I met John in his house in the country village outside Kaohsiung. Before moving to Taiwan, John grew up in very remote parts of Canada because his dad was in the Navy. After graduating from high school, he moved to the US, and then New Zealand for 25 years. In his forties, John wanted switch careers from being a building inspector to teaching English. Originally, he wanted to go to Japan, but because of his age, Taiwan was a better fit. John lived in central Taiwan for years teaching and immersing himself in the local culture and politics. Later on, he built the world's first schoolhouse out of newspaper, which garnered international news coverage. Unfortunately, his school was next to an illegal stone factory that was run by gangs. In order to have more rights in court, he decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship and become Taiwanese. After fighting the gangs in court for 10 years, he was forced to move away. Despite this, John still likes living in Taiwan and being a Taiwanese citizen, so he plans to stay in the country indefinitely.