This is definitely something the longtermers should think about. I recommend any long term expat to go to private dentists in Taiwan where they will at least spend an hour or so on your cleanings/checkups.
I’ve had good dental care my whole life (on parents plan until age 25). Had regular checkups every 6 months, had first class orthodontics and herbst appliances, and I brush my teeth twice a day (floss less regularly but still at least a few times a week).
In Taiwan, I got my teeth cleaned at least twice a year. After seeing a professional dentist back in North America, they mentioned that it isn’t so common for dentists overseas to really clean your teeth thoroughly when you go for a cleaning and especially not under the gums. There are even diferences between the East coast and West coast of North America let alone overseas.
Took two hours of scraping under the gums to get them really clean and plaque free. I’ll be going back for scrapings every two months.
I’ve found all my teaching jobs by simply hitting the streets and walking into random schools. It doesn’t take longer than a few hours to find a job.[/quote]
Yep. Getting one of the better jobs involves legwork rather than sitting in front of the computer. Most of the best ones do not advertise on tealit etc because they know who they are gonna attract.
If you are gonna take the computer route, check on here or Daves for places to see if they have a reputation.
[quote=“Funk500”]
I’d also say know what you are worth.[/quote]
I do, which is I’m taking a job in Thailand that offers me paid holidays, summer vacations and sick days, as well as a two-day weekend which is apparently oh-so-rare in many Taiwan buxiban jobs.
I know, I just wasn’t sure if you were having a go with that last line about “knowing what you’re worth.” I am somewhat surprised that people say walking into schools cold off the street is the best way to find a good job. I tried that when I first arrived, and I found a job that claimed to offer a great deal, but the reality of working there was totally different.
But if you’re walking from school to school, you’re talking about buxibans, right? So what would you consider is a good job with a buxiban? I’d say any job with the following is okay:
1 - block hours
2 - no unpaid “office” hours
3 - paid sick days
4 - paid national holidays
5 - paid personal vacation days - at least one week per year
6 - hourly rate of at least NT$650 per hour, or salary of $65k
7 - five day work week
If you’ve found a job offering all of the above, I’d say well done. I’ve found plenty of schools offering some but not all; for example, many schools offer options 3-7 but include loads of office hours or have a strange split schedule. I’d say it’s highly rare for a buxiban to offer all of the above.
Ok, lets look at the numbers and then make a decision
Lets say he makes $60K/month with a legal legit job.
Rent-10,000(it may vary, may be more or less, but lets use a nice normal number.)
Monthly expenses-20,000
Taxes-12000/3600(for the first/last 6 months of every year)
So for his first 6 months he has an extra $18,000 to play with. He’ll get most of his income tax back in the next year hopefully, so that’s a nice bonus. but then he has all the first year costs: $100US for a visa, $1200US for the flight(round trip), outfitting a new home, and having to learn how to do things the Taiwanese way. His disposable income raises to $27,000 after 6 months which is really quite nice till you take into consideration opportunity costs. He will no longer be using his degree, have no car, will never get a raise nor a promotion, and will be getting no usable experience if he wishes to return home. He will be able to travel to much nicer places to visit in Asia. This also assumes he lives in the relatively friendly environs of Taipei. If he has subsidized Stafford loans, then he can get an economic hardship deferment easily which helps a lot.
National Health Insurance is great, till you actually have to go through the system. It’s also slowly going bankrupt and causing people to over medicate. ENT doctors will always give you 4-5 medicines and one will be a antibiotic and the other will be an antacid. They will also ask you to come back in 2-3 days. While dental work is cheaper there is a world of difference between getting teeth cleaned here and in the US. Getting your wisdom teeth removed even without NHI is a bargain though. Any thoughts, dreams, hopes of patient confidentiality should be done away with. That’s why doctors on abortion street in Taipei, only take cash and but not names. Taiwan is also running short on surgeons, but not dermatologists and ENT doctors.
[quote=“Okami”]Ok, lets look at the numbers and then make a decision
Lets say he makes $60K/month with a legal legit job.
Rent-10,000(it may vary, may be more or less, but lets use a nice normal number.)
Monthly expenses-20,000
Taxes-12000/3600(for the first/last 6 months of every year)
So for his first 6 months he has an extra $18,000 to play with. He’ll get most of his income tax back in the next year hopefully, so that’s a nice bonus. but then he has all the first year costs: $100US for a visa, $1200US for the flight(round trip), outfitting a new home, and having to learn how to do things the Taiwanese way. His disposable income raises to $27,000 after 6 months which is really quite nice till you take into consideration opportunity costs. He will no longer be using his degree, have no car, will never get a raise nor a promotion, and will be getting no usable experience if he wishes to return home. He will be able to travel to much nicer places to visit in Asia. This also assumes he lives in the relatively friendly environs of Taipei. If he has subsidized Stafford loans, then he can get an economic hardship deferment easily which helps a lot.
National Health Insurance is great, till you actually have to go through the system. It’s also slowly going bankrupt and causing people to over medicate. ENT doctors will always give you 4-5 medicines and one will be a antibiotic and the other will be an antacid. They will also ask you to come back in 2-3 days. While dental work is cheaper there is a world of difference between getting teeth cleaned here and in the US. Getting your wisdom teeth removed even without NHI is a bargain though. Any thoughts, dreams, hopes of patient confidentiality should be done away with. That’s why doctors on abortion street in Taipei, only take cash and but not names. Taiwan is also running short on surgeons, but not dermatologists and ENT doctors.[/quote]
That’s living an extremely frugal lifestyle. What about the electricity bills, high speed internet etc? And what if the person wants to study Chinese, take weekend trips around the island or have the occasional night out in a club?
[quote=“barfomcgee”][quote=“Okami”]
Monthly expenses-20,000
[/quote]
That’s living an extremely frugal lifestyle. What about the electricity bills, high speed internet etc? And what if the person wants to study Chinese, take weekend trips around the island or have the occasional night out in a club?[/quote]
That’s precisely the problem.
Most folks I knew in Taiwan who could save anything had either been there for a very long time and were getting paid quite a bit more than the average, or else worked lots and lots of hours and / or stayed in all of the time and pinched pennies.
I used to save a lot more money before I got married. :s As for controlling expenses cook at home, eat at night markets, get your gfs through LE, stay out of bars and if you want to see the island do it by scooter.
You can also work a lot, which didn’t work for me. Also once you get a gf, just shag a lot and play Wii. Taiwan is a place to make and save money because you only have two options on quality, crap and extremely high. I never knew I could miss Walmart so much till I came here.
Taiwan is not the place it was before and the English teaching market is getting hit by low birthrates and now a worldwide economic recession. One of the reasons people were able to save so much before is that there was no where to spend your money. Look at all the restaurants and shops and new malls; and realize they are all relatively brand new. Most of the really nice places either go out of business or downsize/Taiwanize in order to stay afloat with the confiscatory rents they must pay. If you have an accounting or math background run the numbers on your school to see if they are actually making any money. The results are disheartening most of the time.
[quote=“Okami”]I used to save a lot more money before I got married. :s As for controlling expenses cook at home, eat at night markets, get your gfs through LE, stay out of bars and if you want to see the island do it by scooter.
You can also work a lot, which didn’t work for me. Also once you get a gf, just shag a lot and play Wii. Taiwan is a place to make and save money because you only have two options on quality, crap and extremely high. I never knew I could miss Walmart so much till I came here.
[/quote]
No offense, but all of that sounds extremely depressing!!!
Now there’s a “classic post” line! Sadly, even something as exciting as the Wii gets boring after a while. When I first arrived here, I was able to earn NT$80-85k per month by taking on two part-time jobs and working seven days per week. I burned out after several months (after buying a car) and now work only one full-time job which provides about NT$55k per month.
Twenty-two hours per week of teaching in a buxiban is about all I can take and still maintain my sanity. For those who are able to put in huge hours month in and month out, my hat is off to you.
I like cooking, reading and doing new things. LE is probably the easiest way to get women. I love playing video games and was in a hardcore raid guild in WOW for 6 months before I burnt out. I’ve been all through the East coast on scooter, learned how to scuba dive, and generally lived a somewhat pleasant life.
For the OP, 2 things I would like you to realize.
Everything is negotiable and renegotiable in Taiwan, though often not in your favor.
Watch out for the Chinese culture card being played on you if you come. I.e. You’re Chinese too, so you must do this to show solidarity with your people.
I’ve seen one fake ABC make loads by teaching all the time and he was able to maintain it somehow for years
The medical system is generally great in Taiwan not excusing the short time per patient and overprescribing of course. Surgeons in the country are first-rate, I have seen the results of their work myself surgery for general accidents is covered under national health. Some of the hospitals are like 5 star hotels, go to CiJi Hopsital in XinDian and have a look. They have volunteers that help you find the right clinic and actually are happy to help you , a foreigner, to grow through the registration process.The problem maybe that many of you go to the famous hospitals during peak time. You should try different clinics and hospitals and off peak times to see the difference. Drugs are subsidised as are hospital visits. Also, dental services in Taiwan are superb and you can shop around very very easily. You can get you teeth cleaned twice/year for free on the NIH. Stop moaning. This is one of the world’s most efficiently run and comprehensive health service for working class people. Think if you could afford to do that working as a teacher in N.America or try going to an ER ward in most western countries or waiting for a consultant appointment on the national health system.
I cant belive im hearing that its hard to make a decent ammount of money to save in Taipei. Im a fulltime student at Tai da now and would rather work at Mc Donalds than teach English, but when I did I was always making 80-100,000 nt a month no problems. Most foreigners here just make it so easy to come off as the best. Dress propperly, be decent looking, well spoken, responsible ect its a breeze to find jobs here. If my whole world collapses and Im forced to teach English for 6 months I know ill be making that much money again within a few months. Things arent what they used to be here true, and I wouldent reccomend coming to anyone, but its far from hard to land a job and save money. Just dont wear flipflops and shorts to your interview with a fake photocopied degree like I have seen many do.
My dear, that is why it is harder for the rest of us to make decent money. Some student with bad English and a bad attitude is always there to do it on the cheap.
[quote]My dear, that is why it is harder for the rest of us to make decent money. Some student with bad English and a bad attitude is always there to do it on the cheap.[/quote]
God, the state of English teaching in Taiwan really does drive one to drink.
swervetech69,
Thanks for posting the error correction exercise. I’m sure my students will find it useful.
Thanks for the attention, sorry I don’t spend vast amounts of time proof reading a blog. Now get back to that 20 hours of kindy teaching! Wow must be hard. God I’m glad I won’t be in an industry where people think speaking English is a skill. I do feel sorry though for the few good teachers here. It’s great when out with people and some guy thats been working at a buxiban for 10 years corrects the educated native English speakers grammar mistakes. Ill bet thats why you will be doing the same thing in 10 years from now.
What I’m seeing here is an obvious market niche. A Wii sexual intercourse game, so you don’t even need the gf. It wouldn’t even need to be with a man or woman – you could programme it to be whatever you wanted it to be, so you could potentially sell to absolutely ANYONE – even almas john!
I’m going to be Rich! RICH, I tell you!
