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ramakentesh
Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Posts: 145
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 Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:33 pm Post subject: |
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Well i put it this way. Four of us in Australia decided to go and try ESL work in asia.
We have all lived in various areas of asia before and we all took time off our normal jobs for a cultural experience in asia.
My two friends went to Korea, my fiancee and I went to Taiwan - because Ive studied Mandarin at university and in Beijing and because I loved mainland China so much.
I also had a friend who came to Taiwan in the 90s and loved it - he studied here.
My friends in Korea are loving it - have already in two months saved $2500 australian - find the koreans funny because they always say what they think and are having a fairly positive experience.
They get their airfare reimbursed, get accommodation for free and work less hours than we do.
We on the other hand got scrwed around from pillar to post by employers who are honestly so used to employing weirdo westerners that they expect yu to be weird, dishonest and a bad worker and treat you in a confrontational and demeaning way from the start - then offer you crap hours and ordinary pay.
Taiwan is an ok place - but even Dave Spelling admits that it isnt the most interesting place to live in Asia. If the money isnt that good, the working conditions are ordinary and there are more interesting places culturally in asia than Taiwan then my advice would be to think about it carefully.
All the best. |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:04 am Post subject: |
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| ramakentesh wrote: |
My friends in Korea are loving it - have already in two months saved $2500 australian - find the koreans funny because they always say what they think and are having a fairly positive experience.
They get their airfare reimbursed, get accommodation for free and work less hours than we do. |
This just goes to show how experiences can vary. A quick look at any Korean board would reveal many more serious horror stories than here in Taiwan, but as can be seen here, not everyone gets screwed in Korea. Obviously!
| ramakentesh wrote: |
| We on the other hand got scrwed around from pillar to post by employers who are honestly so used to employing weirdo westerners that they expect yu to be weird, dishonest and a bad worker and treat you in a confrontational and demeaning way from the start - then offer you crap hours and ordinary pay. |
Another of what is becoming a typical bitter post from Ramakentesh.
From the information from his posts on this forum it appears that he hasn't been ripped off. He hasn't been required to work illegally. He hasn't arrived on the promise of work only to find that this work never existed.
He has however interviewed, conducted a demo class, and been offered a wage lower than he hoped for. This has become the basis for his claims that he has been screwed. I am sorry but I just don't agree that this counts as being screwed.
| ramakentesh wrote: |
| Taiwan is an ok place - but even Dave Spelling admits that it isnt the most interesting place to live in Asia. |
With any respect due to Dave Sperling, I am pretty sure that he doesn't know everything. He is certainly entitled to his opinion but it would be interested on what he bases it upon. Has he ever lived in Taiwan, and if so where did he live? What did he expect to get from living here? What I mean is that it is very easy to not like a country because it is different from what you expected, but that doesn't justify this opinion as being a valid synopsis of life in that country. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| With any respect due to Dave Sperling, I am pretty sure that he doesn't know everything. He is certainly entitled to his opinion but it would be interested on what he bases it upon. Has he ever lived in Taiwan, and if so where did he live? What did he expect to get from living here? What I mean is that it is very easy to not like a country because it is different from what you expected, but that doesn't justify this opinion as being a valid synopsis of life in that country. |
Well unless you are Dave Sperling, why does his opinion matter? Everyone has different interest and as a result what one person might find interesting may not be interesting to another. Have you ever been in a bar and said that guy or girl looks hot, only to have your friends respond "What, she is just average! She is nothing special." Diferent opinions and taste make the world go round. If it wear not for these differences, why would any of us even come to Taiwan. |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Well unless you are Dave Sperling, why does his opinion matter? Everyone has different interest and as a result what one person might find interesting may not be interesting to another. |
Exactly.
Why Dave was referenced in the first place is beyond me, but I got the impression from Ramakentesh's post that as Dave may not like Taiwan then it must be fact that Taiwan is no good. I don't agree with that. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:02 am Post subject: |
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| Clark, can you recommend me a good company to work for? I am arriving on March 1. I will be working in the U.S. until February 1 and then I am planning to spend a week in Costa Rica before I head over to Taiwan. |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:08 am Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Clark, can you recommend me a good company to work for? I am arriving on March 1. I will be working in the U.S. until February 1 and then I am planning to spend a week in Costa Rica before I head over to Taiwan. |
I normally recommend that people start out with chain schools such as Hess, Kojen, Joyetc for kids; and Davids, Gram, Global Village etc for adults classes.
I also recommend that you check out www.buxiban.com to research any schools that you are considering. Any school that has a four or five star rating is unlikely to give you any troubles. Schools with a one or two star rating are probably best avoided in your first year in Taiwan, but may present opportunities for future years. |
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argonfly707
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 46
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:10 am Post subject: |
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| Can someone please tell me how long it takes to get a visitor visa? |
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Pop Fly
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
Posts: 429
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:01 am Post subject: |
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| argonfly707 wrote: |
| Can someone please tell me how long it takes to get a visitor visa? |
Some cases, same day. Most, next day. Depends on where you are and what you say. It's a crap shoot each and every time. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I normally recommend that people start out with chain schools such as Hess, Kojen, Joyetc for kids |
Clark, will the chain schools try to give me non-block hours. I don't want to accept hours unless they are in a block. I don't want to work for 60,000 NT a month when I have to be there from like 1PM-9PM, five days a week. Furthermore will the clain schools try to stipulate that I cannot work for a second company when I am not working for them. |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I normally recommend that people start out with chain schools such as Hess, Kojen, Joyetc for kids |
Clark, will the chain schools try to give me non-block hours. I don't want to accept hours unless they are in a block. I don't want to work for 60,000 NT a month when I have to be there from like 1PM-9PM, five days a week. Furthermore will the clain schools try to stipulate that I cannot work for a second company when I am not working for them. |
Each will be different. Even the deals offered by individual schools in a chain can vary considerably as some of them are independantly owned. I suggest that you shop around until you find schools that can meet your requirements.
On the whole chain schools are known to offer block hours, but this is not always the case. It is however something that you can make clear from the outset such that you don't entertain possibilities that don't meet this criteria.
Some chain schools will offer monthly wages based upon full time hours. Others will offer hourly wages based upon the actual number of hours you work. In most cases hourly rate positions turn out to be the most productive.
Whether or not a school puts a clause in their contract about outside work is something that will vary from school to school. If the school is offering a good number of hours then it might be best to accept the deal and pick up privates for extra income. If however the school is offering only minimum hours then you either need to negotiate for the removal of this clause, or find another school.
These are the sorts of things that were spoken about in an earlier thread. You can't go in demanding these sorts of things, but you can negotiate the ones that are most important to you. At the end of the day you need to make a decision as to what is worth negotiating and what isn't, as you are the one who needs to work that job for at least a year. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the help. |
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