After extensive research, deciding between Thailand or Taiwan, i’ve decided on Taiwan for a variety of reasons, primarily saving $2k not needing a CELTA, wanting a graduate degree from a credible university, and the much higher salary potential.
What should I be doing, RIGHT NOW, to prepare?
I want to bring 3 months of finances in case I can’t find work. How much will I likely need?
What will be my best option for a very cheap place to live while searching? Can I rent an apt. monthly?
If anyone lives around Taitung specifically and wants to be my friend when I get there, PM me
As beautiful as the area is, there’s not much in the way of work down there, and McDonalds is about the only form of western food (if that’s important to you). Even if you found a job, you probably wouldn’t even be earning $2K (assuming you mean USD).
I think he meant he would save $2,000 once by not having to get a CELTA, not that he would save $2,000 every month.
OP: I have no idea about whether you could rent a place monthly, though in Taidong, things would be far cheaper generally. Renting any place (monthly or not) initially without an ARC might be difficult. I think you’re going to have to pay for temporary accommodation. Maybe you could make a deal with a cheap hotel to rent a room for a month for a fairly low price (try 10,000-15,000NT/month). Otherwise, if you can get shared accommodation, that would be good though how you would do that is anyone’s guess.
As has already been mentioned, getting work in Taidong is going to be very difficult. It’s simply neither big nor rich. The good jobs for Taiwanese people are in other parts of the country, and so the teaching jobs are also. Taidong is cool (I like the whole east coast immensely), but there just isn’t much work. It’s also a long way from the bigger cities with nightlife, etc.
Also, people in Taidong probably don’t speak much English at all. In fact, plenty probably don’t speak Chinese that well either. According to my wife, Taiwanese is far more common.
As for preparation? Money is good. Being able to speak some Chinese (or Taiwanese) would be good. Having the right documents would be good. Other than that, I don’t know. You’ll largely have to figure it out as you go.
People either fall into work in Taidong or they wait 6 months for a spot to open up. 3 months of money is not going to cut it as Taidong is beautiful, but poor. You never see a job for Taichung being posted anywhere. I think I’ve seen one in my 9.5 years in Taiwan. The FAP also had a thing for busting foreign teachers. Considering how hard it is to get them to do their job in this regard, I would be cognizant of the dangers of any illegal work.
The whole east coast is like some beautiful bastard child taken out on weekends to show off, but then shoved in the closet during the week. In all of Taidong county there are only 34 places available on the popular rental website.
Would you want to be one though? I know some people think it’s bad being an English teacher, but at least the excuse is that the bad English and general tedium of correcting it is not from native speakers.
This is a very apt description. I’ve known a few people from the east coast, and whilst they love it there, they’re in Taipei or Taoyuan (and no doubt Xinzhu, Taizhong, etc. in other cases) because they simply can’t get work in Hualian or Taidong. Those places have a visibly different appearance to the bigger, west coast cities. You can tell they’re not where it’s at for Taiwanese professionals (or their spoilt offspring) as soon as you arrive. This is the story of urbanisation all over the world though.
Slightly off-topic (and mainly for correspondence purposes between Okami and me), we’ve just moved to the stage where a school in Taoyuan County likes our proposal and is going to be pitching it to the parents. It’s remote and the kids are Aboriginal and poor, but I’m quietly excited about it because I suspect it will be a different kind of experience to teaching the usual spoilt city kids here who have been tainted by the normal buxiban method. Yet there’s a reason they haven’t been tainted by the normal buxiban method and that’s because where they live is somewhat remote (or remote enough) and the parents are poorer than normal (though we can still make fairly decent money, even taking into account travel time). Rural Taiwan still has opportunities I think, but often people aren’t willing to work through the challenges.
Hmm interesting response. I’m not the sort to generally pay attention to naysaying, and tend to believe that I will find a job if I really look for one. I am very happy to hear everything being said about the east coast, since I picked Taidong as a destination based on assumptions from just looking at it geographically and demographically. One McDonald’s is one too many for me, but other than that it’s exactly where i’d like to be it sounds like I actually had no idea about the Taiwanese, though, that seems surprising since I heard Taidong has four universities. I definitely intended to further learn Chinese while there…
Ok so new questions:
How much can I expect to get paid?
How much money would I need to live six months if necessary? (does that mean six separate visa runs? How much are they?) I can live in a hovel and eat noodles for six months if I had to.
I have my passport, my original Uni. diploma, what else do I need?
I heard I can get by with long hair in Taiwan, but will that be different in Taidong?
It’s not about naysaying, it’s about having realistic expectations. You have no experience (?) or qualifications, want to find time to study at university and will need a work permit and ARC. You could be OK, but as some people have posted, it’s going to be tough to find work there even if you have a lot more that school managers want. At the moment, you’ve got ‘cheap’, ‘keen’ and ‘doesn’t know what to expect’ as your USPs.
Well that’s ok. Worst case scenario, I have a few months’ vacation in Taiwan then go get a job somewhere else. Win win. And i’m trying hard to figure out what to expect here, so again…how much money for six months in Taidong, including visa runs, is the minimum $560 NT people speak of elsewhere not the norm there, etc.
Minimum 500. The problem with Taidong (and Hualien) is getting a job that grants you a visa, and also getting enough work to have enough money to live on.
Let’s see… money to set yourself up with a pad and a scooter and furnishings and stuff: NT50,000. Living fairly cheaply: NT20,000 per month. Visa runs? Another NT10-20,000 per month.
If you’re into surfing and you’ve got a visa job, you can scrape by on 15 hours/week. If you’re doing visa runs, you’re probably losing money hand over fist unless you’re working 6 days a week at three different jobs.
Also the police don’t like illegal foreigners there, so if you’re doing drugs or teaching illegally they will actually notice and get on your back. It’s a small town, and everyone knows everyone. You’re not anonymous like in Taipei.
[quote=“ice raven”]Minimum 500. The problem with Taidong (and Hualien) is getting a job that grants you a visa, and also getting enough work to have enough money to live on.
Let’s see… money to set yourself up with a pad and a scooter and furnishings and stuff: NT50,000. Living fairly cheaply: NT20,000 per month. Visa runs? Another NT10-20,000 per month.
If you’re into surfing and you’ve got a visa job, you can scrape by on 15 hours/week. If you’re doing visa runs, you’re probably losing money hand over fist unless you’re working 6 days a week at three different jobs.
Also the police don’t like illegal foreigners there, so if you’re doing drugs or teaching illegally they will actually notice and get on your back. It’s a small town, and everyone knows everyone. You’re not anonymous like in Taipei.[/quote]
I agree with Ice Raven. Taidong can be a rough place to get started, it is a very small city, as such, there are not as many job openings and pay is not great. Hard to get enough hours to keep you on a visa.
Most people that teach in Taidong started in another city, visit Taidong on weekends, and build contacts there.
You might luck out, but chances are you will blow through your startup money pretty quick.
Also, if you have to do a visa run, you are looking at an extra 3600 NT to fly to Taipei.
From Taitung you could take the train to Kaohsiung (lots of cheap places to stay there) and take the plane from there abroad. I think there are flights from Kaohsiung to Hongkong, Singapore, and even Japan. Prices may be reasonable too. I went to Laoag on a charter UNI airways that was real cheap.
Now Tommy, that line could mean anything out of context!
Strider, rereading this thread, I noticed a mistaken assumption you’ve made.
Taidong has one university (in 2 parts, but still one), and you can’t study Chinese there. Well, you can, but they’re courses for Vietnamese wives and are expensive and offer no formal qualifications. So if you want to study and have something to show for it, Taidong doesn’t have it. On the other hand, if you want to just improve your Chinese, it’s probably better than Taipei as fewer people speak English. You don’t have to speak Chinese in Taipei, so many people never bother to learn.
I actually had no idea about the Taiwanese, though, that seems surprising since I heard Taidong has four universities. I definitely intended to further learn Chinese while there…