An Expatriate in Taiwan

Category: Life in Taiwan

  • I think I’m speaking Chinese

    I check in on the Forumosa Forums every now and then. If you can manage to get past all the threads where people just bitch about everything that’s wrong with Taiwan and how it should be fixed, there are some interesting threads there. One of the threads I’ve been reading lately is the “Ways to…

  • Close enough

    Number of times per week, on average, someone from back home asks me “So… how is Thailand?”: 542 Number of people from back home who remember that I actually live in Taiwan: 1 (thanks, Mom!)

  • Counting money in Taiwan

    Did you know that people count money differently in different parts of the world? I had never really realized this until I came to Taiwan. I’ve always counted American style, as that was what I learned growing up and is the most comfortable to me, but in Asia they do it differently. Here is a…

  • Going to the hospital in Taiwan

    I was having a rather good workout on Saturday; that is, until I twisted my knee and felt a very sharp pain. I sat down for a few minutes, then got up by grabbing a window frame and pulling myself up. I limped over to a bench and sat for a while. I was pretty…

  • Beautiful day for a bike ride

    It was a beautiful day outside, so I thought I’d take my new bike, a Giant Iguana, out for a short ride. Miss Expatriate was tired and didn’t want to go out in the heat, so I had the opportunity to set my own pace, stop for pictures, etc.  It was quite hot, but I…

  • Cell Phones in Taiwan

    I was reading through the news, as I do every morning, and came across an interesting blog entry on the use of cell phones, which I’ve decided to cover here. Here’s a linky so you can read through it yourself: Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Break. Let me state right off the bat…

  • Taiwan Driving Laws – idiocy in practice

    I’ve talked before about how horrible Taiwanese people are behind the wheel and on the road. This post is dedicated to lawyers and judges and people making and interpreting the laws, as they are not far behind and, in this case, apparently leading the pack of morons. From The China Post, with a nod to…

  • Ghosts, spirits, and demons, oh my!

    Spirits and demons are big business in Taiwan. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me or any other American – after all, about 40% of Americans believe in ghosts, 34% believe in UFOs, and 68% believe in Angels. Not in the spiritual sense, either… they honestly believe they exist and interact in the world.…

  • Education in Taiwan

    This will probably be the first post of many where I examine the education that students in Taiwan receive and talk about the greater issue of education and problems with the educational system (as I see them, obviously) in Taiwan. This first post will be rather short and concerns the teaching of history in Taiwan.…

  • Gas prices on the rise

    It’s not happening only in America. Even here in Taiwan, gas prices are moving up. Just tonight news was released that effective at midnight tonight, gas prices in Taiwan would be increased by 6 NT/Liter. That shifts the price from 30.7 NT to 36.7 NT per liter nationwide. Truth be told, it should have been…