Feeling at home here, Being at home here

For many expats in Taiwan, they come into their own after confronting and engaging this very different culture. But for most of us, we are still outsiders looking in. I mean, for most of us, whether we’re married or otherwise engaged, Taiwan is just not our home. We didn’t grow up in this culture.

Yes, we feel at home here and we like Taiwan, in varying degrees on a scale of 1 to 10. But feeling at home is not the same as being home, “being in that one place where with absolute certainty you know you belong, no questions asked,” as my sweet gf remarked the other day in regard to my own ambivalence here.

Life in a different culture often becomes an opportunity for self-invention, it’s true. Have you self-invented yourself or re-invented yourself here, and how does it feel?

How do you feel about this issue, as an expat? Do you just feel at home here …or do you feel you are really home? Or maybe neither…?

I feel at home in my house. A bit of an outsider in society at large, but that’s OK. I am accepted for what I am by most locals I interact extensively with.

I have re-invented myself here doing something I would never ahve had the chance of doing in my own country careerwise and that’s OK.

I believe I posted something regarding this in another thread…

I personally feel quite at home at my home in Taiwan, but even if I feel a 100%, it won’t really be 100% simply because it is not my own culture and not familar surroundings. However, the longer you stay here the better it gets as far as how comfortable you feel. Al least this is how I consider it.

And like Mr. He, I have also had opportunites here I would never have run into in my home country. It makes it all worth while when you are learning something.

I’d agree with both Holger and Jeff on this one. The longer you’re here, the more comfy you’ll feel here.

I like to move back and forth. Time period depends on occupational issues, and I always take psycho-social issues into account. I’m established enough in my career now that I have some flexibility in choosing where I live. It is just a matter of choosing the ideal time, logistically and emotionally, to move.

I couldn’t live in Taiwan my entire life. Nor could I live in America (at least not in the same area) forever.