Hello and introduction!

Jigginjessica

Hi! I am getting ready to join the club of International Nesties. February 9th I'm headed to Suzhou, China! I usually post on WC but some people recommended I come over here, and I think it's a good idea!

 DH has spent almost half of his time in China over the last year and half. His company is opening a factory and he was helping to set it up. Now they have decided they need long term support and he's their guy. To start we have a contract for 6 months of 2012 with a possibilty of going full expat and staying for 1 to 1 1/2 additional years when the 6 months is up.

I am extremely excited to be able to spend more than half my time with my husband. I spent 5 weeks visiting last summer, and I really liked the area and found the locals to be extremely welcoming and kind.

So, hi! I hope to post here more often. Anyone else in China?

gblake

Hi and welcome! The board is pretty dead around this time. I'm obviously not in China, but wanted to welcome you anyway. DH and I are Americans (originally from IN) living in Brisbane. Sounds like you'll have a fun adventure ahead.

MrsBini10

I don't know if we have anyone currently in china but several gals have previously lived there. 

I haven't been to china but I have lived in Korea and the UAE. Now I live in the Boston area with my Ethiopian H and our little boy. Welcome! 

dorothyinAus

Welcome!  

I am an American, and have just celebrated my first year in Australia with my Australian husband.

bail229

Welcome! I'm an American living in Sydney with my Aussie DH.

Publius

Hi and welcome!  We're Americans in KL.

PittPurple

Sounds like it will be an amazing adventure! I don't think we actually have anyone living in China at this time, but we definitely have at least a couple women who have lived in China at one point - Tofumonkey comes to mind for sure and I feel like there was someone else?

DH and I are Americans living in Scotland - although I don't know if that's really true anymore since we've been here for 6 years now and are applying for citizenship this year, so I guess we'll be British soon!

Welcome to the board. 

 

Tofumonkey

GilliC and I have both lived in China for extended periods of time, and MrsStark might still be there now, though she's not often on the board.

Ask away for any questions you have about living in China - the area you are going to is really nice and quite modern. I loved living in China (6 years) and would move back in a heartbeat if the opportunity arises.

Potato Pie

Welcome! I'm an American living in South Africa with my Italian DH. We just went to China in December for two weeks! Didn't go to Suzhou area, but went to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Yangshou, and Beijing. We met a few expats living in Beijing, but I'm sure there are others all over the country.

 

dpdw

DH & I (and our 2 kids) are Americans living in Hong Kong, so I'm kind of in China. Ni hao and welcome to the board!  

wise_rita

Tofumonkey:

GilliC and I have both lived in China for extended periods of time, and MrsStark might still be there now, though she's not often on the board.

I think it's MrsHark.

Welcome!  You are in for one wild ride, I imagine!  Can you free access The Nest from China?  I imagine Westerners can get around the crazy internet rules.  

I'm American with a Norwegian SO.  We've lived in Norway and Scotland and are heading to Australia soon.   

Tofumonkey

You can get The Nest in China, but Facebook is sometimes blocked. Try www.anonymous.com and things like that to get through. Once you get there and hook up with other expats in the foreigner bars they'll set you straight on what currently works and what doesn't.

MintChocoChip

Welcome!  I'm an ex-expat living in NJ after a stint in Israel.

wise_rita:

Tofumonkey:

GilliC and I have both lived in China for extended periods of time, and MrsStark might still be there now, though she's not often on the board.

I think it's MrsHark.

Welcome!  You are in for one wild ride, I imagine!  Can you free access The Nest from China?  I imagine Westerners can get around the crazy internet rules.  

I'm American with a Norwegian SO.  We've lived in Norway and Scotland and are heading to Australia soon.   

It is MrsHark but she's moved back to the US now.

Blessed55

Welcome!

I'm still in the U.S. too as I'm not moving until the summer, but everyone seems nice on this board. 

Good luck with your move!

Tofumonkey

MintChocoChip:

Welcome!  I'm an ex-expat living in NJ after a stint in Israel.

wise_rita:

Tofumonkey:

GilliC and I have both lived in China for extended periods of time, and MrsStark might still be there now, though she's not often on the board.

I think it's MrsHark.

Welcome!  You are in for one wild ride, I imagine!  Can you free access The Nest from China?  I imagine Westerners can get around the crazy internet rules.  

I'm American with a Norwegian SO.  We've lived in Norway and Scotland and are heading to Australia soon.   

It is MrsHark but she's moved back to the US now.

She moved back to the US already? When was that? She can't have been there more than a year then...

ukyankee

Welcome!  I'm an American in London with my British DH.

Jigginjessica

Tofumonkey:

GilliC and I have both lived in China for extended periods of time, and MrsStark might still be there now, though she's not often on the board.

Ask away for any questions you have about living in China - the area you are going to is really nice and quite modern. I loved living in China (6 years) and would move back in a heartbeat if the opportunity arises.

Thanks! It's good to know you would go back! I will probably pick your brain at some point.

dpdw:

DH & I (and our 2 kids) are Americans living in Hong Kong, so I'm kind of in China. Ni hao and welcome to the board!  

Ni hai! DH will need to refresh his visa about 2 weeks after I get there so we will probably be heading to HK then for a long weekend! 

 

Jigginjessica

Thanks everyone! I will definitely be around for a while!

As for the Internet questions - I had no problem getting on the Nest anywhere in China last summer. The hotel we are staying at (until we get an apartment, probably in April) has full Internet access so I can still FB from there. I'm sure that will change once we get our apartment though.  

Tofumonkey

That won't make a difference, if FB is blocked in China it's blocked in all of China, not just "everywhere but the nice hotels". And it's only blocked sometimes, so no worries.

We never had a problem with our internet there. I can't for the life of me remember how we set it up, though. And we moved a lot of times over there. Hmmm... 

Jigginjessica

Tofumonkey:

That won't make a difference, if FB is blocked in China it's blocked in all of China, not just "everywhere but the nice hotels". And it's only blocked sometimes, so no worries.

We never had a problem with our internet there. I can't for the life of me remember how we set it up, though. And we moved a lot of times over there. Hmmm... 

It's actually set up at the hotel with full access, I think because there are so many westerners there. The guests at the hotel are probably 60% American and 20% European, maybe even more than that.  I assume that's why but I'm not sure. DH has been staying at the same hotel since Sept 2010 and has always had access, but never had it at work or other places.  

I'll have to do some research as far as setting it up once we get an apartment!

Jigginjessica

Access to Facebook, google, and YouTube, that is. He had Internet access at work just not to those sites. 

ETA: I'm not 100% sure what parts of google are blocked where, since I did most of my google surfing at the hotel. All I know about that is I was able to update and view my blog (and other blogger blogs) at the hotel but none of DH's coworkers could read it since it's hosted through blogger(google). 

Tofumonkey

There are ways around most of that - the local expats will surely know. Facebook is difficult as you can only access it sporadically at the moment, but my staff just told me that youtube and google are normally fine.

Tofumonkey

You'll probably get to using a lot of Chinese run sites like tudou, youku, etc.

Tofumonkey

I'm all jealous. I really wish we were moving back to China. It was so much fun and such a great experience that I'd love for our girls to grow up with.

Jigginjessica

Tofumonkey:

There are ways around most of that - the local expats will surely know. Facebook is difficult as you can only access it sporadically at the moment, but my staff just told me that youtube and google are normally fine.

Interesting to know! 

NLfoodie

Hi! Never been to China, but it sounds cool! 

DH and I live in Amsterdam, I'm half Dutch/half American, DH is half Dutch/half Italian.  

bluegirl2006

Not in China, but hi and welcome!

 

allibally

Hi, DH and I now live in Chicago. We lived together for a year in Zurich while we waited out his GC process. DH is German.

TriDent0

I'm going to be moving to China later this year, but only for 6 months.  Maybe I'll PM you when I get a little closer to leaving and you've become experienced!

Jigginjessica

TriDent0:

I'm going to be moving to China later this year, but only for 6 months.  Maybe I'll PM you when I get a little closer to leaving and you've become experienced!

Definitely! What part?

FayeD

Hello back! Nice to "see" you on this board, too.