One of the aforementioned Daves recently returned from Taiwan, where he visited with his in-laws without his lovely wife (he was actually there on business). He came home with some most excellent gifts (the little man preferred the Astro Boy Figurine Set over the tea, but I appreciate both) and an interesting idea. He’s considering moving to Taiwan temporarily, with the wife, to save money. The cost of living is much lower there, tasty vegan food is plentiful, and it would be an excellent experience. He made an offhand remark about our little trio joining them…but the idea seems to have caught on in our household, for a number of reasons. In no particular order:
1: The job market still sucks here. To make ends meet the husband is enduring a soul-crushing work schedule (he operates in two major modes: working or sleeping, and two minor: cooking or eating). In Taiwan there is a high demand for native English speakers to teach. We could likely line up decent-paying jobs before moving there.
2: The husband could put those Mandarin classes to good use.
3: Toy-shopping trips to Japan.
4: We could finally start saving money. Though not so much if I take too many toy-shopping trips to Japan.
5: Just imagine the content I could be post here (oooh, the photos). I’d be like Hong Kong’s Big White Guy. Except I’d be in Taiwan. And I’m little. And half-Lebanese. And a girl. Yeah.
6: I could make good on the threat to leave the country if the chimp is re-elected (though I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that that won’t come to pass).
7: We could hire a real estate management company to rent out our house while we’re away (talk about your absentee landlords)…which would mean much cleaning and repairing of said house beforehand, and storing our stuff. But it would be a great opportunity to clear out a lot of the clutter and make a fresh start upon our return. And we could, perhaps, finally refinish the hardwood floors upstairs.
This is an option we are seriously considering, but there are a thousand and one details to be worked out. House stuff, health insurance, work visas, the little man’s education. He would attend either the American School in Taipei, or possibly the British one…but I have concerns, as he is currently enrolled in a special education program. I wouldn’t want him to be thrown into a situation where he’d be struggling to keep up. More research must be done. We would also need to convince Huey-Ling. She’s the Taiwanese native, but the least enthusiastic of our entourage. Not because she doesn’t like living in Taiwan…but because the job market in her field is more competitive there. So this all leaves us with one big maybe, but the most exciting maybe that’s come my way in ages.
