All posts filed under: Wanders

Pre-Service Training (so far) in pictures!

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  Cultural Cooking Day I killed a chicken. Swift, clean, and (hopefully) painless(ish). Elainey did a fabulous job holding the chicken still. (; This is said chicken and me before said kill. Chicken insides – there were eggs that we retrieved from the chicken! This is my language class! I’m learning Rumanyo/RuKwangali. From left: Mo, Danny, Dana, me and Shirrita (missing Amanda). We’ll all be going to the Kavango region. Warthog stew! I ate Puumba’s cousin, basically. Afrikaan bread on braai Aunty Martha and myself! She’s been teaching Afrikaans with Peace Corps for forever and is just the sweetest. Can be quite the sasstronaut…like me!   History Field Trip to Windhoek   Heroes’ Acre – monument commemorating those who died for Namibia’s freedom From left: Rachael, Elainey, me, Olivia A rather graphic depiction of some scenes from the fight for independence   Msc. My host cousin and me Some volunteers at a little house gathering and myself I’m working with a small business partner in Okahandja, Zelda, and went to visit her catering business to …

Namibia: Land of the Brave

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    Hello! I’m here! In Namibia! It is now Day 3 (when I wrote this entry) in Namibia, and things are actually going pretty swell thus far. Needless to say, we’ve all been pretty exhausted with the moving around. But alas, we’re here! And language training starts next week! Yesterday, we had our placement, medical, and training interviews, that’ll ultimately decide where are service is for the next two years. Monday, we’ll find out what language we’ll be learning, Tuesday, we’ll meet our host families, and Wednesday, we’ll move in with said families. I’m not sure it’s hit me that I’ll be living in this country for the next two years yet. I know I have a lot of training ahead, and that’s great, and I’m excited about it, but I think what I’m looking forward to most is settling down with a community. I’ll be in Okahandja until end of June, then I’ll be moving to my permanent site, but until then, I still technically won’t be settled. I’ve decided that beyond making …

Next stop: Costa Rica!

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Heading to Costa Rica this weekend — stops will (hopefully) include Mount Arenal, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio. Add me on Snapchat (kimmivo) to follow along with the trip! Pictures on Instagram intermittently. I’ll have at least one entry to devote to Costa Rica and #puravida when I return, so stay tuned! Kimmi

11 Essential Items to Bring to the Amazon Jungle

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I just came back from a week long trip to the Amazon Jungle (via Iquitos, Peru)! I’ll go over my itinerary in a later post, but I did everything from jungle trekking, to fishing for piranhas, swimming in the Yapata/Amazon River, to hanging out with the locals and participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony.

Below are 11 items that I think were essentials on my trip, and below that is a more detailed list of items I brought that just made things a bit more comfortable.

Anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant. (Day 2)

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard horror stories about elephants/tigers/etc being mistreated in their parks for the enjoyment of tourists and visitors, so aside from looking for an elephant park that had a lot of fun activities, I also made sure to look for one that treated their elephants well. Yes, Baan Chang Elephant Park (tripadvisor) was a bit pricier than other fellow elephant parks, but all their reviews were stellar, and they were very clear in disclosing why they chain their elephants during feeding times and at night (so they don’t fight for food/hurt each other, and so they don’t wander off, possibly hurting themselves). Overall, good vibes all around from Baan Chang Elephant Park. Our guide Chi picked us up from our hostel at 6:15 in the morning. We were exhausted! They also picked up 4 other people on the way, but it was mostly all of us. After an hour of deep slumber in the car, we arrived at the park and were given scrub-like denim outfits to wear. They weren’t …

The Land of a Thousand Smiles — Chiang Mai, Thailand (Day 1)

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In the 9 weeks that we’re in India, we’ve received one 4-day weekend off to travel and/or relax and of course, I chose travel (which relaxes me) so it all worked out. I was joined by 5 other co-workers for a jam-packed weekend of culture, delicious foods, wild personalities, and gut-wrenching adventure..literally! We arrived Saturday morning, July 26 to the Chiang Mai airport and immediately went to our hostel, the Green Tulip House, where were we greeted by our super enthusiastic host, Stella. Our day was supposed to be a very casual, laid-back day — starting with a traditional Thai massage, then a trip to up to Wat Doi Suithep, and ending with a 7 course Thai dinner cooking class. My first Thai massage was in Bangkok, January 2013, and I’ve been missing them since! Thai massages are a bit different from other massages, as the masseur or masseuse will use his or her whole body in massaging yours. They’ll massage you with their feet, elbows, forearms, and even knees — sounds bizarre, and it’ll …

10 (Must-Bring) Things to Bring to India

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I’ve been in India for about 10 days now, and what I’m realizing there are some things I’m really glad I brought, and some things that I really wish I thought to bring. After all, 10 weeks is a long time to be in India. If I were just backpacking through SE Asia, this would be a different list, but this is for being in one place for a long time. Disclaimer: this is just a personal list! I’m sure it changes for everyone, but if I were to go back and repack, I’d hold this list in very high regard. 1. Purell Hand Sanitizer/Wet Ones + toilet paper! These little nuggets make me feel a lot better being in India, especially on road trips where you have to do your business in an alleyway behind some trash. Even in Bangalore, I’ve found them very useful after handling cash, holding on for dear life on a tuk tuk (rickshaw) or just after using gym equipment — they don’t clean the equipment like they do in …

Two years later and I’m back in Asia!

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I know I said I would completely update and I know I haven’t. I can’t promise I’ll get everything up immediately, but what I can promise is that I’ll try. About two years ago, I was gearing up for a 5 month adventure all around Asia, going from China and Korea to all over Southeast Asia. I’ve graduated now, successfully received my Bachelors in Finance and Management with a minor in International Studies, and employed at a pretty reputable consulting/advisory firm. I would have never thought that I’d be back to Asia so soon, but here I am, in Bangalore, India for 10 weeks for training before I start full-time at client sites back in Boston. My hire class all started in Boston on July 7, 2014, and after a week of getting oriented to company culture, we departed on Friday Jul 11, 2014 for India. Although I figured that being abroad in Beijing for so long two years ago would get be super ready for being back abroad and being in a new country …

Meet Bambi! The Pup I Never Had

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Meet Bambi! The ~8 week pup my friend Kate and I took in for a couple of days.  We found him without a mom, hence, Bambi! It was rough at first; he was very shy. We found him on our way back from the subways after a day at the silk market – he was eating grass and chewing on beetles! Yuck. So we took him back and bathed him, gave him food, and waited it out. This smart lil nugget turned out to be one of the best things that has happened to me on this trip. He learned to respond to his name, when to sit, when to get into the purple bag we hid him in, AND he followed me to a T. Whenever I called for him, he’d come running! Cutest little thing ever. Needless to say, we got very attached to each other. Whenever I left, he’d come chasing after me, and when I had to give him away, I was close to tears. ): In a way, Bambi was …

Meet Mr. Qi! Guardian of the Confucius Temple

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I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated, but I’ve been really busy! I know my last real post was kind of depressing, but good news! I had a great last week! I now know what they mean when they say the people make the experiences, as last week, when Leanne and I went on our weekly adventure, a stranger turned friend really did make my day. Meet Qi Xian Sheng (Mr. Qi), who was one of the gatekeepers at the Confucius Temple. As we approached the stone tablets to take pictures, Mr. Qi popped up out of no where, and started directing my photos! He moved Leanne’s arms, posed for us, critiqued my photos, even was gracious enough to have me take a photo of him. Never had I met someone so willing to help before. He spoke no English, yet he made the biggest effort to speak in simple slow Mandarin so that I could keep up. As we finished exploring the temples and were about to leave, he stopped us …