Things are going well here on the other side of the world! The girls started school this week, which has been fabulous! They started at Wuhan Yangtze International School, a private Christian school. Thankfully it is a benefit provided by the government as it is between $25,000-$30,000 per year per kid! The kids started on Monday which was also Columbus Day, so Adam was off. We got them to the school bus which arrives on the street in front of our neighborhood (we are in a gated neighborhood with one car entry and several pedestrian entries) then he and I took a Didi (taxi/Uber) to the school. We got the kids outfitted with the school uniform: white and green polos with the school logo on them plus tan or navy pants that we buy. The girls look so cute in their uniforms! (This picture makes Emmy look way taller than Mini. She is taller but not that much taller.) Then Adam and Eve (I love when I get to say that!) met with the elementary principal and the other girls and I met with the secondary principal. We got their schedules figured out then the girls headed to class. Adam and I got a quick tour of the school then we headed home. It's a small school--300 kids. Mini, who goes by Cate now but she'll always be Mini to me, is one of 16 11th graders and Emmy is one of 13 9th graders! The younger grades are a little bigger. The student body is mostly Chinese and Korean but everyone is required to speak English all the time.
After getting the kids to school, Adam and I headed out on an adventure to Guishan Mountain. We rode the metro for about a half hour then walked about 15 minutes before arriving. We started with lots of stairs then got to areas with uphill asphalt and stone paths. It took us about 25 minutes to get to the top, which had a great view of the Yangtze River and Wuhan (or part of it). Being from Utah it is barely more than a hill, but it is still a nice vantage point. Guishan Mountain has a lot of history because it sits at the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze. There are statues to warriors and military leaders going up. At the top we could see the Yangtze River, a couple massive bridges that cross it, and over to the most famous landmark in Wuhan, the Yellow Crane Tower. If you zoom in on the first picture you can see the Yellow Crane Tower right over Adam's right ear. It was fun to get more of a bird's eye perspective of the city. It's hard to conceptualize from the ground.
We walked down the other side of the mountain, crossed the street, and found a commemorative park right on the water. The statues were dedicated to an ancient hero who helped "tame the flood." Not sure the history but we were wondering if there could be some link to Noah because there are animals with a bird on top of each. Here are some pics. The tall building in the second pic is Wuhan TV Tower. In the middle of the third pic you can see across the river to the Yellow Crane Tower. We're excited to go back and explore this area more! It's so crazy to be here and there are no other foreigners. There was a few other people who looked like tourists but were Chinese. We seriously never see other foreigners.
We got home in time for the kids to get off the bus. They were really positive about their first day, reporting that the other students were really friendly, the teachers were welcoming, and lunch was good (they get to choose between American and Asian lunch every day and it's really good food). The class sizes were quite noticeable and they said the teachers feel a little more chill, which makes sense since they aren't managing big classes. We are so grateful that they get the experience of going to WYIS!
One of our favorite things here is going out to dinner. The options are endless, although not a lot of variety--mostly rice or noodles with meat and veggies. But each place has its own feel and we love exploring. A couple times we have gotten on the metro and gotten off at a new stop and just explored. One of those times we found an outdoor food court/alley where we found yummy food. We went back there Monday evening.
As we walked in Monday evening, an elderly man sitting at one of the tables starting talking loudly. Mini smiled and thanked him so I asked her what he said. She said he had said something like, "Welcome to this place foreigners!" I was happy to hear that. People stare at us so much and I wonder what they're thinking. I always smile and some smile back, some keep staring, and some look away. I got a kick out of these ladies (in red, behind Adam) who were janitors for the area. They stared at us for about ten minutes, then when we left our table and went a few shops down to an ice cream shop, they moved to a table closer to us.
That night I also had fun with my WeChat translate scanner. WeChat is used for everything--messaging, payments, shopping, paying utilities, etc. Someone showed me a scan feature that will translate signs and I've loved it! Super helpful! Here was a translation that I got a kick out of:
With the girls in school and Adam at work, I've had lots of personal time. Bella keeps me good company!
One of my favorite things is the groups of ladies (sometimes men) exercising in the mornings. There is one in our neighborhood that does dance/movement routines with paddles and balls. This morning I was delighted to find a drum group practicing a drum routine with some choreography.
Yesterday I took the metro to Adam's work and met him for lunch. It's about a 40 minute metro ride with a transfer. Thankfully the signs are in Chinese and English so I can navigate the metro. His building is in a more downtown area with high rise commercial building. Most of the high rise buildings around our home are residential. We went to "food street" which has tons of food shops.
Some highlights were the pigs feet...
And the hairy crabs. I had seen "hairy crab mushroom soup" in Sam's Club, which sounds worse than eating vomit in my opinion, and in the market I saw what must be the hairy crabs. If you look closely you can the hair on their legs 😬
One interesting thing here is the squatting. They are so good at squatting comfortably (which is very convenient when using the public toilets--see my previous post!). I had to snap a pic of these guys:
And the scooters. There are SO MANY scooters! And they are all electric per government decree so they sneak up on you without any warning. Walking on the sidewalk is treacherous--we're having to train the kids to always be aware. Here is the scooter parking outside the metro station. It's nice that it's so safe that they don't have to lock them or their belongings.
This weekend we get to participate in the online church branch for the first time! Yay! Unfortunately Adam will miss as he is working Saturday and Sunday on a task force helping US citizens in Israel. (It's hard to complain about him working on a weekend when he's helping people in a sad/scary situation.) He has permission to administer the sacrament at home so we'll do that before he leaves and then the rest of us can participate with the branch.
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