I’m a bit late with this but I figure it’s better late than never. April 4th marked my third blog-o-versary, that is, three years since I started this blog. Except for a brief spell in 2012 due to a busy work and travel schedule, I’ve tried to be as consistent as possible by posting once or twice a week. I guess it runs in the family since my Dad is a writer and an editor, too. Thanks Dad! (Shameless plug: though retired from his career as an agricultural newspaper editor, he currently publishes his own stock market news letter geared toward Canadian farmers. If you want to know more, get in touch with me and I’ll send you the contact info.)
I started this blog merely as an online journal (and to alleviate my Mom’s fears) about my travels through SE Asia after a year of teaching ESL in South Korea. However, when I returned to Winnipeg and finished writing about my travels, I found I wanted to keep writing. But, in order to have something to write about, I reasoned, I needed to keep travelling. Since then I’ve continued to work and travel all over the world.
Here are a few articles that have typically brought the most traffic to this site.
- Vietnam. One post that gets the most hits, mostly because of its title, is my trip through Vietnam. Don’t worry, it’s complete safe for work but let’s just say the words “Vietnam, girl, dog” generate some (un?)wanted search results. Read all about my little run in with an “English student” in Hanoi and the craziness that ensued.
- Krakow. Next, lots of people seem to find my website by searching “Krakow” and the “shit head”. Go figure, but that seems to attract a lot of folks.
- Teaching English abroad. I wrote a few articles for Art of Backpacking a while ago and, as a result, many folks email me about doing that. If you’d like to know more about teaching ESL abroad, I now have a dedicated page where you’ll find all sorts of information on the subject. I was thinking of combining those posts into a small “eguide” for those who don’t have time to spend on the internet all day.
- Music reviews. As for music, my music review pages seem to garner quite a few views, particularly the South Korean music and the Winnipeg music.
- Travel Videos. I’ve recently posted a whole bunch of videos from my travels on YouTube. Most of them are unedited and are done in a “documentary style”, that is to say, some of them are kinda shaky. There’s a lot of music in there and a few adventure-related videos, too.
Over the last three years I’ve learned quite a bit about writing, how the internet works, marketing, business, and how to travel better. By keeping this blog, I’ve had to become a keen observer of things around me. Lately I’ve been working a lot on the music and movie portion of my travels.
Finally, a huge shout out to my brother Jon who takes care of a lot of the server-related stuff and, most definitely, thank you too al of you who have taken the time to stop by, read and comment on my posts. I really do appreciate it.
Thanks for all of your support over the years! Here’s looking forward to another three (or more?!?!?!) years of writing!
Please keep the comments and emails coming along! You can get in touch with me through email stevensirski [at] gmail [dot] com or follow me on Twitter @stevensirski!