Monica - Café Con Monica

Yay for Internet!!

September 18, 2012

The internet is back up and running! Woo hoo for me! So here we go with the pictures I wanted to share and I decided to link up w/ Breanna @ My Beautiful, Crazy Life for a fun link up party they do monthly!

Check out her blog and some of the other blogs participating!

{1}

When you’re feeling down, what do you do to pick yourself up?

Hmmm I have a method I picked up from Greys..I dance it out. I put the music as loud as it goes, silence the phone and dance till I can’t stand. If I need to I cry it out while i’m dancing but otherwise the music and being alone for a bit usually calms me down.

{2}

If you had to live in a different time period which would you prefer?

Hmmmm that is kind of a hard one I think…I am a fan of the roaring 20’s…aside from the Prohibition but then you wouldn’t have had those speakeasys to party in then…I think it all stems from The Great Gatsby!

{3}

What is the most creative Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?

Oooh how I love love Halloween!! I think the last two years have been my most creative really, in case your new around here I love group costumes and dressing up!

Last year: Jade & Kitana

2010: The Ninja Turtles

{4}

Five weird things about you we wouldn’t know without being told?

1. I love Country music(although recently I have been more open with sharing that)

2. I gave up all caffeinated drinks 5 years ago this coming January

3. Brussel Sprouts are the only food that I will NOT eat ever again

4. I met most of my IRL friends that I am closest to online a few years ago 🙂

5. I’m lactose intolerant(which sucks by the way)

{5}

What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

haha ooh to be 16 again. I swear I thought life so hard back then. First thing I would tell myself is to enjoy it, take it easy because life after HS is way harder. To be faithful to that guy because he was a good person and the decisions eventually ruined him and most importantly:

Those people that made you doubt yourself are not of any importance.

Love this link up! Join in and share!!!

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Here are the pics I promised to share too!!

Breakfast tea w/all the Teachers

day trip to Guangzhou

Pineapple Beer!

part of the long ass pasta aisle!

One of my fave students…same face all the time

walking into the park

our picnic…let it be noted I brought the fruit!

our view from our spot

towards the lake

Biggest Gate in China

Rainbow drinks 🙂

Sitting quietly for me 🙂

Five Things on Friday!

September 14, 2012

Soooo happy its finally Friday!!!
I’m stealing this idea from Misshautemess over @ Carrie Bradshaw is full of Sh*t who stole it too.

Here are five things on my mind this week!!

1. Where to go for my big 4 week Holiday in January!
India, Philippines, Chicago(for a week or so), Laos, or northern China…so hard to decide and not enough money to do it all!

Source: etsy.com via A. on Pinterest

2. My favorite Student…he never smiles…this is his face all the time and I love it!

3. The Voice season 3!

Seriously..I am loving it! I loved last season and the first 3 episodes have already made me cry! I will reserve favorite spots until the end of auditions though!

4. Egg Tarts…of course this is a major problem since they do not fall into any diet plan that involves loosing weight!!! But they are so good and really the only sweet thing I can easily find that is not pre-packaged around here!!

5. The weather today!
I could not have been happier when I walked out of my building to find 73° weather! I mean really, its been sweltering hot w/100% humidity for the last 3 months…one day break is all I needed 🙂

These are some things going on for me this week! What are your five things???

Oh Monday!

September 10, 2012

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I am finally sitting down with enough time to give you the run down on my first week & weekend in China and tell you the terrible thing that happened to me the day I left Thailand.

So in order for me to get my Chinese visa without having to go home I had to send my passport to my mother so she could process my paperwork back in Chicago and because everything takes forever to get done in Asian countries I knew I would have to overstay my visa in Thailand. I was pretty worried about it simply because if you get caught you get fined & deported. If you make it to the airport you just have to pay before you leave. In the last month there I ended up spending a lot more than I should have between traveling and only getting paid once since I left the states. I had just enough money in my bank account to cover what I thought was going to be the overstay fee and enough travelers checks to cover me for a month in China. When I got to the airport I realized I could not find my travelers checks in order to cash them, I also had to pay overweight fees of $100USD, which I had to use my emergency credit card for. Well once I was finally on my way out I hit the passport center and they told me how much I would have to pay for my 9 day overstay. It turned out to be double what I had anticipated(based on asking MANY people) so I definitely did not have enough money to cover it even with getting every last bit out of the atm that I could and freaking out because I could not find my travelers checks. Finally these nice Thai people saw me crying trying to explain I had no more money(I was about 400baht short) I had my purse completely emptied all over the table and the guard was yelling at me in front of everyone passing telling me that he would take me to jail if I didn’t get more money out. I kept explaining that if they could credit cards I could pay but he refused saying they only took cash. Anyway, two different people and another guard all stopped asked how much I owed and each gave me some. In total it was enough to cover it and the guard was quite pissed. It was a horrible experience and I still tear up thinking about how crappy it was. I am almost 100% positive he was charging me more than he was supposed to and just being an asshole. I was supposed to pay $150(and that was on the high side, I ended up being charged $320ish)

I got to China with no money and freaking out because I don’t get paid till I have been here a month. Thanks to my amazing mom she wired me some money and told me to patiently look through my belongings when I got to my apartment. Luckily I found the checks BUT as it turns out in my town it is almost impossible to get them exchanged. The nearest place to do it was at the airport. It definitely was a rough week, I talked to my stepmom about the checks and she suggested I Fedex them to her and she could cash them in the states and put them directly into my bank account. So that led to my first trip to Guangzhou, the nearest large city. We can talk about that in another post!

Overall, aside from the normal pain the ass situations that arise when living in an Asian country like everything taking forever to get done and not being able to communicate I am very much enjoying it so far. This town is pretty small in comparison to where I thought I would be but its pleasant and very green! I love that its clean and safe to go for a run. There are about 20 foreign teachers but quite a few other foreign business people. Its hotter than hell here though haha…much hotter than Thailand. Its also 100% humidity haha which I am used to in Chicago for the summer but its September!! I am not complaining though.

My students are super adorable and starting to come around and talk with me more and more. I never thought I would enjoy working with such small kids but I do and it feels great!

Ok enough rambling…here are some pics!