For a newbie? :saywhat:
Try more like 50-55,000.
Agreed. I don’t think you’ll be getting more than 50,000 after taxes unless you’re very lucky. If you’re not lucky, you’ll be making even less than that.
Other posters have given you a good sense of what to expect on the teaching/income front. I wouldn’t count on it being hugely profitable for a short term stay.
I want to add my two cents to what housecat and others said about the serious potential for distraction and derailment of your plans, in coming to Taiwan. Particularly if you choose to live and work in a place as (potentially) fun as Taipei.
Like the O.P., I first came to Taiwan (for 9 months) in order to save up money for graduate school. To be honest, although I was accepted into a program, my graduate school ambitions were only ever half-hearted, so it wasn’t hard to fall prey to the many temptations of The Island, and I ended up staying 12 years. If you are a friendly and outgoing person, and enjoy doing a bit of paryting (or not), Taiwan can be a very, very fun place to be. Beware.
If you do decide to do a short stint in Taiwan, and grad school is a major objective in your life, a must do plan: keep your eye on that goal, and avoid getting to sucked too deeply into relationships (romantic an platonic).
[quote=“mwalimu”]Other posters have given you a good sense of what to expect on the teaching/income front. I wouldn’t count on it being hugely profitable for a short term stay.
I want to add my two cents to what housecat and others said about the serious potential for distraction and derailment of your plans, in coming to Taiwan. Particularly if you choose to live and work in a place as (potentially) fun as Taipei.
Like the O.P., I first came to Taiwan (for 9 months) in order to save up money for graduate school. To be honest, although I was accepted into a program, my graduate school ambitions were only ever half-hearted, so it wasn’t hard to fall prey to the many temptations of The Island, and I ended up staying 12 years. If you are a friendly and outgoing person, and enjoy doing a bit of paryting (or not), Taiwan can be a very, very fun place to be. Beware.
If you do decide to do a short stint in Taiwan, and grad school is a major objective in your life, a must do plan: keep your eye on that goal, and avoid getting to sucked too deeply into relationships (romantic an platonic).[/quote]
Yes , keep your eyes on the Goal and not on the Girl and you might make it out in six months. IF not?
Thanks for all the advice, everyone! I know what you mean about plans to leave mysteriously evaporating- I originally planned to teach for 6 weeks in China, and ended up staying over 2 years! I don’t think the same thing would happen to me in Taiwan though- partly because of grad school but mostly because I’d want to be with my girlfriend. Unfortunately for until Autumn she’s living somewhere I can’t join her, but she has plans to move to Britain to be with me later this year. She’s mainland Chinese, so I think it’d be difficult for her to join me in Taiwan. Now, many long-distance relationships don’t ‘last the distance’, but as things stand there are two big motivations to leave this summer. Thirdly, my big question mark about Taiwan is the quality of the built environment- it’s a stunning island with wonderful people, but some places made me (perhaps ignorantly) go ‘Why? Why? Why would they build it like this?! Why?’ That kind of thing would drive me crazy in the long-term, I think!
True! When I first got here I thought the place was soooo ugly! Then I just stopped noticing and when new people said so I just didn’t really see it. Mind you, I was living in pre-regenerated Panchiao which wasn’t the most stunning of environments.
If it bothers you, head for somewhere a bit leafier.