I convinced one of my buddies to backpack around the world with me.

So we started in Europe, in the UK, and backpacked all the way through Europe and Asia, mostly over land without flying.

It was a great adventure, obviously, but Taiwan was always the end point of the journey.

What made you ultimately decide here?

Believe it or not, I like the political situation in Taiwan.

I feel like it's an interesting place to be because there's always kind of some tension.

Cole Fogle here, and today I am with, I'll let you introduce yourself.

All right, my name is Daryl.

I'm originally from Canada.

Okay.

What part of?

From the West Coast, from Vancouver Island.

Cool.

Yeah, near Victoria.

So what brought you from one, to me, one of the most beautiful parts of the world to Taiwan?

So after I graduated from university, I thought about starting a career as a teacher.

I have an education degree, and I was kind of poking around for jobs, but I thought, you know, I really like to travel.

This is my opportunity to travel before I settle into a career.

So I convinced one of my buddies to backpack around the world with me.

So we started in Europe, in the UK, and then backpacked all the way through Europe and Asia, mostly overland without flying all the way here.

We flew a couple of short flights, but that's it.

Whoa.

So how many countries would you say you visited?

On the way between?

On that experience.

Okay, so 15-ish, maybe?

Wow.

That's a lot of countries.

Yeah.

It was a great adventure, obviously, but Taiwan was always the end point of the journey because before I left, I was thinking about maybe staying a year in Asia to teach, and I was researching Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan.

I just love it.

It's always the same place.

Thailand.

It's always the same, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what made you ultimately decide here?

All right.

Well, several reasons.

Obviously, I liked, believe it or not, I like the political situation in Taiwan.

I feel like it's an interesting place to be because there's always kind of some tension It fascinated me more than other places, and then just everything just sort of fit, the salary, the quality of life, the cost of living, all of these things.

And the biggest thing is one of my cousin's good friends and her boyfriend were living here in Kaohsiung.

Oh, they were already here?

They were already here, and they were leaving the same time that I was going to arrive.

So before I left on the trip, I arranged this all, and so I basically slid into their lives.

I rented their apartment.

I bought their scooter.

I took over her job.

Oh, that's so cool.

Yeah, yeah.

So I just arrived, and then they left, like, the next day.

You mean, like, your life was literally set out for you?

Well, basically, yeah.

So it was easy.

It was an easy transition for me, for sure.

So did that prevent culture shock a little bit?

No, because, well, okay, when I arrived at the airport, it was December 10, and ...

What year are we talking?

2005.

I was met at the airport by Lori's boyfriend, Nathan, and so we took a taxi back to the apartment, and he's like, all right, so here are the keys to the scooter, and here's the rental agreement for the apartment, and I'll take you and show you the job.

So he took me on the back of the scooter to the job, and I said hi, and, like, the next day, they left, right?

And so I was like ...

Literally the next day.

Yeah, like, literally the next day.

So I was thinking, okay, I better learn how to ride this scooter.

So I got on the scooter, and I just sort of got lost, and after, like, four hours, I think I drove halfway to Pingtung, and then I ...

By accident.

Yeah, I had no idea where I was, right?

So I eventually saw the 85 Sky Tower building in the distance, and I was like, that looks like Kaohsiung.

And so I drove that way, found my way back home.

You know, it's ...

For four hours.

I'm hearing your experience, I relate so much to it compared to some of the newer foreigners who come here who have the Google Map and all that.

Wasn't it exciting, though, getting lost?

Oh, man.

It was great.

Scary, but exciting.

Absolutely great.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And at this point, you didn't know the language, I'm assuming, at all, so you ...

Nothing.

Body language to communicate with people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I didn't even have a cell phone at that time.

Because the phone is really what, like, changed things.

It is, right?

Yeah.

Or the technology, I should say.

Okay.

And so the person you were traveling with stayed as well?

No.

He and I ...

He didn't actually come to Taiwan.

He parted ways.

In Hong Kong.

Yeah.

In Hong Kong, he flew back home to Canada.

Okay.

So is he ...

Your friend is now in Canada again?

Actually, sadly, he passed.

He went on like a ...

Joined a charity group and went to the Philippines to build an orphanage, I want to say.

Wow.

Okay.

Or something.

Something to help children.

Yeah.

And at the end of the day, they were hot and sweaty, so they would swim in the river.

And he got carried off.

He drowned, maybe.

Down the river.

Yeah.

Exactly.

In the Philippines.

In the Philippines, yeah.

How quickly did you get the news of that?

Oh, right away.

Yeah.

Right away.

Was this ...

What year was that?

This was maybe three or four years after I moved here.

Oh, after you moved.

Yeah.

I'm so sad.

I was living here for a while.

It's hard to hear that.

What was your friend's name?

His name was Joel.

Joel, it sounds like he really got a chance to experience life before this unfortunate event.

Yeah.

That's right.

So I'm happy he had all of these experiences before that happened, but I mean, words cannot describe, obviously, these terrible things.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So now, whenever I hear people that are mentioning swimming in the river, I panic a little bit.

Oh.

Yeah.

Oh, do you get a little stressed about it?

Well, yeah, because I immediately think of it.

Your wife is from Taiwan.

She is.

Yes.

Did you meet her in Taiwan?

I did, actually.

Because there are a lot of Taiwanese in Vancouver, so there is the chance that ...

That's true.

That's true.

How quickly into your life in Taiwan did you meet your wife?

I met her, actually, at my first job.

That job that I slid into.

I was working there for about six or seven months, and then she got a job there, and I had just started dating someone else, and she had just started dating someone.

And so we didn't even talk to each other for like two years, working together.

We barely said two words to each other for two years.

And then after I broke up with my girlfriend and she was ready to end her relationship as well- Who started talking to who first?

Well, we went on like a trip together.

Like a school trip you mean?

Not with students, but like a staff trip.

Started talking on that trip.

And just hit it off.

And then, do you remember MSN?

Yeah.

The chatting MSN?

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We started talking on MSN.

So how long from the time you, I guess, started chatting, dating, to getting married?

Was it a long process, or was it quick?

For my wife and I, it was just like a two-year thing, and we were married after two years.

But for you- Yeah, it was seven years.

I mean, there was a lot of uncertainty in our future, me living here and having family in Canada, and not really being sure about- I mean, we were both youngish back then, you know?

And so- You were in your twenties?

I was in my mid-twenties, yeah.

Mid-twenties.

And then after seven years- It was just time, you know?

Our honeymoon, we went to Canada, was actually going way up north and picking wild mushrooms in the bush for two months.

That sounds unique.

And I mean, like, super remote, like 300 kilometers away from the nearest village, like on these like dirt roads out in the middle of the wilderness.

Was she into wilderness exploration?

No.

Not at all.

Well, it isn't.

That was not our honeymoon.

It just happened to be right after we got married, and we went, we did it actually to make money.

The experience was extremely strange, but she handled it really well.

She was actually a better mushroom picker than I was.

Her only issue was she has no sense of direction.

So she needed me.

Are you her personal, like, direction?

I'm her GPS.

Before GPS, yeah.

So we'd see, we share something in common with our wives.

They have poor sense of direction, and we are their GPS.

What made you decide after having kids that you would want to raise children in Taiwan versus Canada?

Taiwan offers a good quality of life, if you do it right.

And affordable.

That's the thing.

Like, people complain about how expensive kids are.

Well, they don't have to be.

They don't have to.

And I think a lot of the sort of the pressure to spend money on kids is cultural, because parents will feel inferior if they're not spending the same amount of money as their peer groups.

Keeping up with the Joneses, as they say.

Exactly, right?

But I don't care about any of that.

So raising kids here makes sense to you?

It does.

My career is here.

I mean, especially since we have our own business here.

Is there anything that you think would be better in Canada, but obviously we make sacrifices when we choose whatever path.

Is there anything that you wish there was more of here for your kids that we have back home?

Ironically, education.

Okay, what aspect of it?

So, I mean, in Taiwan, as you know, the education philosophy is quite different from back at home in Canada.

You mean it's very academic?

There's a lot of focus on exams, and there's a lot of memory, memorization.

As compared to in Canada, there's a lot more sort of practical or experimental learning.

And for my kids specifically, well, I'm not so worried about my daughter, but for my son, like he's a kind of a free soul.

I think he's smarter than my kids.

He's a free soul, and he might be one of those kids that doesn't fit in a system.

He might be a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

So that's actually one of the reasons why we opened this school, is like after our kids are done the school day, they come here.

And then we are the ones overseeing their education.

It's almost like you're homeschooling while at your school.

That's right.

Spending time with them too, because imagine if they were just going to some other cram school after school, and we were doing some other jobs, like we would never get to see them.

You taught for many years in Taiwan first.

Yes, I did.

And I'm guessing all different ages and levels, so you got to really know the system here.

Every age, every level, every type of school, yeah.

I'm quite different from maybe what the local parents are expecting for their kids.