Oh, you think 2021 is going to be better?
If a hyper-intelligent being took the time to invent a device capable of peering out into the vastness of space to locate other beings capable of such vast and hyper-intelligent notions of interstellar galactic observation, they would be so unfathomably disappointed when they pointed it our little insignificant blue planet, especially upon seeing billions of stupid apes arguing about why their great and powerful world leaders weren’t following the rules that they wrote down in a big important book of rules and how terribly unfair it was. In fact, from such a distance away, they might even be able to…
Why teaching abroad might be the lifeboat you’ve been looking for to escape your sinking homeland.
I just finished another one-year contract teaching English in South Korea (self-high-five). Having been paid a modest $2,200 (USD) a month, I made an effort to save about $1,000 from every paycheck. That’s $1,000 leftover for living expenses like food, entertainment, going out, etc. And the remaining $200 went toward my utilities. I don’t have a phone number, so that’s gas, internet, and electricity.
Okay, so who cares? Well, one year of teaching English has put a cool $12,000 into my savings account (and it has for the last four years). Thanks to the pension service given to all teachers…
“The only thing that is stopping you from where you are to where you want to go is your comfort zone. ”
It’s hard to explain world travel to anyone who has never done it. It’s like asking Van Gogh why he spent so much time painting when he could have just taken a photograph — or convincing an astronaut that it’s better to look through a telescope than going to space. While some people clothe themselves in comfort to cushion their lives from the nemeses of the world, those who seek adventure strip themselves of it.
Look, I get it. None of us can travel right now, and I’m not encouraging you to do so (yet). I know happiness can be…
Parents, pack up your troubles and send them off to camp!
After twelve months traveling the world, my girlfriend and I arrived in Canada’s capital city (that’s Ottawa, for the Americans), known for its winter festivals, politicians, smells of wet concrete, and a recent addition, legal cannabis. Here we were, a Canadian who had never smoked at home legally, a Korean who had never smoked at all, and my mother who hadn’t indulged since her youth. One night, we found ourselves on a bench in the park behind her condo, smoking a joint and reminiscing as the sun went down.
My stoned and smiling mother began to joke about how nice…
Stop making excuses you’re going to regret later.
There are two types of people in this world:
- People who travel.
- People who say they’re going to travel.
Every opportunity I get, I like to tell people how easy it is to travel. I would love to be that friend who starts every conversation with, “Well, when I was in Malaysia…” But I think that’s about the worst thing you can do to motivate someone to travel. I usually wait for a moment when someone says something along the lines, “I wish I could travel, but it’s 1. Too expensive, 2. Too difficult, 3. Not the right time”. …
How a love of teaching abroad happened accidentally, sort of.
On the first day I arrived in Korea, I was taken to a classroom by my new boss, a wheelchair-bound, smartly dressed man, who looked much less nervous than I did. He opened the door to what would become my classroom, and inside was a group of barely-literate E.S.L. high-school students staring blankly at my unshaven airplane-stubble.
“Class began a few minutes ago,” he said. “After fifty minutes, you can take the first break. Come down to meet the other teachers when you hear the bell.”
“What? Now? What should I do?”
He flourished his hand out towards them like…
The perfect travel films to feed your starving soul.
Traveling is for romantics, and nothing you say will change my mind on this. When you stand on the edge of a mountain in Nepal, you don’t care about practical stuff; your pained feet, your next hotel reservation. You stare into that wintery abyss, and you contemplate the mortality of life, how you may never find yourself in a moment like this ever again.
In this life, you do or die, and if you don’t do, then you die having never done. We only have to look to this COVID-19 situation to see that nothing is forever. …
Home is where the heart is, so put your heart into it.
If you’re like me, the safest place in life is your home. It’s where you start the day and where it ends at night. In a hectic and chaotic world filled with anxieties and sharks, it’s a place where you can always return to for a breath of fresh YOU. Adding some personality will only heighten your enjoyment of your home. However, comfort can breed stagnation, and this can apply to your home life as well. Change can be scary, but it can also bring new life to something familiar.
If you’re too focused on your daily life, or too…
Medium’s not-dead poet societies that need your verses.
Congratulations! Today is your day!
You’re off to submissions! You’re making headway!
You have aches in your head. You have hands on the keys.
You have stories that need, widespread release.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
But we’re the people who’ll decide where you’ll go!
To celebrate poetry and without further ado,
I present you the top pubs complete with haiku.
Haiku Hub
Followers: 2.3K
Submission Page: LINK
Editors: Sandy 🤺 Knight, Sherry Kappel
A place to connect,
mindfulness and subtraction.
Where less is mora.
American Haiku
Followers: 440 Submission Page: (Unclear) Editors: Jenny Justice, Heidi Franklin, Tapan Avasthi…
For when the usual relationship coupons have lost their charm.
Sharing isolation with your significant other can come with its own unique set of issues. The usual relationship coupons just aren’t going to cut it, but here are a few designed to help the quarantined couple survive together. You can’t go out for a fancy dinner, but at least you can give the gift of love.
Ethan Taylor
Writer. Mouth-breather. If I wrote as much as I sleep, I’d probably be famous. ethantaylor.substack.com
