After months and months of anxiously waiting, we finally know where in China we are moving! Weifang, Shandong China! We are so excited to know more details. We've known for about a year that we were going to be moving to China to teach English, but understood it could be as little as a month before departure until we knew the city we would be going to. Now that we know, we find ourselves googling any information we can find on Weifang any chance we get.
Weifang is considered a "small village" in the Shandong Province of China, with a population of roughly ten million...yes, their "small village" has a larger population than New York City. Weifang has many beautiful natural, and historical sites that we are excited to visit while we are there. They are best know for their annual kite festival held each spring, and their donkey burgers (don't fret, we will try them, and we will let you know how it goes).
The thing I have been most anxious to research, is the weather. Packing for a family of 4 for an entire year is daunting (especially when you only get 4 suitcases), so I wanted to know what kinds of clothes to pack and what our days might look like. Weifang has 4 seasons and it's climate is borderline monsoon influenced and subtropical. We will have hot, muggy summers, and cool, dry winter. The air quality seems to be fair, since we are close to the coast, but we will still be buying filtering masks, especially since we have Ellie's asthma to deal with. Between the masks and her inhalers, she should do just fine.
Weifang is between Shanghai and Beijing, about 6 hours South of Beijing and 8 hours North of Shanghai (by bullet train). We plan on visiting both cities while we're there, and experiencing all that China has to offer. The more research we do on China, the more excited we are to have new experiences, see new things, and share them with all of you!