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I've been wondering about how exactly to go about that route. Do you recommend just buying a hotel room for a couple of weeks? How hard is it to find an English-speaking hotel? And should you get your ARC set up before you start applying to jobs? Also, I don't expect an answer to this question, but if I applied to Hess for an August hire date, would they interview me now or closer to August? The last thing I heard from them was "We'll be in contact very soon" like a week and a half ago and the anticipation is killing me.
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Mar 14, 2012 02:58
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Spanish Matlock posted:The way I did it was come here on the landing visa, go to hong kong for the visitor visa and then come back to taipei. Hong Kong or Bangkok trips will run you about 9000NT round trip (300 dollars or so). I'm 6'3'' and comfortable with this advice.
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Mar 14, 2012 07:07
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Oh man I have an interview with Hess on Friday. I'm expecting questions about teaching experience (have none), classroom control (dunno), preferred hours (any time, work me to the bone) and poo poo, am I missing anything important? So nervous. I had one of these before with KOJEN and it didn't go too well.
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Mar 22, 2012 01:56
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I was a tour guide for two years and I studied linguistics in college, so yeah I'm not too worried about the teaching experience. Classroom control is really the area I'm most worried about, because while I like kids I don't have any actual experience working with them or even dealing with them aside from seeing my 2-year-old nephew every couple of weeks. I'm still nervous. I guess I've always heard the talking point that the interview is basically just checking if you have a clear American accent, and I was wondering if that's actually true.
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Mar 22, 2012 03:24
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Do you accrue PTO at a cram school job? Like is there ever a situation where you can take a week off to go travel or visit home or anything? I'm sure it depends on the school, but none of them I've seen have mentioned vacation time.
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Mar 30, 2012 07:10
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OrangeGuy posted: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? I really would prefer to work in Taipei my first year in Taiwan, if at all possible. On the other hand, I think I could really use the training and supervision through HESS even if I were to be assigned to a school in a different city. I just got accepted by Hess and you tell them a) what city you'd prefer to be placed at, b) what contract (20-hr, 25-hr, young learners or regular buxiban) you'd prefer, and c) whether contract or location has priority for you. As far as I can tell, if you wanna work in Taipei they should be able to place you in Taipei, because there are a ton of jobs there and there's a high turnover rate among teachers. Initial training at Hess is 9 days and it's in Taipei, then they shuffle you off to your branch. I'm a bit confused as to when I will know what branch I'll be placed at; I'm pretty sure they tell you at the end of the training session.
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Apr 28, 2012 18:12
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Haraksha posted:3) Letters of Recommendation? No one wants to read them. Kojen wanted some letters of recommendation from me, but that's probably because I did fairly poorly on the interview. Hess didn't care.
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May 1, 2012 17:55
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Just bought my ticked to TPE and, in an effort to save a few hundred dollars, it looks like I'll be layovering overnight at PEK in Beijing. Anyone have any tips? I believe you need to grab a visa to leave the airport, and that sounds like a hassle and a half, so I'm just wondering about where to sleep, ha.
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May 3, 2012 20:25
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I think one of the other Hess new hires is on the same flight that I am, we're gonna drink our collective weights in baijiu together. 
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May 4, 2012 04:11
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Well, my contract starts August 8th, so IDK. When do they let you know what branch you're assigned to, anyway? They haven't even narrowed it down to a city for me yet.
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May 4, 2012 04:33
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I think when I get to Taiwan I'm gonna want to save up for a new guitar and mic and start writing some songs, maybe throw a band together. Are music stores pretty widespread over there, and how's the selection of guitars, etc?
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Jun 6, 2012 06:28
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HappyHelmet posted:Just polished off a bottle of wine Hey how is the wine in Taiwan? I know whiskey is cheap plentiful and decent, and I know Taiwan beer is fizzy piss for the most part, but I love booze and I want to know what kind of booze I will be drinking lots of TIA.
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Jun 23, 2012 03:41
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duckfarts posted:I remember years back, I went to Hualian and there was a Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor showroom there and my friend's mom, maybe because it sounded novel or for some other unexplainable reason, decided to buy a bottle of onion wine. quote:Chinese fermented wines, or huangjiu, have a wide variety of classification methods, but baijiu are grouped primarily by their fragrance. Oh I'm going to be all about this.
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Jun 23, 2012 06:35
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GoutPatrol posted:That is the epitome of My favorite beers are lambics. My favorite whiskeys are Islays. My favorite wines are big footy petite syrahs. I like gamey meat, blue cheese, and anything fermented. I'm going to be all about that maotai poo poo.
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Jun 23, 2012 08:12
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I'm assuming I can get good Aus/NZ wines though, and those are kinda my favorite wines. I can live without Cali Zins and Oregon Pinots Noir if it means I can get a good Marlborough S/B to help me survive the (I presume hot and sticky) summer season.
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Jun 26, 2012 09:35
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I heard this question on the radio the other day, but I couldn't stick around long enough for the answer. As an American, am I still gonna have to pay the uninsured tax back home if I'm signed up for NHI? I found this on some random law firm's website: quote:If a person subject to the individual mandate has a health coverage from a non-U.S. issuer, will this coverage satisfy the individual mandate’s requirements? This tells me nothing.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:20
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USDA Choice posted:You are already considered to have the minimum required coverage if you are officially a foreign resident by the US code. Heh, am I reading this wrong, or is this basically the US government saying "well if you're an expat you probably have better coverage than our lovely country can offer you anyway"
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Jul 7, 2012 19:05
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Kojen was willing to hire me abroad, so there's that
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Jul 9, 2012 02:26
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I think that's the conventional wisdom, and I haven't actually taught EFL yet so take this with a grain of salt, but I interviewed successfully for the job, and I can tell you that having 180 hours of formal teaching experience couldn't have possibly hurt me during the interview. From what I understand, buxibans don't want old-hand EFL teachers because they all have their own methods and conventions and they don't want biased teachers, so with your experience I think mentioning your openness to try new techniques could be a boon. But again, I haven't actually started the job yet, so IDK.
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Jul 9, 2012 04:45
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GoutPatrol posted:I was trying to de-yolk an egg. I prefer the old "hold it in your hand, jiggle the white through your fingers" method. Also, hey, by this time tomorrow... well, I'll be sleeping on a bench in PEK, but the day after that I'll have landed at Taipei! Wish me luck!
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Jul 14, 2012 19:45
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edit: double post, stupid airport wifi
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Jul 14, 2012 19:51
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The drive from the airport to the hotel has turned me off of the idea of ever driving. Good lord these people are nuts.
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Jul 16, 2012 06:58
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I'll see what branch I end up at, but I'm an avid walker and I think I might prefer that to getting my legs crushed by an errant lane-defying taxi cab, tyvm.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:33
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So this is possibly a dumb question, but I've tried three different networks here and no luck: is American Google banned in Taiwan or something? Three different networks, I've tried /ncr, I've tried /webhp, I've tried http and https, I can't seem to get https://www.google.com to come up anywhere. It either redirects to .com.tw or just 404s. It's not really a big deal, I have https://www.google.co.uk set as my homepage right now (loads just fine) but I use google for like 90% of my internettery, and not being able to access the search results that .com used to give me just feels weird.
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Jul 17, 2012 03:29
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Tried it. Doesn't work. I'll see if I can try it out on some different networks, maybe futz around with my internet setting. IDK.
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Jul 17, 2012 03:48
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I was talking to a Taiwanese friend and he said usually Chinese names for foreigners are just "sinicizations" of our English names, which means my Chinese given name would be something like 機末 (ji1 mo4?) which sounds ugly as hell to me. Do you ever just, like, get a cool name given to you from a Chinese friend?
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Jul 20, 2012 09:18
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^^Almost everyone speaks Mandarin. Older people usually know some Japanese. A majority of the population also speaks Taiwanese (Hokkien?) and if you learn a few Taiwanese phrases you'll get a lot of love I've only lived here for a week and so far I feel like I've learned enough phrases to live a decent life in Taipei, even though I intend to learn the whole language. Pointing gets you far. Also there's like an informal sign language you can usually use to communicate with clerks and what not. Learning the Chinese number signs helps a lot.
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Jul 20, 2012 10:07
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You can get pretty much anywhere in Taipei & New Taipei via the Metro. You currently can't get to Keelung or Taoyuan (neighboring cities) by Metro, but it's undergoing expansion and should be done sooner than later (Taiwanese are very good at completing public works projects obscenely fast, I've learned). Taxis are cheap, buses are cheap. Outside of Taipei, from what I've heard, having a scooter makes things much more convenient. There's always taxis and buses though, I guess, unless you live in the bumfuckiest of bumfuck east coast town. Drivers here are crazy, crazy, crazy folks, and I'm from Southern California, where crazy driving is pretty common even. ETA: oh, and the Taipei Metro is one of the most impressive pieces of public transit I've ever seen. Incredibly clean, efficient, cheap and quiet. Don't eat/drink/chew gum on them though, or you WILL get a big fine. quadrophrenic fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 10:43
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Yeah, I also have a very large penis
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Jul 27, 2012 11:29
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I've learned that 7/11 umbrellas are piss and I need to get shoes with tread on them or I'm going to spill all of my brains out on the sidewalk one fateful day. I know both of those things should be obvious, but I grew up in a place where it only rains about 5 days a year, so yeah. Excited for the typhoon.
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Jul 31, 2012 15:49
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It should be said that "mountain climbing" in Taiwan usually refers to just walking up lots and lots of old mountain staircases, so keep that in mind. But yeah, there are some pretty great trails all over Taiwan.
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Aug 7, 2012 02:29
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Wait where do you live I pay half as much for an apartment 1/10th the size in Yonghe, a little dumpy studio and now I'm jealous
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Aug 11, 2012 09:15
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So how common is it for typhoons to do a complete loopdy-loop about face and head back to the place they just were, even stronger? It looks like it's gonna be a rough week for Kaohsiung.
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Aug 26, 2012 14:29
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Bolaven is loving off to Okinawa. Kaohsiung is getting Tembin 2: Still Tembin'. It might even get up here to New Taipei!
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Aug 26, 2012 16:27
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The 4 Beasts are all pretty good hikes that are very accessible from Taipei. They're not going to be as solemn and naturey as some of the more inland hikes, but they're really fun to hike at sunset to get a good view of 101. http://hikingtaiwan.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/the-four-beasts-and-others-%E5%9B%9B%E7%8D%B8%E5%B1%B1/ I don't think I can give beach recommendations that aren't very touristy, but Tamsui has some lovely beaches if you just wanna sizzle for a bit. It's on the Taipei Metro. Also, I can't speak to the cheating-ness of the mainland, but I really don't think you're gonna find the same thing in Taiwan. When I bought my first bottle of Laphroaig here, the shopkeep knocked off $200 without me even asking. I've never been much of a haggler, and the dude straight-up haggled for me. I love this country.
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Sep 5, 2012 13:10
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I can't wait until they open Dongmen so I never ever have to deal with Taipei loving Main loving Station ever again
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Sep 11, 2012 05:16
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My food/beverages budget is usually about $200/day. I generally eat two big meals a day, so $70 biandang and some dumplings/noodles cost maybe $80-100, enough left over for water/tea/snacks/street food/whatever. I eat pretty frugally, so Taiwan is great. e: and if you're just going to be romping around Taipei, keep in mind trips on the MRT cost from $15-40, depending on how far you go of course. The MRT is super ridiculously cheap and you should use it as much as you need to. Ravendas posted:Ximen <-> CKS already exists. I've lived at both of these stations, and it makes it so easy to avoid Taipei Main Station. Yeah I live off Yongan Market, so pretty much any time I want to head anywhere on the blue line or the upper yellow line (HESS Main Office/friends' places/cool things in Taipei) I've gotta do the old Bannan Transfer and drat I hate swimming through packed crowds. quadrophrenic fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Sep 11, 2012 |
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Sep 11, 2012 06:38
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Yeah, I was part of the first training group. 180 new teachers in all, split into groups of 60. My branch got 5 (!) new teachers, with a 6th on the way.
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Sep 11, 2012 06:50
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Someone along the line told me that Brass Monkey was some chill cozy sports bar with a nice relaxed atmosphere. First time I went it was ladies night, and that couldn't have been farther from the truth. And not to cast aspersions, but Hess Training Group 1 seemed to be disproportionately full of precious cliquey people who are only interested in hitting up Luxy twice a week with their other white friends. Group 2 seemed to be much more open-minded, and I haven't met Group 3. I'm not free from judgement, I've haven't been having the easiest time making Taiwanese friends myself. But I certainly want to, and I've been trying as much as I can to work on my Chinese for it.
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Sep 11, 2012 10:12
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Rusty Nail isn't so much a "girly" drink as it is a "grandma" drink. I also want to know the name of this pub, because I've been dying to find a watering hole that isn't a oonts-oonts club or tiny dive bar since I got here.
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Sep 21, 2012 14:41
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