Introduction

Most of the blogs I’ve seen about Taiwan show its natural beauty and its unique (Taipei) city culture. Often, they are written by tech-savvy young people who are passing or have already passed through Formosa. Too frequently for my tastes, they sound like whining little brats complaining about the traffic, pollution and, in their view, illogical thinking. So, to paraphrase John Cleese, I’m hoping with this blog I can provide something completely different.

I arrived in Chiayi in 1985, and, with the exception of a year and eight months in Japan over two decades ago, have lived in Chiayi, the Des Moines of Taiwan, ever since. In that time, I married one of my students, raised two boys bi-culturally and tri-lingual, opened my own cram school and have taught English to over three thousand students. I have a unique perspective on Taiwanese culture and I hope I can provide readers with a glimpse of Taiwan that may be a bit deeper and broader.

However, this will not be an advice column or an info site for jobs, APRCs or anything like that. It’s going to be mostly me blabbering away about something that I hope will be at the very least, edifying, but hopefully mainly entertaining. Taiwan has given me a lot, so, in return, I hope I can provide a balanced picture of the “beautiful island”, Formosa.

As selfish as it may sound, this is also an exercise for me. Middle-age creates new challenges, as well as opportunities, and I see this as the latter so that I can help me overcome some of the former. Having said that, I will be open to any comments, replies and, hopefully, suggestions on any topic concerning Taiwan.

At a party three years ago, I ran into an old acquaintance, his wife and some of their friends. Though my friend had been in Chiayi for about ten years, he exclaimed to his friends and wife how I had been around for twenty-five years. His wife declared, “Wow, a quarter of a century!” Putting it that way made it sound more ominous to me and astounding to the others. When asked why I had remained while so many others had left, the answer was easy. Having lived in Austria for more than two years and becoming (at the time) fluent in German, I wanted to give my boys an opportunity that I know they fully appreciate now. In addition to their bi-cultural heritage and language skills, they experienced most of the Asia-Pacific area first-hand, from Hokkaido to Sydney, the Philippines to India. In retrospect, there were other advantages as well. I never had to worry about a crazy showing up at my boys’ school with a rifle. Drugs were almost non-existent. Though they grew up in a society that is not very diverse, there was at least, in its own way, a sense of tolerance for their differences.

In the future, I hope to touch on different topics concerning Taiwan culture, using past and more recent experiences. Again, I appreciate any comments and hope for any suggestions on topics any readers may be interested in.