Yep, we are moving again. Twice, actually. Internationally and transcontinentally at about the same time. One day recently, it became very obvious that we should stop trying to return to China and less than 24 hours later Shon received a job offer in California. So for the past week or so, my life has been nothing but sorting, packing,...
Earlier this fall, I spotted a lady with a tote that featured Shenzhen skyline. After having lived in China for 2 years, I know that Shenzhen souvenirs are virtually impossible to find, so I accosted the poor woman to find out where she got her bag. To my amazement, it turned out that I already knew the person who...
Here’s the short answer: we do like living in Shenzhen, China! As for the detailed answer, read on. Why do you like living in Shenzhen? Shenzhen is a huge city of over 12 million people, but it’s very well developed and easy to navigate. Main streets are wide, traffic is generally orderly, which is fairly unusual in China’s cities,...
It’s November 2018. We’ve now lived in Shenzhen, China, for more than a year. People often ask us, “How does living in China compare to living in the USA?” or “How does teaching in China compare to teaching in the USA?” So, in this installment of Life in China, we will endeavor to answer those questions. We’ll also consider...
Many of you know we started our expatriate lives off teaching overseas in the United Arab Emirates. You maybe wondering the same question we find ourselves asked frequently: “How does living in China compare to living in the UAE?” Or perhaps, “How does teaching in China compare to teaching in the United Arab Emirates?” As it turns out, that’s...
This installment of Life in China is focused on an aspect of Chinese culture that stands as a fairly stark contrast to our American culture. Read on for a bit of insight into how the interesting people of this vast city of Shenzhen, in this vast nation of China, approach the outdoors. Specifically, we’re focusing on how Chinese women...
Life in Shenzhen Means Noise Traveling, and particularly living abroad as expats, teaches us about ourselves and about our own society as much as it does about others. In this entry of Life in China, we’re talking about something which has informed our understanding of ourselves as Americans and Americans as tourists, as well as making a general observation...
This installment of our Life in China series kicks off a discussion about food culture. Before we get started, bear in mind that we’re looking at things through our American lenses, and we know that naturally we carry our own cultural biases with us as we live and work in China. China remains a foreign country to us, even...
Our last installment in the Life in China series was about cost of living here in Shenzhen, China. This week, we are writing about our favorite truly authentic Chinese foods. China is renowned for its cuisine, of which it has eight main sorts. Each one is available in Shenzhen, since the city is an agglomeration of people from all...
Updated April 25, 2019. Hi everyone! Welcome back to “Life in China.” This is the second post in our series, and it is all about cost of living here in Shenzhen, China. We are frequently asked what the cost of living in China is like and whether we can save any money. These are really good questions, because while...