What It’s Like to Be an Expat in Taipei for my Father-in-Law

I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of people moving out of the country, mostly because they are required by their jobs. Most of these people, usually engineers and corporate executives are inclined to live in foreign countries because the project assigned to them takes years to finish. My father in law is one of these so called expats who barely comes home in a year. Although it’s sad that we don’t get much time together as a family, the provision is quite plentiful.

Being an expat is probably not the life for everyone. And how could it be? It’s difficult enough to be away for so long from loved ones you will even have to adjust to a foreign country’s climate and culture. My father in law experienced a great deal of changes in his work as a corporate executive. It’s bad enough that there’s much work to be assigned and managed daily, but he even has to learn a new language each time he moves elsewhere. Although it’s very challenging to be thrown into a foreign place, he said that there are still some places that could be enjoyable, if not easy to adapt to.

He had spent two years in Taipei once when he received a project in Taiwan, and he said it was much easier for him to work with people there than in other Asian countries. For one thing, at least half of the workers there could speak English or understand a little. Unlike his experience in Japan and Indonesia, he didn’t have to take language lessons on weekends in order to understand what his co-workers were talking about. He’s not completely alone in his work, he has assistants and sometimes a translator to aid him but it’s more efficient to know the language anyway.

My father in law said Taipei is relatively welcoming; he even came to know of a community for expats like him which was pointed out to him by a Taiwanese friend. If there was one trouble my father in law couldn’t seem to get used to it’s the climate in Taipei. He mostly gets assigned in European countries where weather usually consists of rainy seasons and calm, cool climates. In Taiwan it’s very hot and very humid, and then there are heavy rainstorms and surprising typhoons between July and October. The apartment he stayed in had over 20 floors but a certain typhoon caused so much flooding that the lobby sunk thigh-deep in murky waters. He could not bear wearing a suit and had to go to work in an almost casual-looking polo shirt in order to bear the humid heat.