Our Taipei Life | Taiwaneers

Back in the USSR…I mean USA

Employment, Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life 2 Responses »

May 052012

Well this has been officially the longest amount of time between blog posts since the beginning of Taiwaneers four and a half years ago. The reason is pretty much the fact that Emily and I no longer live in Taiwan.

In early April we packed up our house, said goodbye to our friends and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan….yes there is such a place as Kalamazoo. During the process I kept on thinking it would be nice to post about the transition, etc. But, it never happened….until now.

Moving back has been strange. The culture shock comes and goes. It definitely isn’t all at once. I find myself noticing all the green of the trees and yards and open space and being a little amazed. I find myself being a little shocked at how easy it is to accomplish everyday tasks. Like for example when it only took me twenty minutes to compare the differences between the ten or so credit unions here in Kzoo and pick the place I wanted to open an account at. Life in general seems pretty easy.

I really enjoy my new job. I am working for Newmind Group, Inc., on the web at www.newmindgroup.com. We are a managed IT services company that specializes in helping businesses find secure, efficient, valuable, cloud-based IT solutions to help make them successful. I am finding it pretty rewarding and fun work. The office culture and actual work of Newmind makes it a pretty good fit for me.

I do really miss Taiwan. It is a pretty special place. Teaching English was a taxing job at times, but being the cool teacher dude to a whole bunch of kids had some pretty great moments. And this doesn’t even count the first four years in Taiwan as a student at MCU. Also, Em and I really miss our church family in Taiwan. And, our other close friends that we left there. And, the beaches and mountains of Taiwan. And, the hot springs. And, the morning and night markets of Taipei…. We still feel kind of like fish out of water here in Kzoo as far as putting a life together. But, I’m confident that will come.

We’re both really grateful for the support of our friends and family for our move. It has been wonderful.

I’m not sure if this is the last post I’ll make on Taiwaneers, but I am interested in speaking with anyone who is interested in buying the site from us. I’d be willing to consider selling the domain, the content, our YouTube channel, etc., in chunks or as a package deal. Anyone interested can email me taiwaneers.com [at) gmail.com. One of our YouTube videos is actually pretty popular (Youtube search “dmz” and we’re #4) and might represent value to someone.

Boredom Survived or Chinese New Year Break at Home

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life, Taiwan, Travel & Exploring No Responses »

Jan 292012

For a Taiwanese person Chinese New Year break (a week of vacation from work, school, etc.) is full of meals, mahjong, poker, sightseeing, etc., with extended family. But, for foreigners it’s basically a week to do whatever. Normally Emily and I are gone on a trip somewhere, but this year we are trying to save money so we just stayed here in Taipei. Well the short and skinny is that it rained basically all week…except for like a day and a half. I’ve played so much Grand Theft Auto Vice City during the past week that I am chomping at the bit to get back to work again tomorrow. Oi vei! It has been supremely boring and mind numbing to wake up late, drink coffee, eat food, play video games, read, watch a movie, surf around the web, eat more, play more video games, go to bed, and do it again over and over and over. I don’t understand why people who can afford to travel when they have vacation time don’t and instead hang out at home….maybe that’ll make more sense when I have kids.

Emily and I did do a few notable things. A Taiwanese friend, Jasmine, invited us to her extended family’s Chinese New Year Eve dinner in Keelung and that was a lot of fun. We had some great food, played mahjong and poker, and sang our hearts out on their karaoke machine! And they even gave us each a hong bao. We were so grateful for their hospitality and including us in what is normally a family-only affair.

Another fun thing we did during the week was visit a hot springs we’d never been to before. Emily was stir crazy even before the break began so by Tuesday she had cabin fever bad. Even though it was raining we saddled up our trusty steed, Bessy, and headed out with our friend Nan to find and enjoy Ba Yen hot springs up in Yangmingshan National Park. It took about an hour and a half of driving on our scooters up over the mountain to reach the trail head and then about a twenty minute hike back to the (technically illegal) natural hot springs, which weren’t too crowded and simply fantastic for their beauty, water temperature and general awesomeness. We spent a few hours soaking and enjoying ourselves and chatting with other bathers before getting suited back up for the ride home in the dark and rain…and thankfully hot showers upon arrival. Sitting in the hot springs made me realize that there really is something to all the people who install hot tubs in their backyards. Soaking in hot water outside when the weather is cold is fantastic. I definitely have a preference for the natural hot springs though! Too bad every place can’t be so volcanic huh?

Saturday it didn’t rain…yay!!!….so Emily and I went out to Xizhi City (world headquarters of Acer actually), east of Taipei, to do a little half day hike. We found the hike (number 6) in Taipei Day Trips Volume 1 by Richard Saunders. The hike started at Tian Hsiu temple and took us past Hsiu Feng waterfall before reaching the overlook on the top of “Big Sharp Mountain” (literal translation). The waterfall was pretty romantic and the view from the top of the mountain was beautiful. Great place for taking wide shots of Taipei! All in all the hike was only about 3km and pretty family friendly. Not super strenuous, but you still felt like you had gone on a hike, afterwards.

Once Emily and I get back to Michigan we’ll have to invest in traveler’s guides like Lonely Planet and all that. We want to discover Michigan like we’ve discovered Taiwan.

Ernie Said It Well

Michael's Posts, Our Friends Orphanage, Our Taipei Life 2 Responses »

Jan 122012

“It was a long time since I had written to the States and I knew I should write but I had let it go so long that it was almost impossible to write now. There was nothing to write about.”

As Emily and I read in A Farewell To Arms this evening we came across the line above and I knew I should get on here and write something…even though it seems there is nothing to write…even though I know that isn’t true.

It’s been just shy of two months since my last post. Since then Emily has been tutoring and teaching up a storm all over Taipei. She’s constantly going to this person’s house and that coffee shop to meet up with kids, adults, everyone, to give them a first rate hour of English instruction, and then on to the next place. I’ve been teaching as well. I’m working at two different cram schools now. It was three nights a week, but I just picked up some more hours so it will be every night of the week, which is good!!! I was also taking Chinese classes at the MLC, or Mandarin Language Center. I had a great teacher and a class with only six other students with three hours of instruction, five days a week, plus homework. I was learning a lot and moving fast. Unfortunately, I stopped going to try and find a morning teaching job and then when I didn’t find a morning teaching job I was too far behind to go back….oh, the regrets we rack up in this life….oh, well….I can console myself with the fact that I am still looking for a morning job….moving on.

The MLC was great and I thoroughly recommend it. It is cheaper than the other popular place to learn Chinese, NTNU’s MTC. Plus, I had heard ho hum stories about how at the MTC sometimes the teachers care and teach well and sometimes they aren’t so good. My short stint at the MLC now makes me an expert and I steer everyone that way!!! So remember don’t go to the MTC, go to the MLC.

I also finished another video since my last post. This one was for Our Friends Orphanage (OFO) in Takeo, Cambodia as a way to show the world what they are doing with their free after-school English classes. You can see it here: http://youtu.be/dM4NTCUX49A

A couple of months ago I posted an email from Samnang about all the flooding there in Cambodia. The water has receded now, thankfully, and lots of the farmers are scrambling to replant and get everything back to normal. I’ve also been contacting Samnang recently regarding concerns raised by Jen, another OFO volunteer who commented on one of my other posts. It is difficult sometimes to know how to communicate clearly with Samnang…and people from very different backgrounds from myself in general. We have such differing ideas about so much and that doesn’t even include the whole language difficulty. It makes me realize just how much simpler it is to communicate countryman to countryman.

Okay so I’ll make the last bit quick. Emily’s mother’s visit has inspired others and we are excited to hear that Emily’s brother is planning on coming for a few weeks in March! We are hoping for another great time with family! We also recently got to visit with our old friend Jonathan Williams and his beautiful fiance Katia Chen who were in town on a tour of Asia. Great times!

Lastly, if you know us on facebook you already know this part: After lots of thought and prayer, Emily and I have come to the conclusion that it is time to move back to the USA for a while. We’re going to miss all our friends here in Taiwan, but following Jesus is always the best. We haven’t bought tickets yet, but most likely it will be around the end of March when our lease is up. We’re still getting used to the idea, even though it has been a while in the making. Oi vei…sweet and sour my thoughts they wander.