The iconic Taipei 101 Building (Taipei, Taiwan)
My history with Southeast Asia is well over a decade old now. It started when my older sister became an expat in Taipei, Taiwan in 2009. I flew the fourteen hours from the United States to bring her two giant suitcases filled with all the comforts of home that she didn’t know she needed. At the time, I barely spoke two words of Mandarin and my interest level in Asia was low.
That first visit, I arrived with a nasty ear infection. My sister was working overtime, living in a tiny apartment with not much more than a bed, a shower, and some rudimentary kitchen gear. For those two weeks, I spent most of the day curled up in bed, popping ibuprofen and watching old shows on my her tiny laptop. Or sitting in the wet bathroom inhaling the steam from the hot water shower head that sprayed directly onto the toilet and eating grocery store ramen that was ten times better than anything I had tasted from the package in back home.
At night, when my sister got off work, she took me to some of the most famous tourist spots around Taipei – Taipei 101, Tamsui, the night market, the MaoKong Gondola. (See How to Spend One Perfect Day in Taipei and Must See Taipei from Tea Houses to Night Markets) Somehow, in spite of that less than amazing introduction, I fell a little in love with Taiwan. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, the streets were safe (aside from the traffic). Plus, everything was so much cheaper than the United States. Looking back, my funniest culture shock was just being surprised that even the digital signs were in Chinese characters – as if only Roman characters could be digitalized!
Return to Taipei
View of Taipei from the MaoKong Gondola (Taipei, Taiwan)
Fast forward five years. In 2014 I started studying Mandarin Chinese. When I graduated from my first basic class I took another two-week trip to Taiwan, this time with friends. Now I had a few Chinese phrases in my pocket and good memories of the helpful Taiwanese folks I had encountered the last time. I was much more ready to explore the beautiful island of Formosa (as named by the entranced Portuguese sailors who encountered it in the 1500s).
The sights I had visited before were better, brighter. The food was more delicious and varied! And this time we ventured out of Taipei to the stunning vistas of Hualien and Taroko Gorge.
I learned how to say important things like “一杯中咖啡，中的,冰的，加奶油，不加糖” (yībēi kāfēi, zhōngde, bīngde, jiā nǎiyóu, bù jiātáng) – that is, “a cup of coffee, medium, iced, add cream, no sugar.” But I was still learning the differences in culture and language. Like how to explain that what I wanted was an iced Americano with heavy cream added and not an iced Americano with whipped cream on top. Being there with friends, I was excited to share my knowledge and the beauty of Taiwan with them. I went back home happy and satisfied.
A Brief Foray into Expat Life
Motivated by my volunteer work in the Chinese community in Arizona, I continued slogging away at learning Mandarin back in the States, but progress was slow. Being surrounded by English ninety-five percent of the time and having less than diligent study habits meant my Mandarin was crawling along at barely rudimentary. I couldn’t claim to be even close to conversational. Work and my personal life were stressful and I kept thinking about my sister’s life in Taiwan: working part time, volunteering, and enjoying all the beauty and flavor Taiwan had to offer.
My personal situation and finances at the time were complicated, but I decided to make another trip to Taiwan. In late 2016, I headed back to Taipei for a longer, four-month, stay and also enrolled in classes with the Taipei Language Institute. I would be continuing to work my job in America remotely, which meant very odd hours, but I was excited for the new adventure and ready for my Chinese language skills to skyrocket!
Sunset at Alishan (Alishan, Chiayi, Taiwan)
My third voyage to Taiwan was both exhilarating and depressing. As every expat knows, when you stay long enough in a place the feeling of being in love with it all wears off and the culture shock hits. My sister’s apartment was old and traditional, which meant I missed the comforts of home – silly things like, shower curtains, clothes dryers, and American supermarkets most of all.
The Pros and Cons
My sister and I traveled to amazing new Taiwan landmarks and went on various explorations around Southeast Asia, to Thailand (where Jer lived at the time, though we weren’t yet more than friends), Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India. But we also rubbed each other the wrong way with differences in living styles and life philosophies.
I loved experiencing the progress in my Mandarin learning, but struggling to communicate could get frustrating fast. Especially when trying to interact with new local friends. I enjoyed the cleanliness and convenience of the Taipei transit system, but missed the complete comfort and independence of my car. I appreciated the friendliness of the locals, but got tired of always being stared at and talked about. I discovered the magic of Taiwanese massage, but working remotely was a struggle and I hated letting my boss and the workers relying on me down by not being awake at 2AM to handle things.
Eating out was cheap and delicious, but I was used to doing the majority of my cooking at home. A typical Taiwan kitchen is basically a sink, eighteen inches of counter space, and a couple of gas burners with a vent. Being used to American kitchens, this felt like camping. There was no hot water in the kitchen and no dishwasher. Tap water required filtering to drink. The “oven” was the countertop, toaster variety. I missed being able to roast a full baking sheet of veggies or bake a sheet of cookies.
The trash situation was challenging. In Taiwan, and especially Taipei, efforts are made to keep trash off the streets. In order to facilitate this, trash trucks drive around the neighborhood at scheduled times playing Für Elise to announce their journey (don’t be disappointed if you are expecting ice cream!). Trash must be sorted from recycling and placed in the truck or handed to the garbage man at the assigned time.
Since our apartment was on the fourth floor with no elevator, taking out the trash at the end of a long day was less than convenient. But if you didn’t take out the trash within a day or two, the warm, humid climate was the perfect breeding ground for maggots. And even if you avoided the maggots, there were always roaches and rats to be found scurrying around. Fortunately usually not inside the apartment!
The bathroom was old with peeling paint and chipped tile. The floor was always wet, even though my sister eventually added a shower curtain. I had to learn to always put on wet shoes for the bathroom, how to keep my clothes dry while showering, and to get ready to go in my bedroom. Seemingly simple enough changes, but an added layer of adjustment.
Taiwan is an incredibly safe country compared to America, or even Europe. Yet we had our first pickpocketing experience while my niece was visiting. Her wallet was stolen from her purse on the escalator in the MRT. The upside was the incredible attention that was given to something that would have been brushed off in America. We were even invited to watch the footage from the MRT security to try to identify the thief.
In the end, I came away from living in Taipei with my rose-colored glasses firmly removed. I told friends it was an awesome and worthwhile experience, but that I would never want to live there long-term.
And yet … and yet … there was something about Taiwan.
Another Run
East Coast of Taiwan (Taitung, Taiwan)
And so, in 2019, I again begin to toy with the idea of living in Southeast Asia on a more permanent basis. My older sister had moved out of Taipei to a more rural area in Changhua City, on the west coast, just south of Taichung. Her new place was nicer, her work schedule less frantic, the volunteer work more rewarding. Though living in a small city, she could easily scooter into Taichung to shop at Costco or have furniture delivered from IKEA.
My younger sister and her husband had also moved to Taiwan and settled on the picturesque east coast to the south of Taitung City, where they were thriving living sandwiched between azure seas and deep green jungle. Monkeys would play in the trees outside their windows, eating their fruit and squabbling.
In the meantime, my personal situation had finally settled, but I was burnt out emotionally, work was more stressful than ever, and my Mandarin self-study progress was still frustratingly slow. And so, in November 2019, I arrived back in Taiwan for the fourth time, this time with the plan to live in Changhua and look for work teaching English.
DaWu, Taitung, Taiwan
Coming Soon: How We Learned to Love Expat Life in Asia: Part II – Jeremy Falls for Thailand
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