The e-mail at the Holiday Inn in Wuhan costs $20 US per hour -- the most expensive I have seen in China. The Internet cafe in the local mall called People's Paradise, costs 60 cents and hour -- the cheapest I have found. Go figure.

We had a fine dinner last night with the young English teacher from the boarding school. His English name is Jack Ford. Somehow he just didn't look like a Jack Ford to me, so we called him by his Chinese name. We wanted the evening to be a treat for him, so we took him to the revolving restaurant at the top of our hotel, figuring he had never seen it -- we were right. There was a combination buffet of eastern and western dishes, but the table was set with western silverware. I spent a little time teaching our guest how to eat with a knife and fork, before he gave up and went back to chopsticks. How often have I tried to help westerners do just the reverse! I must say that after using chopsticks, western silverware, especially the hotel variety, seems awfully heavy. Jack was surprised that the knife wasn't sharp. I explained it was more often used as a pusher. That idea totally baffled him.

We had an interesting talk. His father is a high communist official whom, he says, does not like to work and does not care about poor people. He likes to drink (beer) and party officials often have meetings in big hotels which are really nothing more than expense paid social gatherings.

Our friend's father suffered terribly in his youth during the Cultural Revolution because his father had been a capitalist. He had no money to pay for food at school and had to swim across the river to go home to try to get food. At one point he lived on red carrots (I think that means radishes) for a month. Then, even though he was first in his high school class in both Russian and mathematics, he could not attend the university. I told Jack that our constitution (I had just given a dozen copies to his school) protected family members when one person was accused of a crime. Here there is no definition of rights -- it is what the officials in your neighborhood decide they are.

We discussed at some length how Jack might get to the US or another English speaking country to improve his English. It is very difficult to get a visa because the US is afraid Chinese "visitors" will not leave the country. I suggested that one of the parents at his school who was involved in a joint venture might be able to help him, but I have really no idea if that is possible.

Jack said his biggest fear about coming to the US is that he would be beaten up because he is short. I assured him that was not likely to be the problem, but that like any foreigner (including us in Wuhan) you have to be careful and sometimes people will try to take advantage of you.

For example, this morning we wanted to go to a temple, and went to great lengths first to get a card written in Chinese with the address, then to have the bellboy talk to the taxi driver to make sure he understood. We crossed over the Han River on a modern bridge that cost 5 yuan and the total fare was 26 yuan + toll. Just now we came back from the same temple and the total fare, over the old bridge (with no toll) was a total of 10 yuan. So much for trying to anticipate the problem.

I am looking forward to seeing Stefan and Katherine this afternoon. They arrive at 3:20 and will do battle with the taxis to get themselves and their luggage to our hotel. We are supposed to leave at 6:00 by bus to meet our boat -- sort of an unromantic departure, but surely part of the adventure. As Elene and I keep reminding each other, every day is different...