AS a health coach and mother of three kids, Sharon Raccah Perez has lived in Shanghai for 13 years and witnessed the city's ever-evolving nature.

“Shanghai is changing very fast. The buildings stay the same, but there is always something new, something different. It is amazing here," she says excitedly.

And like Shanghai, there have been something magical in the life of the Italian woman — none more than going from a single woman to a mother of three kids.

Most of Perez's weekends are spent with her children, cooking healthy food for them and traveling.

“My first two children, Ella and Mia, traveled with me from when they were 6 weeks old. And I went to Hong Kong when Ella was 6 years of age, Mia 4 and Gavi just 3 months old,” she says. “It’s hard with one, but when you’ve got three, things are getting easier. They take care of each other, each one having two pairs of eyes looking after them.

“Kids are like presents for me. Every morning, when they come to me, I feel like I’ve received another gift,” she says.

For Perez, her kids and family are the best memories of the city, and this is what makes Shanghai so special to her.

Q: Do you have any impressive stories related to Shanghai?

A: I have to say probably it’s the first time I came here 13 years ago. It was a completely different city; nothing like today. It was much emptier. When you walked around, stores were empty. I mean there were some beautiful stores but there were few people there. But after three or four years, things changed. The stores were full of people, and even the restaurants. It was incredible — the changes every two years. So amazing!

I live in Jinqiao in the Pudong New Area, which is quite far from Puxi. But it seems to change every three months. This is the most incredible thing about Shanghai.

The other thing that changes a lot are the shops, like the international food stores.

Shanghai is a super easy place to live in. But people told me: “It is still a little hard, you cannot find this and that.” Then I told them: “Now you can find everything here.”

When I first came to China, I was making my own bread, cakes and cookies, because we only found one place to buy European-style bread. Now it’s full of expat bread stores!

Q: How do you spend your weekends in Shanghai?

A: Most of my weekends are spent either going from one activity to another with my children.

Before I had kids, I think my time was spent walking around Puxi and the downtown area.

Q: Any other places you like?

A: I think my favorite place, even though there are too many people, is the Bund. When I walk down the street and see all the buildings, I cannot believe that Shanghai is so beautiful.

I think it is so easy to love it because everywhere you go, there are incredible restaurants and an incredible atmosphere.

Q: Which road do you like best?

A: This is a very hard question for me. I like Fuxing Road M. I used to be a graphic designer, so I love old streets with trees and little houses. Shanghai has so many roads like that with old lane houses. Those are my favorite.

Q: Which aspects make you love Shanghai?

A: I think the thing I love the most is the people. In other countries, maybe people have an attitude, or they put on an act. In China, everything is relaxed. Everybody is calm, and you can ask anybody anything — super helpful.

I remember one time I got lost. I didn’t speak Chinese very well, and I spoke to a Chinese girl and asked: “Can you help me, please? I need to go from here to here, and I don’t know where I am.”

She said: “Okay, I will take you there.” And I just said: “No, no, just show me.”

But she walked me all the way there. It happened more than once. Like 20 minutes, she was helping me and telling me to go this way then go that way.

I mean Shanghai is beautiful. I think the people make the city more beautiful. Everybody is so motivated.

And another factor I love about Shanghai is the safety. I never worry about what is going to happen and I never worry about walking in the street in the middle of the night by myself. I always feel safe for my children. You know when you go to other countries and you are in a restaurant with your children running outside, someone will tell you: “Be careful, don’t let them talk to strangers.” Here you don’t worry about your children talking to strangers, it is so safe.

Q: Is there anything here you are not satisfied with or that you wish would change?

A: One of the things that would be nice to change is probably the food quality, or the organic food quality. For me, the hardest thing in China is finding good-quality products you can really trust without worrying.

To be honest, it would be nicer if good food is widely available for everybody and to know exactly where it comes from.

I think the other thing I would really like it to change in Shanghai is the Internet — maybe a bit faster, although it’s already much faster than before.

Q: Compared with your country or other cities you have lived in, are there any shortages in Shanghai?

A: I think about Milan, for example, because I used to live in Milan. For me, as an expat, I think it would be nice to have more fashion stores catering to different body types. I love all sorts of clothing, from fancy to casual, and I love diversity in designers from American to Japanese to Italian. But it is difficult to find these shops here.

Taobao is amazing, but sometimes I just wanna go to the shops — look and try. I miss when shops were closer to each other, because Shanghai is so big. I like walking down the street and looking at the little shops.

Q: Any impressive memory from your life?

A: The most impressive are my travels. I think it makes me the person that I am today.

New York was one of the turning points for me. I was doing my master's course at that time, majoring in graphic design. The city is dynamic, and you will be amazed every time you go.

I met my husband, a Canadian, on the Internet. It was so crazy! I was in Italy and he was in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. We met each other on a dating website. One day, I think it was my birthday in 2002, I got a greeting e-mail from him. So we talked back and forth, and in summer, I told him I would go to New York. And he said: “Really? I am going to Canada and I will come to see you.” I said “Okay,” and then we met and had dinner. It is crazy! He was such a gentleman, and he told me many interesting things. Then we met again in Italy, and after a while we got married. It was amazing!