Guanggu Square as it is also known as. A short walk to the bus stop and after a few minutes of waiting the bus arrived.

This stop is the beginning of this bus route, usually easy to get a seat and I was third in line of about 6 people waiting for the bus. Despite the small number of people getting on one person still had to push his way onto the bus, the lack of patience among some people here surprises me even now. Eventually I arrived back at my apartment around 8 am, ready to unpack my bags after living out of a suitcase for most of the past 2 months.

I discovered that I had no connection to the internet, I could connect with my phone, no problem, but the school’s internet which I needed to use for my laptop was not working. On calling someone about this, I was informed that it was off for some maintenance work being completed in the school, strangely it was reconnected late on Sunday evening, at about the same time as most of the Chinese staff began arriving back.

My son began his first days at school just over two weeks ago, he is only two so it was a big step for him. On the first morning he was very excited to be going, until he realized that he would be left there with these people he didn’t know. Since then each morning he is happy to go until just before arriving at the school and then the realization that he will be away from his mother and father for day is too much for him. After a few minutes he is ok, and happy to be there. He is also happy in the afternoon when it is time to be going home. Now I am back working and away from my family it is not so easy for me, although we do chat and see each other on the phone a couple of times each day.

The school here is not very good with communication, I begin working again later this week, not sure of the exact day or time. I cannot plan my classes too much in advance as I will not get the textbooks or teaching schedule until Thursday. Maybe I am teaching on Thursday, maybe I am not!