"You're not American! You're Indian"

I was the Bank of China today exchanging dollars and the bank teller was surprised to see I have an American passport. He told me "You're Indian, how can you be American?" After I explained I moved to America, he understood. I was making small talk and mentioned I'm from Cleveland, a huge smile appeared on his face and he goes "Emperor James! He is the best, better than Kobe" Thanks Lebron, you've put Cleveland on the map.

It's been 36 hours since I've arrived in Wuhan and things have been a blur. I've been with my two english speaking co-workers, Sharon and Grace, almost the entire time I've been awake. They've been making sure I'm being fed and helping with everything I have to tackle. Until I find an apartment, I was graciously offered the use of the Biocause Corporate Apartment. I was a bit shocked when I realized the corporate apartment is actually a guesthouse with 5 bedrooms! Not a big deal or so I thought. When I was getting ready for bed, I walked into the bathroom and saw this....

Now as much as it pains me to say, I really like the Japanese and how they respect going to the bathroom. You'll never find a dirty Japanese bathroom...or the flip side, you'll almost never find a clean Chinese bathroom. The Chinese just don't seem to care. Now considering that my group paid a porter to carry a portable toilet when we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, it's obvious I wouldn't last in this corporate housing. I spent the night and have now shifted to a hotel. I'll stay in "Kingdom Hotel" until I find my own apartment.

I've pretty much explored all the nice parts of Wuhan. The city is split up into 3 parts with a river running across it...luckily for me, our office is in the most exciting one of the three areas, Hankou. I've been able to see all the areas and decided on the most upscale district. The area has a Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Pizza Hut along with tons of bars/restaurants. Sure, you can knock me for 'coping' out and living in the Western part of town, but two things....I live in Wuhan, give me some slack and second, have you ever been to a non-Western part of a Chinese city? I dare you to live there.

Before I moved, Harsha warned me the Biocause Office is a bit ghetto, especially given how nice the Granules office is. He wasn't kidding, We are on the 7th floor of an unfinished building...only the 7th floor is done while the rest of the floors are still under construction. Considering construction stopped in 2002, I don't anticipate it being completed soon. Since it's unfinished, there is no elevator which means a nice, slow walk up the stairs everyday. As with typical Wuhan tradition, we shut off all the lights except above our cubicle. Since I'm on the Board of Directors, I get an office with my own A/C, which is nice during the Wuhan summer, when it goes up to 115 degrees. However, we don't have heating in the office (another unique feature of Wuhan) so I'm currently shivering in my office...I will need to buy some nice gloves ASAP.

I'm not freaking out too much...yet. Things will be much better once I move into an apartment. I'm still waiting for my health exam, which will allow me to post for my work permit...once I get a work permit, I can open up a bank account, credit card and buy a car. This is going to be just as hard as I thought, possibly even harder than I envisioned. I'm convincing myself that living in Wuhan is better than living in Shanghai...Wuhan isn't as Western so I will be forced to really adapt and blend in with the culture, while Shanghai is pretty much a Western City.

On a big personal blow, I will not be able to get a Chinese Blackberry until at least the end of this year. I bit the bullet and bought a Nokia E63...it's not bad, but certainly no Blackberry. I'll keep my India Blackberry solely for Blackberry Messenger and unrestricted Internet Access when I need it, but my primary phone is the Nokia...boo.

Status: Day 2...still alive, cautiously excited and scared out of my mind.