Ok. This is going to be an interesting one. When I told a friend that I was leaving Taiwan because I was unhappy here he said (and I quote), “Is that all?”
???
So I ask all of you that DONT like it here but are staying, why? Not as a judgement to your choice, but out of out and out curiosity.
Thanks,
D
You say that you are unhappy-your friend asks if that is all…
Are you unhappy for most of the time or is is just sometimes?- If it’s the latter, I would ask the same question as your friend. You see, we all have periods of unhappinessand it is easy to blame Taiwan and more often than not it is Taiwan that is the cause…part and parcel of living abroad beyond the honeymoon period. If Taiwan makes you unhappy for most or all of the time then it is a good idea to move- if you have the choice.
Now i don’t think people who are constantly in a state of unhappiness in Taiwan would still stay if they had the choice to leave. Financial, marital, and employment obligations are the first reasons for staying that spring to mind. Then there are those who aren’t happy unless they are complaining and thus can be counted as ‘happy’ most of the time.
Huh?? Who doesn’t like it here? Between the xiaojies and the, uh, more xiaojies, this place is paradise.
Oh I so dont wanna get into my personal gripes with Taiwan. I am leaving soon and am dealing with my own issues here.
What I dont understand are the folks I keep meeting over and over who keep bitching about the place. And thats ALL they talk about. Even when I not so politely say something like “Lets not talk about Taiwan” or “I really need a distraction from this place, tell me about…” etc etc.
I am very well aware that just because you bitch about a place does not mean you are unhappy there. BUT COME ON…if thats all you talk about and focus on, how happy can you really be. And let me tell you, I have run into A LOT of foreigners who are like this.
D
They stay for all the 崇洋 xiaojies. 
There are people who complain about everything. If they’re in Taiwan, they complain about Taiwan, if they are back home they complain about they homecountry. Don’t take these people to serious.
I remember having read that you are in Tainan (or was it Taizhong), only been there for a couple of days, so I don’t know how life is there, but life in Taipei is pretty convenient. Why don’t you check out Taipei first before you head back home and will be hating TAiwan for ever?
I did that in Mainland China. I hated it that much that I knew, if I’d go home, I’d never go back there again. Instead, I moved to an other city and stayed an other 6 month until the end of my exchange year. I still don’t like Mainland a lot, but I don’t hate it that much anymore…=)
Yep, I hate it everywhere but you have to live somewhere don’t you?
A visit to Da Lu will certainly maike you appreciate Taiwan a lot more :s
If a hate a place then sure, move on. That’s life.
Why don’t you move up to TienMu in Taipei, lots of western food, vegetarian/health food shops, friendly foreigners, hot springs, mountains, views, and jobs. Stay there for 6 months or a year then leave on good terms.
Build a good base then explore the culture around Greater Taipei and around the island.
There is a lot to enjoy in TW if you have the right attitude. Sure, there’s a lot to bitch about, but it’s good to learn to deal with those problems. That said, I’ve been to Tainan and it’s 2/10 as nice as Taipei (which is convenient and relatively cosmopolitan in the middle), and 1/10 as nice as TienMu. You’ve done well down there, especially since the summer heat and pollution must be unpleasant.
Not all foreigners in TW are looser 
complainers.
As much as it may cause the pillars of the universe to quake, I find myself agreeing with Mesheel on this – check out Taipei before you bail.
I don’t think I’ve run into any majorly-unhappy expats here. There are overjoyous drunks who are out shagging babes every night; there are would-be Oriental scholars who are in studying obscure texts every night; there are the people with families; there are the kiddies who came to have an “Asian experience” for a year before finding a real job. I dunno, I haven’t run into anyone who has been bitching constantly.
I mean, look at me. I was a washed-up programming nerd with no job prospects and no future, and in six weeks I’ve found a new career, had half a dozen first dates, and become a power behind the throne – the iron fist in the velvet glove, as it were – in the online world. Truly, wonders never cease.
I hear you all and I have been thinking about moving up to Taipei after I leave Tainan. I have visited TP about 4 times since I got here, and I feel alive and semi-well adjusted there. But one of the worst offenders of this “unhappy but staying” foreigner group was living there. Talked my ear off for um, let me think, 4-5 hours about EVERYTHING he hated about the place. I could/should have walked away early, but part of me was intrigued by how much he was penting up. And he seemed like a genuinely nice guy and I thought he might just need an ear.
But he is not the only one I have met like this. You guys are undoubtedly NOT in the category I am talking about. You sound well adjusted and all that.
Come on, there has got to be someone out there who abso-friggin-lutely hates it here but is staying for one reason or another. Spill it man! I wanna know.
D
oh, yeah, I am in Tainan right now. 50 days to go!
And no second dates?
lol. Maybe he didnt want them to be second dates. hahahahahah
naughty boy Mopo!
D
Ok - I’ll weigh in on this…
Do I like it here? No. Do I hate it with a passion? Some days, definitely. Why do I stay? Because I signed a 1 year contract and I intend to honour it.
This year in Taiwan has been very interesting. Being 43 and having never done this before (i.e. teach or live abroad), it has been an experience. But, make no mistake, I will be quite happy when I can head back to Canada again.
Life is what you make of it. Some things you get into, are great and other stuff, not so good. I take everything with a grain of salt. Not everything one does is supposed to turn out so perfect.
Life is just a giant volleyball game - and in 5 months, I will rotate to my next position… Until then, I will keep chanting
“A-A-A ah ah ah An apple”
to a bunch of 7 year olds with a smile…
Martin in LuChou.
[quote=“travelgoddess”]Oh I so dont wanna get into my personal gripes with Taiwan. I am leaving soon and am dealing with my own issues here.
What I don’t understand are the folks I keep meeting over and over who keep bitching about the place. And thats ALL they talk about. Even when I not so politely say something like “Lets not talk about Taiwan” or “I really need a distraction from this place, tell me about…” etc etc.
I am very well aware that just because you bitch about a place does not mean you are unhappy there. BUT COME ON…if thats all you talk about and focus on, how happy can you really be. And let me tell you, I have run into A LOT of foreigners who are like this.
D[/quote]
Often the quirky things that annoy us about a place are the same things that endear us to a place. Sure there are incoveniences living in Taiwan, but when foreigners stay it’s because the pros outweigh the cons.
Besides, it’s therapeutic (and kinda fun, too) to gripe and share your frustrations with others.
Spent my days with a woman unkind, Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start, Going To California (Taiwan/Nepal/Timbuktu/wherever) with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there’s a girl (woman/boy/man) out there with love in her (his) eyes and flowers in her (his) hair…
…Tryin’ to find a woman (or man) who’s never, never, never been born…Telling myself it’s not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.
…Led Zeppelin, Going to Cali…
Everywhere you go people are gonna bitch. I can’t talk to my friends back home–actually I haven’t talked to them in years because they just bitch too much about their petty lives, their mortgages, that person at work that they hate, their bosses, traffic, people not understanding them, the whole society bieng f**ed, etc.
If you don’t want to bitch constantly about being here, hang out with people that don’t and try to see things through their eyes. Might give you a new perspective.
[quote=“Chris”]
Often the quirky things that annoy us about a place are the same things that endear us to a place. Sure there are incoveniences living in Taiwan, but when foreigners stay it’s because the pros outweigh the cons.[/quote]
Couldn’t agree more. For example (just one of many) the very smells that repulsed me when I first came to Taiwan are now comforting whenever I come back from somewhere else.
People are like water, we follow the easiest path, and that’s just fine. Even if we do something for ‘the challenge’, it’s because taking that challenge is easier than not taking it. People who choose to work 60 hours a week when they could easily survive (biologically) working much less do so because, for whatever reason, it’s easier for them. People who bitch about Taiwan yet continue to live here do so for the same reason. And, indeed, people bitch about whatever because it’s easier than not bitching. There’s no mystery in that.
For those that choose to bitch and stay, they do so because it’s obviously easier for them than leaving.
Couldn’t agree more. For example (just one of many) the very smells that repulsed me when I first came to Taiwan are now comforting whenever I come back from somewhere else.
YES, that has happened to me, as well. ‘Home crap home’. I wish I could smell Taiwan right now. They should sell it in bottles. What I wouldn’t give for a busy street and a perhaps a stinky tofu cart right now.
“One side of me is filled with brightness, no matter what I might say.”–Marty Balin & Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), “Young Girl Sunday Blues” (1967)