Firelight Chats Ep023 | Maoman’s Meandering Memory Boulevard w/Anthony van Dyck

In this episode of Firelight Chats, Anthony van Dyck swung by the Spacelab to reminisce about his 34 years in Taiwan. With his Taiwanniversary FB post serving as the springboard, Anthony regaled Kane & Mocha with tales of yesteryear, including the English teaching & buxiban business, long work weeks, Taiwanese Chiayi gangsters, Taekwondo black belts, becoming involved with the famous Forumosa website before it was even called that, and images of trash heaps, stray dogs, serious pollution, taxi cartels, flying cars, manual censorship solutions, fun yet dangerous rooftop amusements parks, pachinko parlors & free cigarettes, bootleg movie cubicles, pre-movie propaganda clips, frozen shoulders, and having a pizza named after him.

While meandering down memory boulevard, Kane & Anthony took their opportunities to digress down other quaint alleyways as well, chatting about military service in Taiwan, Chinese language learning, emotional release, the best yoga studios in Taipei, working on the Taoyuan Airport MRT line, midlife crises and finding love again, and his hopes for dual citizenship between the two countries that have become an integral part of him. At the end of the episode, Kane engages a tired Anthony in a hot and fast-paced Firelightning Round, which he ends up sweating out with grace, serenity, and aplomb.

Anthony van Dyck is originally from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is a proud single father of two Taiwanese daughters, a founding member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, and runs several FB groups for expats, including Second Saturday Social and Taipei Curry Council.