We are very grateful to Julia Teresani for this beautiful and intense article. Julia is an expat, currently living her fourth life in China (Shanghai). She spent her childhood and youth years between Poland and Belarus. After that, she moved to Spain (Barcelona), where she lived for five years. Julia loves to explore the world and share her experience with the readers in her articles. You can follow her on Instagram, where you can find photos from her trips. Thank you Julia!
I believe the story of my moving to China during the pandemic will be passed down from generation to generation in our family.
It started in Barcelona in 2021 when we decided to move to China. My husband got this offer during the pandemic times in Spain. We had a curfew in Barcelona; restaurants were closed; we could not travel. China looked attractive to us at that time. People were back to normal because they were already controlling the spread of the virus. However, China was completely closed, allowing only business-crucial cases to enter the country. Many expats who left China before the pandemic could not go back. Thus, many families had been separated.
Because of the urgency at my husband’s work, he had to relocate earlier. I still had open issues at my company and needed to collect all necessary documents for China.
Yu Yuan Gardens in Shanghai
Documents
The timing was different. If you previously waited two weeks for documents, you had to wait twice as long at that point. I could not rely on the dates given to me. Since Covid cases were increasing, offices were closing, so we needed to wait and wait, without any concrete details.
Apart from the standard visa documents, we needed to get a PU letter. It is a kind of acceptance letter from the government for you to enter the country. You could not enter the country without it.
We had planned that I arrive approximately two months later. However, it took us six months of being apart. It was a challenging period. We needed to move the departure dates several times because of the delays with the documents.
Flights
Flights were another issue. We could enter China only on a direct flight. A unique available option, which I had at that moment, was a flight from Madrid. This flight was just once per week on Saturdays. It was not directly flying to Shanghai but to Tianjin.
Meals during quarantine in the hotel
Quarantine and typhoon
I managed it all: I got the documents, the invitation letter, visa, ticket. But I needed to face another reality: quarantine in China. Every inbound passenger must go into quarantine for 14 days in the designated hotel without leaving the room. After my husband’s recommendations, I prepared myself: plenty of books, online courses, calls with the family.
Time passed, and on the day I was due to fly to Shanghai, a typhoon hit China, and they rescheduled almost all flights to Shanghai. I am still not sure what helped me at that moment, perhaps that I missed my husband, and his birthday was the next day. I went to the airport and just waited. Luck was on my side, as they did not cancel one flight, and they just put me on it.
Flight from Tianjin to Shanghai above the typhoon
Back to happiness and normality
The moment I arrived in Shanghai seemed to me as I had run the longest marathon and won. I was so extremely happy to see my husband that all the stress I had endured disappeared in one moment.
Starting a new chapter of our life
And so it happened: we started a new chapter of our life in China. We immersed ourselves in this fascinating culture. We have started meeting the people, visiting places, learning the language.
Li River
After eight months here, it feels that all of it was worth it. I learned my lesson. If something looks extremely difficult and even impossible to achieve, we need to be patient. When things need to happen, they will, and new horizons will open to you.
The recent outbreak in China
Sadly, we are again in lock-down in Shanghai at the moment. The situation is more difficult now, as there is a fresh outbreak. However, after all, we became much more resistant.
I cannot stop thinking about the families who are still separated. I hope they will be reunited soon. Please be patient and do not lose faith.
Julia Teresani
Shanghai, China
April 2022
Photos ©JuliaTeresani
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