Naomi Arnold

Writer's Biography

Naomi Arnold is a freelance writer living between New Zealand and the rest of the world.

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Featured Travel Stories in Oriental Tales Magazine

Bali, Indonesia: Landing in Bali - Story by Naomi Arnold
- 8th Online Issue

“This passport photo, it is not good.”

It isn’t good. I had glandular fever that day, and my eyes were glassy, my hair a wild dark nest.

“No, it’s crap,” I agree.

“Naomi,” he says, squinting at my passport. “It’s Japanese name, yes?”

“I think it’s Hebrew,” I say.

“Japanese,” he says decisively, handing it back to me. “Ah! You’re from New Zealand! Kia ora!”
His white teeth flash and I can’t help grinning back. Welcome to Bali.

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South Korea: Chicken Soup for the Sinus - Story by Naomi Arnold
- 6th Online Issue

It's winter in Korea, and the rich, hazy green of summer is a distant, luscious memory. Hayley and I shiver in our classrooms, our students wrapped up in bright, loud fluffy hats and jackets, their raucous energy only briefly dampened by the cold. As nine of them leap over chairs and tables in the tiny room, I sit stiffly, my knees burning from the useless fan heater. I wish my students would keel over and drop to the floor, frozen solid like a row of brightly coloured Popsicles. I croak a half-hearted "choyangeeay!" But it's futile, and the noise and screams continue. They're meant to be taking a test. I huddle into my heater and think darkly of the hours I wasted frolicking in the sun a few months ago.

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