Tag: living abroad

Moving to a new country is an exciting adventure, but the trip can be made even better when you learn the native language. It takes time, effort, and tons (seriously, tons) of patience to learn a new language (or even just words and phrases). In the end, though, it’s worth it for many reasons.

Jiufen is probably my most favorite travel location in Taiwan. The location inspired the setting to one of my favorite movies, ‘Spirited Away’. If you were like me, you thought this location must be some exotic Chinese or Japanese location– absolutely not! Taiwan has some of the best-hidden gems for travel!

It’s not going to be around late fall and early winter that those tiny little pangs of homesickness start to prick your heart and tummy. Don’t worry, though. It’s perfectly natural to feel that way, and you have this handy guide to help you survive the first fits of homesickness.

Learning any language is hard! Transitions and translations between two languages can be particularly rocky– especially with Chinese and English. I’ve heard a couple of mistakes repeated by my students that have given me clues about what the translation sounds like in Chinese.

Oh, dear. It’s that time of year in Taiwan again. The weather is starting to chill just a bit, and you’re starting to see boys and girls pairing off into couples (not as religiously as it happens in Korea, but it still happens).

A trend has begun amongst veteran expats and travel bloggers that isn’t very appealing or positive. This idea of #authentictravel is driving me absolutely insane. I worry that it might actually scare off new travelers from making the leap out into the world.

Even if you’re traveling with a group of friends in one of the most visited countries, it’s still smart to always be prepared for unexpected events. Most of my companions (and myself included) didn’t even know any emergency numbers when we were living in South Korea.

Moving anywhere new always comes with pros and cons. Although, it will take quite some time to fully appreciate and understand a new country and working environment there are some things that we still need to keep in mind.