20 年漂泊，終於回到台灣，這次是永久的歸宿！｜外國在台灣｜foreigners living in Taiwan

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Taiwan. I want to apologize to you. I've not been posting new content recently because I'm kind of sick. I've been hospitalized and I wasn't able to make appointments to go and make new interviews and content for you guys. So please, my apologies. I would like to give a big shout out to the nurses at Changgang Memorial Hospital and the doctors who were paying attention to me and they're very dedicated in what they did. Finally, I would like to give a big thanks to all those who support this channel, being subscribed or commenting or liking and continuously watching the video. If you haven't subscribed yet, you might please subscribe. The target is to get 100,000 subscribers. We're still halfway. And a big thanks to all the channel members, especially gold members. So thank you very much for your continuous support and hope you will continue to help this channel grow. Hi, my name is Eckhart. I come from Germany and I come from the eastern part of Germany, actually, and came to Taiwan about eight years ago. I live in Taipei and I had already an online business in Germany from 2014. So when I came here, I continued to run that from Taiwan, but also started a local registered company here in Taiwan. Why did you choose to come to Taiwan in the first place? So the very first time I came here was in 2001 and I didn't choose. So the company I worked for, that was my first job. They told me, hey, have you been to Taiwan? So you go to Taiwan for four months. So I looked up where's Taiwan on the map. I didn't have an idea. And traveled to Taiwan in August of 2001. And then I lived in Miaoli, not for four months, but for almost two years. And yeah, I worked on the high speed rail project. It was very interesting. And I went back in 2003. That was my first experience with Taiwan. I knew Taiwan from, you know, the little chocolate eggs with the toy inside, Kinder Surprise or whatever. So the little toys inside, when I was small, sometimes they had a writing made in Taiwan. That was the only thing I knew. So when I looked it up, I didn't have any expectation. I have never been to Asia before. So just came here and got out of the airport and the heat hit me. It was August. It was so hot. Yeah, so I didn't have any expectations, but when I was here, when I arrived, I liked it very much from the beginning. How was it back then, living in a less dense city area like Miaoli? First of all, I think Miaoli city today, I feel it's almost the same as 20 years ago. Not much has changed, but I think the foreigners at the time, they were more foreigners because of the high speed rail project. At that time, when you got somewhere into a restaurant, the kids would just look at you like surprised or scared. Or they would run away or hey. Sometimes people would wave from a scooter because there were still not many foreigners. So when they saw one, they would be very excited and sometimes get into a dangerous situation when they wave from their scooter, not paying attention to the street anymore. So that doesn't happen today so much. Big difference also, there was no coffee at 7-Eleven 22 years ago. So I'm very happy that we have that now. There was more garbage 20 years ago. I think Taiwan is on a good way to collect the garbage, recycle and get the people's minds more set to protecting the environment. And also as a foreigner at that time, sometimes it was hard to get around because foreigners don't speak Chinese and there are not many locals who speak English and the signage on these smaller cities is all in Chinese a lot of times. So today with Google Maps and all these translation apps, it's actually no problem anymore. Give us a little bit of a summary of things that you've gone through to the point where you found your feet. How are you able to adjust yourself coming from a country called different people to a country warm and different people? At that time, as I said, I didn't have many expectations. I would just come here and see what happens. But also because I was sent by the company, many things were taken care of. So we had somebody to pick me up from the airport and take me to Miaoli. The suitcases were lost on the way. Two days later, the suitcases were delivered. And I lived in the hotel for quite a while and then moved to an apartment. But also when I came back and moved to Taipei in 2017, so then we took care of everything by ourselves. I felt it's sometimes hard because it's the Taiwanese system. The things sometimes run differently here. But I never had the feeling that you were totally lost. So there's always somebody you can ask. They are very helpful. You go to hospital, there are always people who, when they see you looking around, they come to help you. Same in any of the government offices when you need something. So I feel it's not that hard. You just have to do it and get familiar. If I would imagine in Germany, you go to the employment agency or any government agency or the tax office. I would say as a foreigner, if you don't speak the local language, you're lost. So in that sense, I think Taiwan, it's not that hard. So you came here four months. Why more than four months? Yeah, I mentioned I worked for the High Speed Rail project. And the local branch office of the company, they needed some support. But they didn't know exactly for how long. So they just estimated they need that support for four months. I guess it was still so much work to do. So they were trying to keep the people here. So they asked me, OK, you want to stay, extend for another, I don't know, four months. So I stayed. And then they asked again. So this happened all the time until it was almost two years. OK, so you left. Why come back? Yeah, we left, went to Germany. Actually, like many foreigners, I found a girlfriend and later married her, Taiwanese. Within that two years? Yes, yes. So she moved to Germany with me. And we also spent a couple of years in Korea, which were really nice. And then back to Germany. But in 2016, we decided to come back to Taiwan. So that's like long enough in one place. Ten years in Cologne were really nice. And then we had long discussion and said, OK, should we go to Taiwan or not? But in the end, we decided, OK, let's do it. What is one or two differences between East Germany and Taiwan? East Germany, nowadays it doesn't matter anymore. East and West Germany, I think it's more or less. But Germany to Taiwan, I feel Taiwan is a very diverse country. Many people who immigrated from China and then the aborigines. So it's a whole mix of people and it's a very warm, welcoming atmosphere. That's how I see it and feel it. In Germany, you could say, or people always say, oh, you come from Germany. So you must be very structured and systematic and always on time. I would say German people are a little bit more difficult to approach. They're maybe a little bit reserved. But once you get to know them, they can be very good friends as well. If you are to change anything in Taiwan, what would it be? First of all, there's so many things like almost every day. I feel like, wow, this is amazing how things are running very smoothly in Taiwan. Especially to relate it to the efficiency of the government. If you need something done, as long as it's like standard way, it's very efficient. Same in the health system. I feel it's a very smooth process. You need an appointment, you make it, you go there. So things that, for instance, in Germany you would already accept that it takes, I don't know, weeks, sometimes months to get a doctor's appointment. If it's a little bit more specialized doctor, here you have it in the next week. So many things where you think, wow, that's so cool. When it becomes more non-standard, then sometimes in Taiwan it becomes difficult. And these are complicated things. If you have trouble with your visa, if you're not one of these standard cases where everything is smooth, it can be challenging. But also the small things, like have you been in a restaurant and you want to change your side dish, your french fries for something else? Most of them, I would say 95%, they will say, 不好意思,不可以. So sometimes it feels like everything is very stuck in the standards that they have set. But altogether, I wouldn't change anything because I'm the guest here, I like it. And I just go with the flow. Can you speak Chinese? Like the simple level. Like everyday conversation or also simple things. I can get around also on the telephone. But for a real business conversation or something more complex, I would probably be lost. So you're doing business. What online business? What do you sell? So it started as a side business because I'm an engineer. And I worked as an engineer for years. And then I was just curious how that all works. And after thinking about it for a long time, I started in 2014. And I imported a floor mop that I really liked from Taiwan. So it's a type of floor mop that you couldn't buy in Germany. So I just did that and sold mostly on Amazon. And I was surprised when it slowly started to work. It took a long time, like gradually improved. But for me that wasn't important because it was just like a hobby in the beginning at least. So I did more and more, tried many things. Some failed, some worked out. So I have a team of five people here. And we started something almost by accident. At the Christmas time, we have the Christmas market here in Taipei. The German Christmas market. And a friend of mine, he makes those German sausages here in Taiwan. And they are so delicious. But I knew that nobody is going to sell them at the market, at the Christmas market. So he told me, do you want to sell them? And we spoke about it and the team said, yeah, that would be cool. We just run a booth with a barbecue and have those German sausages on the market for those three days. And so we did that and it was really fun, very intense because they sold so fast. And it was very hard, exhausting, but super fun. And after that, we spoke about the idea maybe to sell those sausages here in Taipei. Because so many people asked us, where can we buy these sausages? And there was no way to get them in Taipei. That's why we started to set up an online store here in Taiwan and we offer those sausages. So they are here in Taipei, people in Taipei, Taiwanese people, but also foreigners. They order online on Shopee or in our shop at littleeurope.tw. Or they just come here and pick them up. It's a very fun business and also remote business is very cool. And sometimes, yeah, you can do it from everywhere. But when you are in touch with your customers and you see how happy they are to find these products, that's also really nice. German sausages, I've never tried it, but I think I will give it a try. I will give you one package and you can try and maybe put your feedback in the video. All his links will be in the description below, go check them out. But do you have anything else to tell Taiwanese people? No, I just have to say I'm here eight years and sometimes people ask me, okay, what's next? Where are you going? I say, no, I'm not going anywhere. I have no reason to look around. I'm comfortable here. Taiwan is such a great mix of so many things. I would say maybe you look at something isolated. It's not perfect and you could complain about this or that. But if you look a little bit around, it's such a great mix. So I enjoy the nature here. I like cycling. We have the mountains. We have the coast. You can go swimming. So for your free time, there are so many options. But you also have the city right next to or next to the mountains. So this is what I really, when people start complaining, I will say, come on, look around. It's such a great place, such a good deal, right? You get here. All right. Thank you very much for giving us your time to share your life experience in living in Taiwan. I hope you continue to enjoy your life here. Yeah. Thanks a lot. Thank you.