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OrangeGuy posted:Alright, is there an alternative to Amazon, then? No matter what company you work for, things are going to be very different from branch to branch. I've worked for HESS for almost a year now (holy crap I've almost been here a whole year!) and I haven't had any problems. My branch is super chill, there's no surprises, I get the exact amount of hours I want, and there's a real sense that the staff is looking out for us, the foreign teachers. I'm re-signing for another year and I can see myself staying at this branch even longer than that. But one person from my training group was hit with a lot of the things that person talks about in their blog: super long work hours, unhelpful staff, no communication, etc. She quit after only a few months and never looked back. You will hear the phrase "your mileage my vary" a lot if you start asking "is x school better or worse than y school," and it's never not true. Moon Slayer fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Mar 8, 2012 |
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Mar 8, 2012 15:17
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Aromatic Stretch posted:To those of you who have worked for Hess, on the whole would you recommend the experience? I accept that there is always a bit of risk in paying out airfare and the first months accomodation etc without a guaranteed job once you get there, but there are some true horror stories floating around on the web. Is it really that bad? Could you give an example of these horror stories? I'm curious if they are more than just culture shock and people going "they wanted me to work on Saturday!"
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Mar 23, 2012 13:33
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OrangeGuy posted:Has anyone tried setting up a business venture as a foreigner in Taiwan? I hope to get connected to Taiwanese business professionals through English tutoring on the side and eventually want to try my hand in entrepreneurship in Taiwan. Is this doable? I know a couple friends-of-a-friend who did this. One started a promotion/tourism company, and it seems to be taking off. He also speaks near-fluent Chinese, which I imagine helps quite a lot. The other guy bakes brownies for various restaurants around Taipei. If you have ever had a brownie at KGB, those are his. I haven't really spoken to either of them in-depth about their work, but I know both of them still do a fair amount of English teaching on the side, so I guess don't quit your day job.
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Jun 27, 2012 01:23
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Taiwanese health care remains awesome. "Oh, you have a cold? Here's a 4-day supply of 17 different pills and a quart of Brown Mixture. That'll be 100NT."
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Jul 14, 2012 09:19
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So I guess they took down Taiwan's flag at a display of world flags in London. Time for the Taiwanese media to freak out about it for a couple months. Article
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Jul 25, 2012 03:01
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Schools are closed in the Taichung area, too.
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Aug 1, 2012 14:30
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Never has this thread's title been more appropriate.
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Aug 5, 2012 14:14
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Ravendas posted:Howso? I'm on vacation in America, what did I miss? Jeremy Lin is visiting Taiwan.
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Aug 6, 2012 02:09
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I just noticed that the BBC Sport's Olympics website lists Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/countries/chinese-taipei
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Aug 6, 2012 14:55
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POCKET CHOMP posted:Stuff TetsuoTW posted:More stuff I hadn't heard about this before and it's really interesting, thanks! Herr Tog posted:I didn't find anything in hte OP so I will ask here: Hiking and camping in Taiwan? Possible? Legality? WHERE!? Hiking is a HUGE thing in Taiwan, so finding hiking trails isn't too hard. Camping less so but I know that it's done. The other foreigners in town talk about going camping at Sun Moon Lake all the time so you might want to look into that.
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Aug 7, 2012 00:53
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It begins... Thanks to TetsuoTW for linking that website and Google Chrome for translating it.
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Aug 23, 2012 14:06
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thegoat posted:I linked that webpage way before TetsuoTW. Give a guy some credit here Sorry, that was just the first time I remember seeing it linked. 8:30am in DaJia and no rain, only some slightly dark clouds in the sky. I know it'll start later, but I can't help thinking about the 6 less teaching hours I'll have on my paycheck this month.
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Aug 24, 2012 01:29
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HappyHelmet posted:Yeah, almost noon now, and the wind isn't even blowing. There are some clouds, but they are a long way off from my vantage point. Nope, all of today's lessons will just get bumped back to the next time the class meets, in this case on Tuesday. So if I was supposed to teach lesson 4 today, the CT will teach it on Tuesday and I'll teach lesson 5 next Friday.
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Aug 24, 2012 05:57
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If anyone is interested in classical music, you should check out the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. I saw them perform last night, and they are really good.
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Sep 16, 2012 06:37
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Technical writing here in Taiwan is something I'd be really interested in getting into in a few years, but realistically what are the chances of getting work in that field with just a random liberal arts degree and no work history in any writing jobs?
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Oct 24, 2012 02:43
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I could have sworn that at some point when I was first looking into coming to Taiwan someone posted that it was impossible to get a phone contract in Taiwan since most contracts were for two years and an ARC was only for one year. Is that not the case anymore? I want to get a fancy smartphone but I don't know much about any of this.
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Nov 25, 2012 05:56
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What's the best way to get out to Taoyuan airport? My flight leaves next Wednesday at 9:00am, so I'm thinking I'll probably have to go to Taipei the day before and then spend the night. Are there any shuttles out there early in the morning? Or, someone at work suggested I just hire a car from here (DaJia, near Taichung) since Taoyuan is not all that close to Taipei anyway. Flying back to the US for three weeks to spend time with my family for the holidays, which'll be great since I haven't taken a vacation since April. That is way too long a time when you are teaching.
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Dec 4, 2012 13:15
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Thanks to everyone who got back to me about getting to the airport. I asked around the office, and it turns out that taking an airport taxi from DaJia to Taoyuan airport is only 2000 NT. Certainly more expensive than bus or train, but I think it's worth it since they will pick me up from my apartment building and drive me straight to the terminal. And besides, what's the point in living in rural Taiwan if you don't have a lot of disposable cash lying around and nothing to blow it on?
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Dec 8, 2012 04:15
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nubdestoryer posted:Where do you live? I've heard theres a big difference in cost of living between Taipei and the rest of the island? For savings im not aiming big, just enough to visit the uk a couple of times if I want to. I'm hoping to go to Tainan or Kaosiung since I have friends there already. I more or less decided I will come to Taiwan early next year, it seems at least a good place to start out, even if I move to Hong Kong later. Outside the big cities it is crazy easy to save money. I "only" make about NT$50k a month, but since I live in a small town and am ok with eating street vendor food for 90% of my meals, I can limit my expenses to NT$15k. That's including rent, utilities, and an occasional meal at a western restaurant in Taichung. That leaves me with over $1,000 US in savings per month, some of which goes home for student loans but most gets blown on Steam sales, computer parts, and trips. I'm planning on moving to Taipei this spring when my contract with HESS ends, so I'm hoping it's not going to be too great a shock to my wallet.
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Dec 11, 2012 17:47
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I've lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere for almost two years and I have never seen a spider. EDIT: Ok yes, now that I think about it, I have seen some pretty big spiders, but only deep in the mountains. Never had any problems with them in town. Moon Slayer fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Dec 18, 2012 |
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Dec 18, 2012 20:09
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What's the best program for someone who just wants to get some basic, survival level Chinese under their belt? I'd like to be able to go to a restaurant or the gas station and not have to point like some tourist.
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Jan 21, 2013 15:29
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My contract with HESS is up at the end of May, and right now I'm thinking a lot about moving to the Taipei area to look for a new job. DaJia was good to me financially but I'm tired of having nothing to do on the weekends. My question is: when should I start applying for new jobs? My only Taiwanese job search experience was applying to HESS from overseas, so I don't know how employers here feel about things like when you can start. Should I wait until I'm a month out, or start applying sooner? Also, any chance anyone here has a cheap, nice apartment in Taipei opening up in June?
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Feb 2, 2013 09:11
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Thanks for the advice, USDA Choice and Spanish Matlock, I'll put my resume up and start applying after the Chinese New Year holidays.
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Feb 4, 2013 03:53
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I spent all my money going back to the US over the holidays so I'm going to be sitting in my apartment doing nothing for the next seven days. I'll probably have lost my mind completely by Wednesday.
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Feb 10, 2013 16:52
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Not to break up nuke chat, but if anybody lurking in this thread is looking for a job opportunity here in Taiwan, my branch is so desperate for a new NST that HESS is willing to hire someone from abroad at any time and send them to us. All training will be done 1 on 1, here at the branch. Please, somebody come and save me from the 30 hours I'm scheduled to teach every week for the rest of the month.
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Mar 13, 2013 13:56
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Dramicus posted:I'm leaving my current position at a Shane school in 3 months. Currently feeling around for jobs. How is your HESS school, though? In three months the position will be filled - actually next month it'll be filled. We'll be getting a new teacher from the April HESS training group. This is more of a "let's see if we can get someone immediately because we're short a teacher and all the NSTs have to teach 30+ hours a week now" kind of deals.
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Mar 23, 2013 04:58
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Nantou. I guess a temple wall collapsed there and killed someone, too. This was definitely the largest one I've felt since I've been here, or ever for that matter.
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Mar 27, 2013 12:46
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I'm getting back almost $60,000  It's too late now but if you go during May you can bring your bank book and arrange for them to direct deposit it. Took me about 30 minutes at the dinky Shalu tax office in Taichung
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May 31, 2013 16:31
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Do you think it would be worth it to get a credit card here? I buy a fair amount of stuff online - ebooks and video games off Steam and whatnot - and I'd like to rely on my Taiwan bank account more. Right now I use my US debit card for all purchases. I have to send money from my Taiwan bank every few months anyway to cover student loan payments but it'd be nice to do that less often.
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Jun 13, 2013 08:49
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Thanks for the info, everybody. I'll just use my debit card online for now. My contract is up in a month so it's high time I started looking for a job! I'm planning to move to Taipei, which is going to be a real change after living in the boonies of Taiwan for two years. I posted an ad on tealit, but does anyone have any leads on good job openings after July 15th? I'm hoping for a technical writing or editing job but since I have no professional experience in that field I'm expecting to end up teaching.
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Jun 15, 2013 11:18
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I'm also going to need to get an apartment in Taipei. My ARC expires at the end of July - is it going to be a problem to sign a housing contract?
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Jun 16, 2013 05:13
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Anyone heard anything about Tree House Academy in Daan?
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Jun 27, 2013 15:06
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Oz_Bonus posted:You can have a Taiwanese person co-sign for you when you get a contract. You can get an unlimited data plan for about USD$30 per month in my experience, plus a bit extra for the voice stuff. Some employees might not know that this is an option, so you might have to ask a manager. On the other end of the spectrum, I've been nothing but happy with my HTC One. What is appropriate job interview attire for a buxiban teaching job? Suit and tie? Also I'm starting to stress about finding an apartment in Taipei. Tealit doesn't have anything like what I want so I'm going to sit down with a CT and go through 591.com. Unless anyone here knows of a 10-12 ping unfurnished place near an MRT station? Moon Slayer fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Jul 1, 2013 |
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Jul 1, 2013 08:59
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Yeah I installed Apex Launcher first thing, never seen Sense since. EDIT: Just found a new tongue twister for my class 
Moon Slayer fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Jul 7, 2013 |
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Jul 7, 2013 07:50
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Saw a bunch of posts in the thread, immediately knew some foreigner had done something stupid enough to get on Taiwanese TV.
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Jul 7, 2013 17:05
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Lots of people in every country are ignorant/racist/awful, so expend some effort to find the ones that aren't and hang out with them. And don't watch daytime TV, that poo poo's awful in every country.
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Jul 8, 2013 12:04
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Neat. Let's talk about names for a second. Over two years and many classes I've probably had five or six students named "Kevin." All of them, and I mean every single one, were terrible students, so I'm thinking the name is cursed or something. Do any of you have a Kevin who isn't completely worthless? Also, coolest student names: I had a kid named Action in one of my classes. Also a kid named "Best" who was, ironically, the worst student in the class.
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Jul 9, 2013 06:22
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HappyHelmet posted:I did have a kid named Kevin in one of my classes, and he was such a little poo poo. Never studied and purposely busted everyone's balls every chance he got. You live not to far from me (Quinshuei, right?), I wonder if maybe they tried shipping him up to your school after his parents finally pulled him from the school I work at. DaJia, actually, at least for another week or so. Then I'm moving to Taipei. I'm actually going up tomorrow to pay the deposit on my new apartment. It's half the size of my current one and the rent is twice as much. But I'll actually have stuff to do in my free time now!
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Jul 9, 2013 07:34
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GoutPatrol posted:I would personally prefer that we don't have typhoon days. I actually want to teach tomorrow and Saturday. Kindy graduation?
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Jul 11, 2013 14:51
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Saturday is not only my branch's kindy graduation but also my last day at HESS. I'm not going to miss HESS at all but I am going to miss my Taiwanese co-workers quite a bit. They were all pretty great when I got to know them. Wish I could say the same about some of my fellow NST co-workers.
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Jul 11, 2013 16:02
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