When I moved to China four years ago, I barely suffered any culture shock at all. I was so excited to be there. I reveled in my life, which seemed as enigmatic as the wonderful country I was living in.

While in China, I met a man and we fell in love. After several years in China and a lot of careful planning, we decided to move to Taiwan because we had a simple desire to see it. I wanted to continue my studies in language and culture. We also wanted to be able to save more money for our future together and we felt the transition would be easier on us as we were already accustomed to the Chinese way of life. Neither one of us were prepared for how different China and Taiwan are in actuality. It made for some very tough changes when we arrived here.

In reality, I hated my first few months in Taiwan. I immediately started making comparisons between my life in Taiwan and my life in China.

We left China for the best of reasons, but for me, it was especially hard to say good-bye to three of the most magnificent and defining years of my life.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t believe that I would be able to find the same things in Taiwan. I fell into a major bout of depression. You’d think, being a seasoned traveler, that I would be able to recognize the signs of culture shock, but I didn’t. I was in complete denial and the culture shock was far worse than anything I had dealt with before.

A journal entry from April 20th, 2006 tells the tale.

“I don’t know what’s been going on with me lately. I hate the school I work for. I hate my classes. I hate working six days a week and not having any time to myself. I’ve locked myself in the bathroom at work and cried twice this week. I keep telling myself that it will get better. I’ve only been here for a little over a month, but I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.”

It took me over two months to get over my initial shock of living in Taiwan.

The first step was admitting that I was suffering from culture shock and the second step was figuring out what to do about it.

The first thing I did – once I realized what was going on – was to get in contact with some of the teachers at my school. We immediately started planning more social activities. It’s easy to isolate yourself when you’re feeling blue, but that’s the worst thing you can do. The company we arrived with, Reach To Teach, offers monthly get-togethers with other teachers, so we started attending more of those events. We also accepted invitations with our bosses and co-workers and joined them on weekend outings.

Tip #1 : Your support network is your lifeline. Use it. Get out there and socialize. The worst thing you can do is stay at home and feel sorry for yourself.

Tip #2 Get involved.

I started my creative juices flowing again by re-kindling my love for painting and jewelry design. I started writing in my private journal. I bought more books about Taiwan to get familiarised with the culture and to learn to embrace the wonderful diversities that exist here.

Tip #3 Exercise makes a huge difference. It’s not only a stress releaser, but it also gets your endorphins going. I also started running four days a week and forced myself to go zen everyday with an hour of yoga.

By our sixth month in Taiwan, I had a more positive outlook on my every day activities.

My classes are running smoothly and are exactly where I want them to be. Our social world is opening up and thankfully, we are both in a very content and happy place right now. I’ve spent the last three months admiring and writing about all the things that make Taiwan special and unique. Taiwan has so much to offer. There is so much beauty here. I think my love affair with Taiwan has finally begun.