The way back home from Tibet went via my adopted home, Wuhan, to say goodbye to friends and pick up our overstuffed suitcases. I spent my days in a whirlwind of good-bye dinners, lunches and coffees, each one making it more and more difficult to leave. One friend even made a home-cooked dinner, quite an honor in a country where meeting friends almost always happens at restaurants. The weather was mostly nice, and the summer heat hadn’t yet set in — a perfect time to return to, and leave, Wuhan.
I left Wuhan in June, and in the month and a half since I left, a lot has happened there. One friend got married (these things can happen quickly). The Wuda campus was flooded with water. See below for pictures, via Eric, who since I left has started a company to connect people to teaching and business opportunities in China (a good person to talk to if you want to teach in Wuhan).
The most shocking piece of news was one that I discovered via the Washington Post. The director of the Women’s Health Center in Wuhan, which I wrote about a few months ago (here and here), was arrested, and according to the Washington Post, is currently in detention — I’m hoping to hear how she’s doing soon.
Hi Maria, remember me?
I just stumbled onto your blog the other day, and it looks like you’re leaving Wuhan. What are the plans now – heading back home or somewhere new?
Hi Merric, it’s great to hear from you! I’m in the process of moving to London (so home-ish). Where are you? Have you been back to China recently?
I’m back in Australia in the process of setting up a civil litigation law firm with an old friend of mine.
I haven’t been back to China yet, hoping to get back towards of the end of the year, even if only for a couple of weeks. Funnily enough, I’ve enrolled in an LLM (specialising in comparative Chinese/Australian law) and one of the subjects is taught intensively on-campus at 武大. So I guess I’ll be heading back there next year for a few weeks!
London sounds great. It’s the destination of choice for basically every single Australia university graduate these days, you’ll probably bump into one of my cousins at some point.
Hi, Maria, how are you? I believe everything` s going well. I` m still in Wuhan, as torrid as you can imagine. But it seems he is much more tender than before, since lots of cities arround him are even boiling. And these days, I gradually love Wuhan. Amazing…
I plan to work in Shenzhen in September, and thank goodness, I passed the CFA level 1. But I need to try the GRE again, because my quantitvative section is a little bit lower than the average. It is even hard for me to make this decision. But I need to face it. God bless me…
You asked me when I would go to London. Well, I will try my best to meet you as soon as possible!
Hi Eva!
Congratulations on passing the first level of the CFA! 听说特别难. I’m glad you’ve come to see the beauty of Wuhan, I’ve always said it’s a great city
. Although I have to admit that I’m glad that I’m not there this summer, it seems like the weather has been really extreme this year. Working in Shenzhen sounds great. 如果你来不到伦敦，我明年可以试试去中国 
. Good luck with studying for the GRE — 祝你成功！
芮雅
Thank you!
For Wuhan, 我想说我喜欢流汗的感觉，非常的酣畅淋漓！武汉确实是一个让人慢慢爱上的城市。
祝一切都好！
呵呵，我自己不能习惯流汗的感觉，但是我同意，武汉真的让人慢慢爱上。伦敦现在太冷了~ 除了昆明以外，没有天气理想的地方！
Hey Maria, just found your blog now I was Googling Costa Coffee in Wuhan. Gonna have a more detailed perusal later, when I get back from Hankou. It looks very interesting.
Eva, how’s Shenzhen? Maybe that’ll be my next move, if after 6 years here I can ever tear myself away from wonderful Wuhan!?