Job Discussion Forums

[skppen67]

I'd like to hear from anyone who is living/has lived in Tainan. Please let me know what you enjoy/enjoyed about your experience there, as well as the things you detest/detested. I don't need to live in a booming metropolis, but I would appreciate a heavy dose of local culture (museums, temples, markets). Additionally, I'm not much of a barfly and would hope to find outdoor activities (biking, hiking, parks) available. If you would care to comment on pollution, public transportation, cost of living, and teacher salaries in Tainan compared to other cities in Taiwan I'd greatly appreciate it.

[surrealia]

I lived there for a few years, so I will do my best to answer your questions:

CULTURE - lots of temples and markets to explore. Tainan is well known for its numerous temples. There's a very interesting museum in Tainan County.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES - there's some park areas, as well as spots for biking, but you will probably want to go outside of the city.

POLLUTION - bad, but not nearly as bad as Kaohsiung.

COST OF LIVING - fairly cheap to live in Tainan, but getting more expensive as time passes. (go to http://meintaiwancosts.blogspot.com/ for prices)

TEACHER SALARIES - don't expect high salaries in Tainan. I think Tainan has too many teachers, so it's not a teacher's market. You can make enough to live off of.

I would recommend these two websites for more information about living in Tainan (note: some information is out-of-date):

http://www.geocities.com/allhou/tainanscene.htm

http://meintaiwan.diaryland.com/

http://www.sinica.edu.tw/tit/culture/1294_tainantemple.html

[skppen67]

Thanks for the reply, surrealia. I checked the websites you suggested and found them helpful, as I did your comments. Tainan seems like it has much to offer. Could you elaborate on working in Tainan? Answers to the following questions would help me out.

[/list]What would be the starting hourly wage for a newbie?

[/list]Is it common to get 25 teaching hours per week with one school?

[/list]What was a typical week like for you (teaching hours/prep hours/office duties)?

[izzyismydog]

Jobs ARE hard to come by... there ARE too many of us here now. I had to accept 600 and 650/hr for my 2 jobs I took in December, wheras two years ago I got $700 per hour. One still shouldn't take less than $600/hr as is true anywhere in the country... or 700/hr min for privates. The wage everywhere is the same, except Taipei is often a bit lower. The cost of living goes down the smaller the city. On the note of TOO MANY TEACHERS IN TAINAN, a LOT of them are illegal, and since they've been cracking down (started in July) I think that a lot are going to be losing their jobs, or not renewing contracts, so in the next year or so the job market will open up again. There are so many teachers here because Tainan is the best place to be for many reasons!

Lots of schools will give you 25hrs per week, but you may have to take 550/hr (but not always). morning kindy and night buxiban is the way to go, at least $600/hr each. most schools that give you 25hrs per week aren't block hours anyways. If you can find it, great.

I work 930-1130 at one job, and then 2-630 at another, though the second time slot is more likely to be 4-9 in most jobs. THis is pretty common. I am lucky to have only 5 days a week but my jobs are both kindy. This schedule is common island wide as are most things about the working conditions, pay, cost of living etc. I wouldn't take office hours, though I end up planning for about an hour or two total almost every day, which is pretty realistic (though for one of my jobs, I only plan about 5 or 10 minutes as it's pretty mickey mouse). I have a couple of privates, and earn about 70000 per month (maybe more) and send home about 50-60000 of it, though I drink often and have a shopping problem, but share expenses 50/50 with my boyfriend. SO you can expect to spend about 20000 as a single or less if you have roommates and cheap habits. 50000 a month is easy to earn.

You have to drive a scooter here. One "problem" (if you actually like busses) is the lack of public transportation, there's no metro and the buses are only a rumor. Scooters are cheap and wonderful. And your lungs will hurt biking in the pollution (a western half of the island problem, you can't escape it totally)

Got to take your scooter to the mountains or at least to the beach to get much outdoorsy stuff going on. No mountains nearby... maybe 30 minute scoot? 10 minutes to a so-so beach.

There is as much culture as you can hope for in Taiwan, here, or you can hop an express train to Kaohsiung (30 min) for world class exhibitions at the museums there.

Take all those other websites (out of date and somewhat inaccurate or too personalized) with a grain of salt, as you should all of our posts!