Promises Made, Promises Kept?

 I celebrated my 62nd birthday at Chuck's Roadhouse on January 10th. 2026. My nephew sent me a picture of the family as all of us were celebrating my birthday at Chuck's. I looked like a beached whale! I can't find the pic otherwise I would have posted it. That picture would change the course of my whole life. 

I decided that if I did not do something drastic, my health would never improve and that the vicious cycle of eat, sleep and sh## would keep on happening. A change HAD to be made for my future health.

I decided to quit my job on the Monday following that weekend. I also decided that I was going to live overseas again and get back to teaching. Taiwan was my choice due to my friend Dave living there. Our history goes back to moving to South Korea together in April, 2000. 

I promised myself then that I would never be that fat and unhealthy again; I stepped on the scale on January 9th at 310 pounds!

I literally started my own fat camp. I started exercising twice a day either on a stationary bike or the treadmill. I reduced the size of my meals and cut out as much junk as necessary. It worked out well. 

I came to Taiwan on June 2nd and arrived at 268 pounds; a loss of 42 pounds from January 10th.

 

Since arriving here, I have been walking everywhere and continuing to eat healthy and keep busy. I am down in the low 260s now and am looking forward to being in the 250s. 

I have included some of the pics during the walks I have been taking and some of the things I am encountering daily.

The heat under normal circumstances is humid as hell. It is always at least 30 plus degrees plus the humidity. I literally sweat 5 mins into each walk and by the time I finish, I am a wet rat.....lol



The landscape in Taipei, Taiwan is so different that anything in North America. It is a very tropical country and my friend compared it to Brazil due to the amount of heat and then rain. There is moss on almost everything due to the moisture even with the extreme heat. 



This bird was in one of the overflow tunnels leading to the river that I walk along. The overflow helps control flooding. I have NEVER seen it rain this hard anywhere other than one time in the Philippines back in 2006!


This bird was right in front of my friend's apartment complex, which is up the top of a mountain. It was sitting on the pole right by the bus stop that I got off. By the way the 530 comes all the way up the mountain and drops me off right in front of the apartment. 


It proceeded to fly off and find a branch with its mate, I think!


I zoomed in on this bug as I was walking the path parallel to the river and taking me to Banquaio, where there is a huge Carrefour Store. It usually takes me 70 mins or so to get there. 



I am in the throws of getting all my documents authenticated so I can send them back to Toronto and the Taipei Economic Cultural Office (TECO). The rules here in Taiwan are completely different to most other countries when it comes to documents, even if you have all your originals like me and my RCMP criminal fingerprint clearance. The are not part of the Hague Convention like most other countries. 

It is a lot of work, but I am being positive and learning a lot and making progress. I had an interview online with Apply Taiwan and it went well. I also had a demo class at my friend's school, which also went well. I had a brief interview after the class and am hoping that I get hired by the school. I should know by the 2nd week of July. If not then I just have to keep going and wait for the two big government hiring agencies that I have completed applications with. 


Here is the link if you want to read more about why I have had to deal with the documentation authenticity progress because Taiwan are not part of the agreement.

https://www.gsccca.org/notary-and-apostilles/apostilles/hague-apostille-country-list


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