That’s true, but to be fair there is a lot of bullsh*t a foreigner has to put up with here. Conversely, of course some foreigners give a lot of BS that the locals have to put up with. But for the most part…you do have to find your niche and not expect it to fall into your lap.
Huh? I have both, have for years. Did you queue at the wrong counter perhaps? 
Only things I can think of that I can’t do are get a driver’s license that lasts longer than my ARC, or vote. Still don’t think it’s worth being conscripted or giving up my current passport for either of those priveledges.
I don’t often think of leaving, but a trip to Paris this year impressed me with the way the residents take pride in and care for their city…[/quote]
You can’t get a mobile phone account without a Taiwan ID. I have one but only because a friend had a friend who worked at the telecom. Same with my first credit card - my boss is the guarantor. My second credit was no problem.[/quote]
Yes you can. FarEasTone will let you have a number with an ARC. They won’t let you buy a phone and a number together on a special deal though.
That’s true, but to be fair there is a lot of bullsh*t a foreigner has to put up with here. Conversely, of course some foreigners give a lot of BS that the locals have to put up with. But for the most part…you do have to find your niche and not expect it to fall into your lap.[/quote]
Take the bullsh*t, complain about the smell, put it on your garden, and watch the flowers grow. That’s what I do.
Trust me, you’re all there because it’s easy.
Here in the US, it’s NOT easy.
Everything is a bloody rigamarole ( A complicated, petty set of procedures.)
I’m going through an enormous amount of culture shock and adapting is harder the older you are. I want to come back to Taiwan. I’m stuck out in the country and my cell phone doesn’t even pick up a signal. Grant it, I need the peace and quiet, but COME ON, AT & T cell phone service DOESN’T pick up in the countryside???
The cheapest petrol/gas I’ve found is $1.84 per gallon, but no matter, I barely drive the thing because I’m way out in the country and there’s nowhere to drive it to except around the farm and Walmart.
Yes, Asia spoiled me. Get out while you’re young or you’ll go apeshit if and when you do leave for a bit. I do believe, Alien will be back as soon as that big fat dissertation is in the mail. Unless, god forbid, I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle of laziness and complications.
Doubt it!
[quote=“Alien”]Trust me, you’re all there because it’s easy.
Here in the US, it’s NOT easy.
Everything is a bloody rigamarole ( A complicated, petty set of procedures.)
I’m going through an enormous amount of culture shock and adapting is harder the older you are. I want to come back to Taiwan. I’m stuck out in the country and my cell phone doesn’t even pick up a signal. Grant it, I need the peace and quiet, but COME ON, AT & T cell phone service DOESN’T pick up in the countryside???
The cheapest petrol/gas I’ve found is $1.84 per gallon, but no matter, I barely drive the thing because I’m way out in the country and there’s nowhere to drive it to except around the farm and Walmart.
Yes, Asia spoiled me. Get out while you’re young or you’ll go apeshit if and when you do leave for a bit. I do believe, Alien will be back as soon as that big fat dissertation is in the mail. Unless, god forbid, I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle of laziness and complications.
Doubt it!
[/quote]
Ah, the grass is always greener…
[quote=“cableguy”][quote=“Alien”]Trust me, you’re all there because it’s easy.
Here in the US, it’s NOT easy.
Everything is a bloody rigamarole ( A complicated, petty set of procedures.)
I’m going through an enormous amount of culture shock and adapting is harder the older you are. I want to come back to Taiwan. I’m stuck out in the country and my cell phone doesn’t even pick up a signal. Grant it, I need the peace and quiet, but COME ON, AT & T cell phone service DOESN’T pick up in the countryside???
The cheapest petrol/gas I’ve found is $1.84 per gallon, but no matter, I barely drive the thing because I’m way out in the country and there’s nowhere to drive it to except around the farm and Walmart.
Yes, Asia spoiled me. Get out while you’re young or you’ll go apeshit if and when you do leave for a bit. I do believe, Alien will be back as soon as that big fat dissertation is in the mail. Unless, god forbid, I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle of laziness and complications.
Doubt it!
[/quote]
Ah, the grass is always greener…[/quote]
Sounds so familiar. I had lived in Toronto off and on for about 10 years. I finally said I had enough of the place and decided to finish my undergrad in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. While it seemed to make sense for so many reasons at the time after about 1 month in that red neck town I realised things weren’t so bad in TO after all.
I feel there is always something about a place that will piss you off. But being a pessimist I do the obvious and try to focus on the positive. Despite some really annoying loops a person must take to live a normal life here (credit, phones etc.) it has been overall relatively easy place to live as a foreigner. God, I renewed my work visa here in Hsinchu in 10 minutes. Try to do that in Canada.
I think I have adapted well here. But there are some things I will never adjust to. I can never adjust to the lack of respect people have for each other on the streets. It’s totally unsafe, stressful, and chaotic. Now that I have a daughter I want to feel that I can be safe walking and driving with her. I don’t and it isn’t.
There were many times I swore I was going to get the hell out of this country. To leave, and I have no doubt I will someday, would be to lose out on a very special experience. Canada will always be my home but for now Taiwan and Asia is just to cool an experience to leave. Maybe when I get closer to retirement I will pine for the security and comforts of home. Though on my salary retirement may never come which could be a good thing.
[quote=“kelake”]quote]
But being a pessimist I do the obvious and try to focus on the positive. .[/quote]
Hey Alien, duh! we’re talking about AT&T here, the worst-rated company in the second worst-rated industry, right behind car dealers.
Even though I don’t really understand the phone bill in Taiwan, I can always count on it being predictable. That means, no hidden charges, no unexpected charges, no “new fees” for services that are invisible, no new increases to cover “AT&T’s costs” (read: losses), no additional charges that “I agreed to”, no new taxes that AT&T decides to pass on to me.
It seems every month I had to be quite vigiland in looking at the bill, calling them… on hold
wait.
wait.
on hold.
stupid music.
wait.
message telling me to be patient.
call center comes on. finding out the person can’t understand or is powerless, being forced to find the supervisor who actually can do something about it, and reasoning/demanding charges be reversed. How many millions out there don’t bother, or don’t have the time. Those bastards.
You’re out in the country Alien. Why don’t you ride a bike, or at least a motorbike. you don’t really need a jeep all the time!
yesh well i left the island and tried living back in NZ, in London and in Sydney…all nice places but you know what? all a bit one dimensional after 9 years here…the thing about taiwan i keep coming back to is that you’re never down for long…you can hjave a bad day or two but then something weird wacky or wonderful happens and the magic is back…back in the real world the days just merge into each other with no real highs or lows…no fun, no fun…intensity of experience over quality of life any day of the week nigel
I know exactly what you mean. Having a “hate Taiwan” day, but I went back to the UK last year for 6 months and lasted a week before I wanted to come back! Knowing exactly how Alien is feeling… :help:
I have been back in Oz for 18 months… the culture shock/feelings of not belonging are stronger than they ever were in Taiwan… 
Cant wait to get back…
[quote=“songzzz”]Sorry to rant but I am kinda pissed with taiwan’s policy with foreigners and seriously thinking of leaving…
Just wanna hear your views about the country… are you happy here? what made you stay?[/quote]
Geez Louise … now you might know what it’s like as an immigrant in the good US of A. :raspberry: SOS but different.
Don’t worry, have someone take you to a visit upstairs and you’ll see a whole 'nother Taiwan 
. They’ll lub you long long time. 
Transition is always difficult when you ain’t number 1 anymore. 
I’ve been back in the US for four years now after living in Taiwan for seven years, and STILL go back and forth on wether to come back to Taiwan or not. It doesn’t seem to get easier… Will probably come back next summer, though.
I’m in the same boat as you regarding the timeframe (five years back in the states after six in-country) but do not have any second thoughts about relocating back to Taiwan, except under some sort of unlikely arrangement where I could spend most of the year in the states and a few months in Taiwan visiting relatives.
There are certain quality-of-life issues that are more important to me as time goes on that I cannot easily find in Taiwan. They include a single family home with a yard for my children and a garden for my wife; opportunities to walk in my neighborhood without being forced to walk on the street; relatively clean air; the potential to attend study whatever subject I want at local universities in my spare time for a degree; the ability to bike long distances in a relatively bike friendly place; be near my parents; experience four distinct seasons; etc.
Except for the last two items, I didn’t care too much about any of these things ten years ago, and loved the life I was living in Taiwan – friends, jobs, travel, food, nightlife, etc. Heady days, crazy nights, ha ha. But I picture myself in some of the situations I was experiencing then – personal, work-related, entertainement, etc. – and could not go back to that, even if I didn’t have a family. The shit I put up with when I was in my early 20s …
After youleave then you discover how Taiwanese you have become and how your home country sucks…that is once you eat all the stuff you missed and culture shock hits.
I have a mobile phone in my own name. Never applied for a credit card.[/quote]
Check out the Guarantor thread. I got a credit card at ChinaTrust with no guarantor.
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … highlight=
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … sc&start=0
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … sc&start=0
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … =guarantor
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … c&start=15
Some threads about credit cards and guarantors
[quote=“Jack Burton”]
You’re out in the country Alien. Why don’t you ride a bike, or at least a motorbike. you don’t really need a jeep all the time![/quote]
I do! I brought back a Giant Yukon (thank god it’s a mountain bike!). It’s great to ride around these trails back around here. I’ve been taking photos of barns, silos and old farm houses. It’s gorgeous. My friend has a family farm of 350 acres waaaaaaaaaaaaaay the hell out in tobacco, cotten, soy bean and cattle country near the border of Virginia. I’ve been riding my bike up to her place and her step daughter’s place, which is about a mile away from where I’m staying (without a lock on my door!)
Eek! It’s kind of scary up here at night! There are loads of fireflies and more dangerous critters up in the woods.
I have to ride the Jeep to dump the trash seven miles away. Of course, most is recycled and the other bits can be thrown out back. I will definately upload some photos onto a site once I get them sorted out.
I’m actually getting a phone in the place I’m staying soon, so I’ll be online again within the next week or so. My friend grows all kinds of veg and herbs, so I’ve been having a field day making up exotic veg dishes. I think I’m getting healthier even though it’s not been that long. That is, with the bike and the all the outdoorsiness of it out here. I’m a lot better off here than out in some lethargic suburban hell hole.
They closed the whole country down for Reagan’s funeral, btw.
I found one TV channel in the US semi-watchable, TLC. My friend has that Diret TV with like 500 channels.
They have these shows on TLC where these people come in and redecorate your home while you’re out. And another one called, What Not To Wear, where this poof and a JAP chick come in and toss out your wardrobe and tell you what you should wear. FUNNY! Btw, a JAP, for those who’re not Yanks: Jewish American PRincess. Not a racist term, nor politically incorrect. Although ‘poof’ could be construed as such!
Otherwise, out here in the country, it’s another world. I can ignore how desperately backward the US is in comparison to Taiwan and not care how little this part of the country has developed in comparison to Asia over the years.
I think I’ll try to enjoy this lifestyle while I’m here, but I never thought I’d miss my friends, my work, my man, and my life in Taiwan soooo damn much. I can’t imagine after this dissertation is written that I’d want to stay HERE forever!!! Although the countryside is far preferrable to small cities and suburbs, as I mentioned earlier.
:s
Nothing goes fast in the country…tell Fred Smith he should try it some time. I’d love to see him toss off that silly blazer and stick his hands in the mud and pull up a potato, or zip off the panels of a Jeep, or haul his trash seven miles down the road.
[quote=“klaxon”]I’m in the same boat as you regarding the timeframe (five years back in the states after six in-country) but do not have any second thoughts about relocating back to Taiwan, except under some sort of unlikely arrangement where I could spend most of the year in the states and a few months in Taiwan visiting relatives.
There are certain quality-of-life issues that are more important to me as time goes on that I cannot easily find in Taiwan. They include a single family home with a yard for my children and a garden for my wife; opportunities to walk in my neighborhood without being forced to walk on the street; relatively clean air; the potential to attend study whatever subject I want at local universities in my spare time for a degree; the ability to bike long distances in a relatively bike friendly place; be near my parents; experience four distinct seasons; etc. [/quote]
Where are you in the USA?
Spent most of last week in China on business. Soon after I settled into my seat on EVA and got a taste of Taiwanese values and culture again I felt like kissing the ground in Taiwan once we landed.
I’m happy living here. Just need a little green space R&R part of the year and we’re all set. We plan to buy a little cabin in the mountains back in the U.S. and spend the three summer months there on the notion that not putting all your eggs in one basket is the ultimate ex-pat solution.
I’m in the same boat as you regarding the timeframe (five years back in the states after six in-country) but do not have any second thoughts about relocating back to Taiwan, except under some sort of unlikely arrangement where I could spend most of the year in the states and a few months in Taiwan visiting relatives.
[/quote]
After 4 years in Taiwan and almost 8 back in the US, my wife and I are preparing to move back to Taiwan. I’m very much looking forward to it.
One thing I loved about Taiwan was the fact that I was never bored there. There were plenty of hassles and hustles, but I was never bored. And I have a lot of friends there.