Going to see a doctor or dentist can be a nerve-wracking experience under any circumstances. Move to a new country, where you’re unfamiliar with the environment and the local language, and anxieties are amplified. Personally, hospital visits of any kind have always made my stomach churn and, when I first moved overseas, it was something I earnestly prayed that, as a relatively fit and healthy young person, I would be able to avoid as much as possible. 

What happens when you are planning to teach abroad and then a global pandemic hits? What is it like to move to a new country amidst the uncertainty? Is it even possible to go? These brave new teachers moved to Taiwan to teach in 2020. We asked them to tell us about their experience.

Daniel, a high school teacher in our Ontario ESL program, shares how, through making connections to K-pop, learning Chinese, and discovering hole-in-the-wall restaurants, he’s been able to grow personally and make the most of his experience teaching in Taiwan.

One of our Foresight staff members shares her experience and recommendations for hiking in Taipei, one of the best places to live for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers.

What are the most beautiful, interesting, quirky sights you've seen where you live? During the month of November, we invited our teachers to participate in a photo challenge to share their favourite things about teaching in Taiwan. They were asked to share a photo and complete the prompt "The best thing about teaching in Taiwan is..." 

Each year as our program expands, our teaching team grows. We are excited to have a great team of professional educators with us in Taiwan this year, including several new teachers. This has been an unusual year, with the global impact of COVID-19 creating unique travel and visa challenges for our teachers. We are grateful to all of our new teachers who willingly spent 14 days isolated in quaratine in a new country before being able to join us in person. Welcome to the Foresight family!

 One of our Canadian high school teachers shares about her firsthand observations and experience living and teaching in Taiwan during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Originally posted to Facebook on 4/3, re-shared with permission.

Living in Taiwan during COVID-19 is…honestly, pretty normal.

To all of our new teachers, welcome to the team! Congratulations on beginning this great adventure of teaching ESL abroad and joining us to make a difference in Taiwan. And to all of our returning teachers, welcome back!

After living one, two, even three years in Taiwan, our teachers have a weath of knowledge and experience to share. We asked some of our veteran teachers to tell us about their experience living and teaching in Taiwan, including the best parts, the hardest things to adjust to, and what advice they have for incoming teachers. 

Earlier this year, we welcomed new teacher Gillian Wall to visit us in Taiwan. In this post, Gillian shares about her personal experience living and travelling abroad, comparing her experience and impressions of different places in Asia. 

Ten years later, I haven’t forgotten the packing drama of the first time I moved abroad. The night before my flight, I was up late, clothes, books, and other miscellaneous items strewn across the floor, debating what to bring and what to leave behind. My destination felt so far, a year felt so long, and two suitcases felt like so little. Item by item, I made cuts, trying to guess what I could and could not live without. My suitcases, brand new and ready for my first international flight, were packed to the max with things that I later found out I really didn’t need to bring.

Editor's note: While there are many different train, bus, and air routes for destinations around Taiwan, this article focusses on public transportation within Taipei City.

This past June, I was given the opportunity to visit Taiwan with Foresight I.E.C. after winning their Free Flight to Taipei Contest. I was ecstatic to learn that I had won and was eager to ask FIEC many, many questions (which they were kind enough to answer and even Skype with me multiple times before going). Although I had learned about FIEC at my school's University Career Fair earlier this year, I had very little prior knowledge about Taiwan before going. That being said, once I arrived in