The past week has been a rollercoaster, and I finally have some updates to share. Fortunately, during the last week of taking medication, my hearing has improved. It hasn't fully come back yet, but at least there has been noticeable progress.
However, this past week has felt like a nightmare. My hearing would constantly shift—at times, both ears felt completely blocked, making it nearly impossible to hear anything. Other times, I experienced a strange echo inside my head. There was pain deep in my ears, bouts of tinnitus, and an uncomfortable sensation like my ears were being sucked into my head. It’s hard to put into words, but each day brought something different. Sometimes, I felt completely fine, only to feel miserable an hour later.
One of the worst parts was struggling with balance. Walking was manageable, but any time I bent down or moved too quickly, I felt like I was about to fall. Our son loves going to the park after school, but I could barely stay outside for long before discomfort set in, forcing me to spend most of my time at home, usually lying down when I had nothing else to do. I haven't been going shopping as well, as I was afraid I may faint on the road.
Conversations became frustrating as I had to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times. Meeting people outside was something I avoided - I wasn’t even sure how to explain that I couldn’t hear properly.
Thankfully, after a few days, things started improving. I could finally hear some sounds again. One ear recovered completely, while the other is still only about halfway better. I had another doctor’s appointment this past Monday (March 24th) to check on my progress. Thankfully, there is visible improvement, but I was prescribed more medication and have another appointment scheduled for next week. Hopefully, by then, I won’t need it anymore!
Fingers crossed that this chapter is over!
Before that, we also had an appointment with the dentist. Our dentist is in Tainan, so we spent the weekend (March 22-23) back in the south. The weather was great! Down south, it already feels like summer! While we were there, we also visited a rose garden, but I’ll make a separate post about that soon.
Unfortunately, not everything is going well. On Sunday night, after returning home, we received some bad news. Not even two weeks after I applied for my APRC - which I have yet to receive - it seems that soon after getting it, I will have to change my address. What happened? Our landlady sent a message saying that she is planning to sell the apartment, so we will have to move again…
We’ve been living in Miaoli for three years, and this will be our third time moving! It feels like a never-ending cycle. It’s like the same story repeating - if landlords can’t make enough from rent, they either raise prices or ask tenants to leave, just like what happened during our first year here. I thought we had a good relationship with our landlady. From the beginning, we made it clear that we were looking for a long-term rental, not just one or two years. Everything seemed fine, and she reassured us that we could stay as long as we wanted. We even met occasionally, and she never once mentioned wanting to sell. But now, that’s no longer the case. I know things change and people make different decisions, but it completely ruined the good mood.
We might try to negotiate staying here a bit longer since moving before the school year ends would be extremely inconvenient. I really hope we won’t have to change schools, so we’ll need to find a place in the same area. For now, we’ve already paid rent until the end of May as we pay by quarter, but that’s just two months away. Based on our previous moves, it usually takes us about two months to relocate - mainly because my husband works, and I can’t move furniture and everything by myself.
Can we manage to find a place and move in such a short time? It feels nearly impossible. Just looking at new places, signing a lease, and handling the logistics takes longer than that. Once again, I feel like people in the north are quite cold and materialistic - but that’s just my observation after hearing so many stories and seeing how people behave.
Our landlady got a job as a house sales agent, and just as I assumed, she changed after that. Our relationship was more like a friendship—we exchanged things and gave each other gifts. For example, if we traveled somewhere or I baked holiday cookies, we would share. But after she became a sales agent, the relationship grew colder.
It's normal for people with jobs to have less time, but then her entire Facebook turned into just listings of houses for sale with ridiculous prices and posts bragging about the houses she had sold. All the normal things disappeared, along with the usual people commenting. Instead, the only interactions came from other house sales agents, investors, or rich people living in the area. That’s how she went from being a normal person to exactly the kind of person I dislike.
Having lived in Taiwan for several years, I know a lot about house sales, especially since we tried to buy a house. We viewed many, met many agents, and learned how they think and operate—basically, if you want to succeed, you can't have feelings. She even said, "If you can't beat them, join them." So, well…
She knew we weren’t eager to move, so saying she was planning to sell the house is an easy way to make us leave sooner. Who knows - maybe she want to rent it to someone else at a higher price. That’s just my assumption, especially since so many properties have been put up for sale. And as an agent, she knows that now isn’t a good time because the market is very cold. Additionally, informing us through a message instead of at least a call or an in-person conversation didn’t feel very friendly.
I don’t want strangers coming to view the house while all our things, laundry, etc., are still inside. After all, we still live here and want our privacy and not being bothered.
Recently, the housing market hasn’t been great, and with new regulations, suddenly tons of houses and apartments are for sale. Maybe prices are slightly lower than they used to be, but they’re still unaffordable for many. In our area, a three-bedroom apartment costs around 18 million NTD - way beyond what we can afford.
I don’t want to live in the countryside because our son’s school is here, and I need access to shops and other conveniences. My husband drives to work, but I walk everywhere, so living far from everything would be really difficult to manage. Even now, I wake up a little after 6 AM, and the school is only 400 meters away, yet it still takes time to get my son ready and there on time. He still only arrives at 7:30 AM. Kids at this age just take longer to wake up, eat, and get going - it is what it is.
My husband's work finally slowed down, and he isn't coming home at midnight anymore. He finally got a weekend off, but then... New day, new thing to worry about…
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