Travis on Tour

Annnnnnnnnnd I'm Back

2008-02-12T15:45:42Z

I thought it fitting that as the writer’s strike seems to be winding to a close, I finally have time to pick up my laptop again. And I better hurry before new episodes of The Office come online to distract me. I didn’t really plan to take a two-mo...

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Throwing it all out the window

2007-12-11T02:41:35Z

As I’ve noted before, the school that I work at is intense. Where most hagwons sing songs in English and watch old episodes of Friends as part of their 45-minute classes, our kids sit through three-hour sessions twice a week, taking home piles of ...

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Rub a dub. With half the city.

2007-12-04T15:31:51Z

Anyone who knows me can attest to my love for showers and baths. I’m sure it’s closely related to my love for singing extremely loudly in a tiled room, but wherever I’ve lived, I’ve always set up some sort of stereo system in or around the bathroo...

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A True American Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T16:21:42Z

Living abroad during the holiday season is a time when most foreigners get together to commiserate the distance separating them from their families and the giant, home-cooked goodness that generally accompanies all the festivities. Thanksgiving ha...

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Travis on Wheels

2007-11-21T06:04:54Z

To say I’m impulsive is akin to saying Kim Jung-il has control issues; once I get something in my head, it usually ends up happening. That afternoon. Which is why I was only mildly surprised to find myself flying down a Korean highway on my newly ...

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Do I Sound American Now?

2007-11-08T14:35:03Z

One of the things that attracted me to the private English academy that I ended up working for was their class structure – for a brand new teacher, it was extremely comforting to know that basically every minute of a three hour class has already b...

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Doctor's Office, Take Three

2007-11-06T15:03:48Z

When I woke up this past Saturday with a slight sore throat, I immediately blamed my director, who had taken us out for dinner and endless bottles of Soju on Friday night. When the sore throat blossomed to include a fever and the inability to swal...

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Knock on Blessed Wood with Your Fingers Crossed

2007-10-29T18:00:53Z

I go back and forth on whether or not I’m a good teacher pretty much on a daily basis. It’s not that I think I’m a bad teacher, but when it comes to explaining the past participle preterit perfect, or any of the other finer points of the English l...

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Scrubs on Parade

2007-10-24T14:53:03Z

When I was “hired” by my school via email back in New York, I was told my employment was conditional on my successful completion of a week-long training program and, in big black letters: PASSING A MEDICAL EXAM. At three separate points during the...

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What They Really Think

2007-10-19T12:02:13Z

After one of our breaks in class last night, I returned to find a sketch my kids drew of yours truly on the board: I laughed for five minutes straight. And then gave them a pop quiz.

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