living in Taiwan

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Pictures of receipts to play the Taiwan Receipt Lottery

The Taiwan Receipt Lottery: How to Play & Redeem Your Winnings

In Taiwan, it’s well worth keeping track of your receipts. The Taiwan Receipt Lottery, formally known as the “Uniform Invoice Lottery” (In Chinese 統一發票 Tǒngyī Fāpiào), gives all residents the chance to win up to 10 million NTD (over 350,000 USD)! Say whaaaaaaat?! YES, and it doesn’t matter who you are – even tourists can redeem winnings (assuming you stick around long enough)! Entry is as simple as buying a bottle of water at 7-11 – the numerical code on...

Taking out the trash in Taiwan
Image of me at 8 months pregnant to introduce the post "Giving Birth in Taiwan".

Giving Birth in Taiwan: My Personal Experience

Giving birth (especially for the first time) is daunting, no matter where you are. When you find yourself about to go through such a life altering event in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, it’s even crazier. When we decided to have our little one (born April 3rd) in Taiwan, I began searching for information about having a baby here. Like with most things, however, English resources were scarce, and the most compelling information I had came...

Taiwan COVID level 3 alert

Life in the Time of COVID: Taiwan Edition

For the past year and a half, I’ve been extremely grateful to live here. It has been a place largely free of the dangers of COVID-19, a safe bubble, thanks to Taiwan’s rapid response to the initial outbreak, careful contact tracing and strict border control and quarantine enforcement. Taiwan’s response was “among the best“. But over the past month we’ve watched our case numbers steadily climb as outbreaks in and around Taipei have spiralled. All because of a simple decision...