Roller-skating. I’ll always think of roller-skating when I think of Steve DeBlieck. When I hear my fellow expats deriding what Taiwan lacks, in their reckoning, in terms of fun and life enriching experiences, I remember Steve carving his way through Taipei’s concrete jungle on roller skates.

Steve passed away last week while living and working in Japan. He was 24.

Steve had come to Taiwan with his older brother Sean in 2000. Both brothers were the picture of adventurous youth—ruggedly good looking, outwardly optimistic Minnesotans who loved to visit and work in some very out-of-the-way places. Sean had worked in Sri Lanka and Laos with the Peace Corp while Steve had lived for a time in Nepal. It was sometimes hard to tell which one was following in the other's footsteps.

After his brother went to Japan, Steve stayed on in Taiwan. More than any other fellow foreigner I had met or have worked with since, Steve always managed to find ways to make the most of his time here. He learned Mandarin with startling speed. He was affable and keen to strike up conversations with the Taiwanese folks he met, winning them over with his easy-going charm and friendly, omnipresent smile.

In fact, it was because of his ease at getting on with locals that Steve managed to experience Taiwan as few wai gua ren do. While others were content to seek out and surround themselves with the vestiges of their home country and culture, Steve contented himself fishing for shrimp at a roadside pond or enjoying the occasional betel nut with his Taiwanese (and foreign) friends.

He loved skateboarding and roller skating and would travel around the city by bus looking for skate parks or any available expanse of unoccupied concrete. He even circumnavigated the island by scooter, no small feat considering that motorcycles are not allowed on the local freeways. He wrote about the experience for our company newsletter, which we reprinted on Taiwan Ho! just prior to his passing.

Wherever Steve is now—I like to think he’s on the side of a mountain in his beloved Nepal—I hope he knows how much he was loved and will be missed by those who were lucky enough to have known him in Taiwan.

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