Kathleen and Mark's Foreign Adventures

When we returned from Iowa, it felt like change was in the air. Mark was emotionally exhausted from visiting with his relatives, many of whom probably will not be living by the time we return from our overseas posting. Since I am not particularly close to any of my relatives, I wasn’t hit as hard with that realization.
But at home, it was different. The unrelenting heat and dryness of a drought stretching over the past two years gave way to unfamiliar days of damp coolness. It wasn’t enough to raise the level of the lake above critically low but it did change the way the air smelled and the sky looked. It suddenly seemed different, in transition.
It seems as though we have been in the planning stages of a move to Taipei for at least three years. It will have been two years ago next month that we took our first pre-relocation visit to Taipei. With two children in college the timing wasn’t great and I was relieved when it didn’t work out. Now, Elissa is a band director in Frisco and Sarah is a senior in college and engaged. With their ever increasing levels of independence, emotionally and financially, now seems like the perfect time to try living as expatriates in Taipei.
Mark and I have always thought that living and working in another country sounded like a fun challenge. I have always had my dreams of France or perhaps Belgium. But with the way the world works today, I am very happy that our location is Taipei.
Although it is an Asian city with a reputation for being polluted, dirty and crowded like many young cities, Taipei is very much a first world city. They have worked hard on the pollution and the buildings have all the amenities of a large city in most European countries we have visited. Another big plus is that Taipei is a city that uses English as a language of business so it is somewhat easy to get around. I have been told that the effort of trying to learn another country is very tiring so am pleased that at least a few things will be familiar.