At least one of his bosses seems cool and non-controlling...

I guess I'll see if he does get home around Christmas:

Flami (12:58 AM): let me know when you get back home, haha. maybe I'll save.
Corey (1:00 AM): that might happen around Christmas
Flami (1:02 AM): is the teaching market that disappointing?
Flami (1:03 AM): I know you've said it's annoying...
Corey (1:03 AM): well, that would be for a visit, unless I get out of contracts
Corey (1:03 AM): and yes, it's annoying
Flami (1:05 AM): ah... I was meaning when you got home for good or whatever, but a Christmas visit works
Corey (1:30 AM): a visit sort of works... I have to make more money than I am right now to afford that
Flami (10:40 AM): oh man, that sucks
Corey (10:47 AM): well, there's a school that apparently wants to give me 14 hours a week, which would help a lot, even though this school's pay sucks. their classes are no preparation though, so in a way, it pays a lot more... preparing for classes can take a long time
Corey (10:49 AM): but I had 3 hours of almost no prep classes tonight.. I'm trying to get that school to give me more like that... they pay better. that school also owes me a couple more hours per week, according to our contract, so I'm going to ask for more classes here pretty soon
Flami (10:51 AM): hey, at least you can say it's in the contract if they try to weasel their way out of it
Corey (10:52 AM): that's kind of meaningless... contracts don't mean that much here
Corey (10:53 AM): but yes, technically I could. the boss there is pretty cool, though. generally, they try to make you feel like you suck so they can control you. she's sat in on my classes and gave me advice on classes, and everything she's told me has been positive, and she says I'm off to a great start there
Flami (10:53 AM): oh, I didn't know that
Corey (10:54 AM): I don't know a lot about her background, but she seems to understand Western people pretty well... I think she spent time over here
Corey (10:55 AM): she's criticized me, but it's always reasonable, like speak louder, etc... she also asked me to get the students talking more in one class, but I told her as soon as she left, we did a bunch of group things, talking a lot, and she said "oh, I guess I left at the wrong time" instead of ignoring what I said, and just repeating herself or whatever, so I don't think there's any major problems with her...
Flami (10:57 AM): that sounds excellent, then
Corey (10:57 AM): I'm still not sure what's going on with this new 14-hour place, though
Corey (10:58 AM): we applied there almost first thing, with a personal recommendation by someone that knows the owner... but that was just for this branch, and the main office in Taipei does all the deciding.. and we never heard anything from them
Corey (10:59 AM): more recently, Jane decided my resume looks better with several schools on it... she contacted the Taipei office directly, and has been talking with the person that makes those decisions... they asked me to bring my information in, and sent it off to Taipei again, and last Jane heard, that lady plans to contact me pretty soon, and wants to just get me started... no demo or interview or anything....
Corey (11:00 AM): EVERY school I've seen needed a demo (which is apparently also illegal here....... which I just recently learned)
Corey (11:04 AM): I don't know why demos are illegal... that seems reasonable enough, and it kind of replaces normal job interview questions for the most part, and is easier than those... they're a pain to prepare for, but I think I'm better at that than real job interviews
Flami (11:06 AM): what the?! I'd like to know why demos are so illegal over there!
Corey (11:07 AM): it's probably because you're working without a work permit or something like that... but they don't pay you for those anyway, so I don't know
Flami (11:08 AM): odd