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I bring unto the thread a spectacular gift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAXXhFbhBw4
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Jul 5, 2015 11:06
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TetsuoTW posted:I bring unto the thread a spectacular gift: Why can anyone with a pulse have their own music video here? Jesus H. Christ.
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Jul 5, 2015 15:19
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Barto posted:Why can anyone with a pulse have their own music video here?
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Jul 6, 2015 05:16
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TetsuoTW posted:I bring unto the thread a spectacular gift: This is a very effective anti-drug PSA video.
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Jul 6, 2015 05:50
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TetsuoTW posted:I'm more surprised that someone with enough money to buy a Ferrari and tits can't even afford synchronized backup dancers. Priortitties.
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Jul 6, 2015 11:22
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Atlas Hugged posted:Priortitties.
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Jul 6, 2015 13:58
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Looks like I get my typhoon day after all. Public works decided to replace the transformer that services the branch I work at today. No electricity, no class. Fun times.
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Jul 11, 2015 02:58
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Yeah, had a great reminder Thursday about the importance of having a proper helmet and/or getting a camera for my bike. Pull out of my neighborhood and barely make it a couple of hundred meters before the lady in front of me suddenly jerks right and swerves into a parked truck. I stopped, flagged someone down (who spoke English) and got the ambulance out. Not sure what the hell happened, and neither did the lady, apparently. Otherwise, how soon should we be expecting a ton of new posters in this thread 
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Jul 24, 2015 17:15
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6 months in, 4 months with my ARC, and I just today signed up for cell service. I was using prepaid and was being given unlimited 4G sim cards until that gravy train dried up last week. I got 710 NT / month for unlimited 4G. I could've gotten an iPhone 6 64GB for 18,000, but based on Apple's release cycle there's a new iPhone coming out in 2-3 months so I didn't want to commit to that. How bad did I get screwed or is anyone else on a better deal?
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Jul 26, 2015 11:53
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I think I paid something like 18000 up front for 2 years, unlimited 4G as well, including phone (Xperia Z3.) This is from Taiwan Mobile. I had to put it in my girlfriend's name because my ARC was going to expire in 5 months and it needed to be at least 9 months. I'm gonna have to pay 2399 soon to switch it over to my name next month.
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Jul 26, 2015 13:09
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Assuming you didn't get a phone/sign a contract, 700-ish/month for unlimited data was what I was paying before I finally went for a phone subsidy and contract deal.
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Jul 26, 2015 13:17
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politicorific posted:6 months in, 4 months with my ARC, and I just today signed up for cell service. I was using prepaid and was being given unlimited 4G sim cards until that gravy train dried up last week. POCKET CHOMP posted:Assuming you didn't get a phone/sign a contract Key question here; are you on a month to month or are you on a contract?
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Jul 26, 2015 13:42
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Contract.
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Jul 26, 2015 14:48
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gently caress yeah, I'm going back to Taiwan and Palau again. 5 days this time in Taipei. this will be my third trip, any goons in town between the 4th and 10th of October? might revisit a few places from 2010 if they're still there. I remember a Szechuan restaurant down near Guting way, round tables. Vague I know.. maybe towards NTU. also a Moslem restaurant, where you could write on the wall. Same area. Also what's the best way to see Toroko gorge via scooter? Hualien and ride up? pardon the spelling. pinyin on the phone.
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Jul 27, 2015 03:11
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oh yeah. what should I do to get one week of mobile data?
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Jul 27, 2015 03:18
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Kommando posted:Also what's the best way to see Toroko gorge via scooter? Hualien and ride up? From what I understand, pretty much this is the best way. Train to Hualien and rent a scooter to ride up. The cross-island highway is blocked/closed/damaged or something, so not sure how far you can get. Kommando posted:oh yeah. what should I do to get one week of mobile data? Pre-pay, sim card. You'll need two forms of ID. When I first got my phone they accepted my Passport and Ohio Driver's License, but that was in Taipei. Poke around, if one shop won't play ball with you, go to another. It'll probably be NT$300 for the SIM card plus whatever the data rates are.
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Jul 27, 2015 03:27
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YF19pilot posted:From what I understand, pretty much this is the best way. Train to Hualien and rent a scooter to ride up. The cross-island highway is blocked/closed/damaged or something, so not sure how far you can get. Cool. I think that's what my ex did with me pillion in '10. and that road falls off the mountain semi regularly iirc. YF19pilot posted:Pre-pay, sim card. You'll need two forms of ID. When I first got my phone they accepted my Passport and Ohio Driver's License, but that was in Taipei. Poke around, if one shop won't play ball with you, go to another. It'll probably be NT$300 for the SIM card plus whatever the data rates are. sweet, easy. any suggestions for things to see and do, I'll be travelling with my gf and maybe my workaholic parent/s so we've got the usual CKS, 101, zoo, 2/28, xiolongbao, Kings 56 icecream, night market stuff planned. I was hoping to go see/photo the abandoned ufo houses this time. I've struggled to locate them on previous trip plans. I'm also keen for your food recommendations. I'm determined to finally try stinky tofu
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Jul 27, 2015 03:58
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Kommando posted:I was hoping to go see/photo the abandoned ufo houses this time. I've struggled to locate them on previous trip plans.  Oh, and if you want to try some real weird food, in Wulai there's an Aboriginal restaurant (泰雅婆婆, IIRC) that has on its menu, among other things, fried bees. YF19pilot posted:From what I understand, pretty much this is the best way. Train to Hualien and rent a scooter to ride up. The cross-island highway is blocked/closed/damaged or something, so not sure how far you can get.
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Jul 27, 2015 05:20
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TetsuoTW posted:If you're wanting to do that, you're going to make sure you've packed a time machine Wulai. yeah. I went there. Hot springs and I learned the characters for 'mountain', 'pig', 'meat' and 'meat on a stick/kebab'. I also got millet wine. it was awful. I'd totally go back there. added to itinerary. going g through toroko there were bits of road that were viaducts with the end ripped off and rebar hanging out over the new roadway, shiny black top.
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Jul 27, 2015 06:25
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TetsuoTW posted:The Central Cross-Island Highway - the one that would get you straight over to Taroko from Taichung, more or less - has been (to varying degrees) closed since 1999 after the big ol' 921 quake ruined its poo poo (among many other things' poo poo). I've heard that, and I heard rumor that they've officially given up on being able to repair the entire road because of how damaged it was and how often it gets damaged by earthquakes and typhoons. Fixing it properly sounds like it would destroy too much of the landscape, which they want to avoid I guess. I don't know how much of that is true, it's mostly hearsay. Otherwise, I've been poking around and trying to find out if the Southern Cross-Island Highway is open, but all I get is "that's a dangerous road" and that it was closed due to damage in 2013. Looks fun, but I don't feel like driving halfway up and having to turn back around.
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Jul 27, 2015 06:54
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YF19pilot posted:Otherwise, I've been poking around and trying to find out if the Southern Cross-Island Highway is open, but all I get is "that's a dangerous road" and that it was closed due to damage in 2013. Looks fun, but I don't feel like driving halfway up and having to turn back around.
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Jul 27, 2015 07:11
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Hi. Visiting a friend for a couple of weeks in Taipei with a couple of other friends, and we were looking for things to do. We are staying right next to the Ming Chi University of Technology in the Taishan District, and we love watching movies and drinking beers. English Karoake would also be pretty keen. Anyone have any recommendations close-by? Also ideas for other activities. Gonna go through a lot of this thread to look for others.
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Jul 27, 2015 07:58
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Ha ha ha. One of the more well known HESS trainers just posted a photo of himself sitting in one of the more swank looking lobby areas of the Taipei main branch, with the tag-line of "this is what it's like to work in Taiwan." loving, lol, my boss had to buy his own office chair when the branch manager wouldn't cough up the money because his previous one was "still okay enough."
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Jul 28, 2015 15:46
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YF19pilot posted:Ha ha ha. Was it Gavin? Please say it was Gavin.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:06
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Moon Slayer posted:Was it Gavin? Please say it was Gavin. No, it was Derek. I'd like the pics here, but I don't know if that's kosher or not.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:13
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YF19pilot posted:No, it was Derek. I'd like the pics here, but I don't know if that's kosher or not. Yeah I see them too. I'm pretty glad to be out of HESS now.
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Jul 29, 2015 02:43
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All of the Hess trainers are insufferable assholes imo
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Jul 29, 2015 03:48
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When I went through training (four years ago ... good lord) I remember it being about 50/50. Half were generally cool people trying to cut through the bullshit and give actual helpful advice for new teachers, and half had obviously drunk the HESS kool-aid. Also I really loved working in the Taichung area and getting the HESS newsletter advertising their big Christmas party and then reading "only available to NSTs in the Taipei area" at the bottom.
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Jul 29, 2015 03:54
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There was that Kiwi dude, he was cool, but I think he got fired But man gently caress that other guy. I won't say his name cuz idk about that, but it starts with J. God I hated him so much
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Jul 29, 2015 03:57
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I was once unwise enough to leave negative feedback for the trainers and then mysteriously got extra homework for part of the training I'd missed. My boss said J didn't normally do that.
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Jul 29, 2015 06:48
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House Louse posted:I was once unwise enough to leave negative feedback for the trainers and then mysteriously got extra homework for part of the training I'd missed. My boss said J didn't normally do that.
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Jul 29, 2015 06:52
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holy cow, what did you do?
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Jul 29, 2015 06:55
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So is like Hess the only job on the island or what?
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Jul 29, 2015 10:35
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Hess is the biggest buxiban chain, and when compared to others, it is reliable. If I were to work at a buxiban again I would probably go back to Hess or Joy; all the others are alot more sketchy in regards to proper tax/payment. If you want to make sure you don't get hosed in that way, stay with the big companies. I worked for Hess for almost 3 years and I never had a pay problem. When I came in they did change two things: raises and bonuses. Raises used to be 20-40 NT a year and they changed the max to only be 20. Their yearly bonus system to be alot worse as well: it used to be 30,000 NT a year, which changed to 15,000, and you get paid for last years work until the end of your next contract, so I worked there 33 months and only got 1 yearly bonus. HESS also really only hires people new to the island because they bring people over. So you have people who work for HESS and leave after 2-3 years complain about it because it doesn't pay that well. I can't remember how many thread regulars work/worked as HESS but it seems like close to half.
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Jul 29, 2015 11:01
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I think it's the easiest place to get a job without being in the country? There are loads of great schools. Tons of sketchy ones. I'm sure that Taipei has chain schools that are all reputable. Kaohsiung has HESS / Joy / KNS / Schoolhouse / Macmillan thegoat fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 11:02
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HESS really makes moving to Taiwan easy. They interview you while you are still overseas, help you with paperwork, pick you up at the airport and put you in a hotel for training, arrange transport to whatever branch you wind up at and assist you with getting housing. There are disadvantages (comparatively low pay, plenty of corporate BS on top of the usual buxiban stuff) but if you are like me and wouldn't be comfortable just flying into a strange country without knowing anybody or the language and hitting the streets looking for work they make things pretty easy. I doubt I'd be in Taiwan without them. And as far as I know, they're the only major chain school here that does that.
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Jul 29, 2015 11:10
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I don't know about today, but back in 2003 Shane promised more or less that, including like a week or two's training before leaving the country. Given the number of Shane schools I see around Taipei these days, though, I can't imagine they still bother.
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Jul 29, 2015 11:18
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Moon Slayer posted:HESS really makes moving to Taiwan easy. They interview you while you are still overseas, help you with paperwork, pick you up at the airport and put you in a hotel for training, arrange transport to whatever branch you wind up at and assist you with getting housing. There are disadvantages (comparatively low pay, plenty of corporate BS on top of the usual buxiban stuff) but if you are like me and wouldn't be comfortable just flying into a strange country without knowing anybody or the language and hitting the streets looking for work they make things pretty easy. I doubt I'd be in Taiwan without them. Kojen does all that stuff as well. Or they did 7 years ago when I first came here.
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Jul 29, 2015 11:18
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That isn't to say there aren't reliable buxibans outside of the big chains. I worked at the same place for five years and it was great.
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Jul 29, 2015 13:28
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Yeah, but there's fewer of them, and you can't really spot them from outside the island. Whatever you think about Hess, it's great for newbies. Seeing we're into buxibanchat, though, how flexible are other schools with contract length? Hess is pretty much only 6 month or a year, curious if less corporate places are the same.
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Jul 29, 2015 15:06
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