Taiwan- Final Thoughts!

After a year of staying in Taiwan, I knew I wanted to leave. I had a 2 year contract with my job. Then a year and a half in Covid hit and I’ve been here for 4 years now. Rather than whine and mope around, I decided to take photography more seriously. I taught myself to edit photos and learn more of the photography craft. I taught myself to make videos. I still suck, but I had no social network here, so I kept busy with travel and personal interests. I would have really loved to learn more about the places that I visited but I never really had anyone to share that with me. I can’t speak the language, don’t know the culture and couldn’t enjoy all the food. All I know are the things that caught my interest and if they really peaked my interest I would google them.

在待了台灣一年後我就知道我想要離開。我的工作是兩年契約。然後一年半後，新冠肺炎就來了。我現在已經待了四年。我不想要一直抱怨跟鬱悶，所以我決定開始認真拍照。我自學編輯照片，跟很多拍照的技巧。我也自學拍影片。我還不是很厲害，但因為我也沒有社交生活，所以我就把時間都花在旅遊跟個人興趣上。我還是想要去知道我去過的地方，任何相關的事情，但沒有人可以跟我分享。我不會說中文，不知道他們的文化也沒辦法享受食物。我知道的就是吸引我的東西，如果它們真的有打中我，我就會用google。

With that said, Taiwan wasn’t for me, but it could be for you. I tried hard to get involved, but it just didn’t work out. There is a lot of beauty here to explore. It’s an amazing place where one day you can go up to the mountains and see snow and the next, scuba dive a coral reef. It's a safe place to be. It's easy here, which could be another reason why I didn’t like it here.. Maybe it's just a bit too convenient. I have shared probably around 60% of my findings. Remember, this is only 2 years worth of places I’ve been too. I have driven around this island 8 times by car. It's small, it's easy to get bored, I forced myself into situations all the time to find new things. Taiwan is a place where you can do that and be safe for the most part. One thing I learned about living in Taiwan is to have friends who are Westerners. In Mexico and Colombia I mainly had Mexican and Colombian friends, but I speak Spanish, so it's easy. While living in Vietnam I didn’t speak the language but I had mostly Vietnamese friends. When I travel or live in another country I try to have friends from that place mainly, because I am more interested in being around people who are different from me. Because it was so hard to make friends with Taiwanese people, I will make sure the next country I live in, I will have friends who I can relate to as a safety net. I never had problems making friends until coming to Taiwan.

也就是說台灣並不適合我，但也許適合你。我很努力要融入，但並沒有成功，很多美麗事物可以探索。這裡是一個厲害的地方，一天內妳可以上山賞雪，然後下海潛水。這也是一個安全的地方，很容易居住，這也是另一個我不喜歡這裡的理由。也許就是太便利了。我會跟你分享大概60%我的發現。記住，這只是兩年累積的地方。我懷導過八次。很小的島，很容易就無聊了。我強迫自己去發掘新事物。台灣就是這樣的地方，你可以做這種是並且大部分都很安全。我學到了一件事，就是要有西方人當朋友。在墨西哥跟哥倫比亞，我有墨西哥人跟哥倫比亞人朋友，但因為我西班牙文，所以很容易。當我住在越南時，我不說越南話但我也有很多越南朋友。當我在其他國家旅遊或居住時我都試著結交當地的朋友，因為我喜歡跟大家再一起，尤其是跟我不同的人。因為太難跟台灣人交朋友了，我確定下一個我住的國家，我一定會交朋友可以把我拉近一個安全網。在來台灣之前，交朋友這塊我從來沒有問題。

I’d like to give a special shout out to NY Chen, probably my only real Taiwanese friend there. She helped me find locations. She traveled with me near the end of my time here and dealt with all my craziness, dancing in my car and in the streets, freestyling, whining, listening to tons of music and being wild. A special shout out to the few others I have met and made my time in Taiwan a bit more welcoming.

我想要特別提到Ny Chen，大概是我唯一的台灣朋友。他幫我找到很多地方。跟我一起旅行，一直到最後，處理很多瘋狂的事，在車子內，街上跳舞，自由發揮，抱怨，聽很多音樂，一起瘋狂。也感謝一些我遇過的人，感謝他們讓我在台灣有受歡迎的感覺