Roaming With the Roddens: Our next adventure...

We knew that God called us to move to Kuwait in the spring of 2013 because things seemed to fall into place rather easily. As we began to pray this past fall about whether or not our time in Kuwait was to be extended through May 2015, things also seemed to work in such a way that we knew God was calling us to move on.

Living in Kuwait has been very good for us in a lot of ways, and it has been hard in other ways. It isn't the easiest place to live, though life can be pretty easy here. This may seem confusing, but if we get a chance to catch up someday, we will gladly explain what we mean. We have made some amazing friends here in Kuwait, including our beloved Kuwait Harps GAA Club and our coworkers, and we have made some amazing memories. We have learned a lot about the Arab culture and Islam and we have grown immensely in our world views and in our own Christian faith. We signed our contracts two years ago with a willingness to be here in Kuwait for whatever length of time we were meant to, and we were strongly considering staying a third year as recently as December. That is when things started to happen that showed us it might be time for us to leave.

Without further delay, we would like to announce that we are moving to Shenzhen, China at the end of July! We are very excited about this new chapter in our lives and, though we are looking forward to our summer break, we can't wait to get to China and start this next adventure! Before we write more, here is what wikipedia says about Shenzhen:

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China’s Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The area became China’s first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones (SEZs).^[4] It currently also holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than a province.^[5] According to a report published by Shenzhen Daily in 2012, Shenzhen has a population of approximately 15 million.^[6] It's one of the most built-up areas in the world^{[citation needed]} and the so-called Pearl River Delta Mega City had more than 44.7 million inhabitants at the 2010 census spread over 9 municipalities (including Macao) and an area of 17,573 km².^[7]

Shenzhen’s modern cityscape is the result of the vibrant economy made possible by rapid foreign investment since the institution of the policy of “reform and opening” establishment of the SEZ in late 1979, before which it was only a small village. Both Chinese citizens and foreign nationals have invested enormous amounts of money in the Shenzhen SEZ. More than US$30 billion in foreign investment has gone into both foreign-owned and joint ventures, at first mainly in manufacturing but more recently in the service industries as well. Shenzhen was during the 1990s and 2000s considered one of the fastest-growing cities in the world,^[8] however its population growth as of 2013 is under one percent per year ^[9] as manufacturing assembly line boom ebbs in favor of other industries, especially technology; Shenzhen is now dubbed China's Silicon Valley.^[10]

Being southern mainland China’s major financial center, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen ranks 22nd in the 2015 edition of the Global Financial Centres Index published by the Z/Yen Group and Qatar Financial Centre Authority.^[11] It is also one of the busiest container ports in the world.^[12] In 2007, Shenzhen was named one of China’s top ten most livable cities.

There is some basic information. Shenzhen is known as the "Silicon Valley" of China and also as the "Garden City" of China, so we are excited to leave the desert and be moving to a place filled with lush green trees, parks, and a hip, young, vibrant culture. Shenzhen borders Hong Kong, so our neighboring city is just a train or ferry ride away and it happens to be one of the coolest cities on the planet!

To give you an idea, we will be closer to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines than we will be to Beijing!

We are leaving Kuwait, which is very third world in many ways, despite their vast riches, and moving to a city of 15 million people that is one of the major cultural and financial influences in Asia. Shenzhen has what many people consider to be one of the most beautiful skylines in the world.

We are going to a great school with a great faculty and strong leadership, and we are very excited about the fact that we will be working together at the same school! The name of the school is Buena Vista Concordia International School and they already have our profiles up on the staff directory page! Click the link to check it out.

So, how and why did we find our way to China? It is a bit of a cool story, but what follows is the basic timeline. We got some news in December that Lindsay's school would not allow her to return for a third year unless she committed to a fourth, as well. This is very abnormal in the international school community and we took it as a sign that our time in Kuwait was more than likely over once our original two year contracts were completed. We started to look at options back home in Texas and abroad and polished up our resumes. Around this time, Joe got a message from our good friend, Matthew, asking what we were planning to do after this year and if we would be interested in joining him at his school in China. Joe met Matthew when he was a part of a team Joe led to Serbia back in 2008. They kept in touch via facebook after that trip and it turned out that Matthew took a job at a school in Kuwait last year and came about a month after we moved here. Matthew and his wife, Ruth, are good friends and we hung out with them for lunches and dinners whenever our schedules allowed. We can still remember when they told us about moving to China last spring!

Once Matthew threw out the idea, we talked it over and decided to forward resumes to Matthew to pass up the chain, and we were quickly lined up for a Skype interview following Christmas break. As the process unfolded, we began to see God guiding the process and making it clear that this was the direction we needed to take. So, we are trading in the extreme heat of the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabic language for the cultural history of China and the Mandarin Chinese language!

If you have questions, please send us an email or message us on facebook, otherwise we look forward to telling you all about our big move when we meet up this summer!

Here are a few images from Shenzhen: