It has been a strange year. We ended up back in Canada, after our eight months of travel. First we were in Winnipeg (our hometown) for a few months to visit with family, and then we moved to Ottawa (the Capitol) with the intention of me working for the federal government.
I applied to a ton of jobs, and some of them went to interview. All of these jobs took FOREVER to do the application process - we are talking 8 months to a year. Funny thing is, I made it to several interviews at the same time in June, when my wife and I decided that Canada was definitely no longer for us.
There are many reasons, but money, the environment, and culture are the top of the list. I was applying for good paying government jobs ($70-80K CAD, which sadly for government jobs in Canada is decent pay), and after running the numbers, with my wife staying home to homeschool our son, we would actually be losing money. Canada has become so expensive that it is almost impossible to live here without both parents working full-time. This doesn’t work for us.
Next, the environment - this needs a touch of explanation. The winters in Canada suck, we all know. However, normally the summers are sweet respite. Now, with the current forest fire problem, all of Canada is pretty much covered in smoke for a significant period of the summer. Going outside becomes a hazard, and outside exercise during these periods is a complete no go. Needless to say, this makes the summers here suck. No thanks - I would rather deal with occasional Taiwan pollution.
Then the culture. Everything needs a car, and is far. We hate it. People in this part of Canada are not very friendly, and very entitled. And a weird pet peeve of mine, everyone seems to think walking their dogs pretty much everywhere off-leash is ok. As a runner (and a parent) this is at the best annoying. I have been charged by vicious dogs three times in the last six months. Yeesh.
And then there is the healthcare. My wife was waiting 8 months to see a specialist for her ear. The appointment was just cancelled a week before it was supposed to happen, with a nebulous promise that it will be rebooked at some point in the future. And good luck finding a General Practitioner accepting new patients - they don’t exist. And if you want to go to a walk-in as a replacement, you need an appointment! Often they are booked up over a week in advance. The only good thing is that the care is free. At least if you have an emergency, hospitals are ok - you may have to wait 8 hours to see a doctor though …
Rant over (for now).
So as a result, a pulled my applications for the multiple jobs I was in the process for, and we booked tickets to Taipei for the end of November. That is when our lease ends.
The plan is to chill out in Taipei for six weeks or so, then Kaohsiung for a month. We want to have a good knowledge of both cities to see in which place we want to live.
Then, we will see. I need a job of some sort for a visa, but I don’t want to work full-time. So probably I will get an English teaching job in the afternoon just to pay the bills and for an ARC. The plan would be to start work for after Chinese New Year. We will see how it goes.
After that, maybe open a business in the next couple of years? It depends if I can figure some decent business ideas I suppose. (@Marco We should chat! Maybe lunch when I get to Taipei?)
We are all really looking forward to being back in Taiwan again - it has been almost 4 years since we visited last, and 14 years since we lived there last. Man time flies.
