Job Discussion Forums

rainyseattle · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 14

my husband and i are getting ready to come to taiwan in about 2 months and are thinking about going to tainan. we're not really sure about living in taipai because we are not really big city lovers. i've heard that housing is pretty cheap in tainan and the jobs pay well too. anybody ever been to tainan that could give me some advice to whether or not this is a good idea?

oh, and when we get to taipai how in the world do we get from the airport to tainan when we don't speak a word of chinese?

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

I wouldn't make any decisions about where you are going to live until you get here. Taiwanese cities are not like western ones. Smaller does not necessarily mean more liveable. Taipei has some degree of organization, sidewalks, nice big parks and boulevard trees. From an aesthetics and space point of view, it's better than the smaller centers in Taiwan that often don't have sidewalks, have small litter filled streets and crappy little parks with packs of stray dogs roaming them. Also, for the newly arrived foreigner, the number of people able to understand some English is much higher in the capital than just about anywhere else. Take a look around before you make any firm decisions.

Getting to Tainan, or any other major center else is easy. Going by train is probably the easiest option. The train system is quite good and easy to use. I used it when I couldn't speak a word of Mandarin.

surrealia · Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 241 Location: Taiwan

This page should be of some help: www.geocities.com/allhou/tainanscene.htm

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390

Most of the complaints about Taiwan which you see posted by foreigners are posted by people living in the outer counties such as Tainan, Taoyuan, and Kaoshiung.

You tend to see a different kind of post from foreigners in Taipei.

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

I used to live in a small town between Chia Yi and Tainan and Tainan was the Big Mooncake compared to my little rat-bag of a town that I lived and worked in. I thought Tainan was reasonably okay.

clark.w.griswald · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2056

I didn't read Fortigurns post as being critical of foreigners. I don't believe that he was suggesting that they complain more, but that their circumstances may give them more to complain about. I tend to agree with Fortigurn in a way.

Life in Taipei, and I guess Taichung and Kaohsiung, is different than life out of these cities. This is a good or a bad thing for different people. I know that there are plent of foreigners that love living in small towns, and even sprawling metropolises like Taoyuan, but these places are quite different than the big cities of course.

Not every foreigner that comes to live in Taiwan is really suited to living here. I think that these people may tend to complain less when they are living in Taipei because the life they live here can be very westernized, with just a taste of Chinese traditions - if that is what they want. On the whole, people living in places outside the main centers do not have the luxury of much choice in this regard, and may be forced to live within the Chinese society that they don't feel comfortable in.

It is probably safe to say however that the majority of foreigners living in any part of Taiwan just balance the good with the bad and enjoy their time here. It is highly likely that those living in more rural areas may tend to voice their concerns on message boards as there may be very few other opportunities for them to say what they really feel, whereas foreigners here in Taipei have quite a big network of people that we can complain to.

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390

Girl Scout · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 525 Location: Inbetween worlds

Tainan is a very pretty place and seemed a lot cleaner then most cities I've seen. I don't think Tainan is small. We had to take the bus to visit some of the interesting sites. They have three of the same shopping malls there. They have more then three of the same video game entertainment centers. I did find it cheaper then a lot of places I've visited and I could find anything I was looking for, a lot of which I can not always find here.

I personally love to visit Taipei but do not choose to live there. It is expensive and very metropolitain. It has a little of everything. You really should come here and visit the cities. You may find Taipei an ideal spot. Some places are like little communities and are very nice. Transportation is very easy with the MRT and buses you can actually understand how to use.

Visit Tainan. Visit some schools you might want to work at. Ask some other teacher the good and bad about where they live.

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390

rainyseattle · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 14

everybody keeps saying to wait and decide once we get there, but i think this makes my hubby a little bit nervous. he is definately the 'planner' type and i think the idea of coming over without any clue as to which part of the island we want to live on and absolutely no idea where to work makes him go crazy. overall i think we are both worried about wandering around aimlessly for a few weeks because it seems like it could take a long time to choose where to go, especially if everywhere is so different.

Wonder · Joined: 29 Jun 2003 Posts: 109

I just moved to Tainan 6 weeks ago and I would think twice if I were you!

I don't want to scrare you, but competition in Tainan for the few jobs available is fierce at the moment. I had to settle for a couple of part time jobs, which is fine, but I started looking in Tainan two months ago and there is one job for every 6 or 7 people, so the employers are being extremely picky at the moment.

I'm no slouch either; I have almost 4 years exp. in ESL and I have over one-year exp teaching ESL in Taiwan. Plus, I have a few connections here which weren't much help. Even the jobs 30-40 minutes outside of Tainan are hard to get, because that's where people have to go.

One of the part time jobs I got was for 4 hours a week and there was "a bunch of people" lining up for it, or so my boss said after my interview.

Oh sure, you can say you are different and qualified and there MUST be something wrong with me, which is your right. But the schools that did hire me said they have never had the kind of response to part time jobs like they are now,let alone full time jobs, so I would very much advise you to be careful and look at the job boards first to see where and when they need teachers.

There was also a very interesting thread on forumosa.com about the lack of jobs now compared to 2 or 3 years ago, so perhaps you'd like to check out that site?

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390