California is my Elba .
why are these things surprising? did you not live an adult life in your home country before coming to taiwan? i lived plenty of years in my home country and the high costs and boring living environment are the things that made me want to come to asia in the first place. iām not going to forget those any time soon.
hopefully things will perk up for you after your wife gets there, but as others have said, donāt expect it to be plain sailing. the family ties and influence are pretty strong. unless she really hates taiwan you gotta think she will want to come back at some point.
as for the work, it is what it is. doing your own business is a good option in taiwan.
Me, nope. I lived in France, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and very briefly Manila before returning to my home country at the age of 35. It was not easy in terms of cultural reassimilation, but professionally it was fine. I had a fun conversation with the tax office about retrieving my tax number after never having had an adult, full-time job in the UK. 
My home country is far less boring (to me) than Asia, though, because of the cultural stuff that you donāt find much of in Asia such as live music. Iām-a just going to move around a lot from now on. A few years in Asia, a few years in Europe to get the best of both worlds.
Now out of Taiwan for a few months and whilst I do feel a bit of nostalgia, thereās not a whole lot I truly miss about the island everyday. I miss my friends, the unpredictability of life, the mountains and some things. But here Iām not leaving home heaving for clean air, have been able to catch up on so much live sport, live bands, arts and cultural events. Prices are naturally more expensive in general but quality groceries are about the same, if not cheaper than Taiwan, and the choice of international foods is far greater.
Work environment here is also so much better with better conditions, with people who are engaged in new ideas at work. Definitely the right choice on that front.
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[quote=āredlineā]Now out of Taiwan for a few months and whilst I do feel a bit of nostalgia, thereās not a whole lot I truly miss about the island everyday. I miss my friends, the unpredictability of life, the mountains and some things. But here Iām not leaving home heaving for clean air, have been able to catch up on so much live sport, live bands, arts and cultural events. Prices are naturally more expensive in general but quality groceries are about the same, if not cheaper than Taiwan, and the choice of international foods is far greater.
Work environment here is also so much better with better conditions, with people who are engaged in new ideas at work. Definitely the right choice on that front.[/quote]
I was in Aus last week. Went with the Olds to their local Fruit ān Veg and saw bananas for A$1.20/kg (~NT$29) and perfectly fine second grade mandarins for A$1.00/kg (~NT$24). My wife was like :shocker: and so in some first grade mandarin I said āDuiyaaa!āā :uhhuh: Amusingly, the Italian family running the joint had labelled them āMandarinesā. 
[quote=āantarcticbeechā][quote=āredlineā]Now out of Taiwan for a few months and whilst I do feel a bit of nostalgia, thereās not a whole lot I truly miss about the island everyday. I miss my friends, the unpredictability of life, the mountains and some things. But here Iām not leaving home heaving for clean air, have been able to catch up on so much live sport, live bands, arts and cultural events. Prices are naturally more expensive in general but quality groceries are about the same, if not cheaper than Taiwan, and the choice of international foods is far greater.
Work environment here is also so much better with better conditions, with people who are engaged in new ideas at work. Definitely the right choice on that front.[/quote]
I was in Aus last week. Went with the Olds to their local Fruit ān Veg and saw bananas for A$1.20/kg (~NT$29) and perfectly fine second grade mandarins for A$1.00/kg (~NT$24). My wife was like :shocker: and so in some first grade Mandarin I said āDuiyaaa!āā :uhhuh: Amusingly, the Italian family running the joint had labelled them āMandarinesā. [/quote]
Reminds me when I was living in Karratha in 2011/early 2012, at one point we had bananas at $10/kg 
I had to stop eating bananas even though I was obviously making good money (who doesnt in Karratha 
)