Living abroad, for the most part, is not easy; especially if you have children. The purpose of this BLOG is to provide updates for our family in Canada. In addition, I hope to help those of you living or considering living in Taiwan by sharing our experiences with you. Before I delve into specific situations of our life here, I want to provide a brief history.

After graduating from university in Canada, my wife and I got married in 1998. Once married, we promptly made plans to move to South Korea to teach English. Just before we had to pay for our plane tickets, the Korean economy crashed and the Won was devalued. All of our hopes for travel and adventure were crushed until we found out about a little country called Taiwan. Arrangements were made, jobs were found, tickets were purchased and soon, we were off!

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As I recall, the flight from Toronto to Taipei via Narita, Japan was great! Japan Airlines included a free stopover with accommodations in Narita. This was a really nice experience because after a long, trans-Pacific flight, it was nice to spend a relaxing evening in a nice hotel before completing our journey to Taiwan. The next morning, we continued on to Taipei. At the airport, we were greeted by a representative from our employer, Hess Language School.

Taipei was hot! It was November and yet, it was still very hot. Smells different to those I knew from home permeated the air- burning incense, car fumes, food stalls cooking their specialties and the strong smell of stinky tofu (I’ll get into that a little later on!). Our driver dropped us off at our school and we sat down with the director to have an interview. Without getting into the specifics, the teaching position and the responsibilities of the teacher were not what I was expecting. I decided against signing the contract in lieu of teaching for free for 2 weeks. I managed to sit through 2 hours of instructional video and maybe one or two classes before I left, never to return. I was not ready to be a drill sergeant!

At the time, Taiwan had two English newspapers- The China Post and The Daily News. These were perhaps a foreigner’s most effective way to find work. My wife and I perused the classified columns, made numerous phone calls and eventually arranged for an interview with a Joy School in Taichung. Dennis, the owner, drove to Taipei to pick us up. We liked Taichung so much that we decided to stay- contracts were signed and our life in Taiwan officially began.

We lived in the Fu Chun Hotel by the train station for a few days while we searched for an apartment. With a copy of the Lonely Planet Taiwan as our only tool, we set out to look for “red signs with phone numbers” as these were to provide a link to a prospective landlord. Well, Chinese culture is very big on the color “red” and we found many red signs. Most of them had phone numbers, but none of them were in English! Each number we called led to a very brief, one sided conversation in Chinese (one sided because neither my wife nor I could understand the language) that ended with an abrupt dismissal. Deciding that this was not the way to find an apartment, we looked to an alternative means, Re-Houses. These shops looked like they could help us find a solution to our problem, but after 4 or 5 days of trying, we decided to give up and return home as our money was all but depleted.

It was at the last Re-House where we met our angel in the form of Gary; Taiwanese but schooled in New Zealand. He arranged for us to view a couple of places but ultimately, he is the one who found us a place to live. It was a small taofang (bachelor’s apartment) in a new apartment complex. I believe the rent at the time was about NT$3,000. It was perfect, a little small, but perfect for the both of us; near SOGO Department Store, Feng Chia Night Market, and numerous food shops. Gary was to become one of my best friends; a relationship that is still strong to this day!

We quickly settled into our new lifestyle and began to enjoy what Taiwan had to offer. That was until culture shock settled in! Without going into too much detail, culture shock was a terrible feeling to have. Luckily we were able to get over it by reminding ourselves that our stay in Taiwan was for only a year- it will be over soon and the traffic, scooters, differences between cultures made it very difficult at times. After 10 months my wife and I were anxious to leave and never return! So, after touring the Philippines for a month, we left for Canada, taking our experiences, both good and bad, with us.

Upon returning to Canada, we quickly began our careers; my wife in advertising and I in IT management. It was shortly after returning that we realized that something was missing in our life and for a while, we couldn’t determine what it was. One day, the answer came to us. We longed for the adventure, uncertainty and freedom that our life in Taiwan afforded us. Excited with our new revelation, we planned another go at living and working in Taiwan. This time, it would be done a little differently. Instead of finding a job from Canada, we would look for on in Taiwan. So after saving enough money to get us started, we set our date to return for August 2003. I called Gary to have him make some pre-arrangements for housing.

Upon our arrival (Japan Airlines was excellent again!) we quickly found an apartment in the same building as before. We also were able to find jobs that we liked! This time, our experiences were way more favorable than before. Culture shock was not a factor; however, we did miss our friends and family back home.

With competitive salaries, my wife and I were able to fully enjoy what exciting things Taiwan had to offer. We explored Central Taiwan on our scooters. We sampled all the different sorts of tasty foods. We met many interesting people. We made new friends- both foreign and local. I even began to learn some Chinese! Life was good. Life was predictable.

It was after my mom and dad’s second visit that our lives changed forever. Shortly after they left, my wife and I found out that we were going to have a baby!

Well into the second trimester, we decided to try to squeeze one last adventure in before the baby came. Soon after, we left Taiwan for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Cambodia was amazing as we saw the Angkor Wat world heritage park just outside of Siem Riep. Our tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Chang Sam was the best guide around (10 days back and forth for as many times as we wished for about $US50). Towards the end of our stay in Cambodia, my wife started experiencing labor pains so we checked her into a Chinese hospital in the area. The doctors said that the baby was in great danger of being miscarried and he prescribed an array of drugs and hormones to prevent her premature labor. After 3 days in the hospital, we checked out to return to Taiwan, cutting our journey short. Safely back in Taiwan, we hastily made arrangements to return to Canada just in case any other problems occurred.

On January 27, 2006, we welcomed Kiera Mei into our lives. Her arrival was greatly cherished. One day, we will tell her the story of her rocky start!

The task and expense of raising a child in Canada was quite daunting, and without the help of our families, may have been impossible. But after Kiera became older, my wife and I felt the need to try to do things on our own- not to spite our very supportive and very extensive family, rather to solidify our own little family unit. The decision was made early in 2007 to try to find work in Taiwan, and by that summer, I managed to secure a position at a vocational high school in Taichung. This time, our family took the news a little differently than before; they had had a big part in raising our daughter and felt that we were taking her away from them. Conversely, Kiera was moving away from her cousins; her closest friends and playmates. As parents, our decision was not an easy one to make. Ultimately, we realized that our independence would come at a price, but he rewards of moving back to Taiwan outweighed those if we stayed at home. We sadly left Canada in August 2007. Kiera was a year and a half.

We bought Kiera her own seat on the plane as it was going to be a long trip and we wanted to make sure we were as comfortable as possible. We flew with EVA Air, a Taiwanese airline, and the flight was great. The service, food and attention to our special needs traveling with a small child were all exceptional. When we arrived in Taipei, Gary was there to meet us to our hotel in Taichung. We checked in tried to get some rest. Kiera had problems because she was not yet used to the change in time zone. Luckily, there was a nearby park that I could take her to so she could play. There were no kids there because was usually went at 2:00AM! After a few days, however, we adapted to our new sleep/wake schedule and got a chance to look for an apartment.

Our new life as a Canadian family living in Taiwan was about to begin. We were ready for anything!