我可以說台灣怎麼樣因為我去過了很多地方 | 外國人在台灣｜Foreigners in Taiwan | Living in Taiwan as a foreigner

the thought of leaving was not the thought of leaving leaving

a lot of time on buses, in shared accommodation and on flights

people can be rough around the edges

I can say that having visited many many places

I was going to come back to visit for sure but I really needed to leave to find out what Taiwan meant to me

and I thought about it constantly

well, they say the distance makes the heart grow fonder

and so I really wanted to be the right choice that this is a place I love to live, I feel very comfortable living

my name is Christopher Ascroft, I come from Montreal Canada and I'm a teacher here

how long have you been in Taiwan?

so I spent 3 years here and then I left for a year and I just got back like a week ago

when coming here, is that the initial plan to stay here for 3 years

no, so I moved here during Covid, end of summer 2020 and it was not the plan to come here but I'm very very glad I did

the plan was actually to teach in Saudi Arabia and I'd signed a contract to move to Saudi Arabia

and because of Covid that kind of fell through and so I found a great job in Taiwan and haven't really looked back since

probably the best thing that happened to me

yeah the job falling through in Saudi Arabia kind of gave me an excuse to come back to Taiwan

cuz I'd always wanted to come here um to live to spend you know an extended period of time

so I'd visited for 10 days in 2018 and absolutely loved it I think

I was hook line and sinker right from the beginning

I didn't really want to move to Saudi Arabia, I was moving there to get experience teaching at the University level

and I was hoping to get a university job after that but coming to Taiwan, I landed on my feet

and found a great job at a school that I feel valued at, a school I really enjoy teaching at

and it's been the best thing for my career

I thought that teaching at the University level would be the best thing for my career but it just so happens that where I am now

is where I want to be career-wise and that wouldn't have happened had the you know sequence of events before that not led me here

why the thought of leaving?

was not the thought of leaving leaving

the thought of leaving was just me wanting to explore the world

and evaluating like what am I doing? where am I going with this?

I mean it's such a nice place to live, it's such an easy place to live that you can blink and wake up 8-10 years from now

and be like well was stay a convenient choice or was it the right choice

I left the bunch of stuff here and I was going to come back to visit for sure

but I really needed to leave to find out what Taiwan meant to me

and kind of having that pause, that moment to step back and really reflect on my relationship with this beautiful place

I mean it allowed me to come back and be be super happy to come back

well you know they say "the distance makes the heart grow fonder"

and so when I left Taiwan for this calendar year, I missed it from the get-go

cuz I moved to Taiwan during the pandemic and then I stayed 3 years