The Return of Taipei Goulet

(**Includes pictures I took while in Vancouver and Montreal that may not be related to the content of the writing)

It's been over 4 months since I relinquished my title of Taipei Goulet to return to my scenic home, just in time for my sister's wedding.

The transition from an exciting expat lifestyle to the relative calm of home was eased by the apprehension of the coming wedding.  After just one hectic week in Vancouver the wedding festivities were complete and my sister was happily married to her husband Steve.  The wedding itself was as fun as it was breathtakingly beautiful; however the beauty of the wedding itself paled in comparison to my sister on that day.

With the wedding behind me, I took up residence in my sister's home while the happy couple departed for their honeymoon.  The central, downtown location was ideal for job-hunting and interviewing in the downtown core.

I took several interviews for teaching positions at small private schools.  The interview process went seemingly well and before I knew I believed I had lined up a jobs.

The first of which was teaching conversation classes to small groups of adult students. I enjoyed the job but sporadic to non-existent working hours left me only slightly less unemployed than prior.

The other teaching job prospects I had fell through or fizzled out leaving me to return to a job I had worked in the summers between university semesters, house painting.

Painting isn't all that bad of a job, at times it's even pleasant and relaxing, but for me it represented the failure of finding a job that I wanted and a regression to a job I had when I was less educated, experienced and worldly.

The start of my work as a painter coincided with my decision to return to Taiwan.  The knowledge that I could be making more money, doing a job I enjoyed and working far less sealed the decision and I booked my flight for mid-November.

Midway through October I was afforded a break from painting to assist my father's financial services company at a medical conference in Montreal.  

I had never been to Montreal before and save for a trip to Thunder Bay as an infant I had never been anywhere in Canada, East of Alberta.

I'm happy to have now seen a little more of my own country and had a great time checking out the local pubs while spending time with my dad.

Once back from Montreal, I picked my paintbrush back up and carried out painting my sister's home and several rooms in my parents home.

The past 2 years I spent my favorite holiday, Halloween in foreign countries.  Only in North America is a Halloween a night of fun for adults as much as it is for Children.  Throughout the three nights of celebration dressed in three different costumes I was reminded why Halloween is the best holiday of the year, but only in North America.

Before long my departure date was a mere week away.

The Sunday one-week before my flight my parents surprised me by putting up the Christmas tree and giving me the gift of an early Christmas spent with my Family.

As I complete this post, I'm sitting in the departure lounge of ShangHai PuDong Airport awaiting my flight to Taipei.  Right now I'm torn between feeling like I failed at returning home or I successfully continued to pursue a life that makes me happy.  I'm not sure yet how long I will stay in Taipei for on this journey or where my next destination will but I excited for what the future may bring.