By Christine Gilbert
Meet the Haleys. Cory is a full-time high school teacher. She works in the international department, preparing high schoolers for college overseas. Cory’s daughter is Rosi, aged 7. The family arrived to Shenzhen this year in June and didn't think finding a school would be such a hassle, since Rosi has attended school for years in other parts of China. However, it was not as easy as they thought. Luckily, they found an online international school called Connections Academy that is meeting Rosi's educational needs at the moment. For now, they are content with the path their lives have taken and are looking forward to 2016. Urban Family sat down with the Haleys to learn more about their favorites.
Favorite restaurant
We love this pizza place near Changlong metro station called Pizza Pi. The owner is a Westerner. He and his wife make the best cheese pizza in our opinion. They make many kinds of pizza, and also do coffee and pastas. Their little girl is also a sweet playmate for Rosi while we're visiting. It might not be convenient for some foreigners in the western parts of Shenzhen, but if you're ever in the area, it's worth getting off the beaten path to find this cozy pizza shop. Sometimes they even have live music, with guitar and singing. The owner also plays bagpipes, and it’s good fun!
No. 41-5 Buji Chang Long Lu, Longgang District, Shenzhen. (Beside Buji Middle School and High School, 400m from Changlong Metro, Exit C2)
Favorite place for Thanksgiving and turkey
As we are vegetarian, I leave the turkey to the meat eaters! But I love all the sides! I never liked cranberry sauce until I made it from a really easy recipe. Now I'll eat it year round if I see cranberries. At Thanksgiving, I'm usually baking sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. China has shown me how to do a lot of food from scratch and it tastes so good. We don't eat alone though. We join our expat community, who are our family overseas. Everyone brings a dish or two. As I'm making Thanksgiving preparations, I always listen to Alice's Restaurant, musical monologue by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie. It’s a family tradition. But there's never too much festive food in my opinion. To enhance the celebrations, we'll also most likely go to a restaurant that serves us Thanksgiving favorites and meet other expats and kids in our community, which is Luohu.
Favorite fashion designer
My favorite fashion designer is Zooey Deschanel because of her simple, feminine theme. However, Rosi is really into fashion designing for herself. She's designed a floral cape with hood for herself and dresses for her dolls. She's always drawing dresses.
Favorite Christmas holiday spot
The first thing I learned to say in Mandarin was how to order something even better than hot chocolate with marshmallows, it was hot chocolate with pudding! We haven't been in Shenzhen for Christmas before, but in other cities we liked to find Santas (statues or real) and take our pictures with them. So we'll probably be visiting the malls. It's sort of like our Where's Waldo. In the past, when she was younger, places like Gymboree would have open holiday parties, but we will probably look for something a little more 'big kid' this year. We look forward to seeing what Shenzhen can offer.
