Financials

80 Days.

Ok, for the sake of all of this, $1US=~$33NTD, NTD meaning new Taiwanese Dollar. I've been looking at everything in terms of how it translates into my native currency, but I know when I'm over there I'll switch over pretty quickly. It only took me a couple days when I was in Europe, which kind of pisses me off because I realized only after I got back just how GREAT of a deal I could have gotten on a Lap Dance in Prague.

Anyway, making $560NT per hour working 30.5 hours per week leaves me with about $58000NT per month.

I'm planning on spending about $7500NT monthly rent on an apartment. I'd like to live with other people just as part of my "Derek does all he can to stave off solitude on the big scary island" plan, and that'll make things cheaper. I saw an ad for a dream scenario yesterday in "Two Taiwanese female are looking for an easygoing, fun, laidback, but neat & clean person to share a 3 bedroom apartment on Huamei St. (華美街), besides the Sal Sa Bar. The apartment is fully furnished; it has an big open kitchen with a big and nice living area with AC, TV, DVD, cable... It has everything, you can just move in with a backpack and only 3 minutes walk from So Go. The building faces the river and many big trees around all the nice restaurants and shops. You'll love it!!! Your room has a single bed and big built in closets with AC. NT 5000 per month" and hopefully I can get something cool like that. I read something today about a guy complaining about how bad all the buildings look in Taiwan. Personally, I haven't seen a picture of an apartment that I wouldn't love to live in. It may look bad to him, but its all new and fresh and interesting to me. I'll take it.

I'll probably get a cell phone at $NT1000 per month. There's no way it'll cost me more than $NT10000 to feed myself for a month. Public transportation will be another $1500NT per month. I kind of want to eventually get a scooter, but that's a big step for me and I might just end up with a bike for smaller trips. Anyway, monthly running costs for a scooter will be less than public transportation, so I'll just sit at that number. Put up another $NT10000 for monthly entertainment (bars, clubs, movies, etc), and that will leave me with just under $NT30000 or US$1000 for the month. That'll all get blown too, of course, but at least I'll have fun doing it.

I'll be working 6 days a week, but I'll do my best to save that extra day for exploring the island. Per year, I get 2 weeks unpaid vacation, and that will at least partially be used to travel internationally. If I re-sign after my year, I'll get a bonus month unpaid vacation, which I'm sure I'll use to come home, if not other places. So yeah, that's how I'll blow all that.

As far as start-up costs, I hear its best to take about $1500-2000, and hopefully I'll have that. Currently I'm sitting at about $2500 without dipping into my savings, and that should only grow, barring any (more) unforeseen firings. Even if I do have some unforeseen firings, I made it through the last one losing only about $500, so savings should keep me afloat.

Two things I definitely want to get for this are a new laptop and a video camera. I'd been planning on holding off until I got there because computers are plentiful on the island (Acer is based there, among tons of other tech companies), but something hit me last night- If I buy a computer there, it'll be all Chinese. So I might pull the trigger on that earlier than expected, especially if I can find a deal on something. I don't need much, just something good for surfing and videos, so I can probably fly under $750 there.

Anyway, money isn't why I'm doing this, but freedom is, and more money will afford more freedom, so I'm sure once I get all set up I'll end up living pretty comfortably and have opportunities to do a lot of things.