Wuhan is different in many ways. Many of those who have lived there would agree that it is a special place. For many reasons. For one, everything changes every day. “Wuhan, Different Everyday” or in Chinese “武汉，每天不一样” (Wuhan, mei tian bu yi yang) would be the slogan that greets you on the billboards when you arrive in this ever-changing city. And the slogan would hold. Every day the weather changes (sometimes several times in a day), the roads detour, people keep coming in and going out, the buildings are torn down and others built.

For two, the geography and the climate are a challenge to meet: if you can survive in Wuhan, you can survive anywhere else. Wuhan has sizzling, humid summers and wild winters, being straddled on the convergence of the Yangtze River and the Han River, with several other tributaries and countless lakes. That also brings a healthful seafood diet. It also makes Wuhan a hotspot for fun water activities and a range of magnificent sights. You can swim in Donghu Lake, take cruises along the rivers, or ride bicycles and take photos in the scenic parks lining the water. 

Third, the transport system is a story in itself. I kept losing my way around Wuhan and getting really embarrassed about it until a professor once told us that she also kept getting lost - and she was born and bred there. The reason is in the winding roads, subways, waterways, railways, and harbors that make Wuhan a major link to other parts of China. And remember, the city’s layout keeps changing. Not to mention that Wuhan is separated into three districts - Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang - divided by three rivers. When crossing between the districts, there is a point where the subway goes under a river! The means of travel around and in and out of Wuhan are, however, usually efficient - and varied.

Fourth, variety is the spice of life in Wuhan. Located in the central southern part of China, this capital of Hubei province enjoys variety in every way. Where northerners have noodles as their staple food and southerners have rice, Wuhan gets combinations like stir fried rice, hot wet noodles, and the Wuhanese iconic dish, hot dry noodles (“re gan mian” [热干面]) dashed with sesame and spring onion: a popular breakfast.

And fifth, the people in Wuhan are also from different parts of China – and the world - with students arriving from all over to study at the more than 70 universities and other institutions offering courses from Naval Engineering to Fashion Design to Sports Economics and Geosciences. And a sample of the whole world has visited Wuhan. Students from almost all countries have studied there, not to mention investors and other professionals pouring in to this economic and cultural hub that is the most populated and most developed in Southern China. While in Wuhan, I met people from places like Papua New Guinea and saw some from places I had never heard of such as Suriname. Yet in all this mixture, there was a sense of harmony. 

The highlight for me was in learning to live with the different people. Having been born and raised in a village and then finding myself among so many different people in this ever-changing place, I had a lot to learn. My world was spinning, and every day brought a new challenge, a new way of doing things, a new set of people. I dealt with giggling children who asked whether my hair was made of cotton (I have worn it natural my adult years) and passers-by who would examine my skin and take photos of me while whispering to each other “黑人” (hei ren) to mean “black person”. I’m not sure what shade I was because the changing weather patterns played around with my complexion. 

Nevertheless, I set out to celebrate all this variety. That took everything from attending every other culture festival, showcasing cultural artefacts, attending events hosted by different countries there, introducing people to my own culture, worshipping with different people of the same faith, and spending holidays with Chinese families. All the while getting comments from the Chinese about how hot the sun must be in Africa for me to look like that and being constantly examined by curious strangers. With time, though, we began to understand each another. We began to see beyond appearances and look deeper beneath. Ultimately, we realized that we were more alike than we were different. Although we struggled to understand each other’s speech, the people in Wuhan and I understood the universal languages of kindness, respect and love. We formed deep bonds and became comfortable in each other’s spaces. We shared life and exchanged apples during Christmas to mark those bonds. We attended each other’s birthday parties and even fought like siblings. We cried together and saw each other off when leaving. We became like family. Somewhere along the way, it hit me that it was time for me to leave. I hadn’t completed my tenure but simply needed to go. Simply but painfully. People had various and interesting theories for the untimely departure, from early pregnancy to depression to financial constraints to landing a marriage partner. Story for another day. I said my goodbyes, “再见” (“zaijian”) which actually means “see (you) again”. It was bittersweet and it felt like leaving one home to return to another home. I had to start over back in my home country. Then the pandemic came, and I heard from Wuhan again. Wuhan is special in many ways.