Anyone returned to Taiwan after leaving for a few years?

[quote=“dzhefri”]I was in Taiwan for 3 years, up till last summer, teaching English. I enjoyed it (both my job as well as Taiwan itself) a lot, but I realized that if I were to stay there much longer, I’m going to be in a position where teaching English is pretty much what I’ll have to be doing for the rest of my life. That scared me, so I decided to pack up and move back to the US for grad school, which is what I’m doing now. I was very happy to be back in the states for about 2 or 3 months – right when I was ready to fly across the country to where the university I’m attending is – and then it hit me how badly I missed Taiwan. But I decided I had already filled out all the application forms, gotten letters of reccommendation, taken the GRE, been accepted to grad school, quit my job, flown back to the US, etc., so I shouldn’t just move back to Taiwan like that! So I decided to go to grad school anyhow, thinking maybe these feelings would just go away. They did, for a while; I guess the novelty of moving across the US to a new city distracted me for a while, but sure enough, they came again and again. So now that I’m only a few months away from finishing my master’s degree, after which I would be able to get a decent job writing software, I’m very seriously thinking about heading straight back to Taiwan and teaching English again, but this time permanently.

So I guess what I’m asking everybody is, is it that bad to be sucked back in to Taiwan? Have any of you consciously decided that it’s okay if you get yourself into a position where you can’t easily find a job back where you came from? Will I regret it if I move back? Am I ‘thinking too much’? :slight_smile: If I don’t move back, am I going to spend the rest of my life reading Forumosa instead of doing my schoolwork? Will I regret it?[/quote]

Sounds very similar to my current situation (except that you’re in the US, I’m in South Africa). I’m also currently doing my master’s degree, after leaving Taiwan last year after 2 and a half years there, and will hopefully be finished at the end of this year. I’m terribly bored here, despite the clean air, good food (kinda… I’m missing some Taiwanese food surprisingly enough for me), beautiful surroundings (both natural and the fantastic Victorian architecture) and lots of open space. Yeah, it’s a great place to retire… but I’m only 24 (going on 25…), and this place lacks the energy and pace of life in Taiwan. And half of my friends have gone overseas anyway, and the remaining few are also planning to leave ASAP, lest they become like many of my school-and-university-mates who are getting married and paying off houses, cars, etc etc. I don’t want to sink into a rut here.

Taiwan is definitely calling again. Like this poster said, as each year goes by I worry a bit more about starting a “career”… although in all honesty, there aren’t too many “careers” open to me considering that my master’s is in English Literature, with the exception of joining the university as a junior lecturer in the English Department, which would essentially mean settling down here… and getting a doctorate asap, I guess. I would like to do a doctorate at some stage, but not now.

Oh yeah, and the fact that the cost of living is geting higher and higher here, whilst salaries are not that great also makes Taiwan seem like a far more attractive option, at least for a few years while I’m still in my 20s. At least I could save some cash there. Here, it’d all be going into rent and petrol with a bit left over for food and boozing.

Returning to Taiwan next year seems like a better and better prospect the more I think about it…

[quote=“almas john”]dzhefri wrote [quote] I was in Taiwan for 3 years, up till last summer, teaching English. I enjoyed it (both my job as well as Taiwan itself) a lot, but I realized that if I were to stay there much longer, I’m going to be in a position where teaching English is pretty much what I’ll have to be doing for the rest of my life. That scared me, so I decided to pack up and move back to the US for grad school, which is what I’m doing now. I was very happy to be back in the states for about 2 or 3 months – right when I was ready to fly across the country to where the university I’m attending is – and then it hit me how badly I missed Taiwan. But I decided I had already filled out all the application forms, gotten letters of recommendation, taken the GRE, been accepted to grad school, quit my job, flown back to the US, etc., so I shouldn’t just move back to Taiwan like that! So I decided to go to grad school anyhow, thinking maybe these feelings would just go away. They did, for a while; I guess the novelty of moving across the US to a new city distracted me for a while, but sure enough, they came again and again. So now that I’m only a few months away from finishing my master’s degree, after which I would be able to get a decent job writing software, I’m very seriously thinking about heading straight back to Taiwan and teaching English again, but this time permanently.

So I guess what I’m asking everybody is, is it that bad to be sucked back in to Taiwan? Have any of you consciously decided that it’s okay if you get yourself into a position where you can’t easily find a job back where you came from? Will I regret it if I move back? Am I ‘thinking too much’? Smile If I don’t move back, am I going to spend the rest of my life reading Forumosa instead of doing my schoolwork? Will I regret it?[/quote]

I think you should think twice about coming back to Taiwan to teach. It’s okay when you’re in your 20s but not when you’re about to hit 40 and have a family to support. Salaries have been stagnant for a while and things are likely to get tighter in the future. The number of children is declining. In contrast, the number of foreigners is increasing, as is the number of capable local teachers. In fact, the quality of local teachers has been steadily improving and I think we will see a trend of schools hiring more locals.

Of course, there are some nice jobs at uni level but there’s more and more competition for these. Once upon a time you could get a university job with a master’s degree unrelated to English teaching. Then they started asking for a master’s in TESOL or English, (and more recently a Ph.D. for the best full-time work).

I would advise getting some practical experience related to your graduate degree.[/quote]

I think if you want to stay here and teach English permanently, it doesn’t make much sense to just keep on teaching at buxibans forever – I guess you really need to open your own, if you think you can pull it off. Or maybe find a job at a university. From what you’ve said above, it doesn’t sound like I’ll be able to pull that off with my degree-to-be (an M.A. in computational linguistics), but I wonder if my ability to speak Chinese well and my teaching experience would change things any.

Amen to that.

Difficult (although still possible) if you are not married to a local. And there is much more competition these days so it’s a lot of hard work for relatively small returns.

Your Chinese ability and buxiban experience won’t count for very much when looking for uni work.
There is a large pool of foreign teachers who are keen (or should I say desperate) to escape from English teaching or at least the buxiban system. As a result, there is, in the very near future, going to be a large surplus of burnt-out teachers who have gone back to school to get a master’s in TEFL.

[color=red]why would a “burnt-out” teacher go back and do an MA-TEFL? It doesn’t make sense to me. If you don’t like to teach, do something else. [/color]

Maybe he figures he can’t get a job doing anything else…

[quote=“tommy525”]
the vortex that is taiwan never gives up those who have dared to tread upon its shores. not even thos who have died.

forget hotel california welcome to LA ISLA FORMOSA !! The siren calls will haunt you wherever you are and bring you bacccccccccccccccckkkkkkk. baccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk

escape as long as possible my man for it will be soon enough you will be back !!

(insert sound of pirate calls here)[/quote]

I guess that’s what it all comes down to – give living in the USA a try, 'cause going back is likely to be a one-way journey.

[quote=“dzhefri”][quote=“tommy525”]
the vortex that is taiwan never gives up those who have dared to tread upon its shores. not even thos who have died.

forget hotel california welcome to LA ISLA FORMOSA !! The siren calls will haunt you wherever you are and bring you bacccccccccccccccckkkkkkk. baccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk

escape as long as possible my man for it will be soon enough you will be back !!

(insert sound of pirate calls here)[/quote]

I guess that’s what it all comes down to – give living in the USA a try, 'cause going back is likely to be a one-way journey.[/quote]

:slight_smile: well actually Taiwan does let you go now and then so it need not be a one way journey. Just that there is a saying that once you have lived there nearly 3 years you are in danger of living for 30 . And the fact is that once you have gotten accustomed to the crazy island you always feel strange if you are away too long, like something is missing, something isnt quite right and hence you must return again, like a sea turtle . I think a homing beacon is installed Permanently in your skull and you just have to return, you dont know why , but you must! Even as the TAiwanese visa idiots keep dreaming up new ways to make getting a visa harder and harder.

Well i do think you ought to give your new direction a good chance . And it could all work well for you too. But i just have a feeling you will return to
Taiwan, even if for visits now and then , but return you will

And watch out for em taiwanese ladies (they are now exporting them to the USA in greater numbers to attend schools there). Cuz once you hook up with one of em, you are forever tied to Taiwan.

(insert pirate laugh again)