They moved to China for a new adventure. Their 3 kids gained independence — and mom has time for hobbies.

• Elisa Orsi, David Sleight and their three children left Qatar for China in 2024.

• They live in a 4-bedroom apartment in Hangzhou that costs around $790 per month.

• Orsi says daily life in China is very safe and allows her children a high level of independence.

After five years in Qatar, Elisa Orsi and her husband, David Sleight, knew they were ready to leave the desert behind.

They had moved to the Middle Eastern country from Australia in 2019 with their three children – all aged under 6 – after Sleight took a job there.

Already avid travelers before having children, the couple took advantage of school holidays to discover the world after starting a family, before later taking advantage of Sleight’s teaching career to travel even more.

“Usually when people have kids it discourages them from traveling, but we did the complete opposite,” Orsi, 37, a stay-at-home mom, told Business Insider.

Life in Qatar was safe and comfortable, and it served as a base from which they could explore the region, traveling to countries like Jordan, Turkey and Egypt.

Little by little, the couple found themselves looking for something new.

“By the time we came back from our summer vacation in 2024, we said, ‘OK, we’re done. We need a change,'” Orsi said.

In August 2024, the family packed up and moved to Hangzhou, a bustling city in eastern China.

Moving to China

China had been on their radar for a long time, even though neither of them had been there before.

It wasn’t until Sleight came across an online job posting for a teaching position in Hangzhou that they became interested in the city.

“I was impressed by the natural beauty and modernity of the city. I knew China was very well connected by rail infrastructure, so I wasn’t too concerned about the location,” Sleight, 45, told Business Insider.

The couple involved their children, now 11, 9 and 7, in the conversation about an early move to China. “We wanted to give them a lot of time to think and understand what was going on,” she said.

“We have a philosophy of talking to our kids and keeping them informed about the decisions we make,” Orsi said.

To ease the transition, they showed their children YouTube videos about China and the school they would attend.

When they arrived in Hangzhou, Orsi said their first impressions quickly eased any lingering nerves.

“We were actually quite shocked at how clean, modern, organized and convenient everything is,” Orsi said. “Sometimes you watch videos, but unless you’re actually there, you can’t really understand them that much until it affects your life.”

Their children attend an international school, and Sleight teaches English in the school’s bilingual program.

Finding a place to live was a breeze because the school connected them with a real estate agent before their move.

“We wanted to have a room for each of the children and we were looking for amenities,” she said. “We especially wanted to be close to the school.”

Ten days after arriving in China, the family moved into a four-bedroom apartment. It’s about a five-minute drive from the school and about 50 minutes from the city center, in an area dominated by local Chinese families.

Rent is 5,500 Chinese yuan, or about $790 a month, and is covered by the school as part of Sleight’s employment contract.

Life in Hangzhou

Moves like the couple’s have become more common in recent years. China’s latest national census shows that 845,697 foreigners lived in the country in 2020, compared to 593,832 ten years earlier.

Even with a growing foreign community, the transition is not always easy.

The biggest challenge was the language barrier, although translation apps helped. Orsi learns Mandarin through online apps, while the children learn it at school.

Sleight has the support of bilingual teachers and staff, and many of the school’s parents speak English.

“During staff meetings and presentations, I wear an earpiece and listen to a live translation provided by the school’s professional translator,” he said. Sleight added that parents and staff also communicate through a messaging app with built-in translation.

In China, the family also had to get used to a system in which almost everything, including payments, is done on a smartphone.

Despite these adjustments, Orsi said security is one of the most striking aspects of life in China. She says she is often asked about the presence of surveillance cameras, but sees them as positive.

“If something were to go wrong, the problem would be resolved very, very quickly. So the kids would be able to go out on their own,” Orsi said. She said she probably wouldn’t feel comfortable giving her children the same level of freedom, even in the north Queensland town of Townsville, where they lived before moving to Qatar.

It is also common to see children wearing child-friendly smartwatches, which allow them to be more independent.

“You can see their location, they can call you, they can pay for things and so they can go anywhere. They will organize their own play dates and go meet their friends,” she said.

As a woman, Orsi also feels safe walking alone, even from the train station late at night. “I didn’t think twice about it. I wouldn’t do it in Australia. And I wouldn’t do it in Argentina, where I’m from,” she said. Orsi moved to Australia as a teenager and later met Sleight while working at a telecommunications company.

It’s taken a year, but Orsi says the family finally feels settled in their new home. Most of their social circle developed outside of the school community, including other foreign parents and teachers.

The longer school days also gave Orsi more time for herself. She said she has discovered new hobbies, including learning to play the piano, going to the gym and focusing on creating content for their YouTube channel, where she and Sleight document their family life in China.

Sleight has a three-year contract at the school. As for what’s next, Orsi said the family hasn’t made any firm decisions.

“I think we would probably like to move somewhere else and go to another country when our contract is up, but that could change,” she said. “We could very well decide to stay in China and move to another school or discover another city.”

Do you have a story to share about moving to a new city? Contact this journalist at agoh@businessinsider.com.

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