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quadrophrenic posted:I prefer the old "hold it in your hand, jiggle the white through your fingers" method. I heard about this training group. Absolutely massive, almost 180 new teachers this August. That's why so many people go through Hess, the sheer numbers of it. My school is getting a new teacher or two, and the kindergarten right below is getting several more, and the branches in the area are getting a ton. High turnover this year. Maybe I'll get a goon coworker. If anyone goes to observe at a branch, and there's a giant (1' diameter) red d20 on someone's desk, that's me. For some reason, my branch gets a lot of newbie observations, especially my class. I've still yet to have a single gamer coworker, while I've gotten like 8 people over the past few years to join my gaming group from a single Kojen branch. Bullshit.
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Jul 15, 2012 04:06
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quadrophrenic posted:I prefer the old "hold it in your hand, jiggle the white through your fingers" method. if you crack the egg so you have 2 halves of the shell, you simply flip the yolk back and forth between the two. I thought this was the common practice. Miss url was treated to an x-ray, a jab, and a cornucopia of pills and ointments for 500NT$ last weekend. Go go Taiwan health care.
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Jul 15, 2012 06:24
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HappyHelmet posted:Ha, this made me laugh because its exactly what I do. gently caress if I am using their disgusting little poo poo baskets. Exactly! That's what I'm doing in Brazil. I'm staying some nights at a friend's house so rather than destroy her house I'm just waiting until I'm out somewhere and destroying someone else's plumbing. On a side note, I'll be in Taiwan for 3 months in about a month from now.
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Jul 15, 2012 14:45
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Is it possible to open a bank account in Taiwan w/o an ARC or work permit? Or do I need a job/sponsor? Getting pretty tired of Bangkok need a change of scenery.
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Jul 15, 2012 15:41
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Got my drivers license this morning. Who is ready for a fatgoonroadtrip?
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Jul 16, 2012 02:15
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Dr. Eat posted:Is it possible to open a bank account in Taiwan w/o an ARC or work permit? Or do I need a job/sponsor? Yeah, it can be done. You need to go to the NIA and get what's called a UID. It's relatively painless. Take your passport and various whatever other assorted bits as bobs as you can collate to prove who you are and they'll issue you a UID. The passport on it's own is good enough, but show willing because ... Anyways, yeah, so the UID is official certification that the govt has seen your passport, and that's good enough for most banks (domestic only) to open you an account. For the bank, you'll need more than just the UID. You'll want your passport and the UID, and possibly proof of address. Bear in mind you'll want a sponsor to do anything fun. I opened an account with First Bank this way, and then found out that depositing a cashiers check required a sponsor  I then opened an account with Fubon (for a job) and they said the same check would take 4 weeks to clear.  In the end I returned the check and had it sent by SWIFT. IBANN is not so popular here. HSBC won't open an account if you don't have an ARC, I can't speak for citibank. Haraksha posted:Got my drivers license this morning. Who is ready for a fatgoonroadtrip? sweet - pro you - let me use your car to practice for test please. Mrs needs driving lessons, who did you use and are they any good?
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Jul 16, 2012 02:32
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I went to a place in Sanxia because it would be too big of a pain in the rear end to go somewhere else to do. Are they any good? Well, they put dots in the car window so I would know where to line the vehicle up with the poles before backing into the spot. It's the ultimate expression in learning to pass the test. It prepares no one for the reality of driving on a road. Hence why no Taiwanese driver has any idea how to drive. It's a vicious cycle. If you know a place to practice, then I guess we can work something out with my car. The problem isn't the parallel parking or 90 degree backin, which we could do just about anywhere. It's the drat S-Line. If you can't do that, it's an instant fail. It's ridiculous, but that's the way it is.
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Jul 16, 2012 02:47
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So should showing up at the bank with a Taiwanese person after I get this card be enough? That's what I did in Korea + Thailand whiles on tourist visa...showed up with my passport + female got bank account after signing some stuff and saying maybe 5 words.
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Jul 16, 2012 05:50
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The drive from the airport to the hotel has turned me off of the idea of ever driving. Good lord these people are nuts.
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Jul 16, 2012 06:58
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quadrophrenic posted:The drive from the airport to the hotel has turned me off of the idea of ever driving. Good lord these people are nuts. You get used to it. You're going to need a scooter most likely and that's way more dangerous than being in a car. Because the cars are the ones that hit the scooters.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:20
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Haraksha posted:You get used to it. You're going to need a scooter most likely and that's way more dangerous than being in a car. Doesn't anyone ever think about the paint job! Also, highway driving is totally fine. I drove Taipei->Kenting and back and it was pretty much identical to driving in America. The only odd thing we saw was a car in the opposite-direction lane that managed to flip itself over and wedge itself between where the offramp splits from the main highway. It had happened pretty recently too as it was still on fire.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:28
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I'll see what branch I end up at, but I'm an avid walker and I think I might prefer that to getting my legs crushed by an errant lane-defying taxi cab, tyvm.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:33
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quadrophrenic posted:I'll see what branch I end up at, but I'm an avid walker and I think I might prefer that to getting my legs crushed by an errant lane-defying taxi cab, tyvm. At least on a scoot you can potentially get out of the taxi's way. But when you're crossing that road and the taxi decides it's his turn to go, the pedestrians are the first to die.
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Jul 16, 2012 08:46
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For what it's worth, I live in the middle of Taipei and walk everywhere. I have yet to be killed. I've only been here three weeks, granted, but walking feels safe enough as long as you wait for the crossing signals and stay aware of your surroundings.
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Jul 16, 2012 16:25
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Egadsman posted:For what it's worth, I live in the middle of Taipei and walk everywhere. I have yet to be killed. I've only been here three weeks, granted, but walking feels safe enough as long as you wait for the crossing signals and stay aware of your surroundings. I've been here almost 6 years, and always walked in the middle of Taipei. Still alive! Scooters aren't needed within Taipei, as everything is within 5 minutes walking distance of the MRT/bus routes.
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Jul 16, 2012 17:06
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Egadsman posted:For what it's worth, I live in the middle of Taipei and walk everywhere. I have yet to be killed. I've only been here three weeks, granted, but walking feels safe enough as long as you wait for the crossing signals and stay aware of your surroundings. *you may need to do "defensive walking"
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Jul 16, 2012 17:23
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The biggest danger of walking around Taipei isn't scooters, blue trucks, or taxis, it's other pedestrians.
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Jul 16, 2012 17:26
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I find it very helpful while walking and driving to pretend you don't notice people. Of course, be super vigilant and don't do stupid poo poo, but drivers here seem to be even more aggressive if you can see it coming and figure you'll get out of the way. I'd like to reiterate the "don't do stupid poo poo" and keep your eyes ultra peeled but I swear that helps the drivers cut down a little on crazy driving.
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Jul 16, 2012 19:54
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Taipei is nice, fun, and the MRT makes life easy. I don't want to go back to the mainland. If I wanted to move here and work for a year with my fiancé, how easy would it be for the both of us to find a job in Taipei? We both have our BSs, and I have some experience tutoring English to ESL students (dunno if that'll matter). Taipei would be nice because of ease of transport, and cost of living wouldn't be a huge concern as we'd be on two incomes. I don't have any time at the moment to go job scouring (and didn't come prepared to do it) and it's hard to tell which Tealit job listings are or aren't legit. Anyone have any tips? (not to be E/N, but we've already talked this over and want to do something like it, we're just trying to settle the details of it)
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Jul 16, 2012 20:44
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One of the blessings of being a taller-than-Taiwanese-average, fat-rear end, white man walking around Taipei is that either people get the hell out of the way or they will 100% come off worse in a collision.
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Jul 16, 2012 20:50
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In regards to scooter chat: Yeah, you will be fine without one in Taipei, but good luck anywhere else in Taiwan. 90% of Taichung doesn't even really have sidewalks. So you end up walking in the far right of the scooter lane with scooters wizzing by 2 inches from you at 80kph. The few times there are sidewalks its usually some horrible amalgamation of loosely connected store fronts with no continuity at all. One store front will be 2 feet above street level, the next will be 1 foot above, the next is 1/2 a foot below, etc. until you finally get fed up with tripping every two seconds and go walk in the street.
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Jul 17, 2012 02:19
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Monkey Fury posted:Taipei is nice, fun, and the MRT makes life easy. I don't want to go back to the mainland. Tealit and Dave's more or less have about the same offering. Legit vs non-legit isn't the issue. They're basically all actual schools that white an English speaker. Many of us have gotten work through there. However, a lot of those are actually chain school listings and it's kind of impossible to give a full endorsement to any chain because of how much variability there is from branch to branch. It all comes down to the specific manager you have. You could get lucky or you could have a really lovely year. The best advice I would have is to target non-chain schools and ask very specific questions. 1) What are the required hours versus teaching hours? (ie: do they require you to either be in the office when not teaching or have outside things you need to participate in, like handing out fliers on the weekends, this is what can turn 25 teaching hours into a 40+ hour week) 2) Is there a uniform or dress code? (uniforms, in my opinion at least, means they care more about the look and brand than anything else, but your mileage may very) 3) Will you be expected to work Saturdays? (might be a deal breaker, depends on your preferences) 4) How do holidays and sick days work? (my school is incredibly chill about this, I get Chinese New Year, any other two-three week period during the school year to go home, and sick days as needed so long as they don't become problematic) 5) What are the benefits, if any? (housing allowance, airfare, who pays for the VISA/ARC, etc) I'm sure there are other important ones that I'm forgetting, but that's a good start.
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Jul 17, 2012 02:20
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So this is possibly a dumb question, but I've tried three different networks here and no luck: is American Google banned in Taiwan or something? Three different networks, I've tried /ncr, I've tried /webhp, I've tried http and https, I can't seem to get https://www.google.com to come up anywhere. It either redirects to .com.tw or just 404s. It's not really a big deal, I have https://www.google.co.uk set as my homepage right now (loads just fine) but I use google for like 90% of my internettery, and not being able to access the search results that .com used to give me just feels weird.
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Jul 17, 2012 03:29
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I dunno I literally clicked the link in your post and I ended up at google.com with no redirects or anything like that. It does have an option in the far right bottom corner to go to Google.com.tw but other than that I'd wager it's exactly the same as if I were visiting from an American IP. Check your interent or something, man. I used to get really pissed off when Google's mobile sites/apps would always default to Chinese and did not always have an option to revert to English somewhere. Amazing UI experience, as always, Google.
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Jul 17, 2012 03:35
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quadrophrenic posted:So this is possibly a dumb question, but I've tried three different networks here and no luck: is American Google banned in Taiwan or something? Three different networks, I've tried /ncr, I've tried /webhp, I've tried http and https, I can't seem to get https://www.google.com to come up anywhere. It either redirects to .com.tw or just 404s. try http://www.google.com/ncr ncr stands for no country redirect
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Jul 17, 2012 03:41
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Tried it. Doesn't work. I'll see if I can try it out on some different networks, maybe futz around with my internet setting. IDK.
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Jul 17, 2012 03:48
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I have never had site accessing issues in Taiwan. I guess trying using TOR?
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Jul 17, 2012 04:00
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Dr. Eat posted:So should showing up at the bank with a Taiwanese person after I get this card be enough? That's what I did in Korea + Thailand whiles on tourist visa...showed up with my passport + female got bank account after signing some stuff and saying maybe 5 words. Yep - get the UID from the NIA (it's a 5 minute process) and you're all set to open a bank account. Use the NIA hotline for foreigners, it's 24hours a day, and they actually have a good service. They "will" try and answer any questions you have. (I found out about the UID for bank account thing at 2am in the morning) NIA- 0800-024-111
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Jul 17, 2012 04:42
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quadrophrenic posted:Tried it. Doesn't work. I'll see if I can try it out on some different networks, maybe futz around with my internet setting. IDK.
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Jul 17, 2012 04:47
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Haraksha posted:words These are all very good things to look at and consider and I probably would have missed some it, thank you. Did boat drinking ever happen?
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Jul 17, 2012 04:55
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Monkey Fury posted:Did boat drinking ever happen?
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Jul 17, 2012 04:58
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Still beats Kaoliang
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Jul 17, 2012 04:59
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^^ haha also: I just got sent this - and it's probably more useful in the Learning Chinese thread but I"m too lazy to cross post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Principles_of_Yong of more immediate help: http://iff.immigration.gov.tw/lp.asp?ctNode=29904&CtUnit=16550&BaseDSD=7&mp=T002 #5 from the bottom needs to be prefaced with Xiao Jie (I find adding xiao jie to otherwise innocuous sentences helps me remember them)  Haraksha I was thinking to ask you if you could pick up a thing for me in Sanxia or point me in the right direction. A colleague (not ducks(hi ducks - i'm working honest  ), not goon) got a really nice calligraphy set from there recently. I'll SMS when I find out more. I did promise to come to your neck of the woods and I could do with getting out of Xinzhuang anyways. So one way or the other - blah blah expect a message soon.How's foot btw?
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Jul 17, 2012 05:12
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Monkey Fury posted:These are all very good things to look at and consider and I probably would have missed some it, thank you. My friend hosted his boat party, but I didn't make it out because I'm still recovering from the horrible trauma my foot suffered. The doctor wouldn't let me take photos in his clinic for liability reasons and I wasn't going to take the dressings off at home. When poo poo is more thoroughly scabbed or scarred over, I'll get back out to partying in Taipei and show everyone my battle wounds.
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Jul 17, 2012 05:18
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url posted:Yep - get the UID from the NIA (it's a 5 minute process) and you're all set to open a bank account. Also does anyone still use blackberrrys in Taiwan? Or should I just ditch it and use bring my iPhone? BBM is still really big here... And are there monthly data + pay as you go for minutes plans or is it lame like Korea and you gotta sign 1yr contracts?
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Jul 17, 2012 06:12
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For all the talk before about shitpaper buckets and flush/no-flush, I just got reminded of my favorite thing about Taiwanese plumbing - when a neighbor takes a great big cabbage poo poo, everyone gets to enjoy the smell.Dr. Eat posted:Also does anyone still use blackberrrys in Taiwan? Or should I just ditch it and use bring my iPhone? BBM is still really big here... Seriously though, no. I don't even know if you can get BlackBerries here. quote:And are there monthly data + pay as you go for minutes plans or is it lame like Korea and you gotta sign 1yr contracts?
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Jul 17, 2012 06:20
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Haraksha posted:They're basically all actual schools that white an English speaker. Had a giggle
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Jul 17, 2012 06:25
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Sorry, I was trying to decide between writing "want a white person" and "want an English speaker" and that's what came out.
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Jul 17, 2012 06:29
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Yes people use blackberries. Only Taiwan mobile supplies and supports them.
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Jul 17, 2012 06:52
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Dr. Eat posted:Thanks man. PAYG isn't that kind to foreigners here ime. When I landed I had to get a friend to get a SIM card for me, and that didn't do data. I only tried a couple of places, but I think you'll find that to be the case. So yeah, if you've got a buddy here, get them to do a straw purchase for you until you get an ARC and can legally sign contracts for yourself.
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Jul 17, 2012 06:55
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