Hi y'all (Newbie thread)

Hi y’all. I couldn’t find another general “newbie self-introduction” thread, so I decided to start one myself. I am Dutch originally, but have spent the majority of the last 10 years in Japan, working in advertising, government and as part-time village idiot. Japanologist, sociologist, linguist, event organizer, writer, photographer, webdesigner : I am a jack-of-all trades but excel in nothing, early 30’s and yet no idea what to do with my life when I grow up.

After that many years in Japan I recently felt the time had come to do something new yet again, and after a short stay in Taipei a few months ago I thought " why not Taiwan?". I have been in Beijing before, speak enough Chinese to order a beer, and thanks to my Japanese I can read many characters already of course.

I am planning to come to Taiwan in September and enter a school to improve my Chinese (so that I can order more beers, or maybe even a scotch), and I hope to be able to find some work as a freelance photographer/writer/webdesigner maybe. And, if I still like it after a year or so, look for opportunities to start up some business in one thing or the other. Teaching English is probably out of the question as I am not a native English speaker, and I have already learned from the forum that the Taiwanese government is even more anal about working permits than here in Japan. We`ll see.

But of course, first thing is finding a school, and finding a doctor who I can bribe into putting on paper that I am free of STD’s. (WTF is that all that about??? I have been all around the world, but I have never had to do an STD test to get admitted anywhere.)

Anyway, it’s going to be fun!

I am looking forward to going to Taiwan, meet new people, have new experiences, and get annoyed by the Taiwanese instead of Japanese bureaucracy for a change. I am interested to see which is worse.

And of course, I am sure I’ll have a lot of questions for you all in the coming months.

Enjoy Taiwan, leave your illegal drugs behind, and get triple doses of your legal ones.