Halls take on China

[A bit of back story to the reason behind moving to China]
David has been planning to attend Graduate School sooner than later, and an opportunity arose, so here we are! David served his mission in Taiwan, so he speaks mandarin, and his parents have lived in China for about 7 years. So in considering China, we knew we wouldn't going into this experience blind. David's program is 21 months so we are here for that long, then who knows where life will take us after that - considering I am in China I never say never.

I wanted to write a blog for myself, and whomever wanted to follow along with our crazy/fun journey.

The airplane ride to China from LAX was a little over 15 hours. 15 hours on an airplane with two little ones. I was so nervous about the flight, but my kids were SO nice. It was a real miracle, I kept saying "prayers work". It gave me a little hope of living in a different country and flying back and forth often with two kids.
We made it China and started living with David's parents until we found our own place. David had to be at school the day we flew into China so I went apartment hunting without him and we were lucky enough to have found an awesome place that is clean and will be perfect for the next 21 months. The Chinese, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't known for their cleanliness, so finding a clean nice place was a big deal. This is a picture of the outside of our apartment complex.

Here's a picture from the view outside of our balcony.

Shenzhen is a big city with lots of tall buildings and lots of people everywhere. The weather is very hot and humid, coming from Idaho and Utah that's pretty new for me. I don't think we'll ever get used to it but in a few weeks people say it should cool down. 

We have a scooter to get around, and I love it. It is so fun, and here there really isn't many rules so you can scoot and ride on the sidewalks, and roads, pretty much anywhere you can walk or drive you can scooter. Cars are crazy, bikers are crazy, scooters are crazy, and the craziest thing of all is that accidents never happen. My kids love scooting around just as much as me!

Another common mode of transportation is the subway. Today was the first time we all took it, and my goal is to be really comfortable on it by the end of this journey. Its a super cheap way to go longer distances.

There's lots of food options where we are, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American, and of course McDonalds. So we can really get anything just like in America, just for a price. There is also lots of import grocery stores close by. We can get pretty much anything, it just makes you appreciate the American Walmart a little more. Everything isn't quite as accessible or cheap....but its definitely not impossible to get. I have so much that has happened in the past few weeks I almost can't even wrap my head around it all. I will include more in the next blog.

Life is definitely different here in China, but the thing I like the most about it is experiencing a new life with my two kids and husband, whom isn't nearly as busy as he would be if we were still in Utah-His schedule is awesome this semester. We are so lucky to be able to be together through it all, and though we miss our family, we are lucky enough to be close to David's parents. (I am planning to come home to Idaho all next summer so that's helping me get through.)
This is just a little bit of what we have been through the past three-ish weeks. Don't hesitate to ask if you want to know more of our life in China ☺☺