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Tag: day in my life

A Day in the Life of an ALT in Japan

December 2, 2014June 29, 2019 by Kendra B., posted in Interac, Japan, Lifestyle, Living Abroad, Q&A, Teaching English, Travel Stories

The one in which I break down my day, hour by hour, and tell you exactly what a day in my life as an Interac ALT at a Jr. high in rural Japan looks like.

Tagged day in my life, Interac, teaching in japan6 Comments

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“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” It’s been exactly one month since my cohort left Chipembi to go be sworn in as actual, real Peace Corps Volunteers. One week since my host sister there called me and asked me to come back. 💔 Being a RED volunteer and today officially being the last day of the school term leaves me with a lot of time to miss people. My family and friends back home and around the world, especially as we near the holidays. My family in Chipembi, who in three months carved out a permanent place in my heart. It also leaves me with a lot of time to reflect on my life—where I’ve been and where I’m going, and why I’ve made the decisions I have. I think I’ll come to know myself better than I ever have during my service, where I’ll be serving my community in any way I can and where I’m far removed from the habits, lifestyle, and people I’m familiar with. And I’m also going to be able to truly enjoy the smaller moments of life, like charcoal (finally!!) being delivered today, my very first attempts at lighting my brazier, playing soccer with my incredibly skilled host brothers at a moments notice in my pajamas, and waiting for the kettle to boil (finally getting to ditch the mug over a candle technique) while listening to Christmas music and waiting for the rain to start. I’ve found myself a good life surrounded by great people here, and I’m excited to see who I am at the very core and where that knowledge will take me. . . . #peacecorps #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #slowdowntolookaround #zambia #mindfulliving #livingabroadlife #findingmyself #deardiary
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” I’ve been in my own little house in my village for almost two weeks now and I’m happy. Meeting new people and putting myself out there has always been a challenge for me (especially when you can’t confidently say anything past exchanging names in the local language) so I won’t say it’s been easy, but it’s been setting the foundation for the life I’m going to be living here for the next two years. My host family have been so wonderful about including me while also giving me some space to settle in, unpack, and figure things out. The teachers and heads at my school have stuffed me with popcorn every day and have made me hopeful and excited about the work we will be doing together in the future! Many of them are around my age and we make each other laugh so hard!—making the days fly by and keeping us excited to come back the next day, despite the many challenges we face. Today is a rainy one, something my host family and the rest of the community desperately need so they can start planting their crops and making a living. I’m cozy in my house (no leaks!) and thinking about the coming week of meetings with Peace Corps, a trip back to this awesome market in Mkushi, and Thanksgiving surrounded by, not family, but new friends who have chosen the same path as me at this time for a million different reasons. As always though, I’m super excited for gravy! Here’s to new beginnings in a country I’m slowly becoming familiar with and a week of feeling grateful for everyone and everything in my life. I must be the most blessed person in the whole world! 🥰 . . #peacecorps #peacecorpszambia #zambia #markets #exploremore #thankfulgratefulblessed #slowdowntolookaround #howiseepc #pcvlife
“And into the bush I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” And just like that training is over and I’ve traded in the T for a V! I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer now and have been moved into my site for two and a half days. My house is unpacked, a work in progress, and I’m in love! My host family here is made up of at least seven of the sweetest people, give or take many more extended family members and neighbors always coming and going. I greeted my school today and even though the year is winding down and it’s exam season they’ve got a lot of plans for me to hit the ground running. I won’t be bored this school break! Somehow I even wound up a part of the meeting that was planning the Grade 11 final English exam with plans to do Grades 10 & 8 tomorrow... Successfully hitchhiked for the first time (supervised by many kind bamaayos) to go get cash from the atm I forgot to stop at on moving day. Nothing like figuring out a 2-hour round trip visit to Mkushi for my first ever truly solo travel around Zambia! Went super smooth, people here are SO friendly!! Two days and all these adventures—bring on the next two years in this wonderful community! #peacecorpszambia #peacecorps #howiseepc #movingday #zambia #adventureisoutthere #pcvlife #slowdowntolookaround
“I am all the places in which I’ve left my heart.” Welcome to my first home in Zambia! This is the view from my doorstep looking left, at my host family’s house, kitchen, chicken coop, and garden (behind the trees in back). In my two months here I have learned how to cook shima on a brazier, how heavy water is, how hard washing clothes without a machine is, studied Icibemba, gotten laughed at when trying to use said Bemba, created lesson plans, cut myself chopping rape and cabbage, taken bucket baths under the Milky Way, filtered untold liters of water, swept my house for an hour and still find it dusty, killed hundreds of ants and spiders, laughed until I cried, been amazed at the hint of arm muscle I now have, chased chickens, relaxed in the shade with new friends, and, most importantly, spent hours on end with my family here. My host grandma (bamama) is my favorite person. We dance in the morning because it’s too early and we need to wake up somehow, she patiently taught me how to survive on my own without all the conveniences I’m used to, and she’s constantly looking out for me. My three host sisters try to tickle me, get tickled back, play all kinds of games, come running when I get home, and teach me about their lives in the village. When I came back from my site visit and got the biggest hugs and screams when I showed up, I realized how much I’ve come to love this family and how much I’m going to miss them when I leave for good in just under two weeks. A piece of my heart is staying here, for sure, and I’m already trying to figure out how I can make it back to visit this home away from home. 💕 . . #simpleliving #peacecorps #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #peacecorpstraining #hostfamilylove #slowdowntolookaround #zambia
“You must learn to trust that there is a future waiting for you that is beyond what you might be able to grasp at this present moment.” This time last year I hadn’t even thought about the Peace Corps yet. I was still spending too much time on YouTube and feeling like I wanted to do more but not knowing what or how. Today is my last full day of site visit, the four days we get during training to come to the village where we will be posted for our two years of service to meet our host families, see our schools, tour the village, and see what still needs to be done to our houses. I never want to leave! I feel so at home here already, in this forest full of ducks and chickens and dogs and goats, and my host family are the kindest, most welcoming people in Zambia yet! And that is truly saying something because I have yet to meet an unwelcoming person. I have two parents I can’t describe as anything other than jolly, a very young sister, and at least five host brothers of varying ages (they keep coming in and out it’s hard to keep track!). They are teaching me how generous a person can be and I am humbled by them. My host mom (bamaayo) took me to their garden for the first time today and if you say I don’t live in the most beautiful place in the world I’ll tell you you’re a liar! Pictures just can’t capture the white sand, blue sky, white clouds, green trees, fields and meadows accurately. I can’t stop smiling here and I can’t wait until November when I can come back to stay! I never would have believed I would be in this place, at this time, but I’m infinitely grateful that somehow it happened. . . . #simpleliving #peacecorps #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #peacecorpstrainee #slowdowntolookaround #wildgardens #subsistencefarming #findingbalance
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” We’ve been at our cluster sites—sites current education volunteers in our newly assigned province have been living and working in and then volunteered to have us live with them for about a week—for four days now and it’s been a truly great experience. I’ve learned more in a few days here about what my life in Zambia will look like than ever! We’ve observed lessons taught by the senior volunteer and a Zambian English teacher, we’ve taught two lessons each to fifth and sixth grades (one of mine was HIV prevention), we got to sit down with the volunteer’s wonderful host parents to talk about Zambian superstitions, traditions, and funerals. We heard about Zambian births from our taxi driver this morning (who also happens to be a teacher and expecting father!). We’ve planned lessons, bought fritters, studied Bemba, cleaned, cooked, been taken care of by our so generous host, survived our first thunderstorm in country, and enjoyed the company and stories from the real life experiences of an education volunteer in Central Province. I was hesitant at first, but I’m so glad to be assigned to Central Province and having these experiences! This morning we went to Kundalila Falls and I fell irrevocably in love! We were the only people at this National Monument and the entire area is absolutely stunning. It’s definitely a trek, even for a car, down a dirt road to get there but it’s so worth it! As the days go by I know I’m in the right place for me right now. I’m eternally grateful for this experience, these people, and this place. I can’t wait to see what the next two years have in store! . . #peacecorpszambia #peacecorps #howiseepc #slowdowntolookaround #kundalilafalls #zambia #centralprovince #waterfalls #localtravel
“You’re not in the middle of nowhere, you’re in the middle of somewhere.” My new favorite quote and a perfect description because today I finally found out where I will be serving as an education volunteer for the next two years! Central Province, in the middle of somewhere in this area smack in the middle of Zambia—between Serenje and Mkushi. Google Maps can’t even find this place but I know there are students, parents, and community members waiting for me there who will change me in ways that I can’t even imagine yet! I only hope that I can bring even half the value to their lives that my host family here has already brought to mine. Here’s to a challenging and educational two years and let me go all in! 💪 . . #peacecorps #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #homesweethome #slowdowntolookaround #movingdayiscoming
It’s been exactly one month since I landed in Zambia for the first time with thirty-five other people whose names I still couldn’t remember. We’ve been through a lot together since then from trying to cram the local languages into our heads, sitting through endless hours of technical learning sessions on every topic, visiting the area Chief and presenting him with a bag of Mealy Meal and a live chicken, our field trip to Lusaka where we left behind our sheltered area of Zambia and experienced the real thing for a few hours, learning how to bike up hills and get beautiful chitenge clothes made, to today where we hijacked the Center projector and watched the first three episodes of ATLA! . We complain to each other about everything and we get excited together about everything and in just one week we’ll be scattered all over the country to visit our assigned sites for the first time! It’s an exciting time of PCT but being separated from everyone and not having them to go through these new experiences with me to compare notes is going to be lonely. . I’m glad to know we’ll all be together again soon and to see what villages we all get assigned to this week! Blessed to know each one of them and I can’t wait to continue our education journey here! (The cows are an example of one of our village traffic jams, the others being chickens, goats, hills, and groups of really cute kids that want to talk with us 😍). . . #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #zambia #slowdowntolookaround #newfriendsnewplaces #bikingadventures
I’ve just started my fourth week as a Peace Corps Trainee and the schedule is madness! We start at 8am every Monday through Saturday and work our way through lessons on health, safety, Zambian culture, teaching, TEFL subjects (like grammar), cross cultural awareness and sensitivity, our local language (mine is Bemba), bike maintenance, and anything else they think we might need to know in the next two years. We get out at 17:00 (5pm) and I bike home with the sunset which is awful and awesome at the same time. Awful because hills and biking and me don’t really mix well and awesome because every sunset looks this breathtaking (and the camera can’t even do it justice)! I get back a bit after 18:00 and my family has a bucket of hot water I can wash with, I’ll wash my hair if there’s enough daylight left or just leave it for the next day if there’s not. I spend time with my host family learning how to cook on either a wood fire or a charcoal brazier, trying and failing to speak understandable Bemba, and then eating their super delicious food (best part!). I hide from people and the world after dinner to either read, study Bemba (what I should be doing now), or watch something on my phone using questionable service. Bed no later than 20:30, another beautiful part of being here, and up at 5:30-6 to sweep my hut, get ready, and do it all again! I’m constantly exhausted, but it’s such a cool experience so far, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! 😍 . #peacecorpszambia #howiseepc #zambia #slowdownandlookaround #peacecorps #backtoschool #dayinthelife #sunset
Do you like my new house? I’m a little in love! The thatch means I’m still pretty cool even as hot season is breathing down our necks—though sweeping has become a seriously needed daily routine! My host grandma, host mom, and three little host sisters live a few yards to my left and on my right is my toilet and outdoor shower (bucket style). Minimalism is more appealing than ever as this room fits a 2’x2’ wooden desk, a twin bed, my hiking backpack, and my PC provided bike. No more, no less. After my first language test this morning my family taught me how to make cabbage with tomato and shallot, amazing fried eggs, and the country favorite nshima for lunch over a brazier of charcoal. After they teach me to wash dishes without a sink this afternoon my three sisters are taking me to the local dam again to play games with their friends. I guess you could say life is feeling pretty good right now! We’ve got one whole week of PCT down with ten more to go! . . #peacecorpszambia #peacecorpscribs #howiseepc #peacecorps #learningisfun #thatchedcottage #zambia #slowingdowntolookaround
“There is no better friend than a sister.” 💕 It’s been exactly two weeks (and some few hours) since my little sister got MARRIED! I’m so glad you’re having the most wonderful honeymoon with your husband (used to saying that yet? 😜) and this was just the happiest day! I’m so grateful to have you cheering me on and as excited for me as I am for you. I love you seester and I can’t wait to stalk more of your honeymoon photos and hear all the stories when I see you again! 💕 (Sorry to all the wonderful bridesmaids I cut out of this really pretty picture, but this crop is my phone background right now and I love it so much I had to share it!) . . #sistersforever #familymoments #happilyeverafter
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -Helen Keller⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One more week until I’m on a plane to Philadelphia and then on to Zambia to serve a community for two years in the Peace Corps! Where has the time gone?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #dogood #bethechange #adventureisoutthere #peacecorps

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Time ‘Til Zambia!

August 19th, 2019
The big day is here.

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