Hello everyone! My name is Dave and I will be moving to Kaohsiung in January 2019. My wife is Taiwanese and has accepted a job there. I’m originally from Nebraska in the US but lived and worked in Washington DC (1990-98), Sweden (1998 to 2008) and Switzerland (since 2008), where I met my wife. I like music, sports, books and movies. Look forward to language lessons and a new life, including engaging in Forumosa. Best, Dave
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Welcome, Dave 
What type of books do you enjoy reading?
Hi Overnightoats666! Mostly non-fiction: history, biographies, etc. Have too many books in various stages of completion 
. Going mostly digital, so sadly will probably need to part with most hard copies while readying for the move.
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Welcome, here you will find lots of info, and lots of humor, some good and some bad of both.
Thank you, Tango!
Hi Dave, what are your thoughts on moving from somewhere with beautifully clean, pristine alpine air to somewhere where half the year has an AQI over 150 and most days are brown with pollution? Genuinely curious. (I lived in Kaohsiung and loved it, but 2 years of breathing that brown shit was more than enough.)
Hi Greves,
Good point. I guess my thought is that I would prefer it not be that way (poor air quality) and will welcome any advice on how to manage — if it is possible. I am making the move to support my wife, because it is a good career move for her. Through my own work I’ve certainly encountered poor air quality (Delhi, Beijing, etc) but I guess between the midwestern US, Sweden and Switzerland, plus not being a smoker, my lungs are in decent shape. For now, anyway. I hope to find some way to manage!
Stay at home as much as possible with the windows closed and a high powered air purifier?
No other way really, air is pretty much ubiquitous.
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Reading this post stresses me out.
Kaohsiung is a great city—nice access to the water, amazing mountains nearby in Pingtung (Pingdong), easy to zip up to Tainan for some cultural/historical sightseeing. It’s also one of the best laid out cities in Taiwan (you can thank the Japanese for that).
Yes the air sucks but this problem is not limited to Kaohsiung alone. It’s a regional problem and one of the indisputable downsides of living on Taiwan’s west coast. So yes, the OP should absolutely invest in an air purifier or purifiers depending on the size of their place.
OP: I hope you have a smooth move and all the best settling in!
Guy
Welcome!
For what it’s worth, you may sometimes find this forum a little frustrating because many of the posts focus on Taipei (mine included) - but there’s definitely plenty of content for Kaohsiung as well.
Good luck with the move!