Living in Yilan - the pros and cons?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
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Oh, don’t be silly.

You’re a newbie and haven’t exactly endeared yourself. I don’t know you from Adam. You called me ‘empty’ because I haven’t yet written a huge post repeating the bloody obvious to some kid.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

[quote]Also, Buttercup, you neglected to acknowledge that what I said was “it reflects on you as people.” Meaning, what kind of a person gets an education and then spends 10 years of their adult youth living in foreign countries, out of their comfort zone, facing challenges, and being a “white monkey?” To me, that would reflect an interesting, inquisitive, adventurous, tenacious person-- someone I’d like to know more about. Someone I could learn from. However, people who like to “take the piss of of newbs” reflects something entirely different. To me, it reflects empty people who feel better about themselves after berating newbies and offering none of their “qualified teacher” experience.
[/quote]

Why thank you. But are you suggesting that I am here to appeal (or not) to you? I’m not employed by the site, even though my post count may suggest otherwise.

Taiwan and teaching IS my comfort zone. Doing what you want to and following your own goals is indicative of nothing other than being soft, selfish and lazy.

Try coming here, read,ing, building relationships, and asking sincerely for advice. Lose a bit of the attitude. I regularly PM new teachers/Taiwan newbs to answer their Qs, when they ask. I’ve done it twice already today.

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This, I appreciate. Thank you.

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This, I appreciate. Thank you.[/quote]

Good luck.

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globalgourmand: Don’t worry about Buttercup. She can actually be very helpful at times. There are times when (perhaps) you will appreciate her snide comments, and times when you won’t. After a while, you’ll tune a lot of it out.

As for choosing a place to work here, a large part of that is going to be what’s available. Obviously, if people could really choose, half of the teachers here would be living in Kending. Then there’s reality. Some places might seem really dull, but they probably have their own charms. I’m not sure that I could live in Jiayi, but it has a very rural, laid back feel, and there seems to be at least one tight-knit community of foreigners there, which has both advantages and disadvantages. Likewise, I wouldn’t write Gaoxiong off. I didn’t know much about it before I went there, and the little I had heard was negative. My brief time there left a favourable impression, though it’s hardly extensive.

Also, you may find yourself moving around a bit. I have known people who have done that. Others have stayed in the exact same apartment and job for years.

In terms of Xinzhu being a good bet, perhaps. I’m sure it’s been hit hard by the recession. Trying to make predictions about places is difficult at best. Obviously, the biggest cities probably have more jobs because more people live there and they’re generally wealthier. Having said that, those places are more of a magnet for foreigners too, so you’d have more competition. Smaller places don’t have as many jobs, but they’re less popular, so maybe it’s easier to get what jobs are there. I don’t know quite how to work out where the best chances are.

I’m not even going to touch the topic of cultural relativity!

I honestly couldn’t tell you, without telling you his real name, which I won’t do, obviously. I don’t know anyone from here in real life (or maybe I do, but don’t know it). I don’t think it’s my friend. I suspect he doesn’t spend a lot of time on forums because he doesn’t have a lot of time, though who knows.

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Well, regarding forumosa, I’ve read literally hundreds of pages of threads on all kinds of topics and some of it has been insightful, but I’m pretty exhausted by the snark and negativity. I don’t think I’ll be visiting for much longer but I truly appreciate all that you’ve contributed to this discussion.

I get what you’re saying about moving around and also about job opportunities in urban v. rural locations. And this discussion has really helped me look beyond Yilan. I know I can find favorable things anywhere but I’m pretty set on avoiding the heaviest pollution. There are still a lot of options. I do hope to find a place to stay for just a year or two without having to move, though. In my 25 years I’ve moved 11 times and I’d like to avoid doing much more of that for a little while. Anyhow, thanks a bunch! I’ve broadened my search to include just about anywhere between Xinzhu and Yilan except, perhaps, Taoyuan and some seemingly bogus spots. But I’ll find out the realities of the recession for sure when I begin seriously looking into jobs in June. Until then, I’ll enjoy my spring. Nicaragua in May, yippee!

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There should be actually more jobs advertised in June.
Yilan wasn’t a bad place (quite nice for Taiwan actually) to live for a year but getting hours can be a problem. Some do better than others, during my time, there was a South African guy teaching somewhere above 50 hours a week

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Ooh, this is encouraging news, Matchstick! Yes, I’m hoping to start looking seriously around June and arrive late August in preparation for a September start-date. I’m not too worried about working very many hours-- I’m a pretty simple, frugal person in the material sense. I really do think Yilan is the best match. My impression is that you lived in Yilan for a year-- care to share more? Its a challenge to find people with real experience there.

When it comes to Yilan specifically, I’m still not clear whether its best to use a recruiter, pursue something in the sparse online ads, or to just do the search on the ground, in person, when I arrive. In Taipei, it seems any of the above will do. But Yilan is a different story!

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[quote=“globalgourmand”]Well, regarding forumosa, I’ve read literally hundreds of pages of threads on all kinds of topics and some of it has been insightful, but I’m pretty exhausted by the snark and negativity. I don’t think I’ll be visiting for much longer but I truly appreciate all that you’ve contributed to this discussion.
[/quote]

Jesus wept.

Yes. Yilan. A recruiter.

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I found Yilan to be pretty awful, but that was probably due to the place I was staying and the job I was asked to do. I’m sure if I had more time I could have checked out the nearby beaches and mountains -which is huge draw for all of the foreigners that I met there.

Yilan also has a Mall now which is apparently a big deal to the locals. And the air quality is some of the best in Taiwan (which isn’t saying much…!)

Teaching agents get ragged on here, and I get annoyed by how they spam the job boards with their cut and paste ridiculous blurb about living in Taiwan… But I have found my last two jobs through dewey and tried very hard to do otherwise this last time round.

PS: regarding the narkiness on this forum, it’s like most online forums. You have your ‘royalty’ and then the lesser peons that grovel at their feet. The royalty all have their carefully thought out personas and can often be seen shitting up threads with their wacky to and fro’ing. Don’t mind it, just come and pick out the gems. It’s easily the best forum for expats in Taiwan :wink:

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Hi pubba, thanks very much for your input!! The (relatively) clean air is a big factor to why I’m drawn to Yilan. I hope to have adequate time to enjoy the surrounding attractions too, if I’m able to find a decent job there. Not too interested in the mall (not at all, actually,) but the mountains, beaches, hot springs and relative proximity to Taipei have been bigger factors. Although Xinzhu seems like a more likely place to find a job, I will still spend at least a week or two looking in Yilan.

You mentioned Dewey and I’ve noticed those cheesy cut-and-paste blurbs that sound much more like a timeshare pitch than a teaching position. It makes me weary and I’ve felt more inclined to look into Reach to Teach. Anyhow, you noted that you tried very hard to get a job without Dewey-- was that successful or did you end up using them again?

Thanks for your encouragement. I have found a good deal of info on the forum over the months, but it has taken so much more sifting than I would have expected. Eesh.

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Probably receiving 42,000/month.

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Probably receiving 42,000/month.[/quote]

Nah, he was doing far better than that as the hours were mostly private classes.

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Probably receiving 42,000/month.[/quote]

Nah, he was doing far better than that as the hours were mostly private classes.[/quote]

Boer accents must be popular with the local gentry :laughing:

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Yilan is gorgeous. Great scenery, especially on TKU’s Yilan campus. There’s lots of touristy spots, but as a rule, touristy spots are good for a short visit, not for living. There are some bars, I believe, and the cost of living is very cheap. The air is clean and everyone is nice. English speakers are somewhat more rare, but since TKU’s Yilan campus is entirely English-taught classes, you will likely find some young speakers 18-22 or so.
I don’t know much about the cuisine there. I assume it’s a lot of Chinese food, some McDonald’s and Subways. You’ll be fine, especially if you speak a little Chinese! It’s beautiful, but a bit boring. You’ll definitely want to invest in a moped/motorcycle/scooter/dirtbike (whatever you wanna call it).
Besides touristy stuff, you can probably find places to rent movies, go bowling, play pool, etc. for quite cheap.
wikitravel.org/en/Yilan_County
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yilan_City
images.search.yahoo.com/search/i … s&ei=UTF-8

If I were you, if the job itself is alright, I’d take it. You’ll be able to live cheap as hell, and your Chinese will improve fast. You can go hiking, check out the beach, and have a lot of fun adventuring. It might get lonely sometimes, so you should try to make some friends ASAP. It’s just one year, after all. Taipei jobs are hard to come by, and harder to get.

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I didn’t know that TKU had only English-taught classes. This is interesting and I imagine it might come in handy. Perhaps even for finding a roommate.

I’m surprised to hear that Taipei jobs are hard to come by. Is this because a greater density of local teacher make those jobs more competitive? I was thinking there are so many schools and that a significant number of them would be seeking teachers at any given time. Is this inaccurate?

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its basically because everyone wants to live in Taipei. I have heard anecdotal evidence from teachers on the kid buxiban circuit that for every job that gets advertised, something like 20-30people will apply. That number will also include experienced teachers.

Jaded by that, teachers go looking for adult jobs that can’t be found because nobody wants to give up their job in this economic climate. So I’d say Taipei is no place to be a noob without contacts.

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I didn’t know that TKU had only English-taught classes. This is interesting and I imagine it might come in handy. Perhaps even for finding a roommate.

I’m surprised to hear that Taipei jobs are hard to come by. Is this because a greater density of local teacher make those jobs more competitive? I was thinking there are so many schools and that a significant number of them would be seeking teachers at any given time. Is this inaccurate?[/quote]

TKU’s Yilan campus has only English-taught courses. In Danshui, there are some English courses, however most are Chinese. I have a lot of close friends from Yilan’s TKU.

Taipei jobs are scarce because every foreigner wants to live in Taipei. That’s why Taipei jobs pay less and have less benefits too. They can afford to get away with more in bad treatment of foreigners. Many blacklisted schools still get tons of applications every year. Taipei is nice to live in because of the availability of stuff to do, but frankly, it’s not worth it if you just want to work and travel. I’ve seen some fulltime jobs in Hsinchu that pay a LOT more.

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Indeed. Taipei is a black hole for money. Not only is it more expensive for normal living expenses, my friends there seem to burn money on non-essentials. There’s something to be said for living in a place with not much to do (at least not much that costs money – hiking is free, of course). Also, in terms of seeing Taiwan, Taipei is not well-situated really, being at the end of the island.

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:roflmao: Is this really what foreigners living in Taipei think? You couldn’t pay me to live there. :noway:

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:roflmao: Is this really what foreigners living in Taipei think? You couldn’t pay me to live there. :noway:[/quote]

Indeed. If I had to list my preferred locations, Taipei wouldn’t make it anywhere near the top three, and probably not near the top five. You’d have to radically increase the salary above and beyond Taipei’s comfortable living-saving rate to get me there.