Our Expat Blog

What a crazy couple of weeks!

Not only has work been crazy busy here in Hangzhou (tis the season!), but Aaron and I have basically been consumed with getting steps done for our big move to Prague.

Jacques is officially booked and getting ready to go on his flight in just a few short days. He’ll be picked up from our apartment on the evening of the 13th and driven up to Shanghai with Sammy. Sammy will be his ride-along on the way to Prague on the plane. Jacques will technically be checked luggage, going under the plane, but Sammy will meet him at every layover for care.

Jacques’ flight path has us a bit stressed out, going from Shanghai – Hanoi – Taipei – Vienna.

At this time, there’s no airline that will go from Shanghai to Taipei with a french bulldog as checked luggage. Vietnam Air will allow it, so Jacques has a layover in Hanoi before bopping back up to Taipei. From Taipei, he’ll have a long flight to Vienna.

Once he’s in Vienna, he’s done with airplanes. Our EU agent will pick him up in Vienna and handle all the paperwork for us on that side, and then he’ll be driven about 4 hours into Prague. This is ideal for us cause it means one less flight and Jacques loves loves loves car rides.

For his long stay in Prague, he’ll be staying with a family in their home, rather than a boarding facility. I’ve prepared a one-pager for the family with his nicknames, allergies, known commands, and other fun facts about Jacques, so they can love him as much as we do. We’ll also be sending a big bag of dog food, dog bed, some toys, and a few other things for his stay.

Aaron and I have also paid our deposit for our apartment – yay! There was some complications for a bit regarding the electricity/gas contract (something about how the company won’t allow non-EU citizens to have a contract with them) but our agent found another electricity/gas company we can use instead, so we’re all good on that end.

Once the dog is gone, Aaron and I can start packing up some things here and there and send them to Prague for storage. The woman living in our apartment now said she can store the boxes in the attic, so they’ll be there when we arrive. Things like winter clothes, some personal items we can live without until August, games, etc.

Starting work at an international school in Asia is a breeze, because the school and the HR team basically help with everything and you don’t have to worry about much. Most of the time, the school finds the apartment for you and sets you up with the first year’s contract. They get you a cell phone plan, help you set up your bank account and help you get your feet on the ground when you arrive.

Moving to Europe is a totally different process. Yes, the school has been incredibly helpful with some aspects of this. But the visa process is being done through an outside agency (via the school), and our apartment was done completely by us! (Actually Aaron, via Twitter! Sidebar: he already follows the librarian at ISP, and they messaged each other once we got the job and she passed along very helpful advice for the transition. She connected Aaron with two people who are leaving this summer to ask about their apartments, and that’s how we got the apartment we’ll be moving into!)

A long rambly post for a long and busy couple of weeks. My next post will be a mix of sad (because Jacques will be in Europe) and happy (because we won’t have a dog in the house for a while)!

Happy Daylight Savings! Aaron and I are always happy for this time of year when America changes its clocks to spring-forward. Now we’re only 13 hours difference from our parents, as opposed to the gruesome 14 hours difference of the winter months. It might not be that big of a deal to some, but to us and our parents, that 14 hours is a pain. So Yay!

When we move to Prague, we will also be participating in Daylight Savings – they call it European Summertime. It’s from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday in October- super easy to remember. We will also be comfortably sitting in Central European Time Zone.

This might not seem like a big deal to most people reading this, but living in China for the last 10 years, in a country that doesn’t recognize Daylight Savings or have different time zones (yes, China is all one time zone – Beijing Time!) this will be a welcome and huge change for Aaron and me!

As we sit at Midtown, one of the many favorite Sunday afternoon work spots, with our cold White IPA brewed here at the brewery and laptops in front of us, my eyes are watering from the allergens bursting in the air. It’s springtime here in Hangzhou, the temperature and weather having turned the corner into moderate and sunny with a light breeze. The last few weeks have been dreary, grey, and rainy, and when mixed with the cold temperatures make the 30 minute e-bike ride to work quite miserable. This weather, regardless of the air quality (which is note great!), is a welcome change.

The outdoor area of the mall is bustling with people coming and going from favorite restaurants and shops (most people carrying bright green shopping bags from the new bakery place around the corner which has brilliantly marketed everyday baked goods as commodities!) Aaron’s busy lesson planning for the week and I should be doing grad school homework.

We’ve been making great strides on our to-do list towards our big move to Prague! Only 17 weeks left until we leave China (for the first time in 4 years thanks to the COVID travel restrictions) and there’s quite a bit to do before then.

So far, we’ve gotten the pets taken care of. Jacques and Tyrion will both be joining us in Prague, of course! Getting Jacques out of China is much more complicated than getting him into the EU, but we’ve had incredibly helpful friends and a relocation company help us facilitate all of the paperwork to get him out okay. He will be flying from Shanghai to Frankfurt, with a layover there to help him recover after the flight, then fly to Prague from there. The plan is to have him leave sometime this spring while the temperatures are still cool enough that it’s safe enough to fly him. He’ll be boarded in Prague until we get there.

Tyrion is thousands of dollars easier to fly to Prague, and we’ll be paying a flight volunteer to get him from Beijing to Prague sometime this summer or fall.

We already have a place to live in Prague, and we’re working with the current tenant on buying her big furniture. It’s a great place on the 5th floor of an apartment in Praha 2, which is about a 20 minute walk from the main town square. We’re surrounded by restaurants, bars, farmers markets and things to do, and it’ll be about a 30 minute commute to the school via public transportation.

One of our friends is taking our apartment here in Hangzhou, which is a huge weight off our shoulders! It makes packing up and moving so much easier knowing a lot of our good stuff that we don’t want to ship will be bought and used by the next person in our apartment.

Other than that, Aaron and I are looking forward to spending the next few months relaxing, packing up, taking full advantage of Hangzhou and all its sights and locations, and spending lots of times with our friends here. It’s always exciting to think about the next phase of our lives, but we don’t want our time in Hangzhou to get away from us without doing the things that matter the most to us.