Backpacking on Little Money
A Novel c2007 J. Altamirano
Cybele’s Crosstown Quest
September 27th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
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How much trouble would a girl go through to prove she’s self-sufficient, not needing any one, especially a man?
Follow Cybele as she trains to become a backpacker and discovers her inner self and strengths.
Chapter 11?now online.
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Tags: backpacking, Belo Horizonte, books, Brazil, Fiction, Literature, Novel, self-help, Travel, travel lit, travel tips, Writing Posted in 1, Entertainment, Fiction, Literature, Novel, Stories, Travel, Writing, books | No Comments »
ESL Stock Phrases
September 26th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
Teaching English won’t let you save up for your next airplane ticket, not in the short run, but at least it will pay for your food and rent while you hang out in some country.
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The following ESL stock phrases will guarantee you a job anywhere. It’s the sort of stuff English school coordinators don’t fully understand but love to pretend they do. And if you don’t flinch while saying these phrases, you’ll have your interviewer touching her chin and nodding approvingly, which means that you’re in. Next thing you know, you’ll be called in for training, and be teaching the following week.
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Here’s what you do. While being interviewed by the school’s coordinator, wait for a hole in the conversation and in your savviest of voices say ponderingly any of the following:
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?* I feel there is still goodness in the Communicative Approach.
?* It pains me to see how Corpus Linguistics?was so neglected all the past decade.
?* That’s just the type of thing Stephen Krashen?would disagree / agree on.
?* You know what they say, “It’s all in the Affective Filter”.
?* If there’s anything this world needs desperately, it’s more STT?[Student Talking Time].
?* I like to throw in some Lexical Approach?every now and then to spice things up in class.
?* For some time now, I’ve thought of “Teaching” and “English” as a collocation. Just like “Nobel” and “Peace Prize”.
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Good Luck!
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(I know it probably isn’t fair, but if you’re a native English speaker, you won’t really be needing any luck. I can attest to that. I’ve landed ESL jobs just by reciting Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss in my interviews. I’m that shameless.)
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You can find more travel tips at BOLM, the online novel disguised as a guide book, and your source for traveling on fumes. Come back tomorrow for Chapter 11. Or check out the most recent chapter uploaded by clicking ?> here.
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Tags: backpacking, CLT, Dr. Seuss, EFL, English, ESL, Fiction, job interviews, Literature, Novel, teaching, TEFL, TESL, TESOL, Travel, travel lit, travel tips Posted in 1, Entertainment, Fiction, Literature, Novel, Stories, Travel, Writing | No Comments »
Travel Skill #6:
September 23rd, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
You can make yourself a drinking cup in one quick step.
With your Swiss Army knife, cut the bottom off of a plastic bottle, and voila! A drinking cup for free.
Learn more travel tips at Backpacking on Little Money, your guide to traveling on the cheap.
Tags: backpacking, Fiction, Literature, Novel, Travel, travel lit, travel tips, Writing Posted in Entertainment, Fiction, Literature, Novel, Stories, Travel, Writing | No Comments »
Fighting Instant Ramen Withdrawal
September 20th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
If backpacking were a paid profession, then Instant Ramen Dependence (IRD) (or Nissin Syndrome, a.k.a. NS) would be an occupational hazard, and there’d be some support for the travelers out there, trying to break the habit. So until then, how do you deal with the symptoms of ramen withdrawal?
Well, the trick is to separate your mind 100 feet from the craving. 100 feet just so happens to be how far instant ramen noodles will stretch out when laid out end to end. Is this too zen?
Then check out Backpacking on Little Money, your guide to the lesser discussed topics of the backpacking trade. You’ll find the answer to this and other obscure questions in this serialized novel disguised as a guide book.
Every Thursday, a new installment. Chapter 10 now online!
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Throwing together a “Kerouac” Stove
September 13th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
You might think the ultimate backpacker stove is some state-of-the-art achievement in materials technology from 3M, Dupont, or the Lockheed Skunkworks. Something with a name strung up with words like:
Titanium-Micro-Polymerized-Multilinear-Fuel
-Aspersing-Volatile-Canisterless-Stealth-Doohickey.
I’ll tell you one thing. A true backpacker would never own one (plus let’s face it, he’s penniless to begin with, and couldn’t afford the expense).
And yet, from where you least expect it, right out of the pages of a great travel lit classic, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road; comes the ultimate ?and truest? backpacker stove!
Here’s the excerpt, and below, the images. You’ll know what to do : )
“Then we had to eat, and didn’t do so till midnight, when we found a nightclub singer in her hotel room who turned an iron upside down on a coat hanger in the wastebasket and warmed up a can of pork and beans.” ?On the Road, Part 2, Chapter 10
Check out Backpacking on Little Money. This week, in Chapter 9, we hear of the first rumors of a final and definitive travel guide called “Trip Compendia”.
Happy Traveling!
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Travel Skill #5: Hitching Rides
September 6th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
A skilled hitchhiker is in fact a traveling salesman. The difference is that his customers are all car or truck drivers, and the service he sells, is the once-in-a-lifetime chance of giving him a ride. So, before you set out on your first big backpacking excursion, take a crash course on sales tactics. You’ll surprise yourself how far you can patter yourself to.
Check out BOLM to learn more backpacking secrets from Jack Traveler, the master himself. This week in Chapter 8, Ethan has an epiphany of sorts, and learns a great truth of life, that dogs always remain cute, and they never lie.
Backpacking on Little Money. Every Thursday, a brand spanking new chapter.
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Travel Skill #17: Stopping the Hostel Sink
August 29th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
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Travel Skill #17 is ?meant to save you good money, and it calls for a simple piece of plumbing gear you can pick up virtually anywhere, no matter what country you’re traveling in.
It’s made of rubber, it’ll cost you measly cents, and probably came from China. Yes! I’m talking ’bout the universal sink plug.
With it, stop the hostel sink, and wash your cargo pants and T-shirts. Skip the laundromat altogether.
For those of you, regular followers of Jack Traveler, he said you could even use Play-Doh to stop a sink, and he often did.?
Want to learn more? Check out Backpacking on Little Money, your source for traveling on no Doh. Every Thursday, a new Chapter.
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Backpackers are people too
August 24th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
If you ever thought backpackers were a carefree happy-go-lucky lot, well, guess again. They do have sad days too, you know. And they starve. And they get lonely. And they catch weird colds while being hundreds of thousands of miles away from their homes and their countries, and no, there’s no one there to go to the market for them or make them a nice cup of chicken soup. It is in times like these, when your only?friend becomes a book. Welcome to “Backpacking on Little Money”. It’s a book disguised as a guide, that lets you in a little more, into the world of compulsive travelers. Every Thursday, a new chapter!
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Chapter 5 now online!!!
August 16th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
Follow the backpacking adventurers of Ethan Zara and Jack Traveler. Chapter 5 just posted!
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Chapter 4 just posted!
August 9th, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
This is in a fact a novel disguised as a How-To Backpacking manual. Every Thursday, a new installment!
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So what’s this story all about?
August 1st, 2007 by Backpacking On Little Money
If you’re a backpacker, or just curious about backpackers, read about Ethan. He’s been backpacking the world for over ten years, and all he wants now is out. Check Thursdays for new installments of this serialized novel.
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Novel | No Comments »
Pages
About the Author
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter _10
Chapter _11
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