Rushing to Brazil: Documents Required
Jupiter Island, Florida – SHHH, It’s a Secret.
There’s a beach just north of West Palm Beach, FL that should be packed, but it’s often empty. The water is clean, clear, and warm. There are limestone formations next to the shore. But, there are a limited number of parking spots that allows for the beach to not be too crowded.
Is Blowing Rocks Preserve a Florida secret?
Have you been here?
My $10 Itinerary – How I Get To Fly Around The World So Cheaply
Orlando to Little Rock, Arkansas- $0
Miami to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands – $0
Miami to Rome, Italy – $0
Miami to Havana, Cuba – $10
The above list is where I’ll be traveling to in the next 10 months and how much it cost me for the plane tickets.
Continue reading My $10 Itinerary – How I Get To Fly Around The World So Cheaply
Let’s Go Places: How Buying a Toyota Prius Changed My Life(style)
My name is Will Huff. I’m an instructor at Arkansas State University. I also have a small marketing company called Huff Media Services that helps support my teaching habit. In October 2015, my wife and I bought our first Toyota Prius. We knew that to build our business – we needed to see clients who were a few hours away – we would need to do a lot of driving and a Prius was the best way to help us cut our costs. We bought a used, silver, 2011 PriusII with 70,000 miles on it. We were instantly in love with our car. We were in love with the spaciousness of the hatchback and the headroom. We were in love with the quietness of the ride. Most of all, we were in love with the gas mileage. Since buying the Prius our lives have changed. We have gone to just about everywhere we can get to by car, we have seen so many new places, and my driving habits and lifestyle habits have changed for the better due to the purchase of our Prius. Continue reading Let’s Go Places: How Buying a Toyota Prius Changed My Life(style)
My New Favorite Road – I-84 in Oregon!
I’ve been to a lot of places and I have seen a lot of things. I have also read about many places that I have never been to, but want to experience someday. I did not imagine that there was a place, in the USA, that I had never heard of that could take my breath away and leave me in awe.
I was on a cross-country trip (which I will write about soon) and was cutting from Montana across to California. I imagined Washington as a mountain filled state with a lot to see and Oregon as just a state to get across to the coast. BOY WAS I WRONG! Continue reading My New Favorite Road – I-84 in Oregon!
This ESL Pop Culture Class Project Was a ‘Big Hit’
My level 3 Pop Culture class was a lot of fun. I got the opportunity to introduce my students, who were from six different countries, to American pop culture. This gives the students topics to talk about when assimilating into the American university. It helps the students to not be left out of conversations between future classmates. These topics are now familiar to the students. Also, it lets us practice and improve English skills in a fun manner. Continue reading This ESL Pop Culture Class Project Was a ‘Big Hit’
Super Students: Using Super Powers to Teach ESL
Cooperative work and peer assessment is a very large part of my ESL classes. I like the students to work together to build their understanding of English as a team. A group can be more successful than separate individuals trying to find their way. Group work also lets me move about the classroom and see what the students are working on and if there are issues arising.
This past semester at the university, I had level 3 speakers, students who were finally building a confidence with their command of the English language. These students were a little raw, but just needed that time to actually use the language. This is my favorite part of teaching, seeing the students begin to use the skills that that have learned in a way that impresses themselves.
I was teaching a pop culture class. In the class, we covered topics from movies, music, food, Furbies, and so on. One topic that the students seemed to gravitate to was super heroes and comic books. This lead to an idea that ended up paying big dividends. Continue reading Super Students: Using Super Powers to Teach ESL
Building Unity to Promote Learning in an ESL Classroom
One of the keys to a classroom like mine is that there will be a lot of group work. Peer cooperation plays a big role in my style.
My teaching style is communicative. That is that my style is focused on getting students to use the language. I like to have a loud class. Quiet does not mean learning to me. I focus my lessons on getting students to speak to each other. I hear myself speak a lot, so I like to hear the many accents of my classroom. Continue reading Building Unity to Promote Learning in an ESL Classroom
Inside a German Concentration Camp
January 27th, 1945. The U.S. soldiers had made their way to a German controlled city in Poland that horror stories had been coming from. Where the unimaginable was happening to human beings.
Auschwitz had a camp. Not just any camp, an extermination camp. A camp to kill other human beings on a mass scale. Continue reading Inside a German Concentration Camp
Weddings and Funerals – Wanderlust’s Hidden Price
Traveling isn’t cheap! That’s common knowledge, right? But there are people, like me, who find ways to go abroad and stay abroad for long periods of time. Many times, the price of plane tickets and lodging are small in comparison to some of the events that are missed while exploring the world.
Continue reading Weddings and Funerals – Wanderlust’s Hidden Price
Saving the “Rich” White Girl
In 2007, the average monthly income in Bangkok, Thailand was about 145 Euros. The average income in my home country of Germany was 2800 Euros, after taxes. The thing with the average income is that a lot of people earn less than that and only a very few lucky ones earn a lot more. I had way less than the average German income, because I was a student. Still, I wouldn’t work for less than 5 Euros per hour in Germany, let alone for 5 Euros a day like the average Thai person. And I am single, just imagine having to finance a family with that kind of money! Continue reading Saving the “Rich” White Girl
Getting Out of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil!
My title is a double entendre, because I bought my plane ticket to leave this wonderful Amazonian city and head back north, to the frigid Michigan winter, and I also took a trip outside of Manaus. A little trip to serve as the cherry on top of this extended stay.
For those who don’t know, Manaus is like an island to itself, in northern Brazil. There aren’t any major cities in Brazil that can be driven to. You have to take a boat or a plane. The only exception of driving to a big city is the highway that runs north from Manaus and goes 2000+ kilometers, all the way to Caracas, Venezuela. Continue reading Getting Out of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil!
I Choose Travel Over Children
As I scrolled through Facebook yesterday (Christmas), I saw a lot of happy smiling children with their new gifts. I saw families with tons of love for these children. I saw an amazing day for families.
I also saw a giant “Price Tag” on how much that Christmas costs parents. I saw kids with an Xbox, PS4, WiiU, iPhone, iPad, Laptop, and so on. When I saw these things, my first thought was, “that’s the price of a round-trip ticket to Mexico City!”
I guess it is the Wanderer in me that makes me compare prices of things to airline tickets. When I purchased my iPhone 6, I knew that I could go to Ireland for that cost, but I chose the phone instead.
That’s the thing for people with a travel “addiction” like I have, you begin to equate costs to adventures, expenses against the options of meandering across the globe.
You make lifestyle decisions based on what your goals are and what experiences that you choose to enjoy. Continue reading I Choose Travel Over Children
What Lit My Traveling Fire
A few weeks ago , I wrote about how the travel bug bit me. Reflecting on that article, I realized that I may have left out a key piece of what started the burning urge to travel inside of me.
As a young kid, I grew up in Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac is a suburb of Detroit with just about the same amount of problems. There is a high crime rate, a lot of gangs, a lot of drugs, and a lot of hopelessness.
When I was in school there, we never really addressed world geography and especially never talked about traveling the world. I feel that the schools there didn’t want to instill a false sense of hope in its students.
Continue reading What Lit My Traveling Fire
It’s Your Fault That You Don’t Travel the World – You Choose Not To!
“You’re SO lucky that you get to travel the world!”
“Not everyone can just drop what they’re doing and hop on a plane like you do.”
“I want to some day, but I haven’t had the chance to travel.”
If I got a dollar for every time I heard these sayings in one form or another, I’d have a plane ticket to Bora Bora bought and paid for!
Everyone has an excuse for not traveling. Many even have animosity towards me for doing all of the traveling that I do. I sense the negative vibe in their tone and how they say things like, “We all aren’t you, Will. We cannot just up and leave.”
Well guess what? YOU CHOOSE TO NOT BE LIKE ME! There, I said it! Better yet,
YOU CHOOSE NOT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD! Continue reading It’s Your Fault That You Don’t Travel the World – You Choose Not To!
5 Things I Miss About South Korea
In 2011, I was blessed with the opportunity to work in South Korea as an English teacher. I was in a “little village” of only 300,000 called Iksan.
Iksan was a 3 hour bus ride from Seoul, S. Korea’s capital, and a 3 hour train ride from Busan, S. Korea’s 2nd largest metropolis. So I traveled across and back and forth and up and down through Korea.
I took in as much of Korea as I could. Continue reading 5 Things I Miss About South Korea
New Music – Why Awake
Why Awake, a collective mainly consisting of Aaron Joseph Newman as the main writer and singer/rapper along with Kori Munson, known professionally as Apollo Lane, as producer, has successfully sunk their teeth into the Electro-Pop/Alternative Rap genres. The ranging styles of songs on their self-titled album have made it difficult to directly pin down exactly where Why Awake stands in terms of genre specifics. With songs such as ‘Slider’ and ‘Neon Morphine’ that fit in a genre with The Weeknd and Portugal. The Man paired along side of ‘So So,’ ‘Start Over,’ and ‘Rita’ which can put WA in the realms of Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran, in conjunction with ‘Things We Do for Fun’ and ‘VTN’ that are closer to Kid Cudi, the album is a musical odyssey through different styles that are all connected by the crisp and consistent production. Aaron Joseph Newman excels as a crooner and a rapper across the entire project.
The feel of the ‘Why Awake’ album is that of someone reaching into the depths of their emotions and pulling them out for someone else to see and relate to. Drawing on the pains of losing parents to cancer and losing lovers to others, Aaron’s writing provokes emotions. Even on a song such as ‘Jackie Kennedy’ that has an upbeat, toe-tapping sound, the lyrics pull on the pains associated with relationships. But, through all of that, the message of continuing to push through and to succeed are clear in the lyrics.
‘Why Awake’ is something new that also feels familiar. Something refreshing in a world of cookie-cutter albums.
‘Slider,’ the lead single off of Why Awake’s self-titled debut album, is now available across all platforms.
iTunes: https://t.co/XPdHLCzCM8
YouTube: https://t.co/1I2RIrdpnM
Spotify: https://t.co/wMV9z77oc1
Tidal: https://t.co/58v5MQI0Q4
Pokémon Go Strategy Leading Up to the Fest.
As the Fire and Ice event wraps up for Pokémon Go players, the question has turned to, “What next?” I’m going to share my personal strategy for how I’ll approach the next month leading up to Pokémon Go Fest on July 22.
What we know from Niantic is that the gym system is going away for at least the next month. That means that a lot of what Pokémon Go players have focused on, winning and maintaining gyms, will no longer be available, there is an uncertainty around what to do in this time period of gymlessness. My idea is – BULK UP!
NEXT LEVEL:
I’m going to spend the next few weeks attempting to level up and gain as much XP as possible.
I’m using my current stash of coins on lucky eggs. I will strategically evolve as many Pokémon as I can while the lucky eggs are giving me the double XP. I currently sit at level 33 with 950,000 XP needed to get to level 34. So I’m going to attempt to level up by July 22.
CATCH EVERYTHING:
I’m going to catch every Pokémon that I come across. I’m going to spend my time collecting candy and XP by catching anything that I come across. I don’t care how many of them that I have caught before, I’m going to catch it. I want to be in a position to have hundreds of evolves in the next month to help me gain 1,000,000 XP. Catching everything is the best way that I’ll be able to level up. Also, I will gain a ton more Stardust in the process. Also, I can consistently use up my Pokéballs and generate more Great Balls and Ultra Balls.
BAG MANAGEMENT:
My bag is filled up with a lot of revives and potions that will not be needed while there are no gyms. I’m going to remove all of those and focus on filling up my bags with Pokéballs and berries. I can spend time in the week leading up to Pokémon Go Fest replenishing the potions. With my main focus on leveling up and catching everything, I want to have the maximum amount of balls available.
GET STRONGER:
I want to max out as many high CP Pokémon as I can. With the can’t and Stardust I’ll have from catching everything, I should be able to power up many of my stronger Mon to max level. I want to have the strongest lineup I can have by the time July 22 rolls around.
MY LOGIC:
Why am I going to focus on leveling up and getting stronger? There are two reasons. The first reason is, there most likely with me player vs player fighting coming soon. So I want to be in a position of power versus the other players that I come across. So I want to me at the highest level with the strongest Pokémon. I want to be able to win more than I lose.
Most importantly, LEGENDARY POKÉMON!! If Legendary Pokemon are finally released, players may have to fight the Pokémon and weaken it before being able to catch it. So I want to be as strong as I can to be able to catch them! I’m not sure exactly how the process will be, but I want to be prepared.
Let me know what your strategy is going to be as we make our way to July 22 and Pokémon Go Fest, where we hopefully will have PVP and Legendary Pokémon to keep up occupied for the rest of the summer.
Positives Democrats can take away from a Trump victory
- The GOP just move left…BIGLY.
Trump is not a righteous Christian with impeccable morels. He is the embodiment of the uncouth average Joe who cusses and calls himself a Christian without really being active in religion. Also, Republican voters have now relinquished the ownership of moral high ground that they were hanging onto for political decisions. They decided that a brazen, deeply flawed, businessman was OK to lead, which means that they can no longer point fingers at democrats who go against their morals.
- Trump has been a democrat forever!
He was a Hillary supporter before he wasn’t. Also, his first promises in his acceptance speech were infrastructure work and tax payer funded jobs – mirroring President Obama’s “shovel-ready” recovery plan. Though he wishes to cut taxes, he also wishes to spend money to rebuild the nation – a la Roosevelt. Another thing, he has never said that he wishes to end abortion. His policies lean left from people like Mitt Romney and Ted Cruz.
- Trump has not shied away from supporting LGBT people.
I know that he has talked about signing the religious freedom act, but he specifically mentioned that he will work to protect members of the LGBT community at the Republican convention. With promises of protection, we can see where he goes with stances on the LGBT issues.
- Trump wants to fix inner cities.
To me, this is the biggest of the promises he made in his acceptance speech. He said that he will fix the inner cities. The inner cities are broken and this often leads to the people living there as being broken. There are few educational opportunities for betterment in these communities. There are few options for learning trades in these communities, and there are even fewer financial opportunities for the people of the inner cities. If he can get proper resources to the areas that need them the most, maybe there can be hope in areas where their last hopes hinged on promises from President Obama that never came to fruition. If he can give hope to a group of people who feel disenfranchised, we can help keep people out of jail, off of drugs, and help them earn money and be viable parts of the economic recovery.
- Trump is for the worker.
Trump knows that his businesses rely on the American people having money in their pockets. He also has noticed that the majority of Americans have no extra cash to spend golfing and at resorts. Trump has repeated said that he wants American workers to have higher wages. He has been pressing about having higher wage jobs returning to the USA. Also, he wants to have a returned focus on trades, so workers can learn a specialty and earn more money. More money could equal more spending and more jobs.
Please feel free to add or take a way in the comments, I just ask that that those who comment respect each other.
Timothy Bloom – The Beginning
Timothy Bloom – The Beginning
2-Time Grammy winner Timothy Bloom has released ‘The Beginning,’ the first part of an upcoming EP trilogy. The soulful crooner is back in his groove with this release.
‘The Beginning’ is a refreshing mix of guitar driven -almost punk rock- tracks and ole-timey soul/jazz/blues feelings.
Timothy has released four songs from the EP on Soundcloud so far, ‘Howl at the Moon,’ ‘Work it Out,” Me and Myself,” and “Still.”‘
The Beginning’ is featured on iTunes.
How to Choose the Evolution of your Eevee in Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go has been the biggest smash hit of 2016. People all over the world are playing the game nonstop. It has been a giant boost for Nintendo and a great catalyst for exercise!
There are many things in the game that seem random, and many trying to figure out how to control what your Eevee evolves into.
Redditor smithnigel posted about a trick he found to choose the evolution of your Eevee in Pokemon Go.
It would seem that there is in fact a way to force an evolution of your Eevee. The Eevee Brothers from the original anime were named Rainer, Pyro, Sparky and they owned a Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon respectively. If you nickname your Eevee either Rainer, Pyro or Sparky, your Eevee will evolve into that desired Eeveelution!
Sparky = Jolteon
Rainer = Vaporeon
Pyro = Flareon
I have tried it on a few Eevees and so have friends, and we’ve seen a 100% success rate. Feel free to give it a try and post back here with results!
I have tried it, along with a few others and it is 100% so far. Watch the video below to see it in action.
“Ultraviolet” by Aaron Joseph Newman
Aaron Joseph Newman has released his latest track, “Ultraviolet,” accompanied by a video that captures “a night of partying that may not be remembered, but the actions of the night will never be forgotten.”
The track is produced by Apollo Lane and is featuring Chelsea McIntosh.
I have a feeling that this well-produced, catchy track is going to become a staple of summer of ’16 playlists.
Connect with Aaron Joseph Newman on Facebook.
www.aaronjosephnewman.com Continue reading “Ultraviolet” by Aaron Joseph Newman
Korean Food
I’m not going to write a long post, I just want to say that I love Korean food and have already had so much good food in just a couple of days.
Iced Coffee – Korean Style 
Jajangmyeon
Bar side dishes
Spicy chicken pizza 
Potato pizza
Breakfast
Gimbap
A raw fish “salad”
breakfast
Breakfast buffet
Pork cutlet
Cold noodle soup
Worldwide Huff 
