Beijing is one of the largest cities in the world, with a huge population of foreigners, including a big Hispanic community. Meet three Latino expat families who came to Beijing with their hearts ready for new adventures that only a city like ours could fulfill.

The Bonani Family

Juan Bonani moved to China from Brazil in Feb 2015 to teach one of the most popular sports in the world, football. After moving to several different cities around China throughout the years, Bonani decided to settle in Beijing with his wife Chanel. Since he had lived abroad as a child, moving to China didn’t come as a big challenge to Bonani and he arrived with an open mind and accepted the best of what the country could offer him. As well as being a football coach, Bonani works at the Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA) as a PE teacher. He is grateful that international schools provide long breaks, especially during the summer so he can make the long trip back home to catch up with family and friends. Bonani’s advice to other expats living in Beijing who are trying to make the best out of their experience is to come with an open mind and always remain positive. As for himself, he plans to stay here as long as he can in order to continue taking the great opportunities Beijing has to offer.

Claudia Besnier and Her Family

Claudia Besnier, her husband, José Miguel, and their five children, Martina (6), Catalina (9), Sophie, (11), Andre (14), and Tanya (16) arrived in Beijing ready for a new start in Mar, 2015. Although settling into a new country and learning your way around is always a challenge, they felt they were ready for the change and always kept a positive attitude when confronted with the struggles of being newbies in a foreign country. Besnier believes that the key to making the most of your experience is to stay busy and connected to other expats in order to learn from each other. For spouses that have little to no work, taking time to learn the language of the host country, keeping yourself busy, and joining activities offered to the expat community, all serve towards your happiness and tranquility. She also mentions that she highly values dedicating her weekends to quality time with her family. A positive aspect of living in Beijing that Besnier brings up is how secure it feels when moving around the city. For many expats who come from Latin American countries, this is a major bonus. Overall, Besnier and her family feel very happy here. The enriching cultural experiences and the meaningful friendship connections made is something they value and appreciate. Currently, they are all in Chile and hope to return to China in the near future to their home in Beijing.

Teresa Rodriguez’s Story

Finding himself suddenly unemployed and having to seek a job outside of Mexico, Teresa Rodriguez’s husband had to look even farther away from home to continue supporting their family and secure a future for their daughters. Therefore, the story of how they moved to China comes with an array of emotions.

In May of 2011, Rodriguez’’s husband had to make the trip to his new job in China alone, leaving his family behind. With tears and sadness, they all said their good-byes and promised to stay strong and to support each other despite the distance.

In June of 2013, Rodriguez’ decided to join her husband in Beijing while both their daughters stayed in Mexico to continue their university studies. Things were a little difficult for Rodriguez’ at the beginning. She was often lonely and missed her daughters dearly while she settled into a new place so different from home, but that changed when she decided to explore the world outside her doorstep and began to connect with others around her. She tackled lessons such as Mandarin, cooking, Tai Chi, and photography. Rodriguez also reached out to the expat community and established several friendships, and even volunteered up her time as a translator at the Beijing United Family Hospital.

The challenges were there and the thought of being away from her daughters was also hard for her, but the realization of being in a place with such a vast and rich culture gave Rodriguez the motivation to immerse herself into discovering what each day could provide for her. During her seven years in Beijing, she has seen many positive changes especially regarding technology which makes life easier for foreigners (translators, WeChat, cashless transactions, Didi, etc).

Rodriguez’s motto has been to look at the silver lining, leave the negative aside, and absorb the unique experiences that only a city like Beijing can deliver. China will always be in her heart!

As expat experiences go, sometimes it seems like it all boils down to one thing: getting yourself out of your comfort zone and out of your bubble. The trick to enjoying your experience is to explore the city that you now call home and experience all the wonderful things the experience of living abroad has to offer. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should never be taken for granted.

Eloisa Duarte is a translator and language instructor who is living in China for the second time. Her interest includes languages, writing, Latin culture, music among others. She lives here with her husband Joseph and two daughters, Katherine and Sofia.

KEEP READING: Making Chicken and Mushroom Pasta, Family Style

Photos: courtesy of Eloisa Duarte

Even before I found out that I was pregnant I’ve always enjoyed watching ‘gender reveal’ videos on Instagram and YouTube. A phenomenon that has become popular in recent years, especially in the US, a ‘gender reveal’ event is when instead of telling the parents the sex of their child, the doctor writes down the sex of the baby in a sealed envelope, which the parents then pass to a bakery or party supply store so that they can prepare a surprise gift that reveals the sex of the child. At the ensuing party, if their cake or balloon or whatever they ordered is blue, they know that they are having a boy, if the inside is pink, they’re having a girl.

Cute right? But if you’re pregnant in China and have your heart set on creating an Insta-perfect gender reveal party moment of surprise for you and your spouse, you’re out of luck. Gender reveal parties just aren’t a thing in China for one main reason: your doctor will never write down the sex of your baby because it’s illegal.

This law dates back to 1979 when China established it’s famous one-child policy. Chinese families desperately wanted boys over girls, leading to sex-selective abortion which in turn, affected the human sex ratio – the relative number of males to females in a given age group. To try to mitigate the practice, hospitals in China forbade doctors from telling parents the sex of their bundle of joy. But you think it’s totally impossible, you should know that just because disclosing the sex of a baby is not allowed, it doesn’t mean curious parents haven’t been finding ways around it.

My Dad worked as a surgeon at Harbin’s Armed Forces Hospital back in the 80s before immigrating to the US, and told me about how Chinese couples would sneak in gifts to their doctor or use whatever guanxi* they could to help them find out. But what about today?

At my international hospital in Beijing, while my doctor still technically isn’t allowed to tell me the sex of my baby, it’s an open secret that we can ask in some sort of indirect way. The most common questions to ask are “Doc, do you think we should buy pants or dresses for our baby?” and “Doc, do you think we should paint our nursery blue or pink?”, and for the parents with a sense of humor who aren’t afraid to watch their doctor crack up during the ultrasound, even “Doc, does my baby come with a handle?”

While it’s still not possible to surprise yourself with a gender reveal party, you can still enjoy some of the fun by throwing a party for your family or close friends though not without a bit of trial and error! I tried it, and here’s how it went for me:

Third Time’s The Charm!

After finding out that we’ll be having a little girl, I decided to organize a little gender reveal for close friends and family anyway. Instead of us finding out with them, they’ll just be the ones who are surprised.

First Attempt:

I planned a dinner with my two closest female friends in which they’d pop a black balloon and pink confetti would fall out. Not only did the dinner get canceled because of a freak thunderstorm, but when we opened the balloon box the next day, but the balloon maker had also completely missed the point, and put pink confetti in a see-through gold balloon and filled the bottom of the box with pink tissue paper. Not exactly the dramatic effect we’d been hoping for.

First failed attempt

Second Attempt:

For my mother-in-law, I had originally planned on making a chocolate ball filled with pink-colored candy. She’d crack the ball and, voila, discover that she’ll be welcoming a little granddaughter in October. It sounded nice and simple in my head, but when it came time to make the chocolate ball, I discovered just now difficult the task actually was. I burned my first batch of chocolate, and when I finally managed to get the melted chocolate into the mold I discovered that they were stuck. Not just a little stuck, where it would come loose if I banged it really hard on the countertop, but seriously stuck together with no way of separating the two. After this experience, I’m never criticizing flustered amateur chefs while watching any kind of competitive cooking show every again! In the kitchen, things don’t always turn out the way you plan.

There’s no getting this chocolate out… 

Third and Final Attempt:

I contacted party supplies and planning company Twozi Balloons and had a proper gender reveal balloon made. My husband and I took my mother-in-law out for lunch and called my dad in California via WeChat for our final attempt at giving our family a memorable gender reveal. Thankfully, this time it went off without a hitch.

A true, modern-day family photo

KEEP READING:  What to Expect When Expecting in China 

Photos: Mina Yan, amazon.com, madeformums.com

*Guanxi is a Chinese term used to describe the dynamic of personalized social networks of and relationships.