In Taiwan, Everything is Easy

An Expat in Taiwan who doesn't like rainy days 1.)  It all s tarts with a ridiculously early wake-up: Wake up before sunrise if you want to have a terrible rainy day in Taiwan . That's right.  You gotta get up before the sun to make this day truly suck. You want this day to really drag on as long as possible. Having a completely terrible rainy day in Taiwan is not easy work man. Taiwan's 7-11 Sandwiches tasting like cardboard 2.) Head to one of Taiwan's 7-11's for breakfast - Ok. You're up early enough to piss of a monk. In the dark and in the rain, you remember that you're practically like a Chinese language master. That is because you can tell the lady at 7-11, 'Hot."  With rain pounding on your shoulders while gradually leaving you smelling like a wet dog for the rest of the day, you can now take advantage of your mad Chinese skillz. Forget all about the the delicious cheese  dan bing ; and all the other tasty breakfast choices in Ta...

Teachers rolling in the money- NOT :) Taiwan Public Schools vs Taiwan Cram Schools: The Money -   " I'm gonna get rich from teaching ,"  said no person with a brain ever.   Taiwan's Public Schools or the Taiwan Cram Schools won't be that much different when it comes to getting rich. The salary still can meet your needs. However,you won't exactly come home at night and use all your extra dollar bills as a spare blanket. The money is a great  question  when trying to decide between a Taiwan Public School job or a Taiwan Cram School job.    Most of the public schools jobs  normally start around 63,000 NT/month with an extra 5,000 NT/ month to go for housing.  You have to be at the public school from 8-4 in most cases. This monthly salary comes regardless of holidays. The Taiwan Cram Schools pay around 600-700/NT an hour. It is not salary. So, if the typhoon comes rolling around, you not only spend more money that da...

Adulting means reading For The FB Group, Taiwan English Teacher Job Openings , please read the entire post :   One of the easiest; but most frustrating ways to find a job in Taiwan is to look on the Taiwan FB group listed above. Schools that need a teacher post their info on the FB group. This quickly sends the word  out to massive amounts of job-seekers that a teacher is needed.  Cool idea, right? :) It should be very efficient.  However, it is difficult to imagine how many times on this Taiwan Facebook Group in particular that the poster has ended with, " P/M me for more information." This sounds like a reasonable request, right? This clear and direct call to action is almost always immediately followed up with a comment ( not a p/m as asked for originally) , " p/m me for where to send a CV." Are you serious dude? You are applying for a job; and you have just shown that you can not read instructions. What is even better than completely ignoring the instru...

Sleep wherever you want #1 Sleeping in public -  Standing straight up on the train, the MRT,  or the bus, doesn't exactly seem like the most comfortable sleeping spot to most people, right? However, the Taiwanese sleep like this all the time.  You can also see people sleeping outside 7-11. You can see construction workers sleeping right along the highway if they are tired and drunk enough.  So, if you like to see people sleep EVERYWHERE, Taiwan would be a fantastic vacation for you. For those of you that have been to Taiwan or even Asia, what is the strangest place you have seen someone sleeping? Cell phones always come back #2 If you lose something, don't worry about it. A Taiwanese person will go extremely far out of their way to get it back to you. - If you ever come to Taiwan for let's say more than a month, you probably will  have a story about leaving a cell phone behind, a wallet, or anything valuable, and not only does nobody EVER ...

Everest! The Gnarliest of Truck Drivers Wouldn't Want A Piece Of Nepali Roads  Nepal not only holds claim to being, as a fairly well-educated redneck would say in a long drawn out voice,  the birthplace of the funny looking  fat guy on them statues, Buddha.  Nepal also has within its borders, eight of the world's top ten mountains in elevation. ( List of top 10 mountains here)   On a clear day, the mountains offer unheralded beauty from a tourist's perspective. However, these mountain roads where you can no longer smell the the traditional Nepali dish,  momos  , don't make travel very easy  Potholes on these mountain roads drop deeper and rounder than a heart attack patient's favorite Cinnabon roll  with extra icing.   dip into their stomach. :)     As a matter of fact, the term highway in Nepal doesn't mean much more than,  a place that has a few less cows as pedestrians,than the regular streets.  A ninety ...