Job Listing: Island Caretaker of beautiful Queensland, Australia for six months (from July 2009 to January 2010); duties mostly consist of exploring the island and blogging about it; accommodations, transportation, and lucrative salary included.
God, how I would love to do this.
It’s about 45-50 minutes of a bus ride, about 40 minutes to walk to the subway, take the subway, then hop on a bus, to get to my job from where I’m staying now. I think we found a place that probably would not make a difference in the commute time. But that’s the price you pay to live in an area like this to be close to everything convenient.
We are this close to finding an apartment. We just have to like the place when we visit and convince the landlord to like us. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an apartment online? Ok, how about trying to find one already furnished? And with air conditioning, especially here in Taiwan? Now try doing all of that in Chinese. Yeah, not fun.
Oh, and you know another thing that’s really not that fun either? When I get stopped on the street by people passing out surveys. They’re all, Oh it’ll only take a minute. Just one minute, just check a few boxes, and that’s it. Then I glance at their half-page survey and it’s covered in Chinese, and I’m all like, No thanks. And then pretend I’m in a big hurry to get somewhere and really don’t even have a minute to spare. Just because I look like I should know what I’m doing, do they have any idea how long it would take me to take their little survey? Try half an hour. I would probably have to ask them what every other word meant, and then they would think I’m dumb, so why don’t we just spare everyone’s feelings and call it a day?
People don’t want me because I’m not Caucasian, and yet other people assume I’m straight up Asian and should be doing everything like I’m supposed to. It’s like I can’t win.
Today I experienced my first taste of blatant discrimination. I certainly talked about it enough, but it actually happened to me.
I called a school today asking about a position. “Hi, my name is Tina, and I’m responding to your ad online about the part time morning position.”
A nice lady answered, “Oh, yes yes. Are you available to come in for a face-to-face interview? How’s today between 2:30 and 5?”
“Oh sure, today’s fine,” I replied.
So she asked, “How does 3pm sound?”
Of course, I’m excited for such a quick response. “That sounds great. Can I get an address for the school?”
“Sure. But first, can I get your name and number?”
“Ok, my name is Tina Wu. And my number is…”
She interrupted me, “Wait, what? Tina Wu? Did you say Wu?”
Confused, would I have to spell it for her? “Um, yes…” I replied.
“Ok, no offense, but are you Caucasian?” She stumbles over her words.
Ok then, actually I am a bit offended. “No, I am not,” I huffed.
“Oh. Sorry. We only want Caucasians.”
How do you respond to that? I gave up, “Great. Thanks.” *Click*
In other news, I accepted the job in Neihu! It sounds fantastic. I know it’s only part time for now, but I’m sure there’s enough room for me to add more hours, tutoring and what not, when the school year starts. You know the one aspect that kind of decided it for me? They have a Christmas program! It’s going to be adorable.
And now the hard part, on to the housing search. I think Jen is going to go with something that’s about 30 minutes from my job, so we’ll have to find someplace in between with easy access to the subway and buses. I’m ok with commuting for a bit to get to work, as long as our place is close to lots of stores.
I have found my slice of heaven here in Taipei. It’s called SOGO shopping mall and has everything from Hermès to Christian Dior to Shu Uemura to Kate Spade. It’s like Sephora, Green Hills Mall, and 5th Avenue all compacted in two separate buildings with about ten floors each and they’re all filled with pretty and expensive things. It even has a bookstore consisting mostly of English books. I think I’ve bought more English books and magazines than anything else since I’ve been here, especially purses or shoes. You should be proud of me.
Fun Fact for the Day: Did you know that they don’t eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here? It’s either a peanut butter sandwich or a jelly sandwich, but never together. I let my cousin take a bite, and she freaked out. Strange.
There is now air conditioning at my Uncle’s place. They just had it installed yesterday. I kind of had hoped that it wasn’t because Jennifer and I were staying there, and they thought we wouldn’t be used to the heat. We were coping just fine. However, it seems like they’ve been talking about it for awhile, and we just sped up the process.
I have a job offer! It’s from my favorite place out of all the places that I interviewed at last week. It’s in Neihu, which is about 20 minutes outside of downtown Taipei (and 20 minutes from SOGO). Even though it’s only part time in the afternoons, I think I’m going to take it and then find another part time morning at another place close by. And I never know, it might turn into full time. I’ll make a decision tomorrow. In the meantime, I technically have a job!
I can’t believe it’s already been one week today since we’ve been here today.
I have a cell phone. A pink Nokia, how fitting.
The past two days have been filled with job interviews. I had one at David’s English School yesterday, where I had to fill out an application take a grammar test first. Is it “have often been” or “often have been”? Is it “old red Spanish leather boots” or “red old Spanish leather boots”? Geez, it’s been forever since I’ve learned grammar rules, much less remember them. I think I passed, or else she would have thanked me and not bothered to continue the interview. I have to go back on Monday to do a teaching demo targeted towards adults at the intermediate level. Guess what topic she gave me? Wait for it.. shopping. Is it fate? Possibly.
Today was jam packed with more interviews with a lot of getting lost. Our first appointment was at 10:30am across town, so we decided to head out an hour early. After getting on a bus, then a subway, then a bus again, we got to the general area where we were supposed to be. But after following the directions given, we ended up at a completely non-English-school-looking store. After a few phone calls, we finally made it to the school.. 45 minutes late. The teacher looked us over, proceeded to show us the school and the materials they use for their students, told us the hours and the salary, and then asked us when can we let her know when we can start. The whole process took about ten minutes.
The second appointment was at 2pm in a different part of time. Not so lost this time, since my uncle drove us. We actually went through an interview this time, and she also had us do a teaching demo for four students age 5-8. (You can never tell with Asian people. They all look much younger than they really are.) I taught them numbers and passed out stickers. I would say it went pretty well, but afterwards she kind of rushed us out the door. Hopefully, it really was because she was late for that meeting. We’ll see if we get a phone call in the next few days.
Third interview was at 6pm in a totally different part of town at the American Club. Yes, it was quite filled with Americans and looked really nice. I would want to check it out someday when my American friends come and visit me. (*hint*hint*) That went rather well since it mostly consisted of him telling me about his school and the curriculum. It sounded fabulous, and the pay is really well, but the only downfall is that it’s only part time. But I could totally find something part time in the morning. I have to hear back from him also, but he did ask me when could I let him know by as well so that can only mean that it’s pretty much in the bag, right?
We shall see. I have a feeling that by this time next week, the job search should be over, and I will have a job.
*Update*
Just got back from Made of Honor. Totally adorable and cheesy. Drag your date to it. I promise a good time. In the meantime, take care and talk to you again soon.
