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Foreign expatriates reveal why Taiwan
has become a ¡¥second homeland¡¦ to them
By Elizabeth Hsu / Staff Writer, with CNA
A survey on potential net migration conducted by US-based Gallup Market Research
last year showed that Taiwan ranked 91st among the 148 countries surveyed, with
a score of minus 21 percent, indicating that 21 percent of the country¡¦s
population was interested in moving abroad if they had a chance.
Taiwan ranked behind regional neighbors, such as Singapore (plus 20.9 percent,
the highest score in the survey), Malaysia (plus 23 percent), Japan (plus 1
percent), Thailand (minus 1 percent), Indonesia (minus 5 percent) and China
(minus 6 percent) in the latest Potential Net Migration Index.
Many longtime expatriates in Taiwan have no problem identifying some of the
blemishes that may have hurt the country in the survey, but they also tend to
offer praise for their adopted homeland.
One of them is an ¡§elder stateswoman¡¨ of the Taiwanese foreign community.
¡§I became a Taiwanese a long time ago,¡¨ said Doris Brougham of the US and
founder of the English teaching program Studio Classroom.
Born in Seattle, Washington in 1926, Brougham came to Taiwan in 1951 as part of
a Christian mission and started her career as an English teacher in Taiwan in
1962.
Since then, many local residents have come to regard her as their ¡§lifelong
English teacher.¡¨
In an interview with Chinese-language monthly magazine CNA Newsworld, Brougham
said it has been the kindness of Taiwanese that has made the greatest impression
on her.
Michael Wendel, a baker from Germany who came to Taiwan in 1996 at the age of 26
and opened Wendel¡¦s German Bakery and Bistro in Taipei three years later, has
the same affinity for people here and describes Taiwan as ¡§my -second homeland.¡¨
¡§I had only planned to stay here for two years,¡¨ Wendel said, but he never
returned home.
Asked what kept him here, the man who introduced German cuisine and bread to
rice-eating Taiwanese said the people here are kind and willing to learn new
things, and they treat acquaintances like members of their family.
¡§There is no place that treats strangers as kindly as Taiwan does,¡¨ he said.
In the eyes of Brougham, there is little wrong with Taiwan, though as an animal
lover, she noted that the nation was not always friendly to animals. However,
even that has changed for the better, she said.
Wendel¡¦s main issue has been with traffic. In the 14 years he has been here, the
streets have become cleaner, he said, but many motorbike riders continue to
ignore traffic signals.
Coming from a country that is orderly and respects laws, Wendel said Taiwan
would be better off without its prevailing ¡§close enough is good enough¡¨
attitude.
Cheryl Robbins of the US, a freelance writer who has lived in Taiwan for nearly
21 years, echoed Wendel¡¦s view.
Robbins is the co-author of a book titled The Real Taiwan and the Dutch:
Traveling Notes from the Netherlands Representative, a collaboration with the
former Netherlands representative to Taiwan Menno Goedhart. The book was
published in April last year in both Chinese and English in Taipei.
Her extensive writing about the nation has given her a nuanced, though largely
positive view of Taiwan, and she said she could not imagine living anywhere
else.
¡§Taiwan is a very dynamic place and that is one of the many aspects that appeals
to me,¡¨ she said. ¡§There is never a dull moment. That is the freedom of Taiwan,
to be able to choose your own lifestyle.¡¨
She described Taiwanese society as being extremely tolerant of different
lifestyles and religions.
¡§I still remember attending the opening of the Museum of World Religions in
Taipei many years ago. The thought that ran through my mind was that Taiwan is
one of the few places where such a museum can exist,¡¨ she wrote.
However, if there is one overriding frustration for expatriates living in
Taiwan, Robbins said, it is the existence of a kind of ¡§us and them¡¨ mentality
that may actually be holding Taiwan back.
¡§For example, in Hong Kong and Singapore, foreigners are not seen as different
in terms of the type of job they can hold. They can work in business, media,
health, tourism, education, etc,¡¨ she said.
¡§In Taiwan, there is the assumption that Westerners can only teach English, edit
English and translate Chinese into English. They are put in a very small box in
terms of their career choices,¡¨ Robbins said.
Taiwan should allow Westerners, who have diverse skill sets, out of this box if
it truly wants to be an international society, she said.
Robbins also took aim at other frustrations, such as having trouble buying a car
or a cellphone in her own name even with permanent residence status, but
ultimately, she said, they were outweighed by other positive attributes.
To Association des Francais de Taiwan president Dominique Levy, who came to
Taiwan from France in 1982 and has lived here ever since, the nation has
captured his heart in a different way.
¡§Taipei sometimes reminds me of Paris, the one when I was still a child,¡¨ Levy
said.
At that time Paris was pleasant because the neighbors were kind and close to
each other, but now the city is crowded with tourists and a sense of detachment
prevails, Levy said.
The reasons for coming to Taiwan vary with the individual, but Brougham, Wendel,
Robbins and Levy, along with foreign diplomats Goedhart and Sweden¡¦s former
representative to Taiwan Henrik Bystrom, who retired from their posts last year,
all found reasons to stay, even if they believe the country has room to improve.
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