Expat Chat: On being a Western Wife: Part 1 of 2

When I told people that I’d married a “PingDong Man”, a huge smile would break out on their face and almost invariably they’d exclaim, ‘Ah, Taiwan xifu!” What’s a Taiwan xifu? I wondered. It means “Taiwan daughter-in-law”. But it has another, very positive connotation — of total acceptance in this

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Conclusion: My Two Months of Hell in the Taipei Detention Center

CONCLUSION of The ‘Hole’ Story: My Two Months of Hell in the Taipei Detention Center By ‘M’ Read Parts one, two, three, or four. I was dreading the moment, saying goodbye to N–. I hate goodbyes and I always, always cry. I hate, hate, hate goodbyes. How could I say

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The ‘Hole’ Story: Part 4

The ‘Hole’ Story: My Two Months of Hell in the Taipei Detention Center By ‘M’ Read Parts One or Two or Three. Everybody cried sometimes, even the strongest ones, even the ones that giggled and joked a lot. Everybody felt the pressure of the time, and boredom, missing their freedom

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The ‘Hole’ Story: Part 3

The ‘Hole’ Story: My Two Months of Hell in the Taipei Detention Center By ‘M’ Read Parts One or two. I am a very stubborn person. I made myself a promise I would not let all that chaos break me and make me go nuts, no matter how long I

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The ‘Hole’ Story: Part 2

The ‘Hole’ Story: My Two Months of Hell in the Taipei Detention Center By ‘M’ Read Part One here. So there I was in Sanxia… It was Christmas Eve, December 24th. We arrived there around 8 pm. There was a crew of police officers in different uniforms, more serious, cold

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Coffee with an immigration cop

By Trista di Genova, The Wild East I met my immigration police friend, Eric, at a café today for an informative chat. It’s always nice to run by him questions regarding all the tricky situations foreigners get into in Taiwan. He’s always been so helpful in this regard, even meeting

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One Filipina's Immigration Adventure in Taiwan

One Filipina’s tale of immigration in Taiwan By Trista di Genova Originally published in The China Post Last week, a Filipina and a volunteer immigration officer, Eric, met to discuss her situation, and the woman, hereafter referred to as “Flora,” agreed to allow a summary of her case to be

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