Wuhan

I arrived in Wuhan on Saturday evening, April 17.  It is a large, bustling city of 9 million people.  It is the stereotypical large Chinese city you tend to have a picture of in your mind.  There are modern high-rise buildings right beside buildings that are being torn down by hand with sledge hammers.  There are a million little shops, and I don't mean places where you go shopping, but little holes in the wall where there is constant activity but it is impossible to tell what anyone is really doing or trying to accomplish.  The city is continuously shrouded in either fog or smog or both, and I don't think there is a light bulb anywhere with more than 25 watts, which with the sm(f)og creates this very dingy atmosphere.  Finally, their traffic is absolute chaos; there are no rules and no traffic lights, they don't believe in them.  They pull out into oncoming traffic to force them to stop so they can't get to the other side of the rode.  Pedestrians have no right of way; might makes right!  There has to be a lot of people killed here by being run over - It's crazy, and the horn is the most frequently used part on the vehicle, even though blowing the horn has been outlawed!   

Having given that description, there are several beautiful landmarks and some places of incredible natural beauty.  I can't share any pictures with you yet because I have no internet access via the computer; I am typing this email on my Blackberry for Wes Weaver to post.  I won't have internet again until Friday when I go to Shanghai.

I spent all day yesterday in Mr. Zhu's school and what a great experience that was!  They told us that we would be treated like rock stars in the schools by botht the teachers and students and that is exactly how it was.  The first thing we did was the flag-raising ceremony, after which Mr. Zhu and then I addressed the 3000 students and staff.  Following the welcome and speeches, I had a meeting with all of the school administrators and Communist Party officials, who select the principals, and they had many, many questions for me about how our schools are structured and operated.  The students, teachers, principals and party officials have many misperceptions about American education and America in general.  They see American movies and TV shows and think that is reality.  I enjoyed debunking the myths, which is one of the main reasons for this exchange program.  Everyone was very welcoming and genuinely excited for my visit, the hospitality is first class!  I'll post more when I can.