Moving to China for 2 years. Is anyone else there?

[Missymoomum]

Hi, myself and my 2 children are moving to Beijing with DH with his job in 3 weeks time. My DS is 3.5 and my DD has just turned 2.

I went out for a brief visit in June and really liked it and am really looking forward to it but still feeling nervous about leaving everything/everyone i know for 2 years especially as i've had to take a career break (i'm a nurse) to do it having only been in my most recent job for a year which i loved.

I think my children will love it and it'll be a great experience for all of us.

It would be great to hear from other people that are over there at the moment/have lived there.

x

Hi Missymoomum,

I'm not in Beijing but I've been here in Shanghai for a few years now. I love it here and I've heard Beijing is very similar - One of the things i found really useful was www.ShanghaiMamas.org (kind of like Mumsnet for Shanghai!) and I think there is a Beijing Mamas yahoo group called BeijingMamas but as far as I know it's not as active as the shanghai group. Feel free to send me a message if you have any specific questions

Shanghai

Hi Shanghai,

Thanks for your reply. We have now been in Beijing for 3 weeks exactly! We're settling in well so far and i've started to meet other mums with similar aged children which is great. There's even a toddler group on the compound which is great as we then don't have to travel to get together. My DH is having to work away a lot so i feel happy that i'm starting to meet people that i can build friendships with to wile away the time with when DH is away.

Shanghai sounds like a great place to live and we're hoping to come down for a long weekend at some point so you'll have to let me know the best places to go and shop!!!

Hi I am in Shanghai and have been here since August with DH and 4 very young daughters. It has been a bumpy ride, with my 4 year-old in hospital with pneumonia and I found it very hard to settle at first.(Mostly because I went back to work full time after having 4 kids!) Things are getting easier and now that I can speak some Mandarin, it's far better. Sometimes I love it here and at other times I hate it. I'm sure that's normal. The culture shock of coming to China is pretty major. Nice to find some others in the same situation. Oh and if you need advice on shopping, you have come to the right place!!!