China Life #3

September 7, 2025

Dear Everyone,

I hope that you’re all well. It occurred to me that school has started over there so now I won’t be the only teacher busy working and planning.

Things here are going pretty well. We are into a routine of sorts, and finally getting somewhat settled. I’ve bought a few things for the apartment so it is starting to feel a bit more home-y. I’ve figured out a few more apps that have helped with groceries and deliveries. 

I have also managed to find not only mountain biking, but also American football AND ice hockey to keep Kieran entertained. Unfortunately there is no way that he will have enough room in his schedule to do all of that, and I found out the hard way that running kids’ sports clubs is a very profitable business and it appears that parents here are willing to throw extortionate amounts of money at coaches and clubs. Kieran had a great time at his first American football practice the other night; but then the coach came and discussed the cost of him joining and it was close to $3000 for 24 practices. So, um… we’re looking at hockey next. Still pricey, but far less so. Besides, he is on the cross-country team at school and will be joining the swim team at meets as well. Both involve travel around China.

Two weeks ago we managed to find the elusive Feifan Mountain bike park. Kieran had seen a Youtube video about it before we left Canada, but we could not find it on any maps and everyone I asked about it looked back blankly and said they’d never heard of it. As it turns out, one afternoon I was at Decathlon with Kieran to get some new shorts, and he happened to see a guy there with a fancy mountain bike. Through our translator app, he complimented the guy on his bike and I asked him where he rides. When he said “Feifan” both Kieran and I started typing away to ask him more questions. Turns out that this place has about 5 different names in both English and Chinese. I have yet to see the word “Feifan” written anywhere, but he dropped a pin on my map for me and we eventually discovered “Flysail Mountain World”. The next day I booked a “Oualala” which is the local moving company— they are essentially a form of Uber but with vans and cargo trucks. It took me about 4 hours to figure out the app and clarify that it needed to have seats for 2 passengers… but we made it! The mountain bike park is great, and only about 45 minutes away. Kieran was in his element. (We actually went back today).

Last weekend I went exploring downtown Guangzhou with another teacher, Amy. We had been talking about how we had lived here for a month and still had not seen anything particularly appealing about this city, so we went searching for reasons that so many people seem to love Guangzhou. Fortunately we found a really cool area and had a wonderful night wandering pedestrian streets, taking a canal boat ride under lantern-filled trees, visiting the ancestral home of Bruce Lee, and eating octopus balls with squirming tuna flakes on top.

Noémie is deep into grade 11 IB studies and spends most of her “free” time doing homework and studying. Last weekend she was at school attending a Model United Nations conference. When she does take time away, she enjoys finding crazy-huge shopping malls and new foods. 

In 2 weeks the secondary camps begin; this means that I stay home and teach primary while Noémie gets to go to Beijing with all of the grade 11 students and teachers. They will go to the Great Wall, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City among other sites. Kieran, meanwhile, will be with the grade 9 students at a beach camp in Hong Kong where they will be working towards their Duke of Edinburgh award. Yes I am jealous. (However, as soon as they get home it is half-term break and we are going to spend 10 days in Thailand so I can’t complain… and Primary camps happen in March and that is when I think I will be sent to Hong Kong).

School is going pretty well. I am pretty comfortable teaching my grade 4 and 5 PYP music classes. Grade 6 is different because it is MYP (different curriculum) and I have to do far more formal assessments than I’ve ever done. I am also teaching English as an Additional Language for kids that are designated as “Tier 3”— not really able to keep up with curriculum content because they need to master very basic English still. Those lessons are mostly one-on-one so I am getting to know the weaker English speakers pretty well.

It’s getting late on Sunday night here, so I have to stop writing. 

Take care and stay in touch,

xo

Shannon

This one is worth reading the small print.

The Canton Tower and the Pearl River... and Kieran