5 Reasons Why We LOVE China!

When we moved to China, we had no idea what we were in for.  We knew pathetically little about China…so little that I often feared I would be on the Chinese version of “Jay-walking”.  However, after three years of living here, we have come to love it.  I’d like to share with you why!  Maybe this will convince you to come check it out.

1. Wechat.

Wechat is part of all aspects of life in China.  It’s kind of like Whatsapp + Facebook + Apple Pay all in one. In our daily lives, we use WeChat to communicate with our friends in China and overseas with the voice call feature or the video chat feature.  We use it to pay for things 90% of the time as well.  We even shop for shoes and birthday cakes through connections we have on Wechat.  We are a part of many buy/sell groups where we can find things that people are selling when they move out of Beijing.  While we use WeChat for so many aspects of life in China, this video by Mamahuhu Media captures it even better.

2. E-bikes

The world became my oyster when Mr. Turner bought me an e-bike.  One can frequently see thousands of these bikes in the bike lanes on the roads here in Beijing.  Some look like bicycles, complete with pedals in case the battery dies.  Others look just like mopeds, but of course, they are electric.  Having an e-bike makes it possible for me to go all around the city.  I can ride it to work, to dancing, to church…it’s kind of like having a car except without the need for a license (by law in China, you don’t need a license to drive an e-bike) or insurance or gas!

3. Food Delivery

Ok, you might say, “Oh, we have UberEats!”  Perhaps that is true, but the extent to which China has food delivery guys on bikes is incredible!  I can get Starbucks delivered to my house!  True, the delivery drivers on e-bikes might get a little hazardous on the roads as they rush to bring you your food, but it’s super affordable, extremely convenient, and another excuse not to have to leave the air-conditioned apartment on a hot summer day.

4. Vacation Time

I remember waiting for Anthony to stack up his vacation time working for juvenile corrections.  Finally, he stacked up enough time for us to take our 10-day trip to Maui for our honeymoon.  Typically for teachers in China (not working in training centers), we get 6 weeks off for summer vacation, one week for National Day holiday in October, and about 4 weeks for Spring Festival in January-February.  In addition, there are some long weekend holidays in late spring.  This has been a real game-changer for us.  We discovered our love for travel as we’ve been able to visit the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.  Some of our favorite memories together are those we spent traveling.  We are so blessed to have this amount of vacation time, and jobs that pay well enough to spend it traveling the world!

5. An Opportunity to Explore

Although we have lived in Beijing for three years, we still have so much to learn about the culture and the language.  We have barely touched the surface of traveling throughout the large, diverse, beautiful country of China.  Living in China has opened the doors for us to explore things we never even knew we were interested in.  As we make more friendships here in China, we also grow in curiosity to learn more about this place where we live.  I believe we are better people for moving overseas.  Living in a country with a completely different set of beliefs and values than that which we grew up with really opens our eyes to a new perspective.  So often we think that these people with different values are wrong.  While sometimes this is true, often they just have a completely different way of thinking about something.  When you live abroad, you come to understand and love people that may be very different than you.  We are grateful we have had this opportunity.

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