moving to NYC from Beijing

Hello There, We are thinking of moving to New York City from Beijing. We have kids ages 7 and 9 who go to Chinese school, so I am thinking of putting them in PS Protected content Lower East Side, Shuang Wen school. I would be working in Upper East Side for a charity that does not pay very much, so it would be tight living in Manhattan. Does anyone have any advice about this? What do you think about living in LES near Shuang Wen? Has anyone moved from Beijing to NYC? What are the plusses and minusses? Also, we have a house in the Geneva Switzerland area and it would be great to do a house swap with a UN person moving from Manhattan to Geneva, but I have no idea how to do this. Craig's list and house swap sites don't look very promissing for this. Any advice most welcome!! Best, Sarah