Bilingual Kindergarten in or around Nangang District and help with budget and documents tootoo

Taiwan Parenting
1

HI! This forum is really been helpful for me and I am very hopeful that you help me with all the informations below. :pray: :pray: :pray:

My husband (Taiwanese/Canadian)decided to accept a job at W hotel in Taipei and our total monthly income will be NTD80,000 for a family of 3 (our daughter turned 4 last July-US Citizen and I am Filipino/Philippines National) :frowning: :2cents: . We will be living off at Section 3, Nangang Road, Nangang District and it is really near the Songshan Train station and night market. We will be arriving on early mid- October - early November 2011.

i tried back reading but I am still very confused as to how to go about need documents and requirements before we fly back to Taiwan and when we get back to Taiwan. Taiwanese Embassy is not really helpful here in Los Angeles–they just answer what you ask and don’t give out any other information. :aiyo:

I also need to know how much is the living cost-- APARTMENT in my area, UTILITIES- light,water,gas,cable,internet,mobile & phone bills, FOOD & GROCERY, FARE & TRANSPORTATION- bus/train, CLOTHING&INCIDENTALS, KINDERGARTEN TUITION FEE. :pray: :pray: :pray:

I am also looking for a BILINGUAL KINDERGARTEN where I can enroll my daughter in,around or near the NANGANG DISTRICT/Songshan Train station–If you can provide me with the Name, Address, Website, Contact Number and Tuition Fee that would be extra extra great and I am thankful in advance. She turned 4 last July 2011 and she is on her 2nd year in preschool here in Los Angeles,CA, she don’t speak nor understand a word of Mandarin/hukkien so am I. I am looking for a school that is biligual in a sense where I can understand and also help her with school. My husband is a Taiwanese/Canadian and speaks and reads mandarin/hukkien but he cannot write and for sure won’t be helping out with school because of work schedule. I do plan to study and learn mandarin/hukkien when I get there too.

I found this in the forum and would like to know your inputs and recommendations;

[i]Lih Jen International Private Elementary and Middle School
ljjhps.tp.edu.tw/EN/index.php
02-2736-1388 ext. 107/165
No.99, Sec. 2, Anhe Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
near 101 Building, Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, MRT station.

Taipei Kuei Shan School
ksjh.tp.edu.tw/map.aspx
200 Ming Der Road, Taipei, Taiwan 11280
tel# 2821-2009
fax# 2820-5790

Yang Ming Shan Christian School
No.64,Lane 80,Juangding Rd.,Shirlin Chiu,Taipei,Taiwan 111,ROC.
+886- 2-2861-6400

Grace Christian Academy
No.67,Hsingdong Street,Taipei,Taiwan,ROC.
+886- 2-2785-7233

Taipei Bethany School
No.97,Ting Chou Road,Section 3,Taipei,100,Taiwan,ROC.
+886- 2-2365-9691

Dominican Internatioanl School
No.76,Daj Street,Jungshan Chiu,Taipei,Taiwan 104,ROC.
+886- 2-2533-845

羅斯福校
Roosevelt School
臺北市羅斯福路三段237號4F-1
02-2365-3900
taipeischool@yahoo.com.tw

Taipei Municipal NanGang District NanGang Elementary School
Bilingual Education Class English Teachers
Mrs. Melanie, Tzu-Jen, Liu - mellyliu@tp.edu.tw (02) 2783-4678 #1741
Ms. Elain, Chang-Yi, Yeh- elainyeh@tp.edu.tw (02) 2783-4678 #1744
Ms. Zoe, Shih-Han, Huang - mooto.edna@yahoo.com.tw (02) 2783-4678 #1744
Ms. Flora, Szu-Fan, Hung- sflora70@tp.edu.tw (02) 2783-4678 #1741
67, Hueiming St. , Nangang District,
Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C. 110[/i]

Thank you and I look forward to all your replies!!! :slight_smile:

2

Hi,

I’m not sure if you are already here or are on your way, but based on your monthly income, you should consider sending your daughter to a local kindergarten. Bilingual kindergartens and international schools cost a lot. They’re private schools, tuitions range between NT$200,000 to NT$800,000 or more per year. Your daughter is young so she’ll be able to pick up Mandarin in no time. My kids were born in the U.S., spoke not a word of Chinese when we arrived 3+ years ago. They were just shy of 3 and 5 and became fluent in Chinese in six months. Kids learn really fast. I see a lot of Western kids in local kindergartens.

As for rent, it depends on what you’re looking for, furnished or not, in a new building with elevator and doorman or in a 30-year-old walk up (no elevator). Rent prices also vary by location, certain neighborhoods will be a lot more expensive. As a general rule of thumb, you should spend no more than 25% - 33% of your net income on rent. Be sure to have at least 3 months’ of rent money in cash on hand when signing your lease, plus the agent’s fee, if you’re going through a broker.

As for utilities, the most expensive will be electricity so be frugal when it comes to leaving your A/C on during the summer months, which could run from May - Oct., especially during July - Sept. when it’s really hot. The bills come every two months for everything: water, gas and electricity. How much you pay depends on how much you use.

As for documentation, if your husband has dual citizenship, he should be able to sponsor you. Your child is automatically granted Taiwanese citizenship by way of your husband’s citizenship status. You should be able to get a spousal ARC but you would probably need to get that in Taipei as your marriage has to be registered with the household registry office here and you can’t do that until you get here. I don’t know where you’re at in terms of all the paperwork you need to complete in terms of authenticating all of the documentation that’s required to process the ARC. It’s best to have ALL documentation (birth certificate, marriage license, health check form, vaccination records, etc.) that were issued in the U.S. translated into Chinese and then have the original and translated version authenticated by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) - I think you referred to it as the Taiwan Embassy even though we don’t have one in the U.S., they’re called TECO - before you arrive in Taipei. Otherwise, they cannot be used in their original format (English, that is) by the government agencies or schools here. This, processing all the paperwork and documentation, is the most complicated part about relocating to Taiwan, especially when one of you is a Taiwanese national. It’s actually easier when you’re being sponsored by the company as they’ll just do all of the paperwork processing.

If you’re still in need of finding a place to live, please contact Gulotty Realty (gulottyrealty.com), we specialize in assisting expats in Taipei find suitable housing.

Good luck with everything!

3

Hi,

Just thought I’d add that the thing that’s going to be the biggest pain in getting your spousal visa will be your police check!

You need to get one from your country of citizenship - so either the Philippines or America, depending on which passport you’ll be using (note that applications using American passports are about twice the cost :loco: ). You need a police check from your country, stamped by the foreign affairs office of your country, then stamped by the Taiwan Embassy in your country, then translated into Chinese and stamped by a court here (or the Taiwan Embassy again, it’s up to you). It takes quite a while to do, so it’s best to get started on it early.

4

jieyel, welcome to the forums (and to Taiwan, soon enough).

Firstly, if your husband will be working at W Hotel near Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT Station (the closest subway stop), then I don’t recommend you live as far east as Nangang District. Songshan District is decent, or anywhere to the south and west of Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT Station. Basically, you’d want to live within a 3-km radius of your husband’s place of work. Trust me on this, because in Taipei, anything beyond 3-kms gets taxing on the nerves…

In that area, the absolute cheapest place you can get to rent would be directly south of the W Hotel, in the “Wuxing Street” district: g.co/maps/4x4m3

The environment there is nicer than other places of Taipei, and the closer/further up the mountain you go, the cheaper it gets. In that area, you can get a 2-bedroom apartment for about $20,000 - $25,000 NTD ($700 - $870 USD) per month, in the low range. And as I said, if you go further up the mountain, it gets cheaper, and the air gets fresher. Of course, it’s not as “convenient” as places lower down the mountain… meaning you’d have to walk 10 minutes to get to the nearest restaurant or similar amenity.

Furnished apartments are a bit costlier, of course. Up to 30% more, depending on what they provide.

Approximate utilities/services costs for a couple and a baby(in NTD$):

Electricity (every two months): around $1,000 in the winter, or $3,000 in the summer (if you don’t try to save electricity).
Water (every two months): $200
Natural Gas (every two months): $400
Internet w/ digital TV: $750/month + $100/month (must sign two-year contract, and the digital TV is really cheap, because you are already signing up for Internet)
Cellphone with data plan and decent amount of talk time: approx. $1,400/month

As for transportation, Taipei has a network that uses the “Easy Card,” which is basically just a sensor card pre-loaded with cash that you use to pay for subway, bus, and even at convenience stores… and you get a 20% discount on regular fares (plus, discount on transfers to buses) if you use the Easy Card. And why wouldn’t you? It’s free, but with a $100 deposit on the card, which is refundable at any time.

Fares: english.trtc.com.tw/ct.asp?xItem … &mp=122032
But generally, if it’s five stations away, or less: $16
Let’s say ten stations away: $28
Taking the bus is generally $15, or $7/$6 if you transfer to/from subway. For the bus, you either pay when you get on, or when you get off… or both, if it’s a long distance.
Taxi starts off at $70, and goes up incrementally… like, if I take the taxi about 9 kms, it can range anywhere from $200 to $260 (depending on the honesty/efficiency of the driver).

Clothing can be really cheap… like, you can find China-made clothing at the nightmarkets for as cheap as $50 for an at-home shirt or pants, and $100 for clothes wearable outside. But of course, that’s the cheapest of the cheap. Otherwise, clothes cost as much as they do in America.

As others recommended, I would suggest a local kindergarten. You are going to be speaking English with your daughter anyway, so she can learn that from you at home, and learn Mandarin in school. And again, as others have said, kids learn really fast. Also, it’s much harder to learn to read/write Chinese than it is English! It also depends on how long you guys are planning to stay… if you see yourselves here for ten years, then it’s good to go local. If it’s only going to be five years, then maybe you can consider a bilingual or all-English kindergarten (but, elementary school is a different story, of which I have no idea).

Tuition at a private kindergarten in Chinese, with one hour of English everyday is about $10,000/month, whereas at an all-English kindergarten, it can be double or more. I think public kindergartens are much cheaper… and also, public elementary schools are cheaper than that, too. But… I hope a parent can answer this for you!

The only true all-English school here is Taipei American School, but as others have suggested, it’s not doable on only $80,000/month.

Good luck and enjoy your stay!