That’s right. Never ones to stay grounded for too long and always willing to embrace change, we’re off once again. This time around though, the cultural shock won’t be quite so severe.
Because we are staying within China, but moving to Shanghai this fall.
This whole situation came about suddenly, as is often the case with expat life. A chance meeting with a colleague in Shanghai led Julie into a new opportunity within her current company. After a few weeks and a couple of late night phone calls with the boss man back in the US, it was settled.
Her team in the new role is based mostly out of the Shanghai office, hence the relocation. Julie has spent a fair amount of time there for work since we moved to China, and I’ve been happy to piggy back on those business trips. We love Shanghai and have talked about the possibility of moving there at some point. In fact, back when we were originally contemplating a move to China, Shanghai was our top pick.
As you know, we eventually settled in Shenzhen instead, a city we knew nothing about and had never even visited before we moved here permanently.
It was a leap of faith into the deep end of the pool. (And yes, I think a mixed metaphor is quite appropriate in this case.)
Thankfully, Shenzhen expat life has worked out well. The culture shock was real and adjustment period was long (remember our 6 month rule!), but we have no plans to give up our China lives any time soon. We are comfortable here, and we’ve made a bunch of friends who I hope will be the lifelong kind. We can actually speak some Chinese, and we know how to get ourselves around town. Our clothes dry from the hangers built into our balcony, we have discussions about the air quality index, and our WeChat game is strong.
We’re definitely not beginners anymore.
Essentially, the point I’m trying to get across is that moving to Shanghai after living in Shenzhen doesn’t feel so scary. We know where we want to live, we have friends, and Julie already knows her colleagues and co-workers. Plus, the thought of quick and easy access to ridiculously good xiaolongbao and shengjianbao (ie. soup dumplings, which originated in Shanghai) on a daily basis is thrilling.
The fear of the unknown for our initial move to China was real. This time around, not so much. Rather than a dive into the deep end, this feels more like falling off a unicorn pool floatie over the deep end of the pool. It’s complicated, it’s still China, but we got this. And yes, I have a picture for that.
Now, you may remember about our visa drama in 2017 (see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). This round of visas is shaping up to be just as gnarly, only this time we have to cancel one set of permits and apply for new ones. We will make sure to fill you in on the process of moving from one Chinese city to another, because just like last time, the internet is not exactly spilling over with details.
Ok, before I get anxious with the thoughts of paperwork and notaries, let’s just take a moment and relish in the unfolding of another exciting chapter. This expat ride just got a little more crazy.
Shanghai, here we come!
