Moving to Taiwan
A few weeks ago I bought my first one-way international plane ticket.
On September 7th I will be flying from New York to Taipei to begin a new challenge. I am enrolled in a three month “intensive” Chinese language course with classes three hours each day, five days per week. If I survive this quarter then I intend to enroll for another three months, and so on, until I’m ready for something new.
As a traveler, I’ve always admired people who are multilingual. It’s so cool to see someone switch languages to negotiate a better deal, or get recommendations from a local. Nearly a billion people speak Mandarin, including my girlfriend, so that seems like a good choice if I’m going to pick one.
I’ve also always wanted to spend some time living abroad. While visiting Taipei earlier this year I really fell in love with it and realized I could probably live there. Great food, friendly people, reasonable prices, modern infrastructure, and a safe environment make Taipei a really attractive city for a foreigner.
I’ll be taking a backpack, two bags of clothes, and a ukulele. At this point I don’t have a place to live, but I’ll work on that when I get there. I arrive on September 8th, and school orientation is on the 13th, so I’ve got a few days to figure it out.
It’s been a while since I did something that made me both nervous and excited. I enjoy that mixed feeling. Quitting a comfortable job and buying a one way ticket to the other side of the world is certainly one way to experience it.
So, who wants to come visit?
In front of the Taipei 101 building in January 2011.
