So you have decided to move to a whole new country and, in that decision, have come to terms that you will face a whole new set of challenges that comes with adapting to a whole new culture and way of living. However, the beauty of living in somewhere like Beijing is that every little corner has a pocket of home: a café that serves your favorite home coffee; a restaurant that cooks up a dish which tames your home sickness; or, especially for me, recognizable shops that sell produce and goods you would find back home. Consequentially, my move across the world felt more like a move to another city. Beijing is so diverse in the cultures that encompass this concrete haven, so much so that if you looked hard enough, I guarantee you will find a sweet spot somewhere, some place, that will serve as your pseudo-home.

For myself, this pseudo-home is located at the very heart of Beijing – split across many districts and locations – and is the result of Beijing’s vast range of shops and shopping malls. Do you feel like you will miss your Western brands in fashion? Fret not, just outside Wanshoulu station on line 1 lies a shopping mall that hosts many Western brands: Tommy Hilfiger, Ted Baker, FILA, Adidas, ZARA, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, and plethora of others. Are you an avid shopper and find yourself able to wade between shops for a whole day? Then take a trip to Xidan or Guomao and shop (or in my case: window shop) until you drop; the streets are lined with shopping mall after shopping mall and the bustling streets ceaselessly come to life with the chorus of high heels click-clacking, taxi and bus drivers honking at one another and the contenting noise of a heavy bag, filled to the brim with new clothes, perhaps a pair of shoes – or 4 – and some home decorations, rustle against the Beijing gale.

Consider yourself a bargain hunter? Come and test your skills at the famed Silk Street market and see if you can bargain your way to a few clothing or electronic steals. You, as a customer, may know the product is fake but the items authenticity looks valid and real enough so that others can not tell the difference. A lover for food shopping? There are an incessant amount of international food markets that sell your favorite cheese, sausages, chicken, almond milk, soy milk, or whatever it is your western belly desires.

That is where the beauty of Beijing lies, you see: Anything you want, and anything you could possibly need is within your reach, and none of it should leave such a big dent in your wallet that you’d have to ration for the rest of the month, but the only thing you need to do… is look.

One of the most visited sights in the world, and the icon of China. The Great Wall is absolutely unmissable if you’re in China. It’s the mother of all of China’s tourist attractions , and probably one of the coolest attractions in the world. We all heard about it at an early age and the myth and allure of it draws millions and millions of tourists worldwide to come and witness this World Wonder.

This so far has been the highlight of my stay in china so far – the single trip I’d been looking forward to the most since I learned I would be coming to China – climbing the Great Wall 长城 . I’d been in Beijing for roughly six months, and I think seeing, touching, and just generally experiencing the Great Wall was the most significant indication that I’ve really made it – that I’m living in China, that I’m really learning how to speak Chinese, that I’m traveling around a country on the complete opposite side of the world – that yet again, I’m living the dream. It was without question one of my best “aha” moments.

The section of the wall I visited was Huanghuacheng , an uncommon part of the wall with very few tourists and locals lurking about. It is also one of the more remote parts of the wall with incredible views. Finally , Huanghuacheng is the only lakeside Great Wall in Beijing.

It was just starting to hit summer time and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect on the day of my trip. It was a Sunday afternoon when I arrived at the base of our hike with a private tour guide and a close friend of mine who was visiting from Shanghai. The plan was to hike up this untouched/unrestored part of the wall , catch the sunset , have dinner and finally camp on the great wall with the intention of waking up early enough to catch the sunrise.

The hike itself was fairly challenging but well worth the effort upon reaching the top. We were given the option by our guide to take easier routes , but this route was stated to produce the best views upon reaching the top. As I stated earlier , you are greeted with spectacular views of the great lake below and mountainous regions in the distance.. After catching the beautiful sunset , we continued our journey along the great wall to visit more unrestored parts of the wall. We reached a very low and flat part of the wall where we were now going to set up our tents and have dinner. After a great dinner , we headed to bed with our alarms set for 3:30 am. I never managed a lot of sleep but was still buzzing to make another trek up the wall to get a great view of the sunrise which in the end did not disappoint. It was time to head home and say goodbye to the Great Wall after having such a fantastic time.

It was a surreal experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life and would recommend to any who finds themselves in the wonderful city of Beijing. “ Can confirm : It’s a pretty great wall!’.

The first thing you may notice when you land in Beijing is just how much of everything there is. How many buildings there are. How many people there are. How many little convenience stores there are. To be sure, there is a lot of everything in China. One thing you’ll see a lot of are bikes, especially rentable bikes. As a foreign teacher in China, these bikes are your new best friend for getting quickly around your new home.

MoBike, the most popular bike renting service in Beijing, is a familiar sight along the streets of the city. You don’t have to look hard to find one, as they will generally be at least one fairly close to you. The bright orange coloring that decorates MoBikes makes them easy to spot when you’re looking for a bike to rent. Renting a MoBike is fairly easy as well. Once you have your WeChat Pay account set up, all you need to do is download the MoBike app, complete the sign-up process (make sure you have your passport!) and link it to WeChat Pay. Congratulations, you’re now able to rent a MoBike!

Thankfully, MoBike has an English language version, but even if it did not, the app interface is so straightforward that you can easily figure out how to operate the app. To unlock a MoBike and start cruising, all you have to do is click the “Unlock” button at the bottom of the app screen, scan the QR code on the bike you want to rent, and the bike’s lock will pop open. Congratulations, you just rented your first MoBike!

So long as you stay inside the coverage area (Which is most of Beijing) you can ride your MoBike as long as you want. Take it wherever your heart desires, and when you’re done, you simply find a convenient place to park it (of which there are plenty) and slide the lock back into place. That easy. The charge will go straight to your account, which can be set-up to automatically be paid by WeChat Pay.

You might be wondering just how much renting one of these bikes cost. Surely you have to pay a decent amount for such ease and convenience. Not so. MoBike is almost criminally cheap. Most quick trips to somewhere around ShiJingShan cost you around 1.5 kuai; that’s about .21 US dollars. So yeah, absurdly cheap. You’ll be wanting to take a MoBike just about everywhere, no matter the distance. From the gym to the store to the little restaurant down the street, a MoBike will get you there. Most rides will probably take you twenty minutes or less. And longer rides aren’t even that much more. I used a MoBike for 3 hours straight once, biked nearly to Tiananmen Square and back. I was sure that I would have to pay 20 kuai, maybe even 30. When I got done and looked at the app, I was shocked that it only cost me 5 kuai for such a long bike ride.

Renting bikes in Beijing will soon become second nature to you. Anytime you have to go somewhere that’s just a little too far to walk, you’ll instinctively be reaching for that little orange app on your phone so you can zip on over to where you want to go.

Once all the administrative stuff is sorted out in the first couple of days after landing you begin Introductory Training. Aihua English provides a two-week training course before you begin working and I must say it was very beneficial in many ways. The wonderful trainers provide information on every possible question you could have about working at Aihua. Some topics include information on all the various course materials, classroom management, working with the Chinese teachers, lesson planning, and more.

The training isn’t how you might imagine. It doesn’t involve sitting in a room for 6 or 7 hrs a day listening to theory. It’s a lot more hands on and active which is the basis of the teaching style at Aihua. Aihua’s teaching style is based on learning through having fun. During the training you will find yourself representing the ‘kid’ in the classroom while one of the trainers carries out a demo lesson. You do so many group activities like this throughout training along with brainstorming, group discussions, etc. One thing I found very helpful from participating in the demo games was that they became the ‘go to games’ for my first days of teaching in the classroom. Another massive benefit of this two-week training period is the time you spend with your co-workers who are in the same daunting position as you. This time is spent acclimatizing to your new life in China, your new job but also building valuable new relationships and making new friends. The training acts almost like an ice breaker in a sense and you’ll soon find yourself at ease amongst your new colleagues. Introductory Training ends with a couple of days spent working on your lesson plans for your first week of teaching with supervision from the trainers who are there to help you along the way.

Training doesn’t just end here. The training managers are always on hand to answer any questions you may have throughout your time at Aihua. Also, training is provided throughout the term to act as a refresher, introduce new information like issuing exams and also acts as a platform to pass on hints/tips to your colleagues.

A lot of English schools in China don’t provide this platform that Aihua provides nor the resources needed to make your life in the classroom as easy as possible. For me, someone with zero teaching experience, the training provided was hugely beneficial and was a big factor in me having a very happy first 2 months in China.

Golden week gave me my first opportunity to travel outside of Beijing. I had six days off, so I made plans to go camping at the Great Wall with other foreign teachers and explore Shanghai on my own. As it was a national holiday, most of China was on vacation too. Travel guides discourage people from coming to China during this time because of the crowds. I even read online people urging others to cancel their flight and plans because traveling in China during the holiday was supposedly a horrible idea. I was a little bit concerned, but I didn’t want to waste my holiday. Quickly, I bought train tickets and booked a hostel. Wanting to make the most out of my vacation, I decided to be patient and expect chaos. Actually, I had a wonderful time and never really saw the chaos I was anticipating.

While climbing up the ruins of the Great Wall, we did not pass many people outside of our group. Hiking the unrestored section of the wall was more challenging than I expected, but it definitely felt adventurous. After hiking and eating dinner, we camped on the Great Wall for the night. Our tents were actually on top of it. We really were allowed to sleep there. It felt so cool to sleep on one of the greatest wonders of the world. In the morning, we woke up very early to hike higher up and watch the sunrise. The view was breath-taking.

After camping on the Great Wall, I traveled independently to Shanghai. The city was busier, but I never experienced the overwhelming crowds I imagined. There were long lines for the Shanghai Museum and Oriental Pearl Tower, but I could just walk into smaller museums like the Shanghai History Museum, Jewish Refugees Museum, and Propaganda Poster Art Center. I skipped the Oriental Pearl Tower but decided the Shanghai Museum was worth the three hours wait. Once inside, I enjoyed admiring China’s ancient artifacts without ever feeling crowded. Unfortunately, the Yuyuan Garden was closed during the holiday, but I enjoyed wandering around the city instead.

At the end of the week, I returned to Beijing after a fun holiday full of sightseeing. Although I enjoyed my time at the Great Wall and Shanghai, I felt comforted when my train arrived in Beijing. I was surprised to realize Beijing now feels like home. I’m happy I made the decision to make my home on the other side of the world. You can also make Beijing your home. Would you like to teach and explore in China?

Throw that word around in the west and you might get a few distasteful looks at best, at worst you might get someone telling you that you’re being rude and to not say such things (with a few expletives of course). But here in the middle kingdom, that’s what you are and whenever you think you’ve ‘assimilated’ you’ll get a gentle reminder that you’re not from here. One example would be quite regular and constant staring from the locals, especially the further out of the ‘modern’ centers of cities you go.

But don’t be put off! It’s never with any malice or bad-intention – they’re just a bit curious. You see, with Visas being so difficult to obtain in comparison to other Asian countries, and with a lot of bad-press in western media, China really hasn’t ever been a ‘popular’ travel destination therefore there aren’t many westerners around compared to, say, Thailand. I mean why be in a big busy city when you can be on a beach sipping cocktails right? After a while of not seeing too many foreigners around, the moment you do see a non-Chinese person, you find yourself doing the same thing – staring. Another very common occurrence is people asking to take pictures with you, just because you’re different and beautiful (or because they’re going to mock you to their friends).

Quite often you’ll have children stare at you and exclaim to their parents: 外国人 (Wai Guo Ren) or 老外 (Lao wai) which just translates to foreigner or ‘outsider’.

But thankfully this also comes with its perks.

So many times I’ve gone through China and been given preferential treatment: cutting in queues, bypassed security, or been given food by random strangers, just because I was nice enough to smile. I’ve been offered beers by people in bars just because they wanted to talk to me and people have gone out of their way to help this lost and hopeless foreigner.

Most of the time, people just want to show off their country and being nice to you is a way of them welcoming you (many will actually say ‘Welcome to China’ even after years of living here). The moral of the story here is: if you come to China, don’t assume anything is negative, give ‘em a smile and you’ll be surprised by how much you’ll get in return.

When I decided to move to Beijing, I expected to do a year, maybe two and try my luck elsewhere. However, as year three unfolds, I’m beginning to see myself here for at least a few more years.

I feel as though I’ve lived more in the last two years than I had in the 22 years before coming here. You could argue that it’s easy to be captivated by the bright lights of any new city, but you know there’s something special there when you still feel like you’re on holiday two years later.

Beijing is big. We’re talking 16,801 square kilometers big. Sometimes the differences between one subway stop blows my mind. As you can imagine, there’s a ton of things to see and places to go and I’m still accidentally stumbling upon them on a daily basis.

I’ll be the first to admit that my Mandarin in awful, so awful in fact, that I practically can’t speak any at all. This was the ultimate fear for me when moving to China, but I have since learned how to overcome it. (Translator apps go a long way.) Honestly though, I’ve become so comfortable living here. I feel that there are very few things I would be uncomfortable doing by myself. I’ve visited the doctor, gotten my eyes tested, I’ve even managed to find and move into a new apartment. It’s all a lot easier than you would think.

My new apartment is in a cute area called Zhangzizhonglu (don’t ask me to pronounce it.) It’s close to many great tourist attractions such as Tian’anmen, Lama Temple and Behai Park. It’s an ideal location for when I finally convince my mother to visit me. The area also has an extensive range of cuisines available. I’m not saying I made my decision to move here solely based on restaurants but it definitely played a big part in it.

I read somewhere once, that familiar food can make anywhere feel like home. Last year there was a Shepard’s Pie competition in Beijing, and being Irish, this warmed my heart a little. (I don’t think any of them would have topped my Nana’s but y’know.) There are a lot more exotic cuisines too which I have become partial to including Thai, Mexican and Indian. Once, while wandering through one of Beijings many Hutongs, I came across a small ‘taco’s’ restaurant that had Guinness on tap. If that doesn’t give you an idea of how much of a melting pot Beijing is, I don’t know what will.

There are plenty of other ways that Beijing has become my home. It has become a place of lots of ‘firsts.’ For example, I got my first promotion while working in Beijing, the first place I’ve moved in with my boyfriend, the first place I’ve managed to keep a plant alive…small things count too.

Another reason that Beijing can’t get rid of me, is the relatively low cost of living. The lifestyle that can be comfortably afforded here, would be unheard of in Dublin. I eat out or order in almost every night. My rent is very cheap compared to a similar place back home. Taxis are also extremely cheap and are readily available through the Didi app. Basic amenities such as water, gas and electricity are also very cheap and are super convenient to top up through WeChat.

Basically, I don’t plan to leave anytime soon. Roll on year 4!

To those thinking about moving to China for the first time, the idea of leaving everything you know is a daunting one to say the least. At home, we’re often living in a bubble without even knowing it. Being able to rely on a network of family and friends for support, or even just having others comprehend our meaning on a linguistic and cultural level is something that we often take for granted. But the prospect of moving to China and battling to communicate with those who don’t understand the same words or even basic hand gestures, such as counting, as we do throws all of that into question. ‘How will I survive on the other side of the world outside the bubble of everything I know?’

Yet the reality of moving here is that we can choose exactly how and when to break out of our bubble. When you first arrive, you’re greeted at the airport by fellow English speakers. From there, you’ll be bought back to your modern, furnished apartment in a relaxed neighborhood called Shijingshan (‘the Shan’). Here, you’ll find a welcome package with all the essentials and be introduced to your new English speaking roommate. Over the next few weeks, you’ll go to other people’s apartments, local restaurants, coffee houses, parks, pool bars, cinemas and karaoke events with a new group of friends who all have something important in common. Being a teacher in ‘the Shan’. In other words, you’ll be surrounded by a close support network of people who understand you.

But then, when the time feels right, you can always break out of this bubble and start doing new things away from the comfort of ‘the Shan’. In addition to world class historical sites, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and others, the capital has so much to offer culturally. One of my favorite times in Beijing was at an alternative music gig held in ancient Chinese courtyard neighborhoods called Hutongs. The bar, Modernista, made me feel like I was in the middle of a 1950s party, and the band’s lead singer, a woman who performed upbeat jazz fusion songs well in four different languages, made me realize that 50s parties were probably surprisingly decent. But what really caught my interest was the fascinating mix of young Chinese and Western people dancing together and having fun.

This intriguing cultural blend of East and West can be found in hidden pockets all over the city if you go out and look. WeChat is the Whatsapp of China and there’s a meetup group for virtually any interest you could have here in Beijing, from mountain biking to Chinese cooking classes. I’ve spoken to people from all over China/the world by going to culture mix events in the student district Wudaokou and, despite occasionally having to mute the group chat for the sake of my sanity, I have no plans to stop putting myself out there and meeting others keen on international exchange anytime soon. As a result, I’m now getting used to more than just a new language, but also the bulk of the iceberg that lies beneath the surface in terms of a distinct culture, such as, for instance, different hand gestures for counting.

If you just venture outside your comfort zone, the Chinese capital offers a unique opportunity to try new things, make diverse new friends and see a surprisingly fascinating new part of the world in a different light. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The best part, though, you can decide exactly how and when to leave the coziness/familiarity of your local neighborhood ‘the Shan’. You choose when to break out of your bubble.

So what are you waiting for? Come to Beijing for a year, explore a fascinating city full of hidden surprises/cultural niches and, in your own way, break out of that bubble!

Before arriving in Beijing, I rarely had encounters with children outside my own family. In terms of ESL teaching experience, I had only ever worked with adults, and even my TEFL training only briefly mentioned the difference between teaching young children and older children. The prospect of teaching children as young as 3 years old was honestly a bit daunting. Not only was I not fully prepared to teach young children in my classes, but I was definitely not prepared to love it so much.

Teaching young children in an ESL class can seem overwhelming at first, for both parties involved. The students are taken away from their parents (for only a brief time) and put in a classroom with an adult foreigner speaking to them in an unfamiliar language. Some students cry, and others are a bit too excited by it. Young children bring a lot of energy into the classroom, and without the language to communicate yet, it can seem impossible to control the class in the beginning.

However, teaching young children has quickly become one of the most rewarding aspects of my job. Children are like sponges that absorb the language around them. With practice, they begin to listen and pick up everything you say, and eventually become quite eager to use their new language skills to impress you. I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly proud when I hear four-year-old students who couldn’t even say their own names in the beginning of the year greeting me, describing pictures, singing nursery rhymes, and even reading!

Working with these kids has taken me back to childhood, making me remember what it was like to be so carefree. Young children can be so enthusiastic about learning English, but you have to keep classes fun! Sing as many songs as you can and don’t be afraid to be silly! Aihua Starter classes are a great break from the complications of English grammar and the stress of exam season. Go back to a simpler time and be a kid again!

Before working at Aihua I didn’t have any real teaching experience with young kids. I’d taught adults and teenagers, but young kids were never really my area of expertise. At Aihua, foreign teachers can have classes of kids ranging from 3-13 years old, and I’ll admit when getting my schedule, I was silently praying to the teaching gods for some older kids. However, as luck would have it, as I glanced down at that ever-important piece of paper, I found four Big Fun classes (the youngest that Aihua offers). This would be fine, I told myself, I have three younger cousins I half baby-sit at home, how different could it really be? During my first week of teaching I soon came to the realisation that this would, in fact, be very different.

The thing with young Chinese kids is that they don’t have an awful lot of English to work with. This frustrated me to no end at the beginning, kids would come up to me and clearly be excited to tell me something and I’d have no idea what they were saying. However, one joy of this lack of English is the total nonsense ‘banter’ the kids like to come up with. At the start of the lesson they’ll introduce themselves saying ‘Hello, my name is Jenny, I’m 22 years old’ and the whole class would erupt into the silliest giggles. Sometimes kids will change their names to ‘cat pizza’ or purposefully say the wrong vocab word and think this is the height of comedy. I have one six-year-old kid who has permanently changed his name to ‘Gooliga’ and often pretends to fly around the classroom chanting ‘I am bat!’. Honestly, I’ve gotten to the point where I genuinely think this stuff is hilarious.

Another big challenge for me was discipline, how can you get eight sugar-filled 4-year olds to listen to you if they can’t even understand what you’re saying? I soon realised that my Chinese co-teacher Nicole was going to become my complete partner in crime. We spent a few weeks fumbling over each other, words were lost over shouts of ‘lǎo shī!!shén me yì si??’ which translates to ‘teacher what does it mean?’ (a phrase permanently etched into my brain). However, after a few months we became almost extensions of each other, I’d be demonstrating a game and Nicole would be zipping over to Ivan, who, once again was aiming the sticky ball at Angel’s head. During CT time (where she’d translate the lesson for the kids in Chinese) I’d be rallying a rogue Joshua, who had decided to go for a light stroll around the classroom, promising him a star if he sat down with me. These days we barely have to look at each other to know when to step in and help each other out.

Overall, I think my favourite part of teaching small kids is how much fun everything suddenly becomes. Something as simple as writing the letter ‘b’ can become more competitive than the Olympic 100m sprint. Any activity big or small is somehow the most exciting thing in the world and will invite a chorus of ‘teacher teacher let me try!’. Big Fun classes have been simultaneously the hardest and most rewarding classes I’ve taught this year, and frankly I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world.