Robert:
Actually, your complaints are extremely rare.
This isn’t some dangerous alien planet.
I’d say the hardest part for everyone who moves to a new place is the rebuilding process. In our lives we learn how to deal with our environments and learn the systems necessary to survive. We learn how to use the bank, buy stamps to post a letter, bum a cigarette, order food, ask for directions and all the other mundane facts of life that grease the wheels. We build up support systems of friends, family and neighbors to help us when the need arrives…people who may have had a similar experience and know better than ourselves how to get the job done. When we move to a new and sometimes hostile environment we are at zero again. We need to re-learn how to do the things we were once so competant to do… like set up a bank account or pay a water bill. That babe in the woods feeling can be scary and stressful…though most people experience it after the initial euphoria wears off a few months down the road.
Keep on keepin on
You could always stand on a corner and cry. Someone will help you within seconds.
ToeToughloves
To add my two cents, I have only been here two weeks. I’ve started my third now. I am still freaking out. I think it a feeling the will be with you the duration of your stay. You get used to it. I just so happy to see everyone the the site rally around you with so much support. Just remember that you came here, like me, for change. Change doesn’t feel good becuase it isn’t comfortable. But being comfortable is a slow death from boredom. Your here now, might as well stay and make some friends or at least have a beer or two. If your in Taipei send me a private message.
you could also move to a hostel. You’ve mentioned a couple of times that you’re staying in a hotel-well, a hostel is much cheaper, and will allow you to settle, have access to people and a phone, and begin to orient yourself…
Edit: Oh, btw Screaming Jesus Richardm…I added the bold underline as a way to help because several other people had alluded to hostels, but the OP obviously misunderstood and kept staying at a hotel. You guys are a little funny, but more just plain negative and boring.
I knew a foreigner who lived in a whorehouse here.
How much did she charge?
I’ve been here eight years and I’m still freaked.
I been here 4 months, and I also share the exact same sentiments, the giant spiders, roaches, rats, mosquitoes all freak me out.
The insects, pollution and extremely high population density you will never get used to, but hopefully can adjust to the other things.
The language barrier sucks, sometimes I get frustrated, and I try to explain to my friends how I feel, but they can’t understand me which gets me even more depressed because english is their “distant” 2nd language and when I am excited I don’t feel like talking like a 5 yr old… I also wish I had some native english speaking friends…
I contemplated going back, still do, its a normal feeling. The first tyme a flying roach attacked me for my 7-11 noodles, I was on da phone 2 da travel agent, still… I feel I should give dis place at least a 6 or 12 month “trial” period.
Tip: I find the Azn gurlz here really help cheer me up, try that avenue.
good luck,
hope U don’t end up in a dumpster…
p.s. I spent several hours reading ppl’s journals and webblogs about TW, I suggest U do the same, read several different ones so U don’t get a specific biased viewpoint.
webdoctors:
[quote]I been here 4 months, and I also share the exact same sentiments, the giant spiders, roaches, rats, mosquitoes all freak me out.
The insects, pollution and extremely high population density you will never get used to, but hopefully can adjust to the other things.
[/quote]
Sounds just like Louisiana to me. What gives?
What a woosie. 
I knew a guy who landed here recovering from a heroin addiction. He frequently had NO money and would drift from rooftop to rooftop looking for a place to sleep. This is before the days of the internet and all of the support, encouragement and information that it provides. As far as he was concerned he was just lucky to be alive and never complained about a thing. Get yourself in perspective there Robert. It sounds to me like you have it pretty easy.
The Forumosan Rooftop??? 
Probably. He slept everywhere else.
I second this…
By now you have probably been to Tai-Da (ICLP) and meet some locals that can help you out. Good luck.
Went to ICLP but nobody was there. I was told to check again tomorrow morning and talk with someone at the office then.
I walked along a few streets for a little while trying to get a feel for the types of stores there were, I found a wellcome store in an alley and bought my first bottle of water, woohoo!
maowang’s insights are fairly helpful…it is not knowing how to operate in this society that makes it so difficult.
I’ve read some of the pages mentioned earlier my first day here, and I hafta admit I did focus on the negatives. I still have a lot of those negatives in mind and they are a little bit discouraging but I’m trying to take it in stride.
I also understand that there are people who have it worse off than I do. I am here for school, I have a small living stipend scholarship that I receive from my school for my expenses. Since I am a college undergrad I cannot legally find work, but if some opportunity arises I may consider it, just to build connections and friendships. I am looking into cheaper hostel options for temporary accomodation while I try to find housing.
I had a lot of trouble moving from a small small town to Minneapolis too, and it was my roommates and then classmates that helped me get a good hold on life there. Maybe I can find a good roommate in Taipei if I’m lucky.
I’m moving again tomorrow to another, cheaper temporary situation for a few days, will see how that works out. Easy to find me because I’m always dragging around my luggage. 
I think what I really want is the relative comfort and stability in living arrangements so that I am not totally disconnected and so I can focus on my studies and make the best of my education here. I feel like a spoiled kid when I consider that I want those things after reading and seeing a little bit of Taiwan’s living situation though, and it feels like trying to find something “nice” (take the word loosely, I’m not a rich kid or even middle-class) is futile, so I am tempted to jump on the first possibility I stumble across.
Has anyone invited that guy to the next forumosa happy hour yet?
Maybe this would help him…
[quote=“mesheel”]Has anyone invited that guy to the next forumosa happy hour yet?
Maybe this would help him…
Yeah, but he’s :cluck: and frankly who can blame him?
[color=red]Yo, New Guy![/color]
Just show up, and don’t tell anyone who you are. Make up a name. Tell everyone you’re Isaac Peter Freely or something. Hang around, get drunk, throw up on Stragbasher’s shoes. Or don’t worry about it. We don’t bite (except for Wolf, and he never shows up).
actually, yeah they informed me earlier. I’ll consider it, depending on if I decide I can take the tongue lashing and criticisms. 
Especially since I don’t drink alcohol hehehe.
And the fact that you giggle like a girl. Alias or else!
ToeToughloves2
cough I mean…BWAHAHAHAHAAAaaaa…
I’m trying, still learning the ropes…
Say that your name is cjmding, that would ensure you a warm welcome, as he’s the most loved mamber here.
Just show up and enjoy a beer with the rest of us…