I have already been in Taiwan for almost four years. I have even purchased a ticket back home. But now I am thinking of staying and applying for an MBA program to start in 2012. Will I ever manage to get off this island?
No. 
Any other deep questions youâd like a complete stranger to answer?
Except for a few really shitty things, itâs not a bad place. Just keep the fortune tellers away from me. I want to F^&^^ kill them.
Better a complete stranger than someone who thinks they know you!
Thanks for the answer anyways.
steelersman, if youâre open to it, Iâll share a secret about life I figured out when I was about 40 (a few years ago), that might be of some help to you.
Here it is: You can pretty much do anything you want in life. You have to make a choice, even if youâre not totally sure itâs right, and then follow up on your choice with a great deal of commitment and effort. If youâre patient and donât give up, youâll very likely get to where you want to be. Donât worry about making the wrong choice. You can recover from most anything, and thereâs always a lot to learn as you go through any process. That learning stuff is pretty darned useful.
Many people end up regretting the fact that they didnât make a choice at all, and just went where the wind, and their numerous fears about what might happen, took them. Still many others are totally defeated by the myriad reasons why they canât actually do something they want to do, when there is generally always a way to figure out a way to get what you want, or to get something that is close enough to what you want to make you happy with the outcome.
The application here is: If you want to leave Taiwan, itâs perfectly feasible to do so. If youâre worried about money, thatâs pretty easy to fix. Take on a bit of extra work, and save aggressively. You can live anywhere without much worry for 6 months or so if you save 15-20k. If you saved NT$30k a month for 18 months, youâd have it. If, after 18 months, you decide you love Taiwan and donât want to leave, well now you have a down payment on a small house, or something you can invest in a business, or something you can put toward retirement.
I think, from all of your posts about what you should do, that youâre mired in indecision, which is just another way of saying youâre mired in fear. Iâm not critical when I write that. It happens to most of us at one, or many, points in our lives. Just make a decision and go for it. Youâll be fine.
[quote=âTomasâ]steelersman, if youâre open to it, Iâll share a secret about life I figured out when I was about 40 (a few years ago), that might be of some help to you.
Here it is: You can pretty much do anything you want in life. You have to make a choice, even if youâre not totally sure itâs right, and then follow up on your choice with a great deal of commitment and effort. If youâre patient and donât give up, youâll very likely get to where you want to be. Donât worry about making the wrong choice. You can recover from most anything, and thereâs always a lot to learn as you go through any process. That learning stuff is pretty darned useful.
Many people end up regretting the fact that they didnât make a choice at all, and just went where the wind, and their numerous fears about what might happen, took them. Still many others are totally defeated by the myriad reasons why they canât actually do something they want to do, when there is generally always a way to figure out a way to get what you want, or to get something that is close enough to what you want to make you happy with the outcome.
The application here is: If you want to leave Taiwan, itâs perfectly feasible to do so. If youâre worried about money, thatâs pretty easy to fix. Take on a bit of extra work, and save aggressively. You can live anywhere without much worry for 6 months or so if you save 15-20k. If you saved NT$30k a month for 18 months, youâd have it. If, after 18 months, you decide you love Taiwan and donât want to leave, well now you have a down payment on a small house, or something you can invest in a business, or something you can put toward retirement.
I think, from all of your posts about what you should do, that youâre mired in indecision, which is just another way of saying youâre mired in fear. Iâm not critical when I write that. It happens to most of us at one, or many, points in our lives. Just make a decision and go for it. Youâll be fine.[/quote]
Great post. Money is not really the issue at this point.
STORY STORY STORY!!! I demand a good fortune teller story!!!
Steelersman, I often ask myself that question. Then I think, what else would I be doing? Here, I wake up in the morning (no alarm clock), go for a surf or take a long walk on the beach, putz around late morning to early afternoon, doing whatever I want, then I head off to work for 3-4 hours. I work 19 hours a week, Iâm saving $1000 US a month, I live in a location that would be way too expensive for me in America (on the beach) and I love my job! Life is good. The dating scene for a white girl isnât much but Iâm pretty happy single. And since youâre a steelersMAN Iâm gonna guess youâre a dude so you donât even have a sorry dating scene to contend with.
That masters degree might not count for much in any other place in the world (except maybe if youâre hired by a country doing business with Asia?) but hey, itâs cheap. If youâre having fun here, live it up!
Tomas, Iâm about ready to print what you wrote, frame it, and put it on my wall.
No one ever leaves.
like hotel california?
I agree. You wonât leave the island. Just enjoy it! 
There probably isnât a ârightâ decision for you. If you stay, there will be times when you think you should have left, if you leave, youâll sometimes wish youâd stayed.
The advice I always follow when I have a difficult decision to make is âact in accordance with your long term interestsâ. Itâs so easy to get caught up in transitory feelings and desires. Where do you want to be in ten yearsâ time? What do you want to be doing? How will the decision you make today take you there (or not)?
[quote=âPetrichorâ]There probably isnât a ârightâ decision for you. If you stay, there will be times when you think you should have left, if you leave, youâll sometimes wish youâd stayed.
The advice I always follow when I have a difficult decision to make is âact in accordance with your long term interestsâ. Itâs so easy to get caught up in transitory feelings and desires. Where do you want to be in ten yearsâ time? What do you want to be doing? How will the decision you make today take you there (or not)?[/quote]
I would stay forever but there are three main problems:
- I donât want to be forced back into English teaching if my current job does not pan out.
2.I will be broke living on the street when I am 50 if I stay.
3.I am not really made to teach in a Tawainese buxiban.
STORY STORY STORY!!! I demand a good fortune teller story!!!
Steelersman, I often ask myself that question. Then I think, what else would I be doing? Here, I wake up in the morning (no alarm clock), go for a surf or take a long walk on the beach, putz around late morning to early afternoon, doing whatever I want, then I head off to work for 3-4 hours. I work 19 hours a week, Iâm saving $1000 US a month, I live in a location that would be way too expensive for me in America (on the beach) and I love my job! Life is good. The dating scene for a white girl isnât much but Iâm pretty happy single. And since youâre a steelersMAN Iâm gonna guess youâre a dude so you donât even have a sorry dating scene to contend with.
That masters degree might not count for much in any other place in the world (except maybe if youâre hired by a country doing business with Asia?) but hey, itâs cheap. If youâre having fun here, live it up!
Tomas, Iâm about ready to print what you wrote, frame it, and put it on my wall.[/quote]
I am not considering getting an MBA in Taiwan but it is too late to apply for this fall and I still need to take the GMAT.
[quote=âsteelersmanâ][quote=âPetrichorâ]There probably isnât a ârightâ decision for you. If you stay, there will be times when you think you should have left, if you leave, youâll sometimes wish youâd stayed.
The advice I always follow when I have a difficult decision to make is âact in accordance with your long term interestsâ. Itâs so easy to get caught up in transitory feelings and desires. Where do you want to be in ten yearsâ time? What do you want to be doing? How will the decision you make today take you there (or not)?[/quote]
I would stay forever but there are two main problems:
- I donât want to teach English forever.
2.I will be broke living on the street when I am 50 if I stay.
3.I am not really made to teach in a Tawainese buxiban.[/quote]
It looks like 3 main problems 
Iâm in the same boat in that I will most likely return to Taiwan this year but donât want to spend more than a year or so teaching before switching out.
If you see the thread that I posted about the possibility of staying in Taiwan and being financially secure, you will see that it looks possible if you are disciplined financially now, based on all the excellent posters advice to me.
In terms of what to do other than teaching, I am not the best person to ask because I donât know either, (Iâm still thinking of a small, low maintenance food or drink stand in a good location or hitting the streets with my resume and hope someone takes me in) but there are a few options if you are good at a particular thing and can market it somehow.
Steelersman, I get the definite impression that you donât really know what it is you want to do. Anything you jump into now runs the risk of putting you back into a similar situation a few years down the line, with you searching for something else. My suggestion would be to take some time off. Throw a change of clothes in a backpack and go spend 6 months wandering around India or something.
Eat Love Pray Part 2
I know that I want to leave Taiwan.
Then go cuz you can go back ?
The question is where will I go?
No. Even your thread is stuck in Living in Taiwan. 
I would ask myself, where could you go?