Everywhere To Be Found

Adventuring, dreaming and living as best I can! Currently: Teaching English in Ibaraki, Japan.

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What I've Learned After 6 Months in Zambia

What I've Learned After 6 Months in Zambia The six lessons that I've learned in my time here with Peace Corps that popped out of my head first! Enjoy :0)

Fly In in Lusaka

Wow, I think I blinked. Or passed out for at least five of these six months because I truly can’t fathom having been here for half a year already!

27 months of service sounds like such a long time until three of them fly by during ultra-busy Pre-Service Training (PST) and the next three during boring as heck Community Entry (CE) when you don’t have any work to do but you…

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My Peace Corps Aspiration Statement

My Peace Corps Aspiration Statement! Check out this piece of my PC application and see if it inspires you to write your own!

As a part of the Peace Corps general application, there is a section where they challenge you to write about why you want to join the Peace Corps, what challenges you think you may face physically, mentally, and emotionally, and then you have to provide thoughtful solutions to help you face these challenges during your service.

This was the area of the application I had the most doubts about…

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A Day in the Life of a Peace Corps Trainee in Zambia

Check out my new post telling you all about my daily life during my Peace Corps training in Zambia! What a ride!

Today marks my 30th day of training with the Peace Corps as a Rural Education Development (RED) trainee here in Zambia. And now I totally understand why every person I’ve ever followed on social media that has left for the PC has disappeared for the first three months. Minimum.

Peace Corps Training (or PCT for short) has been called Peace Corps Bootcamp by more than one person and I don’t…

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How Living Abroad Changes You

How Living Abroad Changes You

It’s such a cliche everyone, and I know I’m guilty of saying it quite often in the past as well, but I truly mean it when I say that living abroad is a life changing experience. Travel in itself changes you, but not like being completely immersed in a foreign culture for an extended period of time and becoming comfortable enough to call that foreign culture home.  There truly isn’t anything else…

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My 2018 Plan: Breaking Out of Limbo

My 2018 Plan: Breaking Out of Limbo

Sand dunes in Dunhuang, China

Well, hello! Long time no see, and I must say I’ve missed you all! I’ve chatted with a few of you in this extended downtime but I want to know what everyone else is up to, please let’s have a catch-up.

I’m not really going to delve into 2017 but let me just say that it wasn’t a good year. A lot of emotional turmoil and setbacks and sitting on the couch mulling over…

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27 Life Lessons (In 27 Years)

27 Life Lessons (In 27 Years)

Here I am with my little sister, awww

So, like everyone else in the world it seems, my birthday is in March and after watching home videos of myself as a one-and two-year-old I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned and how I’ve changed in these past twenty-seven years. It feels like so long and yet so short a time to have been alive all at once.

I’ll expand on a few of the lessons I’ve…

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My "Minimalist" Packing List for Thailand in May

My “Minimalist” Packing List for Thailand in May

It’s been almost a full year since my spontaneous trip to Thailand and I haven’t written anything about it yet. Shameful!

May in Thailand is the end of peak season, right at the beginning of the rainy season, and so some great deals on flights and accommodations are to be had and the crowds are low. Last January I was skimming the Skyscanner app (as my dreaming self does) and I came across…

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Invited to Peace Corps Zambia (And New Blog Look)

Invited to Peace Corps Zambia (And New Blog Look)

I’m moving to Africa!

Welcome to my first ever blog post with my new look and my new name–Finding Kendra!

I’m loving the new (free) look but I’m still working out some of the quirks from the move (and second and third move…) so bear with me and give me all your feedback! (Especially about the main pages.) I want to know what works and what doesn’t as well as what you’d like to see going forward,…

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I love when our orange tree starts blossoming—the scent is amazing! Spring weather may actually be here to stay (knock on wood) and just in time for Spring Break! It feels weird not having anything at all to do, there’s nothing I’m even procrastinating that’s nagging me in the back of my mind which is even weirder! I guess I’ll just finish GoT and sit in the sun with a book all week. 😁 . . . . . . . . . #homesweethome #springbreak #orangeblossom #staycation #springflowers #backyardoasis (at Chino Hills, California) https://www.instagram.com/findingkendrab/p/Bvh-rm4gCbY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=awfskkhm9f5y

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This is a butter tree, part of the grape family that grows in southern areas of Africa. And this is me saying that I’ve been invited to the Education sector of the Peace Corps and will be moving to Zambia in August! I’ve revamped my blog for this opportunity because I love looking back at my old Japan posts and want to share what I learn and what I experience with you here (link in description). The third goal of the Peace Corps is to share the culture of our country of service with the communities here in the States, opening up the world just that little bit more. I’m excited to get started!! . . . . . . . . . . #futurepcv #travelbug #californiawinter #sandiegozoo #lifelonglearner #zambia🇿🇲 (at San Diego Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/findingkendrab/p/BvRf9Fxgm1o/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1h82gobzsd5iw

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IMPORTANT Blog Announcement (It's Moving!)

IMPORTANT Blog Announcement (It’s Moving!)

Hey everyone!

2019 is going to be a big year–I’ve been invited to the education sector of Peace Corps Zambia, leaving in August of this year!

My blog is about to get more active again, hopefully to be sustained this time… heh Oops.

I’ve spent the last few weeks updating, redesigning, and rebuilding this blog on the free version of Wix because when I’m in rural sub-Saharan Africa I’m not going to…

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Blessed to live in such a beautiful place where I can walk on a dirt path with my old puppy and gush over how insanely green the world is right now! Until it starts raining again of course... . . . . . . . . . . . . #rainraingoaway #californiawinter #homesweethome #goforawalk #neighborhoodcreek #forestpath (at Chino Hills, California) https://www.instagram.com/everywheretobefound/p/BusLLpVAn7b/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=macubwy8yvjn

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February was a quieter month than January but I got to see a lot of old friends for the first time in awhile, Go night skiing with family, hide from the never ending rain, and run out into the sun whenever it won the fight with the clouds! Loving this app so far, it’s such a neat experience to have a memory from every single day! . . . . . . . . . . #1secondeveryday #1se #february #memories #travelathome #simplelifehappylife #friendsareforever (at Chino Hills, California) https://www.instagram.com/everywheretobefound/p/BuemqoOA0QE/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1t06k6y5b18qf

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So happy to have been able to bask in the sun and see all these wonderful wildflowers on a hike this weekend! Getting outside without turning into an icicle makes it feel like maybe California will start acting like itself again. 🤞 We can hope anyway. Fun Fact: These flowers are called Jackass Clover! 😂 Who did they piss off? . . . . . . . . . #wildflowers #californiawinter #travelathome #hikeinlandempire #horsetownusanorco #solarpoweredhuman #pumpkinrocktrail (at Pumpkin Rock) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuU0ymGAmK3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jbs4blpeq42q

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I loved this sign at the beginning of the trail up Mt. Wilson from Chantry Flats and I miss how warm I was when I read it! If I think of warm sunny days enough will this darn winter start acting normal and be 75 soon? I feel like I’ve moved back to Japan without the perks of cheap sushi and onsen! What is this white stuff falling from the sky in SoCal?! 🥶 . . . . . . . . #californiawinter #lasnow #rainraingoaway #sunnyand75 #homesweethome #hiking #tbt #mtwilson #wisewords (at Mount Wilson, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKwpbigr2H/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1s6vzuoo5y91

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Embraced the winter cold and went night skiing with my dad and uncle for the first time in three years last night! It was in the low twenties (without wind chill) and super windy (I got caught in a mini snow twister) but the views all day were utterly gorgeous and there were some really great lift workers and fellow skiers to make the night memorable! Another reason I love California is the access to the snow without having to actually live in it 😋 Enjoying nature in all the ways . . . . . . . . #travelathome #nightskiing #bigbearlake #enjoywinter #skiing #homesweethome #winteradventures #californiawinter (at Snow Summit, Big Bear) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuARxvagCy5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7kep5moyyrhe

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It’s been a long rainy week with even more storms in the forecast so I’m looking back at when there was enough sun to go to the beach in January! Walked the whole length of Crystal Cove in Laguna on this day with a good friend and gushed over how pretty it all is 🌊😍 There’s nothing like the beach in winter! . . . . . #californiawinter #crystalcove #crystalcovecottages #sunseasand #cloudscapes #travelathome #orangecounty #lagunabeach (at Crystal Cove State Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtbxGKCghF4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=etw40yd8v0xz