Oh wow! What a great experience for your children & they will always have the best of both cultures!!! Lucky kids!
My kids go to an international school & they do an hour of chinese lessons per day. Jess (6) has learned quite a lot, but is very shy to use it. My lessons are one-on-one & we are working really hard on the tones & the formalities just now. I have only been going for 3 weeks. I am starting to understand a little bit of conversations around me & sometimes when a taxi driver talks to me about the kids I can understand what he is saying.
Yeah, I have heard Beijing & Shanghai have huge expat communities & that you can really have a completely Western experience, even though you are living in a foreign country. Everything is widely available there because of the amount of expats. Qingdao isn't exactly like that, but there sure are a few of us. & they are only the ones I have met, I'm sure there are heaps more around - probably more on the outskirts rather than downtown.
We have said we would stay here for 2 years, but now Im not sure if I will be ready to go in 18 months. lol