Backpackers "blowing into Taiwan"

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
#1

(I’ve broken off a thread started in the “Teaching English” section of Forumosa.)

Is this true? Back in 1993 when I started off teaching ESL in a smaller city in southern Taiwan there were still a fair number of pot-addled yobbos saving up cash for three or six months at a time before heading back to Thailand or India or wherever. My impression from the few times I stayed at hostels in Taipei was that they were the rule rather than the exception (at the hostels, I mean).

Has the foreign ESL teacher demographic really changed that much over the last ten years? If so, where do the hairy hash hobbits go to make cash for plane tickets these days?

#2

Well, from June this year 400 New Zealanders will be given working holiday rights for Taiwan. This is in exchange for the 400 Taiwanese that will get working holidays rights in New Zealand.

I guess this means that the blowing in and blowing out of Taiwan pot-head market is about to expand. And before you slam me - I am a Kiwi too.

#3

I imagine that the heyday of cowboy English teachers is past, but there are plenty still around. They just cloak themselves in the false trappings of respectability. Used to be a cowboy was proud to be a slacker. Nowadays, cowboys wear ties and try to hide their true nature.
Take a look at the flotsom at Taipei Hostel if you want an indication of the fringe. Hang with the right people and you can make some extra money being a mule on trips to Thailand.

#4

[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]I imagine that the heyday of cowboy English teachers is past, but there are plenty still around. They just cloak themselves in the false trappings of respectability. Used to be a cowboy was proud to be a slacker. Nowadays, cowboys wear ties and try to hide their true nature.
Take a look at the flotsom at Taipei Hostel if you want an indication of the fringe. Hang with the right people and you can make some extra money being a mule on trips to Thailand.[/quote]

Do you mean “flotsam,” which means either (i) a floating population of emigrants or castaways or (ii) an accumulation of miscellaneous or unimportant stuff?

If so, I resemble that remark! I started out at the Taipei Hostel in April, 1989 and had a blast crashing there for a few months. Ok, so now I have graduated to a fancy smancy office near Taipei 101. But, when I want to tell funny stories about my life, I get a lot of goodies from my days at the Taipei Hostel and very few from my present locale. I admit, though, there’s no desire to go back, but it was fun at the time so take it easy on my Taipei Hostel brothers and sisters. :wink:

#5

Yes.

#6

[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]I imagine that the heyday of cowboy English teachers is past, but there are plenty still around. They just cloak themselves in the false trappings of respectability. Used to be a cowboy was proud to be a slacker. Nowadays, cowboys wear ties and try to hide their true nature.
Take a look at the flotsom at Taipei Hostel if you want an indication of the fringe. Hang with the right people and you can make some extra money being a mule on trips to Thailand.[/quote]

Thats a pretty damn arrogant thing to say. :smiling_imp: I spent a few days at some hostel when I first arrived in 2002, and met a wide assortment of characters from diverse backgrounds. For a journalist, you sure make a lot of stupid generalizations about people. For example, when I travel for prolonged periods, I make sure to stay in a healthy mix of accomodations. For example, when I visit the Sinai in Egypy, I make sure to spend a week in Sharm-El-Sheikh and a week in Dahab. One gives me the pleasures and pampering I need upon arrival. When that wears a little thin, its time to meet the interesting, diverse groupings of people from all nationalities in Dahab (the bedouin village and backpacker mecca).

Chewy

#7

Spot on. I don’t even believe some of my own stories about those days anymore. It’s a long way from my current cube farm …

#8

Those “old” days are a bit hazy, but I do remember something about partying. Taiwan rum was $80NT a bottle and it flowed like water at the Kaohsiung Hostel (100 Star Hotel, basement was the hostel and upstairs was a brothel). I wonder if Dr. Feelgood and his magic cough syrup are still down by the harbor?

#9

I will try to make future generalizations more intellegent… :wink:

Are not the ones in the hostels here not backpackers? Are they not the current crop of English-teaching hobos? I am not saying that they are bad or unwanted. I distain those who are pretenders (“I’m a real, qualified EFL teacher.” Hahahaha!), but for those who are truthful about their true nature and reasons for being here – more power to ya.
“I know dick about teaching but it’s a no-brainer and I’m saving up for the next leg of my journey.”
This I respect.
“I am a trained EFL teacher in my home country with a university degree in education and am here to teach.”
This I respect.

#10

Scum of the Earth. Dossers.

#11

“Are not the ones in the hostels here not backpackers?”…bloody hell my brain exploded just trying to get to grips with this double negative…translation please

#12

I find it amusing that the old-timers here, most of who originally came to Taiwan as backpackers and English teachers (“the scum of the earth”), are ranting against newbies doing the same things. Especially when you consider that the typical foreigner living in Taiwan back in the good old Wild West days was generally of much lower quality than the increasingly professionalized cadres flying in these days. By your own admissions, many of you old-timers got drunk and stoned and partied all the time while “teaching” English in your early days here on Formosa. The gall of you criticizing kids today for doing the same things you did in your youth! :laughing:

#13

mod lang,
I don’t remember ranting against newbies and their party habits. I don’t hire teachers who don’t party. What I don’t want newbies to do is to get greased and then get caught on TV twirling their meat. :laughing:

#14

Not at all. Read carefully, my friend.
I said I didn’t care for cowboy English teachers putting on airs about their qualifications or status.
Anyone who wants to come here and “teach” is welcome. It is a fantastic money-making scam. Six months here with lots of hours and rigorous savings will buy you at least double the time in Thailand on a beach somewhere (if you don’t spend it all on the nightlife).
Go for it!
It is when these people start taking themselves seriously that I reach for my gun.
I thought, after several years, that I had the “hang of it” with English teaching and thought of myself as “good at it.” But I never for a second believed that what I was doing was a real job or something that anyone with no experience couldn’t do.
Making a fast buck can be the name of the game for some, particularly people who are young and just stretching their travel legs.