A lot has happened recently. In my last blog I alluded to some goings on in my life and I am here to tell you now about them. I am no longer in Taiwan. I quit the job I had and moved to Malaysia. The day of quitting was very stressful. I knew the boss wouldn't be too happy with me, but I had to do what was right for me and living in Taiwan wasn't working for me at all. It's been many years since I was as unhappy as I was in November and December. Mistreatment from a couple of co-workers and just a general lack of social life made Taiwan a very unpleasant experience. I know many others from my training group are not very happy about the company they are working for. Pay is very low and the amount of hours many are expected to work while getting all the grading done is crazy. I didn't have it too bad, but I just couldn't seem to break out of the culture shock so I left.
After quitting my job and cleaning out my apartment (mostly) I hopped on a plane to Malaysia. I felt so good about this move that it really surprised me. I have to believe that this was the right move for me. The deal I am getting with this company is seriously awesome. They bought my plane ticket to get to Malaysia. All I had to put up with was a couple of months of uncertainty about whether I would get this job or not. There was a small snafu that had me thinking that I would be passed up for it, but there were some good people fighting on my side here so in the end I landed the job.
The benefits are what got me interested in this job. Paid flight here and back home at the end of the contract, somewhere around 10-12 weeks of paid vacation (this was the big one for me), a company car to drive with a gas allowance and an apartment allowance which will allow me to live almost rent free from what I have gathered. There are a couple of other little benefits as well.
The job itself is pretty nice too. I got to tag along with my friend for a couple of days when I got here. I will be a teacher trainer to the Malaysian English teachers in the schools here. In essence I will be helping them to teach English by giving them tips and tricks to make learning easier and more fun for the students. I will also be helping the teachers themselves with their own English abilities. The job starts very early in the morning as school here is from 7:45am to 1:00pm plus I might have to drive an hour to get to some of the schools. This is the main downside to the job as far as I can tell. Getting up early and driving long distances, oh well, not everything can be perfect.
Hopefully I will be placed somewhere around Johor Bahru. This is a city that shares a border with Singapore, so weekends can be spent there once in a while. There is a lot of things to do outside as in hiking and camping and just enjoying nature. There is a lot of Nature here and I hope to get a lot of pictures for you all in the future. (sorry there aren't any in this blog. I haven't had a chance to pull out my camera yet)
The two days I tagged along with my friend were volunteer days for me. I really wanted to get a first hand view of what I would be doing. It looks like a nice job and the teachers I met were really nice. Here's to hoping the ones I get will be just as nice.
I think Malaysia is a bit of a dangerous place to live. All the houses have bars on the doors and windows and there is security at all apartment blocks and gated communities. It's not at all like Japan or Taiwan. I've already heard a few stories about things going down here. With any luck I will try to avoid any of that.
I start training on Tuesday. They call it induction. Not sure if that is a British term or if it means something other then training. I imagine it will involve talking about the company and what is expected of us. After that I have no idea what will happen. It's three days long and then on Friday I drive to my new area. At some point I will have to find an apartment. Once I am in my own place I can start living again. Something I haven't been able to do for the past 2 or 3 months due to this jobs application process. It's amazing how much not being able to buy something that you want, but will just have to get rid of shortly, wears on you. The next hurdle will be holding off until I get a full pay check. So by the end of March I should be well on my way. And I get a week off at that time.
Ain't life sweet?
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