August 5, 2025
Hello!
I would like to say that we are finally settled into our new life here in China and that everything is calm, but we are far from settled. The good news is that everything is happening very quickly and we went from 100% chaos to about 85% chaos within 2 days. As we learn more about life here and acquire a few more essentials each day, the adjustment happens.
Our apartment is on the 3rd floor of a 7-story building. We dragged our suitcases inside and poked around briefly before Chantelle told us to settle in and not worry about getting into school that first day. She then left us. We could hear the cicadas screaming in the trees outside, and we all kind of looked at each other, wondering what had happened. I looked at our little kitchen and was disappointed to see that it really was not very clean. My bedroom is huge and airy, but the master bathroom was filthy and all of the beds were so rock-hard that I thought they were just the box springs. I could not believe that not only had they not been made up for us, but that there seemed to be no mattresses. There was a packet of biscuits, some milk, orange juice, toilet paper, kleenex, laundry detergent and 2 sets of sheets/duvets/pillows left on the kitchen table. It was when Kieran said, “Mom? I’m hungry.” that I choked up and suddenly felt totally inadequate as a mother. I opened the little package of biscuits, poured 2 glasses of orange juice, and fought back tears. As we explored a bit more, we realized that the whole place was rather grimy. We were exhausted and all wanted to shower, but the apartment felt like someone else’s abandoned, neglected place. I handed Kieran what I thought was a towel and told him to go clean up while I tried to figure out a plan. I would be lying if I said that heading straight back to the airport and flying home did not cross my mind. Noémie was being a real trooper— she was commenting on the sights and sounds, and saying how she had energy and wanted to go exploring. She did her best to perk us up and encourage us.
Before Kieran popped out to tell me that I had given him 4 hand towels for the shower, I texted the lady in charge of housing for primary teachers and asked her to arrange a hotel for us. I sent pictures of the grease and toothpaste spatters, the black dust that coated our feet, the hair under the toilet seat and the dead cockroach. I also wrote to Chantelle and asked her to ensure that something got arranged for us right away. Fortunately the school was immediately responsive: it appears that because these places are privately owned and rented to the school, the owners are meant to ensure that they are “move-in ready” before we arrive. Turns out that my landlord is a slacker.
We decided to go for a walk and forage for food, however we had just made the very hot and sweaty walk to a nearby neighbourhood with some shops and restaurants when the school told me that an ayi (“auntie”, eg: cleaning lady) was on her way and would get the place cleaned up for us. So we bought some random unknown dried food-like things as well as some mangoes, apples and bananas, then headed back to the apartment to let her in. I was relieved that Ayi was as disgusted as I was, and kept running her fingers over surfaces to show me the dirt and click her tongue. She took photos of mold and mildew and sent them to me, writing that I needed to let the school know. (We communicate through text so that we can translate).
Although the school had hired her for four hours, she ended up staying for six and was still upset that she had not finished nearly enough. To be honest, I was relieved that she kept complaining about how dirty it was, because I was wondering if maybe I was being a bit too much of a princess with my "high western standards”. It was when she opened a kitchen cupboard and it literally fell off in her hand because of the rusty hinges that I knew I was not asking for too much.
Once ayi was busy cleaning, I decided to figure out how to get to Ikea to get us mattress pads for our rock-hard beds. Chantelle had told me that I could connect a credit card to the car-ride app called Didi, so I managed to figure that out and book a car. Ikea was pure insanity— it’s in a HUGE mall and there were people everywhere. Almost every chair, sofa and bed had someone sleeping on it. There were arrows on the floor but people were walking in every direction. It took us far too long (especially in our jet-lagged state), but I managed to get a big bag of household stuff and order 3 mattress toppers to be delivered. We then stepped outside and saw that it was POURING rain. By this point my phone was almost dead, so I went onto the Didi app to order a car. Of course it was all in Chinese and I could see that something was not working. When I ran screen shots through my translator app, I saw that the payment for our previous trip had not gone through and therefore I was not able to book another lift. It was at this point that a security guard came over and told us something about not loitering by the doors. My phone was at 3% and my electronic payment capacity was gone. I had no idea how to take public transit, it was pouring rain, and the kids kept asking how we would get back. I was almost in tears. I broke down and messaged Chantelle, who sent a Didi for us, along with a photo of where it would be. We frantically ran around in the rain looking for the right intersection based on the photos, but thankfully managed to find the car and get back to our compound. By then the house was at least clean enough that we could sit down and put a few things away. We ended up kind of skipping dinner, although Noémie and I did go out for a walk to find a few things. We got some more fruit and some random packets of bread and nuts. Because we only had 2 sets of bedding (and neither of the kids wanted to sleep in the “ugly room” with the gross yellow bed), Noémie and I shared my room and Kieran slept on the couch.
On day 2 we found the staff bus that was taking me out for my mandatory medical check. The kids came along on that crazy adventure. I was handed a number and whisked up to a floor in some medical centre where I basically went from room to room to have my blood pressure checked, x-ray, ECG, ENT checked, blood test, etc. All of the new teachers did it together so we were randomly entering and exiting rooms and not quite knowing what was happening next. Just when I thought I had finally finished the circuit, I was given a tiny test tube and told that I had to give a urine sample. Fun. I then got to use my first Chinese squatter. Noémie by this time had already befriended some of the new staff and had wandered off to find a coffee shop. Kieran was bored out of his mind sitting in the hall waiting for me.
We finished mid-morning and were taken to a place near the school called Golden Lake.
That night Chantelle transferred me some money so that I could function in this electronic-payment society. Everything— and I mean EVERYTHING is run via apps and electronic payments. So one of my first forays into paying via a completely Chinese app was to order a pizza. It took about an hour to wade through menus (many durian pizzas), screenshotting each page, running in through a translator, and then figuring out which icon to click. Having said that, once I managed to pay for it, our pizzas arrived quickly and I was proud of having kept my kids alive and fed for a full day.
That night there was a huge electrical storm that flashed and boomed for about an hour. The kids slept through it, but I went out onto the balcony to watch the show at 4am.
Day 3 was exciting because our mattress toppers were delivered from Ikea. Noémie stayed home that day but Kieran came with me to school because they have been giving staff and families free breakfast and lunch. When I found out that we finally had soft mattresses I could hardly think of anything except getting home to sleep. By this point I had created a list of repairs that were needed in our apartment, not the least of which was a toilet that was running all over the floor, so the repairman spent a good chunk of the day there.
After school I got us pool passes with the help of another student who is American/Russian and speaks fluent Mandarin. Her mom is an art teacher at school. It was pretty cool watching her translate for us as we decided what type of pool pass toget.
That night we walked to a local restaurant with a big group of the new hires. It was an authentic street side Chinese place with no A/C so we were all hot and sticky but had great fun eating a big variety of different dishes and getting to know each other at big round tables with the turntable in the middle for passing the food.
The kids left a bit earlier than me and I was excited to go to a nearby grocery store with Gladys, a teacher from Kenya. She has lived in China for a couple of years already so she helped me find a few things that we were missing. I’ll attach some pictures of some interesting finds from the stores so far.
On Day 4 things fell even further into place. Our lost luggage all arrived! After a very busy and intense day at work I learned how to shop on TaoBao, which is kind of like Amazon but on steroids. It has everything and far more. The kids finally agreed on who would get which bedroom, and we cooked our first meal for dinner that night.
Day 5 was exciting when our bus was rear-ended on the way to work. Nobody was injured but it was a 4-car pileup. The school handled the situation really well and we were on a replacement bus within 10 minutes. The kids came to school with me that day (mostly for the free food) and Kieran got his school uniform. After school he and I hopped into a Didi and went to Decathlon to get him some new sports equipment; that cheered him up quite a bit. That night there was a party at Chantelle’s place, which is on our compound. I was delighted to discover that she had apparently faced a similar “welcome” upon her arrival here last year. She said that her apartment needed all sorts of repairs as well, and she just kept pushing and telling the school that they need to do more for their incoming staff. Now she has brand new kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures, and she told me to just be patient but that things will happen.
On Saturday there was a shopping trip back to Ikea and Sam’s Club arranged by Dan, our head of school. He’s a super nice guy from Seattle. He sent a bus to pick us up and let us all use his Sam’s Club membership for groceries. I cannot describe the chaos of a very busy Chinese mall in the pouring rain while about 15 teachers have large bags full of household goods and are looking for a bus at the side of a very busy road, but it was insane. Sam’s Club was even worse. And my electronic payment stopped working because my credit card company decided to freeze my card. Luckily Dan was there and offered to pay for everything!
Somehow I managed to get us dishes and bedding as well as 3 heavy bags of groceries and we made it onto the bus. The real trick, though, was once we were back at the compound and dropped off at the gate. We had 7 large bags and boxes, three of which were quite heavy, and a 6-7 minute walk uphill in the rain to our apartment. Eventually Kieran ran ahead with the heaviest bag while Noémie and I shuttled everything else about 100m at a time until we got home. There was a social arranged that night but we bowed out as we were soaked, exhausted, and discovered that the restaurant was an hour away by Didi.
On Sunday I had really hoped to go exploring the sights of Guangzhou, however I ended up spending 3 hours on the phone and internet with my credit card companies. Eventually I managed to talk my way into a month of free international roaming with my Canadian number and could finally receive the verification codes that the credit card companies had been sending to me. The bureaucracy is so frustrating!
We were then invited out for lunch with Karen, who is an art teacher, and her girls. Anna, the other art teacher, also came with her 2 girls. Poor Kieran was vastly outnumbered and rather put-out that I made him tag along so that we could all learn how to use the metro. We went to a lovely big restaurant in a mall that had a mini-ski slope. It’s hard to explain, but it is kind of like one of those waves that is generated for people to surf on one at a time… except for skiing. Somehow they have a sheet of something ice-like on a mini-slope that spins underneath the skis or snowboard to give you the sensation that you’re sliding downhill. We didn’t try it, but might have to go back just because.
When I got home I logged into the grocery app that Karen recommended, and I placed an order. It was 9:30pm and I couldn’t believe it when there was a knock at the door at 10pm and a soaking wet delivery guy dropped 7 bags of food and cleaning products outside my door! Turns out that the translations on the app were not perfect— I ended up with two huge packets of kleenex when I thought I was ordering “extra strong paper towel”, and the “lettuce” was a strange long green vegetable that I ended up peeling and stir-frying at the suggestion of a Chinese colleague. At 11pm I finally was able to head to bed… and there was water dripping through the ceiling and down the wall in my bathroom. I was too tired. I just went to bed.
As I write this it’s Monday night. There is another big thunderstorm happening right now and my room is flashing as the thunder is roaring. We have officially been here for one week. Ayi came again and cleaned, and the repairman was back to replace some mouldy caulking, fix the broken cabinets, and find the source of the leak. (He found it, but couldn’t repair it, so my bathroom is still raining on the inside). I’m exhausted again and still totally overwhelmed, but wanted to get this update out to you all before all of the days just blend into one big chaotic memory. Here are a few more pictures; I’ll update again when I have a chance!
xox
Love
Shannon
These giant snails come out after the rain… so, like, basically all the time.
The above image is my washing machine. Even the smallest things like doing a load of laundry take SO much more time that usual because I am illiterate here! Everything is written in Chinese characters.
“Tonic Diet Roast Pigeon”. No idea.
These are screenshots of the grocery app I used last night for our grocery delivery.
Yes it took me hours… and no I did not order the toothless tripe or the “high bullets under a plantain in the middle of something…” but we have a full fridge finally!
This is the “lettuce” I had hoped to make sandwiches with, and the “heavy duty paper towel”. Oops.
:)
Love, Shannon
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