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dundun posted:Thanks for the offer! Right now I'm just weighing a few options because the job I was supposed to start in NY has just been put in indefinite limbo. My brother has been teaching in Korea for about 4 years now and seems to enjoy it, but I don't really find Korea as interesting as Taiwan. Yeah, my friend wants to have this positioned filled within like a month because it starts in June. If you're not able to commit by now, it probably won't work out.
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Apr 18, 2012 11:42
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There is lots of boring food in Taiwan. This isn't to say that the food in Taiwan is boring. I have to agree with HappyHelmet completely when he says that his coworkers eat the exact same piece of fried meat every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. The most common food is not sauce heavy. It's fried and seasoned with mixed vegetables, rice, and some tofu. There are small variations. Sometimes the fried meat is pork. Other times it is fish. However, there is a huge range of food available. There is lots of great poo poo to be found if that's your thing. It's just that most local people don't seem to go out of their way to get it.
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Apr 19, 2012 03:17
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Money question. I have a friend of a friend who wants someone to look at a college essay. It's 15,000 words. How much would you charge to correct just the grammar and the fluency? It's for a UK masters program, so I have to assume that their English is pretty good (the person being Taiwanese), but I wouldn't even know where to start negotiations. Also, it's the kind of family where money really isn't a problem.
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Apr 20, 2012 14:51
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Well, my guess is that 15,000 words is like 35 pages. God knows how many hours that's going to take me, but even if it was 3 hours that would still be like 2000 dollars at my hourly rate. It's entirely different work, and frankly seems more taxing than teaching kindergarten.
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Apr 20, 2012 15:01
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Sorry, I thought it was just an essay for class, but it's actually her masters dissertation.
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Apr 20, 2012 15:54
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Has anyone ever heard of a teacher having to buy their own classroom supplies like whiteboard markers?
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Apr 25, 2012 05:06
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duckfarts posted:TLI and Shida are both recommended for "no seriously I want to learn Chinese". I ran into a friend at the stationary store. He was buying himself a new whiteboard marker on his break. I couldn't believe it.
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Apr 25, 2012 09:59
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You're probably going to get a wide range of answers on those questions. OrangeGuy posted:1.) Is it okay for teachers to have a beard when they apply for jobs or would it be an issue? This shouldn't be an issue. I've known lots of teachers with beards. I don't think this is nearly as big a thing as it is in Korea. As long as it's well maintained, I can't see it blocking job opportunities. At the same time, any place that wouldn't hire you because of facial hair isn't a place that I would want to work. quote:2.) Would a suit and tie help when dropping off resumes and talking to (and interviewing with) the management at buxibans or would a business casual/button-up shirt/collared shirt look suffice? Taiwanese fashion is a bizarre animal practically deserving of its own thread and most certainly of a well written post. I am dumbfounded by what they consider to be appropriate attire. In any case, business casual will suffice and a suit will likely be total overkill. Dress smart and neat, but you probably don't even need a tie and the guy interviewing you sure as gently caress won't have one. quote:3.) Is it possible to request where you are assigned through HESS or is it more arbitrary like I've heard with the JET program in Japan? When I applied a few years ago, you got to rank preferences and that was it. I assume that the more willing you are to work outside of Taipei, the more likely you are to get hired. Almost everyone wants to be in Taipei. USDA Choice posted:Honestly, I do believe every American I've met over here has an anecdote of friends/relatives/anyone mistaking the two. I met my girlfriend at a really loud nightclub in Korea. When she told me she wasn't Korean, I couldn't really hear what she said, just the "Thai" part. I asked, "Thailand?" and she rolled her eyes and started to explain that it wasn't the same country. Fortunately, my political science degree paid off and I gave her a condensed 100 year history of the island and got a date out of it.
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Apr 28, 2012 18:17
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Poorly lit club after several bottles of soju and I had never knowingly met someone from Taiwan or Thailand before.
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Apr 28, 2012 19:25
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OrangeGuy posted:Haha, having been in Seoul in Hongdae district and drunk a lot of soju way past a reasonable hour myself, I can attest that this would be easier to do than you think. The fact that I actually met someone at M2 inside that writhing mass of people undulating to techno wizardry still amazes me.
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Apr 29, 2012 03:48
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Sisal Two-Step posted:Hey this seems like a good point to start posting questions, seeing as you're all in the mood to help newcomers out. Yes, I made the jump. I'd say infamous is probably the wrong word to use. The thread was rather divided a few years back between people like me who didn't see any harm in venting about their frustrations with the country and understood that people were more interested in ranting about the bad experiences than the good and those who tried to downplay the bad experiences and spent pages fuming about people ruining the thread with whining. I've mostly cooled off on how much I disliked Korea over the last couple of years and do look back on some things fondly now. But at the time I was really unhappy there and there's no doubt in my mind that I made the correct decision. Mine is hardly a unique story though. The rule of thumb here is that the flow of English teachers only goes one way. Any specific questions, feel free to ask! But to get a few things out of the way: 1) FBI check and notarized by six different agencies? What's that? 2) School transcripts? Nope! 3) Letters of Recommendation? No one wants to read them. In short, things are way less of a hassle here. Taiwan isn't concerned with making it a massive headache to get employed. If you want to work here and meet the minimum qualifications, that's basically good enough for them.
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May 1, 2012 01:49
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My couch is usually open. Taiwan men run are as diverse as anywhere else. You have the young and stylish Korean wanna-bes, the blue collar alcoholics, the wanna be gangsters, career driven family men, etc etc. Skinny guys with trucker hats and lenseless glasses just seem more prevalent at the moment. Also, I swear to god, every time I see an rear end in a top hat in empty plastic frames I want to poke their eyes out.
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May 1, 2012 09:14
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HappyHelmet posted:On a somewhat related note I really hate those colored contacts some girls love to wear. They kinda creep me out. When those first came out, the most common ones were super fake, super blue, and had streaks of other irregular colors blended in (like purple). More recently, though, I've started to seeing colors that are a lot duller. They're still obviously fake, but they're fake in a "natural" sort of way. I guess I can't really blame them for wearing colored contacts and dying their hair. Everyone is dark haired, dark eyed, so you have to find ways to give yourself a bit of flair. I just prefer streaks and highlights and lighter eyes to super obviously fake blonde hair and eyes that are brighter and bluer than mine.
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May 2, 2012 15:51
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HappyHelmet posted:The best is when road signs randomly change between the different pinyin systems. I've gotten used to it now, but before it was all pretty I saw 中 written us Jung on a street sign yesterday. I wept.
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May 3, 2012 03:11
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Ravendas posted:I can hardly write my name, but I can type tons of Chinese, and read it. It's weird being able to read things you couldn't write if given a pen and paper, and when explaining this to people back home, they just don't 'get' it. It would actually be pretty easy for you to learn to write the characters if you felt like taking the time to do so. Already knowing basically what they look like would go a long ways. Besides, the Heisig book is so loving good at teaching writing anyway, there's not really a good excuse not to learn.
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May 3, 2012 05:03
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I live in San Xia/Hsia/Shia.
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May 3, 2012 13:51
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POCKET CHOMP posted:I know I'm woefully uneducated about Chinese and stuff but that "Tamsui" thing really irritates me, especially since I rarely make it up north and like Khysanth it was weird one day to just show up and see all the MRT signs with "Tamsui" printed on them. The wiki has a reasonable if annoying explanation. I wasn't aware that the name was officially switched over last year, but I kept reading your post and trying to figure out what there would be a "Tam" in a Chinese name. Tam isn't a possible Chinese syllable. Turns out, Tam isn't even Chinese. It's Taiwanese. The official government of the area has referred to itself as Tamsui for years, and so they decided to make it standard regardless of language. It makes perfect sense to call it that, but if you read the Chinese characters, it's going to have a different pronunciation.
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May 4, 2012 03:25
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This is the problem I run into when I try to get taxis to take me to Taipei City Hall station.
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May 4, 2012 09:52
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There are better and worse deals depending on where you live and who you work for. I know my company covers housing and yearly airfare. I'm able to work part time and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle. My biggest goal is to save money to throw at my student loans while having enough free time to actually improve my Chinese. I wouldn't have as much time or energy to dedicate to memorizing squiggly lines if I had a real job. For most of us, the appeal is short working hours, good enough pay, and low cost vacations. We're already on this side of the planet, so flying to places like Japan, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, or any other awesome vacation spot is pretty cheap.
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May 25, 2012 03:14
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Kaohsiung (gently caress this spelling) and Taichung are the next two biggest cities. They're both on the HSR so you'd be able to get to Taipei in a couple of hours if you needed to and the cities have tons of foreigners and poo poo to do. Taoyuan is a bit more removed. It's practically a suburb of Taipei, but you're going to be relying on buses and trains to get you back and forth. It's also far less developed than the major cities. Keelung is supposed to be the rainiest loving place in Taiwan. Supposedly, it has the highest suicide rate in the country among locals. I don't know how true that is, but given how awful the rain is in Taipei, I don't think I'd be very happy with more. I can't tell you much about Hsinchu. I think that's the city they're trying to promote as Taiwan's Silicone Valley. There are lots of young professionals, so it might be a good place to get some private lessons with adults.
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May 29, 2012 03:10
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I think my friend had an interview there a year or so ago and he said that basically he'd teach in the afternoon and spend all of his mornings on the beach if he took the job. That doesn't sound like an awful lifestyle.
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May 29, 2012 05:59
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Having worked a split shift for years now, I highly advise against it. There are a few perks, but it mostly just sucks.
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Jun 5, 2012 06:36
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To elaborate a bit on stuff that's been posted above: 1) It's always possible to find a job somewhere. In fact, the majority of foreigners arrive in Taiwan first and find a job later. Some of us are lucky enough to get decent gigs online first, but a lot of jobs want to interview you in person and then have you do a live demo. Depending on how long you're willing to look, you might have to take the first job that comes your way, especially if it isn't prime hiring season. October might not be terrible. That's about when the first batch of people will bail because they realize it isn't a paid vacation. However, I really don't know how many people ditch like that these days. In any case, you might get stuck with a real lemon of a job in a lovely location, but at least you'll have an income. 2) If you're willing to cook, food can be dirt cheap. You can get a shitton of frozen chicken breasts at CostCo for about 500NT a pack. This will last you for meals and meals. It can be a little tricky to find the right ingredients for more complicated dishes, but the open air markets have loads of cheap veggies. Carrefour has a decent enough import selection for the most common things you could want (I especially like the Thai and Korean sections) and everything else can be supplemented by occasional trips to Jason's or City Super, the real high end grocery stores. 3) The bookstore situation is worse than it used to be. Page One in Taipei 101 was the go to English bookstore, but apparently they've been renovating and downsizing lately. If you want to read Twilight and the Hunger Games, you'll do fine here, but less popular books are more difficult to find. However, classics are widely available. The big ESLite stores have lots and lots to choose from. A Kindle is still highly recommended.
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Jun 6, 2012 05:10
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The Eslite connected to the Taipei City Hall Station underground mall is the best one, I believe.
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Jun 7, 2012 04:59
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I am in Sanxia, which is in New Taipei City, which is the "Greater Taipei Area". It isn't that bad during the week. It's quiet, less crowded, cleaner, and cheaper. We have all the basic things a foreigner could want for comfort as well as decent public transportation. I can get anywhere in downtown Taipei from my door in less than an hour. It's terrible on the weekends. We have a single bar and it's pricey and caters to a very specific clientele. The foreigner community is weak. There are a lot of older, married guys with families who aren't interested in getting drunk anywhere but their apartments. No one ever wants to come out to visit and heading to Taipei to drink gets pricey fast because of the cost of cab fair home. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jun 10, 2012 |
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Jun 10, 2012 03:05
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But at least you socialize. The guys I know just sit at home and watch CNN.
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Jun 10, 2012 04:26
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USDA Choice posted:Just discovered that it is impossible to buy paid apps on the Android store/Google Play in Taiwan. For awhile, the Amazon App store worked fine for me, but eventually they realized I wasn't in the US. I have a wifi based tablet without a sim, so this workaround doesn't apply to me at all. I haven't rooted either, so the other potential way isn't something I can do. It's easily one of the most frustrating things about having a tablet. There have been so many times where I've wanted an app but haven't been able to access it. They really need to get this sorted. The list of countries that have paid apps is massive. Taiwan is definitely an exception.
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Jun 11, 2012 00:16
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Does anyone have experience circumventing this?
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url posted:6.5 at 5AM on the 20th floor ... yeah, that was the second shake I felt in my 6 months since I been here, and yeah it was kinda fun. Yeah, I was wondering what happened to you. We haven't been drinking since you landed. http://driversimtest.thb.gov.tw/DriverSimTest/mocks/index.do
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Jun 11, 2012 11:42
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My school woke me up at 8:30 this morning to say I didn't have to come in. I don't work until 5PM. They just couldn't wait until the afternoon.
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Jun 12, 2012 03:49
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It was really bad in Sanxia when I got the call, but it doesn't seem to be any rainier now than on any other day. I'm actually kind of annoyed I'm losing out on 3 hours of pay.
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Jun 12, 2012 07:02
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I am pretty sure that if you have an ARC you can just enroll because what you do in your free time is up to you. There's no restrictions that way. But if you are here on a student visa, your priority is to the university and you're expected to take a much heavier class load with extracurriculars and stuff. Most people who work and study take classes in the day and work evening shifts. They also tend to live closer to downtown to make the daily commute doable.
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Jun 12, 2012 15:36
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I met a Taiwanese guy with massive balls who got pulled over for drunk driving and just responded to everything the cop said in Korean. Frustrated and convinced they were dealing with a foreigner, they sent the guy on his way. My American friend got stopped for the same and didn't have a Taiwanese license either. He handed them his American driver's license and said it was the same thing. The cops didn't have any idea of what to make of it, so they just waved him on. What's amazing is that my South African friend was telling me how much better the police in Taiwan are than back in his home. Also, yellow ponchos are worthless on a full motorcycle. That's one of the two big advantages a scooter has to an actual bike. My shoes and legs stay dry on the little platform! They're also much easier to dive through traffic with. I got a car recently and it's mostly terrifying to drive anywhere but the freeway. Taiwanese drivers are so bad. My biggest fear was the scooters loving around, but that's only really an issue at the stop lights where they bunch up. When traffic is flowing, they're not a problem at all. It's the assholes in cars who don't think their decisions have any consequences and just do whatever that drive me nuts. It also doesn't help that the roads in the towns are awful. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jun 13, 2012 |
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Jun 13, 2012 03:57
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I think you might find the Taiwanese concept of a dorm a bit... unpleasant. My understanding, and granted this could be totally wrong, is that these are small rooms with like 6-8 people living in them. Entry is regulated and I believe there's a lot of gender segregation in the living quarters, but this is all second hand and years old information. There might even be a curfew on the dorms, but again, I'm not absolutley positive. It's something I would look into with great scrutiny.
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Jun 15, 2012 04:01
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Apparently my girlfriend's school was the worst and other schools are more typical of what you'd see in America. Her school had 6 girls in a room, a curfew, and boys were totally banned from her building. There was a mixed building, but the boys were restricted to their floor and could not gain access to the girl floors.
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Jun 15, 2012 06:47
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TetsuoTW posted:A quick rip-through of the introduction to the Chinese Wikipedia article on Taike: I can't wait until this includes lensless frames.
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Jun 15, 2012 13:15
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I find Taiwan to actually be less cartoonish than Korea, but that may be because I was so desensitized to bizarre poo poo after a year in Korea. But I think a lot of Korean zaniness comes from how much loving alcohol they drink. Taiwan is actually pretty chill in that regard. Taiwan has the construction workers downing Whisbey (think Redbull Vodka), but I've never seen a blacked out soldier in an MRT station. I've had Taiwanese guys buy me drinks in a bar and force me to talk to them in broken English, but I've never been visited by a beer fairy. Once in Korea, an old man in a blue suede suit with a blue suede fedora led me and my friend to a street vendor, bought a couple of cans of beer for us, and then vanished into the crowd. I've had hangovers at work after going out with my boss, but in Korea it was standard policy to sleep off the previous night in the nurse's office and to rotate who got to crash on the cot between classes. Korea was also way more upfront with the sex industry and racism, but those things are bubbling just below the surface here too.
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Jun 15, 2012 15:41
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TetsuoTW posted:That's a thin-rear end surface on the racism. Not so much for us whitefellas, more for the Southeast Asians. Well, I'm talking from experience only. I don't get a lot of racism directed at me here, but I did in Korea.
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Jun 15, 2012 16:16
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TetsuoTW posted:Oh true. As you were. It's actually bad in its own way. I'm less aware of how tough it is to be something other than a white male.
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Jun 15, 2012 16:31
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No one has ever spat at me here or harassed the woman I was talking in English to for whoring herself to foreigners. I have never been told I couldn't go somewhere because I was foreign. Edit: Oh, here's a good one. No street vendor in Taiwan has hit me in the face with a bar stool because I tried to order from a female member of he staff. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Jun 15, 2012 |
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Jun 15, 2012 17:02
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HappyHelmet posted:I've been told I couldn't go into a few bars for being white here, but I always figured it was because some foreign jerk off caused trouble there before. So really I never blamed them (those places were always small bars that catered to Taiwanese people anyway). Yes, I got hit in the face with a bar stool for ordering from a female. Basically, I sat down at a street vendor's stall, I ordered, then the dude came round, grabbed a stool, and whipped me in the face with it. Normal is a strange word to use for Korea. Some people will spend months there with no problem. Some people will have weekly episodes with the Korean guy camping the foreign bar so he can slut-shame the women hanging out there. It's a weird country.
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Jun 15, 2012 20:40
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