Hi, i've just joined this site and found this forum. DH is in the process of (all being well)taking up a secondment with his company in Beijing. He was supposed to be flying out there last week but of course, with the whole volcanic ash saga he wasn't able to go so is going at the end of May. If everything goes ahead i think we would be looking at going around September time. I've had a bit of a search on the internet but i've not managed to find much geared towards moving over there with 2 young children (by september my DS will be 3.5 and my DD 2). We'll be there for 2 years so DS will have to start school over there and potentially my DD will have to be there a couple of months depending on when we actually move out there. I'm quite looking forward to it all as it will mean i won't have to work and can spend more time with the children but i also don't want to be isolated and would be interested to know about good places to live, expat children's activities, groups etc. I gather it has a good expat community which is good. Some of my concerns are how you get out and about in terms of public transport with 2 young kids, availability of the kind of food we're used to over here in the supermarkets, air quality, open spaces, language barriers/places to learn Chinese etc. I know to seasoned Beijinger expats these questions probably seem ridiculous but as someone who is moving over there out of necessity rather than desire i want to keep my childrens lives as undisrupted as possible as well as let them have a fantastic experience not many children will get. DH has been there before and has warned me it's a complete culture shock! We are hoping that i will get a chance to fly out there before we move to have a look around so that will be good.
Thanks