Cole's Youtube:    / @colefogle  

I met Cole through the Internet.

Cole came to Taiwan in 1999. His sister, who had moved to Taiwan in 1997, noticed that after their grandmother died, Cole was having trouble deciding what direction to take his life. Thus, Cole's sister suggested he move to Taiwan. In the beginning, Cole had to adjust to the hot and humid weather, but more importantly, the language barrier. Back in 1999, Cole said that not many people in Taiwan spoke English, even at the airport. On his first day, Cole had a panic attack after being kicked out of a cab in a foreign country where he couldn't speak the language. Thankfully, he eventually made it to his sister's house with the help of some friendly English-speaking locals. Cole started teaching English soon after arriving. He was shocked that his boss suggested that he hit kids that were misbehaving. However, he vowed never to use corporal punishment again after making one of this students cry. Also, because Cole hadn't graduated from college at the time, he had to leave Taiwan every month to renew his visa. He also felt guilty about having illegal job and quit lots of jobs after a short time. Therefore, his girlfriend (later wife) was shocked about how little money he had, especially compared with other foreigners who were "raking in the dough". The guilt of not having a college degree haunted Cole for many years, especially when talking to other people that had pursuit higher education. Eventually, he went back to college, but found that with his years of experience, he was already as qualified to teach anyone else with a bachelor's degree.

Cole has been able to speak mostly English while living in Taiwan. He credits this to his wife, who speaks fluent English. For Cole, if his wife only spoke Chinese, then he might have been more motivated to learn. Also, Cole thinks that Taiwan's desire to internationalize, lets Westerners get away with speaking mostly English. Thus, the extent of his Chinese is limited to ordering food and basic pleasantries. For Cole, this is a bit disappointing because he thinks he's missed out on many aspects of Taiwanese life. However, he has been able to live in Taiwan through gesturing and relying on English speakers. More recently, technology such as Google translate and Chatgpt has helped. Despite this, Cole believe he understands Taiwanese culture as deeply as anyone who speaks Chinese. For Cole, every place has an energy, and through this energy he can vibe with the locals.

For instance, Cole believes that Taiwanese people place a high importance on sharing their culture with foreigners. This comes from wanting the international community to recognize Taiwan due to pressure from China. Once Cole was in a FamilyMart with his son when a man walked in and asked him if he had eaten stinky tofu. The man then went out, bought them a portion, and then waited until they had tried it. After making sure Cole liked it, the man left. For Cole, this is also an example of one of the many meaningful interactions he has in English with Taiwanese people.
Cole met his wife at a nightclub. After two months, they were living together, but only had kids 9 years later in 2010. Now Cole's kids also serve as his translators because they speak English, Chinese, and Taiwanese. Cole does however, struggle with his kids being in Taiwanese public school. For instance, his kids sometimes cry because over their tests and homework. Cole doubts whether this stress is productive, because he's seen many people contribute to the world without being amazing students. Thus, Cole and his wife sometimes joke about being farmers. However, Cole can't own his own farm land because he's not a citizen. Not being able to become Taiwanese without renouncing is something that bothers him. According to Cole, if Taiwan wants to be seen on the international stage, it must start allowing some degree of immigration from other cultures. However, most of these cultures aren't willing to give up their original nationality. Despite this, Cole wants to stay in Taiwan for the rest of his life barring any aggression from China. If China does invade, part of him wants to stay and defend his large extended family, but keeping his children safe would be his priority. Therefore, he'd probably go back to Canada. However, he thinks that this won't happen because in the future Taiwan and China will coexist in peace.