Why Taiwan? and why Hess?

In my last year of college, I made a goal to live on every continent for at least 6 months before I turned 30.
I did my research and Taiwan seemed like a great starting place- low cost of living and relatively high pay for an English teacher just starting out.

So I came over here with the goal of creating a certain lifestyle for myself.
*I wanted to live close enough to walk to the beach and surf.
*I wanted a lot of free time so I could surf and write.
*I wanted to be able to cover all of my bills and maybe save a little.
*I did my calculations and decided that this was possible if I could work part time (even 15 hours a week) and live very very cheaply.

Does that sound too good to be true? It isn't! This is what I'm doing now.
But it took me 10 months to get the lifestyle I wanted because I started out working for Hess.

If you're interested in teaching in Taiwan than maybe you're familiar with Hess's contracts:
contract A (working just buxiban classes at night)
contract B (working kindy and buxiban)
and contract C (working full time kindy, starting at 8:30 am and ending at 4:00pm, with a break from 1130 to 2 while the kids nap.)

I decided that Contract C would be best for me, because I thought I'd surf in the morning before work, then on the long break (2 and a half hours) I'd write or study Chinese. Then I thought I'd go home around 4:30 and have the rest of the evening to write, study chinese, maybe fit in an evening surf, etc.

Now there are some experienced teachers out there who are reading this and laughing. What about lesson planning? Grading homework? Correcting tests?
And people who've taught children in Taiwan are probably laughing even harder. What about communication books? Performances? Crafts?
And people who've taught children in Taiwan at Hess are laughing hardest of all. There's a reason for that.

I ended up working for Hess because I tested positive on a tuberculosis skin test. This happened 3 months before I moved to Taiwan. Until I got a lung xray back proving that I couldn't pass on the highly contagious disease, I wasn't allowed to work (at the time I was working with teenagers)
It meant I was out US$4000.
My original plan was to go to Taiwan and find my own job- I'd read on peoples blogs and forums that this was the best way to go. But $4000 extra dollars were key to that plan (especially because I'd be traveling with a surfboard, which can be expensive to lug around).
I realized I'd need to go to Taiwan and start a job immediately- and Hess had a 30,000 nt interest free start up loan (about $900 US).

There was a lot of negative info on Hess in forums and blogs, but I decided beggars can't be choosers and my lack of money made me a beggar. I was ready to go to Taiwan- I didn't want to wait another couple of months to save up the money. (spoiler alert! I should have stayed in the states and saved up more money and not taken the job with Hess!)

Anyways, here's why I thought I would be safe at Hess:

Hess paid by the HOUR, not salary. In my mind, this meant that I was responsible for a certain amount of hours and then I could go home. I consciously chose a company that paid by the HOUR so they couldn't take advantage of me and my extra time with out compensating me.

Hess also provides lesson plans. Their contract requires that you show up 20 (unpaid) minutes early for each class. This seemed like a lot to me (working at least 40 minutes unpaid a day- geez!!!) but I decided that was okay, and would be better than planning my own lessons which would surely take longer than 20 minutes.

Also I chose contract C, (2 kindergarten classes) for a reason- no homework, no tests, and no real hard grammar work or anything. Plus dang it I love kids and they love me!!!!

I sincerely believed that I could be a good teacher to these children and only spend the required hours at Hess. Meaning the 4 and a half hours a day I was paid for, and the 40 minutes of unpaid preparation time that I agreed to come in for.

I was wrong. I was so dead wrong. I was so, dreadfully, horribly, unforgivably, painfully wrong.