17 Days

17 days left until I can finally leave Taiwan. I've been counting down on my Iphone app.
I can't believe that in 17 days I'll actually leave this place. I keep thinking that something will probably go wrong and I'll be forced to stay here forever.

So far my new job seems great. They're paying for holidays, sick leave, and a transport allowance. I called the Japanese cultural office today and they told me they could process my working visa in one to two days. I didn't think that was actually possible.
But after the whole Hess experience I'm feeling a bit sceptical. I can't help but fear that this job might be the same as my current one, or worse.

I think working for HESS has given me a real reality shock into the real world, and that I can be taken advantage of anywhere at anytime. I feel as though Chinese has screwed me over in life. So far my pursuit of Mandarin has only lead to misery, I think that it's time I gave up. I admire all the other foreigners who can speak it fluently, or live in Taiwan for years, but I'm done peace out.

The countdown has begun.

After six months of working at HESS I'm happy to announce that I've made the decision to leave. It's a decision that I made around the second day of training, but it's taken this long to implement. The reason being lack of funds and no other job. But now, after so many long months I have finally paid off all my loans and freed my Passport from their iron grip, I've also managed to save up enough money to buy a plane ticket far far away.

My reason's include
I'm tried of my fellow teachers being cold to me because I earn more than they do
I'm tired of never being told what's going on till the last moment
I'm tried of planning lessons only to get to work and find the computer, photocopier and CD player are all broken.
I'm tired of the high taxes
I'm tried of having to go to work sick because I have no paid sick leave
I'm tired of losing money because of the unpaid Taiwanese public holidays
I have no Christmas vacation


During Chinese New Year I managed to secure a much better job in Japan. Unlike Hess it provides paid holidays, sick leave, and transportation allowance. It also have 9-5 hours and the pay is a bit better. Given that I was yet again hired through a Skype interview, I'm a bit apprehensive about my new job, but I've decided that it can't be worse that my old crappy job. The cost of living is of course higher in Japan, but I should still be better off that what I am at the moment. 

You may be wondering why I didn't just go to another school within Taiwan? Other than tI did some research and most other jobs aren't going to offer me the his job killing my desire to saty heresae amount of hours that I currently have. No matter where I work the salary isn't anything compared to what I could earn in my home country either.  I've met fellow foreigners who have left the English teaching Scene and moved onto Taiwanese companies, but the salary is far lower that teaching English. All in all there isn't really much opportunity for career advancement in this place. My local Subway is actually owned and run by an American who wanted to get out of teaching English.

Another reason that I've an the decision to leave is simply because there is no reason to stay. I've found that most of the people who do, do so because they are dating a Taiwanese person. Most of my friends seem to also be leaving as well, so I thought I would follow the trend and just go as well.

As I said before I'm over this job, but I'm not going to say that HESS is evil. There are plenty of blogs out there will horror stories about this company, but if you learn to work it to your advantage it's not so bad. If you get placed in a decent branch and learn how to manage your time well it can be pleasant experience. One of my Co-workers had a great time and was very sad to leave. On the flip side I have friends who had terrible experiences far worse than my own. It's just not HESS, most big corporations will generally treat their employees like crap, it's the only way that you can expand and grown in this current economic climate. Next time I think I've go for a smaller school.

I also found that those who made it to the top of the company also seemed to be working things to their own advantage. One week I received an email from Head Office announcing that they were opening a branch in Korea and were taking application. Another week

But would I recommend HESS to anyone? Probably not. The thing which most angered e about this company is the way they trap you into working for them. After you spend so much mone getting to Taiwan they can dismiss you at training if you don't get along well with them. They also fine you 20,000NT if you leave before the end of your contract, which is another insentience not to leave. I would have been gone months ago if I hadn't been trapped in the financial hole that I created for myself by signing up for HESS. Advice for anyone, don't go for a job which asks you to get a tourist visa instead of a working Visa, this just makes it easier for the company not to employ you once you get there. I once sent an email asking if I should provide any evidence of work with my visa application and my response was "No, just tell them that you are going for a holiday." This is probably the moment when the alarm bells went off. HESS is also know for not treating their employees very well.

The only positive things that I have gained from this job is the experience. It was a good way to break into the English teaching world, and it made it 100X easier to then pick up another job.

I feel that I great weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I now go into work very happy. My HNST is on holiday at the moment do I'm waiting until he returns to discuss leaving.

My countdown calender, I look at this when I'm angry about work.

Trapped

As mentioned before in my previous blog post, recently I've been considering going back to Australia. Yesterday I found out that I'll be taxed 18% until May, and with few hours and such little income I'm really beginning to doubt why I should be here at all. A few of my fellow trainees have also begun making their way back home after only three months.

But when I sat down and worked it all out, I discovered that I can't actually afford to go back. For one I borrowed money from my branch to pay the deposit on my apartment, which has to be payed back, and I will also be charged 20,000 NT for breaking my contract. (But I can make a run for it.) There's also the cost of plane tickets, and the lost deposit on my apartment. To top it all off I don't have any job to go back to in Australia, so if I decided to leave I'll be digging myself into a financial hole.

So to sum it all up, I'm trapped in Taiwan.

If I have any hope of getting out I'll most probably have to stay and work for another few months. As much as I dislike it I haven't got much of a choice. During training I was told that feelings such as wanting to leave could be attributed to culture shock. I thought this was quit hilarious. Don't worry if you job is crap, the pay is little, you don't like the country and you want to go home, this is just culture shock.

I guess the best thing to do is try to make the most of this situation by working hard at my job, picking up more hours, and practising more Chinese. There really isn't anything else that I can do at this stage.

Thoughts about Running Away

Recently president Obama has finally made the trip to Australia. This means that Australia is finally on the news and I can get up to speed on what's going on back home.
Apparently the Australian economy has been doing great recently, which leads me to question why the hell am I here? I work very little, my pay in crap, and so far I've saved nothing. If by chance I manage to save anything, it will be worthless back home, and will probably only be the equivalent of a plane ticket.

That's why I've been thinking run Cathryn, run far far away, back to Australia.

Of course there are a few advantages to staying. I can practice Chinese, hang out in a big city, nobody back home ever has to know about the things that I get up too. If I just ride it out for another three months I will have paid off my loan, and hopefully they'll finally give me a pay rise.

But I can't shake the feeling that I'm wasting my life away working for this company. By the time my contract finishes I'll be a year older. That's a whole year that I could have done something more meaningful with my life. In my current job the conditions are pretty crap. I don't have paid holidays, paid sick leave, or any paid time off at all. I also have training and meetings that I'm forced to attend in my free time, that I don't get anything for.  It's not just my job, these are pretty universal conditions throughout Taiwan. It's even worse for the average Taiwanese worker.

If I went back to Australia, the conditions would be great, the pay would be great. Everyone speaks English, which is also great. Sure the public transport is crap and everything is so much more expensive, but I would finally have more money.

But it's also embarrassing to return home after making a big deal about leaving. Everyone always talks behind your back and asks questions such as: why are they back, did something happen? Couldn't they take it? Did they get homesick?

Of course it's not really possible to go back now due to my lack of funds. But that doesn't stop me from job searching. Ha ha ha ha. Taiwan, I will escape you yet!

Guide on Escaping To Japan

Teaching English in Japan.

So Taiwan has finally broke you. You can't take the food, the people, the risk of death by scooter. The easy option would be to pack up and head home. But if you're running away from a dark and mysterious past, that might not always be an option. Maybe you want to continue your Asian adventure, just not in this country. So where else is there to go? Believe it or not Japan is quite close. You might be a fan of cool street fashion, or a closet Pokemon fan, so you're quite up for escaping to the land of the rising sun. I am also contemplating making a run for it, therefore I've made this guide out of all my investigations over the past few weeks.

The first thing you must consider is whether or not Japan is really for you. It is a cool place, so I recommend a visit, but staying for a year or more is a different story. Sure the streets are clean, everything is well organised, and the people are very polite, but you are heading into a culture which is completely different from your own. Taiwanese people are generally quite friendly who will try and invite you around for dinner. Japanese people are a bit more closed off, which makes breaking into a friendship group hard, especially if your a foreigner. You're eternally an outsider. The Japanese are very polite, but this can also come off a bit cold. If you live in a bit city navigating around in English isn't too hard, but if you're out in the countryside knowing some Japanese is essential.

The Japanese are also very organised, which is great because they'll have ever thing organised months in advance. Unlike Hess Taiwan, which wouldn't even tell me where I was going to work until a week after I got there. (God Damn you Hess!!!) But they can be more uptight compared to the Taiwanese. Especially about garbage. Make sure you sort your garbage correctly. The Japanese are also a lot more formal, and they might expect you to wear a suit to work at an English school.

Also despite Japan paying you more than Taiwan THE COST OF LIVING IS MORE EXPENSIVE!! Possibly 4x more. All those dirt cheap Subway trips around Taipei that you think nothing of, will dig a hole in your pocket in Japan.

For the sake of comparing different schools I made this niffy table here. I can't guarantee that all the information is correct, so it's best to check the website yourself. The best deal is JET, but they might place you in a rural area where you may become the village foreigner. Aeon and Amnity are probably the next best thing. But they both seem very corporate. Most companies like JET, Aeon, Amnity, and ECC, do most of their requiting overseas in your home country, so it can be quite difficult to land a job straight from Taiwan. Some school will do a Skype interview, and you can always try to attend an interview in Japan.

A comparison of different Schools in Japan.

School	Location	Job Type	Hours a week	Contract	Salary	Housing	Free airfare	Commute covered	Vacation
Aeon	All over	English Instructor	38	1 year	270000	You Pay 55,000 max	No	1.5k>	3x1 week 5 paid days
Aeon Amnity	All over	Kids English instructor	40	1 year	285,000	You Pay 42,000 max	No	1.5k>	3x1 week 5 paid days
Interac	All over	School ALT		1 year	200,000 - 260,000	No	No	Can provide Car	School Vacations 60% pay
Shane English	Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and Fukuoka	English Instructor	40	1 Year	250,000 -        270,000	No	No	reimbursed	Christmas New Year Golden Week Summer
ECC	Tokyo Nagoya Osaka	English Instructor	29.5	Work till March 31st	252,000	Doesn't say	No	reimbursed	7 weeks
JET	Mostly Rural Areas	School ALT	35	1 Year	300,000	Yes	no	Can provide a car.	10 days paid leave
Heart  English School	Tokyo and Nearby Areas	School ALT		1 Year	230,000	No	No		School Vacations
Winbe	All over	English Instructor	40	1 Year	250,000	No	No	Reimbursed	5 weeks
Atila  Central	Central Japan	School ALT	25 classes	1 Year	240,000 ~ 255,000	No	No	Can Provide  Car	Summer and Winter Vacation Paid

Another useful website is Gaijin Pot. I've had limited success with this one so far, and most of the jobs already require you to be in Japan with a working Visa. But it does have a lot of useful information about living in Japan. 

Another online newsletter which provides many job adverts is O-hayo Sensei. You can subscribe and they'll email you job adverts twice a month, but the website it pretty ancient looking.

There are also a lot over overseas recruiting websites which can also get you a job in Japan. Such as Footprints Recruiting and  Teach Away.

However you go about it, I hope that this small guide aids you in your escape to Japan.

The Children have Infected me!

It's probably worth warning you that if you're going to teach Kindergarten, you will inevitably get sick a lot. Currently I'm down with some strange illness that makes all my muscles  hurt and sucks away the will to move. Although these are the usual symptoms of spending too much time with children, I also have a cough, so I'm assuming it's the flu.

There is only one thing to blame..The children

This week about half my class was sick. It's given me something to talk about in sharing time when I'll ask, Ok who is sick to today? To which half my class will begin to make exaggerated coughing noises. Their parents need to work, so even if the child is coughing with a fever, they'll just stick a mask on them and send them off to Kindergarten. This inevitable leads to the rest of them getting sick, and then me.

I taught the kids to say sanitiser. I thought it was too hard to understand, but I added a chant and now they know it. Now I just yell it from the hallway on the way back from the bathroom, and the kid up the front will spray the rest. I thought that would save me from their childhood illnesses but apparently not.

I often consider not going to work, but I have my classes well trained to be a bit more student centric so it makes my life easier, and I don't need to move around as much. I also only have a 10 minute commute, so I don't have to walk very far,

I don't want this to be a rant about how sick I feel, but it's my experience.I don't want you to to go into a kindergarten job without knowing the risk of catching some strange Asian illness. It's moments like this that I think. Damn I didn't even sign up for kindergarten, they switched my contract with someone else at the last moment without even telling me.
Of course kindergarten makes it easier to get teaching hours, but not if I have to take so many sick days.

Learning Chinese on Youtube

Recently I was told about this guy Mike here who does lessons on YouTube. I've been watching them for a few days now, and I can personally say that they seem very good for improving you Mandarin skills.

Here is lesson one.





His entire playlist of Mandarin lessons can be found here


http://www.youtube.com/user/Glossika#grid/user/E908A5765B385B99

He doesn't do any Chinese characters, so it's only good for speaking and listening, but at the same time you can just play them in the background without having to watch. I was thinking that it might even be worth converting them to MP3, and playing them on your Ipod.

He also does work of minority languages such as Taiwanese and Hakka, so if you were thinking of learning some Taiwanese you can also check that lesson out.