When's the right time to leave Taiwan?

For real? Damn, woman, you’ll be missed. :cry:

Now come on fredericka, my tip is you’ll be returning to Taiwan from the Aussie trip with your tail between your legs very quickly, resenting Australian’s and their overbearing chauvanistic ways.

Well, they may be overbearing, but at least they’re grateful. :o

And btw, Oz is just a holiday to visit old friends. Not a permanent abode, unless they ease 6 month quarrantines on cat importation.
Italy is top of the list at the moment, but I’ve been hearing good things about Greece. Dublin, too. Maybe I’ll just put the cats with folks and galavant around for a few years. Have ibook, will travel!

Sandman, I’ll miss you too (even though I only see you in cyberspace)

That’s what keeps me here too. None of the shops back home will sell me good quality solvents anymore. :wink:

Brian

And as for allowing you to sit on their doorstep to huff? Fergit it!

from the Merriam-Webster dictionary…

Main Entry: 2des

Alleycat, you wrote that you “wish Taiwan had more cultural options, like London say. Things are changing–a revival cinema here, an exhibition there–slowly though. In a decade or so, this could be a great city…”

First you say TAIWAN, then you say CITY (of Taipei). Taipei is not Taiwan. Friends in Kaohsiung, for example, say it is a great city to work and play. Much better than Taipei. You want ‘‘London’’ (CULTURE) to follow you wherever you go, but that’s impossible, alleycat.

Create your own culture here. Don’t rely on Lloyd-Webber and Madonna for your kicks.

I meant Taipei. Happy? For me sometimes the two are interchangable, like London was for me in England, because I spent most of the time i was in the UK in London, as have I spent most of my time in Taipei since moving here.

But again, it was a mistake and not intentional.

Happy. Thanks for sharing.

It’s time to leave when

-the taxi drivers stop telling you how well you speak Mandarin and actually have a real conversation with you.
-you know just how to respond appropriately to the 7-11 people who tell you xie guang nin or whatever it is that they say.
-you walk along in your favorite night market and get greeted by people working in several of the stalls, asking if you want “the usual”.
-you prefer going to KTV with Taiwanese people because foreigners don’t take it seriously enough.
-you know just which cars to get on at the MRT to be able to step right off the train onto the escalator closest to the transfer or exit.

I hate to admit it, but I am feeling more and more like I might be here for four years instead of my original 2 years. Especially since I have signed up for a third year with my school.

You obviously don’t know a few of the foreigners I do, then. In the old days you wouldn’t catch a group of foreigners dead in a KTV singing ‘You are my sunshine’. Now, there’s a new wave of under 30s who not only frequent KTVs, but prefer this form of entertainment on weekends. But at least they now have the option to sing the Banana Boat song (Day O) and grunge rock, among other pop/lounge English collections. Strange. Obviously, it IS time to leave when KTVs find a revival audience.

AJ, since it’s after the 5th, maybe it’s not time to leave Taiwan–maybe it’s time to take a couple months off and walk across the bugger! Give it’s backbone a hiking-boot-clad foot massage! Come on, you know you want to.

Some friends are getting me maps. Happy to share if you want.

When the children don’t just play with the hair on my arms, they are able to stroke the hair growing out of the mole on my face…

Good one Crisp!

When you prefer squat toilets over the sit down variety.

Uh oh. Hey Fredericka Bimmel…where can I get in on this foreigner KTV action? I have been looking for people to KTV with, but all the foreigners I know laugh at me when I mention it…cough, cough, Okami.

It’s time to leave Taiwan when…

  • my grandma’s health gets better
  • I am sick and tired of my job
    and * I want to find myself a boyfriend!

MiakaW

Uh oh. Hey Fredericka Bimmel…where can I get in on this foreigner KTV action? I have been looking for people to KTV with, but all the foreigners I know laugh at me when I mention it…cough, cough, Okami.[/quote]
where do you go to find KTVs that have a decent (and hopefully somewhat recent) selection of foreign songs?

I’ve been to Cash Box a few times and have been told that they have the best English song selection (don’t know if it’s true though). There was a nice enough mix of songs there to get me to go back.

When is the right time to leave Taiwan?

When you have recovered from Yellow Fever. :wink: