Foreigners from what place are most/least happy here?

Excluding people who have Chinese or Taiwanese roots, people from what parts of the world tend to settle in and feel most at home in Taiwan? Also, on the other end of things, in your experience, foreigners from what places tend to have the roughest go of it?

I’m not talking economics or visa / work regulations. I’m simply talking in terms of cultural adjustment and being able to understand and appreciate the way local people go about things.

My guess would be that Italians would adjust just fine in Taiwan.

It’s the same chaos, corruption and bureaucracy as in Italy, and … noodles are so close to spaghetti.

I don’t think nationality has much to do with it. Some people adjust to wherever they go, and some people are naturally miserable wherever their geographic locale.

I will say this: females tend to have harder times adjusting than males. But that’s a well-covered topic on this forum and others. Especially if she has a boyfriend back home - 9 out of 10 she’s gone in six months. Especially if she tags along with her boyfriend here (as it seems half of the waiguo Barbies in Taiwan come attached with their Ken) - half the time they break up within a few months living in Taiwan, and with her only reason for coming in Taiwan gone, she starts packing her bags back to Canada.

[quote=“mod lang”]

half the time they break up within a few months living in Taiwan, and with her only reason for coming in Taiwan gone, she starts packing her bags back to Canada.[/quote]

and I thought Australia and backpacking were the graveyard of relationships

Hey, it’s hard to compete when your boyfriend’s constantly getting distracted by all those olive-skinned, svelte brunettes coyly smiling and muttering, “Hao ke-ai!” at him.

I’m sure you meant “coming to” Taiwan, right?

I’m sure you meant “coming to” Taiwan, right?[/quote]
What was it that Samuel Clemens wrote about the difference between the right word and the almost-right word being the difference between seeing a lightning bug and being struck by lightning? :mrgreen:

It helps if you can pretend you are on an alien planet. Or in Missouri.

Perhaps the Swiss would find Taiwan a bit different from what they are used to?

Yeah, in my experience Italians tend to be pretty happy here. But they look like a very tight community to me, who don’t mix a lot with Anglophone Westerners who are here to teach English. Despite the Taiwanese interest in Natively-spoken English, I’ve noticed that the Italians here tend to have more local friends, on average, than English teachers. Maybe it has to do with the fact that most them actually pick up Chinese after a couple years here!

It still amazes me how restaurants and cafes here will import a real live Italian to cook or manage the staff – that goes far beyond the whole edu-tainer English teacher thing to prove that Taiwan has become a rich country with money to burn.

Most Latin Americans I’ve met in Taiwan are very happy too (in sharp contrast to the ones I met in Japan). It’s funny, I’ve travled through Mexico and Central America, and never saw a lot of cultural similarities, but I guess government exchange programs with the banana republics that support Taiwan treat their participants quite royally.

I’ve run into a few Muslims here, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, and I never got the sense most of them cared for the place. The Eastern Europeans I’ve run into didn’t give off especially positive vibes either.

I wonder about that. I think it is also that Taiwan Italy are very similar places, with right-wing governments running (badly) an economy that is heavily gangster-dominated with lots of institutional corruption, many small, flexible, family-owned firms in international trading, massive tax evasion, a strong orientation toward family, lots of good old-fashioned male chauvinism, and a great food culture centered around noodles and pork. I suspect Italians feel right at home here. The Taiwanese remind me a lot of my Italian relatives on my mother’s side. If they were as into physical contact as my Italian relatives, it would be easy to confuse them.

Are there any Italians on the list? Maybe we should ask them…

Could be a toss up between the lumberjacks and springboks. Canadians seem to like Taiwan the most because of the warm weather and low taxation, and most South Africans are very happy to have escaped their crap country (economy).

English - and other Northern Europeans - often have a hard time here because Taiwan is too hot, chaotic, and the weak local currency makes saving money pointless.

I like Taiwan because Europe and that includes my home country are becoming over-regulated.

i’ve found that those coming from urban areas like it better than rural folk.

Well, duh. Maybe the fact that the entire west coast from Keelung to Kaohsiung is practically one big, long city with barely any breathing spaces of nature might have something to do with it. Too many people crammed up like sardines on this island.

yeah, that might.

i usually bash a lot of things about taiwan, but there are certain things, people and sights that really bring back hope to me.

one of these recently was going to see the Lantern Festival at CKS, specifically the marvelous lanterns made by students and teachers. they are truly one of the most beautiful and sometimes funny things i have seen in taiwan.

great stuff er most of it. there were a few especially in middle school that were kinda ugly. grade school and high school were great (makes me think those kids really wanted something nice, while the middle school kids, going thru puberty, were rebelling and made some crap). still, it made me laugh.

and in the square are these red lanterns that you can put up a wish (written down on paper and attached to the lanterns).

Unhappy. People who had thier first posting in Singapore & thought this was typical Asia, then come to Taiwan…reality hurts.

Happy . Those people coming from Korea which seems to be unanimously disliked by all foriegners who live there.

Happiest group : British Males . Happy to escape the shite weather in their home country & delerious re: the beautiful local women.

Unhappiest group: Single white women over 30 years old. Very small gene pool to access re: potential mate. A lot of them dont find the local guys attractive & most of the foreign guys are chasing the local girls.

[quote=“Scuba”]Unhappy. People who had thier first posting in Singapore & thought this was typical Asia, then come to Taiwan…reality hurts.
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:laughing: A woman I worked with called Singapore “Asia for beginners” - ooh, nasty.

As for who’s happiest, no idea! I would think it would depend more on the individual than the country of origin.

I think Frenchmen are the most happy people here. They are not bogged down by the cynicism of Nord Americanos and Brits, NZers and Aussies. No make that Germans and French and Italians. They bring less baggage.