So why are you still in Taiwan?

  1. Have nowhere else to go -back to Central America, no thanks, to the US with my family, nope, either.

  2. Place is safe (as long as I stay off the path of motorized vehicles).

  3. Money’s good.

In summary, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

[quote=“rahimiiii”]So honestly, if Taiwan is so bad, food is bad (like chang wha meatballs? it’s one of my favorite food here) culture is stupid, why are you still here? [/quote]I loath the food here; thank the gods for Subway, Yaki, and a small handful of other good eats.

I’m here for the Pixie; that’s it. There are far, far better and more interesting places to be; places where far more is possible. But this is where the Pixie calls home, so I’m here. I don’t bitch about it, much, but make the best of it I can. It’s not all that bad, but having freely chosen to come here once (the first time), I know better now.

Pixie? (would that be in code for another word that starts with a P ? As in *ussy? ) :slight_smile: :sunglasses:

[quote=“Jaboney”][quote=“rahimiiii”]So honestly, if Taiwan is so bad, food is bad (like chang wha meatballs? it’s one of my favorite food here) culture is stupid, why are you still here? [/quote]I loath the food here; thank the gods for Subway, Yaki, and a small handful of other good eats.

I’m here for the Pixie; that’s it. There are far, far better and more interesting places to be; places where far more is possible. But this is where the Pixie calls home, so I’m here. I don’t bitch about it, much, but make the best of it I can. It’s not all that bad, but having freely chosen to come here once (the first time), I know better now.[/quote]

Does she loathe Canada that much? I mean, once you two tie the knot, it isn’t that difficult for her to get PR status (takes four months of processing) and then citizenship in Canada (after three years). After that, she can travel a lot more easier with the new passport (I rememer having to wait hours and hours at the Czech/Slovak Republic border while ornery-looking border guards scrutinized the ROC passports of fellow uni classmates).

f.com nickname for my dark lil’ elf. She’s a cutie.

[quote=“Chewycorns”]Does she loathe Canada that much?[/quote]No, but this is her home. For now, ours.

[quote=“tash”]This half-PC version of Quentin I don’t like.
The old Quentin would have just posted the first post and gone offline to have another drink. No apologies.

He was a unique gem. What have we done to him![/quote]
Weren’t you whinging on him a while back about his comments on Mr. Ledger?
You’ve created a monstrosity!

Taiwan is difficult.
Improper, lax communication, half-ass attitude, lack of common sense, faulty social skills, lack of proper common courtesy, corruption by pornography & video games, lack of proper illumination, serious violations of cultural norms.
& that’s just the foreign devils, heathen intrepid layabouts!
Lord knows what the local populace even thinks during commercial breaks. In the urbanity, what other times do the locals get to socialize, amongst their neighbours, other than just one on one, or during the vastly shrinking array of holidays???

Garbage collection, power outage, earthquake, typhoon, and yes, gossiping about what heinous crimes those red-haired barbarians are up to now!
{…he said knowingly…}

To return to the main topic:
Am still on the Taint of a rock due to family, taxes, sloth, and more than a few pendulum swinging, crux of the biscuit-like, amidst what appears to be a serious case of the mulligans.

Rent 0- but under 500 USD when I did pay it. For a 6 bedroom house.
Food under 10 USD per day. Most days, way under, closer to 10 at better places.
Buck a beer.
Gas, under 6 bucks a week. most places I walk or ride a bike.
Child Care/ pre school - until 6 PM every weekday- under 400 bucks a month.
Recreation:
10-30 min. drive for boogie boarding, surfing, sea kayaking.
5 min. drive for windsurfing, sailing.
20 min. to 40 min. (different spots) for riverboarding, rafting, kayaking.
30 min. drive for paragliding.

Commute to work: about 3 mins. 10 if I walk.

Damn, now that I list it out, it’s not a bad place to live.

I stayed in Taiwan for seven years. I loved it. I’ve loved every country that I’ve lived in because I am alive and safe and happy with myself (sort of…). I sound like a stinking hippy, but after a couple of formative experiences in my 20’s, I’m just so grateful for my ridiculous existence, to split hair over the food or the weather would be absurd/wicked.

The things that negatively affected my quality of living in Taiwan were poor quality housing, big spiders, noise, being treated like a waiguoren a lot of the time, unacceptable working conditions and work permit regulations.

Why did I stay? My friends, the light on an autumn day, the mountains, the temples, the pineapples, the crazy conversations with taxi drivers, the sun, the storms, the sea, the ‘24 hour-ness’ of the capital.

What’s better in ‘my’ country? The food, the nightlife, having ‘my’ culture and heritage around me, SHOPPING!, my sister is here, the multiculturalism. What’s worse? Transport, dirty streets, people can be so rude, paying tax to support lazy people, poor quality healthcare, higher crime, expensive crappy internet connection, few post offices.

I ultimately left because I could not tolerate the people I worked with any more (not all of 'em, I loved some of 'em). To summarise, you can be happy in most places if you want to be. Places without people are just wallpaper; irrelevant.

Oh, and of course, I stayed for the boy…

Theres always a girl or a boy involved for the decisions we make isnt there :slight_smile:

I lived in Taipei from1989 to 1996, and what made me stay was the incredible energy emanating from the place at all times…i guessed it’s changed quite a bit!!! The food was a big plus, the nightlife was fantastic, the people optimistic and curious, and supertistious, and messy, etc.
Art collections at the National Museum are too good to miss, the smell of strawberries in the street in December, the beautiful days in October/November, the desert like quality of the city at CNY, the typhoon alerts, oh…and did i mention the food…
My liver and a shred of self preservation made me leave, but having lived in Thailand, Korea and travelled in China mainland a lot, I still felt Taiwan was special. Maybe being a woman and not teaching english but working in a foreign company had a lot to do with it.

Dear OP,
like some other posters have said already, this forum is mainly for venting!!! Who are we going to vent to? The local wife/husband: it will end up in a fight for sure. The friends and family back home: they have no idea what we are talking about! Foreign friends here: their plate is already full!
So here we are, glued in front of our computers, the heater burning one side of our body while the other one is freezing (7 C today), venting about stuff that irks us.
I guess most of us love the place, but invariably, we all have issues sometimes! Don’t take it too seriously!

I must say i remember a winter when it rained non stop for 21 days. When the sun finally came out, we all bunked off work and went out!

That was the winter of 89/90. Sometimes it fell to a drizzle, but it never stopped. 24/7 rain for three weeks. I think everything in my apartment went green with mold. Both horrible and terrible.

Yep, must be that winter. I never thought something as trivial as weather could have gotten me so depressed.

I grew up in Aberdeen, Washington. I get depressed if it doesn’t rain for days on end.

Also, I’d like to add my “Whatever, dude” regarding the original poster. He’s been whining about being stuck here for years - suddenly he doesn’t understand why people grouse about the place? :unamused:

Surely you’ve heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS)? Nothing trivial about the weather at all.

Surely you’ve heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS)? Nothing trivial about the weather at all.[/quote]

That’s why depression is so endemic in the Scandinavian countries. I remember visiting Oslo to visit a classmate. I loved it…in summmer. However, visiting there in the winter months (other than for the skiing) would have been a bummer. I think Sweden has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Behind the nice houses, blonde ladies, Ikea furniture, and volvos, there are some sad souls.

I left for a while and I just got back… I actually missed this rock.

T.

Surely you’ve heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS)? Nothing trivial about the weather at all.[/quote]

That’s why depression is so endemic in the Scandinavian countries. I remember visiting Oslo to visit a classmate. I loved it…in summmer. However, visiting there in the winter months (other than for the skiing) would have been a bummer. I think Sweden has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Behind the nice houses, blonde ladies, Ikea furniture, and volvos, there are some sad souls.[/quote]

Canada, too, especially dreary Vancouver. You’ve got lovely winters in Calgary. Cold but bright sunshine almost every day. Loved it when I lived in Canmore and Banff.

But Vancouver, I genuinely need to use a sunlamp in winter to keep my spirits up.

I have heard that SADS was first recognized as a genuine syndrome by a psychiatrist from Miami who began to wonder why he was getting depressed every winter after moving north.