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Negativity on Taiwan
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JZer



Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 1:49 pm    Post subject: Re: re: hmmmm Reply with quote

twowheel wrote:
Spelunker wrote:
Fair enough, interesting career change


Could be, although I guess it would end up being just like any other dull desk job back home, well, I guess with a pension and health insurance.

I'm good with being abroad for now. This life suits be better.

twowheel


You are right. It is a boring desk job. I am hoping to land a Federal job as a criminal investigator!
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Spelunker



Joined: 03 Nov 2013
Posts: 392

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 1:54 pm    Post subject: re: being careful.. Reply with quote

I think I'll just choose to be more guarded around you, when it comes to trusting Americans, many of whom I have known in China who have then gone onto the US Navy, repairing laptops, and many to the CIA....then I'll choose to be guarded. It all boils down to oppressed FT minority syndrome, but I will still choose to be guarded. Thank you.
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twowheel



Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753

PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 9:24 am    Post subject: Re: re: hmmmm Reply with quote

JZer wrote:
You are right. It is a boring desk job. I am hoping to land a Federal job as a criminal investigator!


Good luck with it!

twowheel
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Shakey



Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 12:37 pm    Post subject: Re: re: hmmmm Reply with quote

JZer wrote:
twowheel wrote:
Spelunker wrote:
Fair enough, interesting career change


Could be, although I guess it would end up being just like any other dull desk job back home, well, I guess with a pension and health insurance.

I'm good with being abroad for now. This life suits be better.

twowheel


You are right. It is a boring desk job. I am hoping to land a Federal job as a criminal investigator!


I have done that. You are decieving yourself if you think that it will bring you happiness and security. Life abroad, as an expat, is the best path for you to take. Ball and chain, career, expectations, cars, car insurance; wives, courts, alimony, ex-wives; rotten, expensive kids....JZer, you are a suicide.
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Spelunker



Joined: 03 Nov 2013
Posts: 392

PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 3:25 pm    Post subject: re: the skinny.... Reply with quote

Sooooo, I have pretty much given up on Vietnam, too much potential visa stress and low earnings. So Taiwan seems to be ticking the boxes for me, China-lite, cute girls and great food/scenery and so on.

I'd like to tutor adults, perhaps freelance and privately, could this be done, and how easy are things visa wise?

Cheers
sp
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reblair79



Joined: 15 Jan 2016
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 3:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Negativity on Taiwan Reply with quote

[quote="JZer"]
Angel.Ro wrote:


I enjoyed my experience in Taiwan, and the country can be great if you are under 30 and seeking an adventure. It can also be a lot of fun for those suffering from a mid-life crises.


I feel the term 'mid-life' crisis is usually innacurate and used by people when making an assumption on anothers persons actions. I see it come up often in the TEFL environment.

It can be easy to perceive an over 30's actions as being some kind of crisis but you should be careful not to confuse it with them being enlightened and fully aware as to what they do or do not want from their life based on their experience in their life so far.

I would imagine the latter to be a more common reason for quitting well paid jobs with security etc to decide to embark on a new journey. Certainly not some act of confusion and crisis.
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phdinfunk



Joined: 30 May 2008
Posts: 69

PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:22 am    Post subject: Re: Negativity on Taiwan Reply with quote

Angel.Ro wrote:
I don't understand why these boards seem so down on Taiwan?

I'm looking at Taiwan jobs, and there are numerous jobs advertised that pay relatively well, while cost of living seems to be reasonable as well.

I'm not on the ground in Taiwan, but from the research that I've done, it seems like the negative sentiment on these boards is not warranted.


i'm going to give the minority opinion here. I log on like once every year or six months to do so. Basically, the people posting a lot of crap here are a self-selected group of curmudgeons.

I've been here teaching English for about ten years, and found it great. As for "not fitting in" I guess it depends where you are, but I never had trouble with this. If you know basic asian politeness and can act a little bit like a good "egg" then everyone wants to be your friend. Normally I drink 12 year old scotch with the richest developers in town, the local community government reps, a senior member of Taiwanese investigations (I forgot the Chinese name of it, sorry), and sometimes the chief of police. You know, everything from the kind of drinking sessions where people share their deepest feelings to just sitting around having fun. Mostly, they're polite enough to switch to Mandarin or English for me.

And students' families love me. I just went to the home of a student whose parents gave me fish (since I was their guest, I got all the heads! Yum!), and other students came around as well. Their dad's all sang KTV and had a good ol' time. They were all Minnan ren and aboriginals, all of whom are probably going to be more laid back and cool than most people in Taipei.

For that matter, in the countryside, just the local laundromat people helped me navigate the whole legal system when I was run into by a motorist a couple of years ago. And the health insurance system covered my rehab well.

I mean, there are bad experiences. I got into a shouting match about someone's dog the other day, but the Taiwanese who observed it said to me as I was leaving, "I think you're right, they should teach their dog better or keep it inside."

Years ago, I ran into problems up in Taipei with a really bad school owner I didn't like (who nowadays is Bat poop crazy, basically claiming that she will never die. But actually, religious nuttery is sort of common in this country.)

But, generally I find Taiwanese people very laid back, but I have spent ALL MY TIME outside of Taipei, and the lion's share of it in the countryside.(First Sansia, then Nankan, then Puli). I've done a lot of river hiking, exploring, and cycling down old binlang roads.

Look, you're going to find bitter drunken expats here. But always bear in mind, if people are motivated enough to post a lot of negative stuff here, it is most likely due to some or another trauma or big deal in their lives. I post from time to time here to try and offset the madness, motivated as I am to help people (but not as motivated as the crazies, apparently, LOL)
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twowheel



Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753

PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^^^ +1

Well said, phdinfunk.

twowheel
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JZer



Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think Taiwan can be a lot of fun. The people are nice and it is probably better to live outside of Taipei. One thing to keep in mind, when reading this board is that there are miserable people everywhere.
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siologen



Joined: 25 Oct 2016
Posts: 336

PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:01 pm    Post subject: re: fellow expats Reply with quote

Being an island, and thus much smaller than mainland china, I do wonder about infighting and rivalry amongst expats, especially FT's. I wonder if it is like HK where other expats will not even acknowledge each other, let alone talk to each other, or if they do, it is all I knew so and so way back when, or I am in tight in the system here because I have been here X amount of years so you could never understand, in a patronising manner. I did hear a lot of the expats in Taiwan are a pretty weird lot, so just curious?
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thrulensdark



Joined: 10 Jan 2017
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 3:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, I'm new to EFL teaching, used to be in I.T. Just got my advanced TEFL cert from a uni. Was looking to teach in Taiwan, but it looks depressing in here. I thought Taiwan would be a good home base to travel around Asia. I'm beginning to wonder if there are any bright spots left in the world to TEFL. If any of you know of any, please advise. I'm a newbie.
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thrulensdark



Joined: 10 Jan 2017
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yessem. And I have the same soul.
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twowheel



Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753

PostPosted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Taiwan tops for expats? (2016)

https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2016/the-best-and-worst-places-for-expats

http://www.ozy.com/acumen/the-worlds-friendliest-country/76080?utm_source=FBOrganic&utm_medium=Social

twowheel
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Angel Maroni



Joined: 17 Jan 2018
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't understand all of the negativity either. Most of the criticisms here are aimed at living in Asia and not Taiwan particularly. I've found Taiwan to be on average better than other countries I've traveled to.
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