I guess I’ve always organized and remembered my experiences based upon who was around me at least as much as upon what I was doing. My first couple of years in Taiwan were difficult in several ways. That time ended when I started working at Modawei, though. More than anything else, I [...]

Issue No. 3 of the new magazine, Taiwanese, I was pleased to see an article about the “hardcore” buxibans I’ve written so much about. Considering that these schools provide far better than average results for their students, pay far better than average salaries to their teachers, and are exploding at a time when the [...]

Last night, after work, I caught a bus back into Táibĕi and met up with a bunch of my old Mòdàwèi buddies for dinner. Martin, his girlfriend Rika, Ariel, and Mike W. were all there. Originally, we were going to eat at Alley Cats, but it was full. That kinda bummed me [...]

Back when I was working at Modawei, they wrote up this little summary about me. That way potential clients could learn something about me before seeing me in action. They framed it nicely on the wall, and then put it up on a snazzy (over-snazzy, one might say), website. I’ll get [...]

At the end of 2004, I wasn’t happy with my progress in terms of job skills, saving money, or learning Chinese. I’d been wasting my time trying to study part time at Shida, while working at a boring and unfulfilling big chain English school. It was time for a change.
Since I couldn’t [...]

In Taibei there are quite a few schools of this type. There are also a few in Taoyuan; I don’t know of any in the south, though. Almost all of these schools are about the same. The first one was Mòdàwèi 莫大衛, started in the heart of Taibei, near Sogo, about 20 years ago by [...]