A brief intro to my new home: Wuhan is “the largest city in central China,” with somewhere around 9 million people, depending on how you count the temporary population. This makes it larger than London; yet I hadn’t really heard of it until I decided to live here?

The city sits atop the intersection of the Yangtze and Hanshui Rivers – looked at from above there appears to be a lot of water. So far, it’s been raining – a lot. In the summer it’s apparently the hottest place in China.

There is a local dialect here; but the Mandarin is pretty good – it’s not quite a southern accent; though I still find 4 indistinguishable from 10. The major local food specialty is “Hot-Dry-Noodles” (热干面), which are pretty spectacular – noodles in spicy sesame paste (tastes like peanut butter).