Chinese Whispers

So I did it! I made it all the way to Wuhan in

China

despite the nightmare of having my flights cancelled the day before. The first thing that hit me was the heat. I don’t know why I thought this but I assumed that it would be autumnal and fresh. Oh how wrong I was. Cue extreme sweating in my layers of clothing. I’m so thankful I brought shorts and flip flops with me.

My first day was pretty hectic and involved looking around at Wuhan University, which is where I will be lecturing the ‘freshman’ (first years to us English folk) and I will apparently be teaching English listening. Do I just talk and they listen?

I arrived at my apartment which was big and airy: usual bathroom, kitchen, living / dining area, two bedrooms and a balcony WITH MY WASHING MACHINE OUTSIDE! That will be an interesting experience considering that all the buttons are in Chinese. Oh, maybe I didn’t mention this before but I can speak very little Chinese. By little, I mean I can say ‘hello’ and thankyou’. Main mission of my year abroad: learn the language.

The first night’s sleep was pretty rubbish mainly because of the rock hard bed. Apparently, Chinese people think that a hard mattress is good for their health. I’m sure I will get used to it. Maybe. The main issue I realised this morning is that ALL of my appliances in the flat are in Chinese e.g. air con remotes, hotplate for cooking and washing machine as mentioned before. This has led me to translating each button using the internet and writing it all down in English!

So I best go and finish my unpacking and cleaning to get my apartment looking like home.

Until next time......

xxx