Bombay Times- Interesting Read

The Quirky Corner

Good Morning! I came across this interesting article in today’s Bombay Times, Page 8. All you tea lovers out there, make sure you grab a copy. And for those who do not have access to this paper, here are pictures of the article.

Must Read

Tea. One word that brings a smile on my face an any hour :’) This article provides an interesting read speaking of the benefits of various flavours and types of tea.  Here are the snapshots:

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Homemade Chai Concentrate

The Joy of Cooking (for Little Assholes)

I’ve been pinning various online recipes of chai concentrates for MONTHS now, but only finally tried one in January. And all I have to say is WHY?! Why did I wait so goddamn long to make it? It’s easy, and it saves you about $380 Starbucks Chai Lattes. Plus hello, customization! Want it sweeter? More gingery? Less anisey? DIY, bitches.

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Homemade Chai Tea Mix

Back2Nurture

It has been down right freezing around here lately.   Brrr…..! The perfect kind of weather to enjoy a nice hot cup of Homemade Chai Tea.  I love Chai Tea, the warmth and spiced aroma just put me into a happy place.  Over the last few years, I have tried multiple brands and types of Chai (coffee shops/cafe’s, lattes, mixes, bags, etc…) but have always winced at the price tag.  During the Christmas holiday I found this recipe that gave me exactly what I wanted in my Chai Tea; an easy to make and use mix, great flavor, the creaminess of a latte, and all for a LOT less than patronizing the local Cafe.

This recipe is a hit with virtually everyone who has tried it (I gave it as a fun Christmas gift, too!)  I have a hard time keeping up with the demand, it disappears so fast!  Give…

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Chai mornings

searching for the healthy me

Yummy! My tummies new best friend!

So excited to lose even more weight this year!

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Vibrate Higher

Tags

american novel, Black travel, carnaval, casa de té, chai, dreambig, ecuador, education, educator, esl, esl teaching, latin america, los angeles, novel, poblares, tea, tea shop, teacher, teaching abroad, Urcuqui, vibrate, vibration, Yachay

I have been making progress towards my goal of opening a tea shop in Urcuqui, the neighboring town of Yachay. Although I don’t have a clear plan (and I am a fan of finely crafted details), I make steps forward that are significant to me. For example last week during Carnaval, I spent a great deal of time finding an app to convert hand drawings to digital image and revised my logo for a flier.

My latest drawing for a “Chai @Yachay” poster. My boss gave me that name.

This afternoon I got info on wholesale prices and delivery from local tea companies (yes, Ecuador produces tea). This morning I went to look at potential locations for my tea shop, but the guy couldn’t show them to me. Tomorrow I will try again (after trying out the new restaurant in town). Even though I didn’t see a place, I was still happy that I went out in the rain to pursue a lead, which got me closer to my tea goal.

My first poster from when I served matcha at a health fair in Sylmar/L.A.

With so many positive things occurring, I still have to fight the negativity in my mind. When I told a colleague that I wanted to open a tea shop and publish “the next great American novel,” she was extremely discouraging. I mean, she got on one  and stayed on one by frequently ripping into my goals as though my public education was truly inferior and hadn’t prepared me to be the contributing citizen of the world that I seek to be. Yeah, she was more than a hater; she was one of those grumpy old men (do you remember that movie?).

The icon made for me during my business course with the City of L.A.

As I go about my tea pursuit, sometimes I hear her negavity, but each time I hear it, I am quicker to check myself (**you better check yo self before you wreck yo self** Ice Cube is one of the hottest MCs ever.) I watched someone on Super Soul Sunday speak about how when things are going well, we have a tendency to think about the negative aspects. So I know replaying my colleague’s negativity is my way of playing up the small doubt that I have about my ability to accomplish my goals. So now I force myself to check the negative energy that I am creating within myself and keep it moving on the tea train express to Urcuqui, hehe.

Teaching myself how to use my finger to draw on my iPad. I need a smart pen asap.

Then this afternoon, I realized my job situation was really shaky, and I was like, I don’t care, I’m giving my tea shop a six month run. That’s when I realized I had found something that I was willing to go for broke, so this tea shop thing must be the real deal (feeling like those Whole Foods/Starbucks/Def Jam guys). I must listen to self because self never steers me wrong.

My Tea Pobladores drawings in honor of the 44 Pobladores who founded L.A.

As my student told me last week: “…sometimes we reduce our vibration because we listen to others and because of some circumstances that we don’t like. But only listen to excellent words that inspire you to do little things that are significant to you, maybe not for everybody around you. I think it will change the world. It’s like another phrase I remember. ‘When you are at the beach, or the sea, and you pick a grain of sand, maybe nobody will know that you did it. But if you did it, the sand won’t be the same.'” As Andre 3000 sang, “vibrate higher…”

I like this design for a small tea spot in a small town. I must start small and build my way up to a tea garden/ case de te.

Changing signs, Changing minds

Tags

ecuador, Ecuador expats, esl, esl teaching, exit, japan, jet programme, kochi, nankoku, teacher, teaching abroad, travel, university, woman traveler, women, writing

The new sign that was installed in my home at 11pm. Maybe it was God trying to telling me to quickly exit the negative mindset.

I reread some of my posts from my Up.In.The.Stixs blog and was reminded the end of my first year abroad was rough. I was homesick and counting down the days to go back to the place that I had fled — L.A. But it’s funny, nowadays I remember my Japan years more in a positive light. I think about the cool JETs I met, the cool inaka (countryside) folks that welcomed me to their homes, I think about the friendships I still maintain with people bc of Nankoku/Kochi-ken, I think about wanting to visit again. I think I remember Japan in a better light because my old boss, Ai-san, taught me the importance of “do like a stupid” (aka not taking myself so seriously that I don’t see the joy of living each day in a new place and learning new things.) I also think my tough time in Chile overshadows any rough time I have had abroad and the following 2.5 years in Latin America was a low point in life.

I think about this now because I know so much of life is about our mindset. I was reminded about this after my late night FB post last night. For some reason, I was up late last night. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m an abuelita, going to bed early, like 10pm , sometimes even 9pm. But last night, I was up late, and I was like, “Dude, why am I still up? Did my kundalini yoga give me a new source of energy?” (I attended a class last night.)

Then just as I was finishing watching an episode of “Sirens,” I heard a knock on my door. I didn’t know what to do: answer it this late at night or ignore it? But then I was like, What if it is my neighbor, a single, young American woman? So I answered it.

Maintenance workers wanted to change signs. I was like only in the countryside of Ecuador would someone think it was somewhat ok to change signs inside someone’s home at 11pm. But before I could get angry or annoyed, I shrugged and thought, “I can’t be bothered.” Then I looked at the guys. They didn’t want to be there either; they were just doing their job, and you know, “shit happens,” so 11pm sign changing happens.

The only difference between these signs and the old signs is the capitalization of the letters.

I talked with the boss, because that is what I do now–talk with folks. And he gave me the encouragement I needed. That extra push to stay on my course toward my goal of opening a tea shop (case de te). My colleagues have informed me that I’m “out there,” meaning I put myself out there by making myself vulnerable in the pursuit of accomplishing my goals. And I think this has made the big difference in my persistent state of happiness– stepping out on faith and believing in myself to accomplish my goal with the help of others and God. Some view this as being vulnerable and semi-crazy, but I know this is how I stay happy, maintain my inner peace and resist being depressed. What I’m the proudest of is my ability to quickly change my mindset about the 11pm event. The old Monique would have been quick to complain; but because I am operating from a space in life/a different mindset, I was able to receive an unexpected entrepreneurial push forward.

One door, one exit sign — it’s the new way of living in style.

I’m only able to think positively because I fill my ears with words of encouragement and affirmation. I often wonder how young women feel about themselves since there are no positive, uplifting female rappers and few non-sexualized female celebrities. (I grew up hearing, “Who you calling a bitch? U.N.I.T.Y”  and “I’m a woman of the ’90s.”)

What we consume is so important. So choose to consume positivity, love, happiness, possibility, audacity, hope, community progress, compassion– compassion was the quality that took me the longest to understand and use, but it is the main quality that is helping me build a community in Los Andes. #makelifework #staycalm #lovelife

Up in the Stixs — Hisashiburi ne

Tags

black literature, courage, dream, dreambig, ecuador, esl, esl teaching, expats, expats in Ecuador, female literature, hisashiburi, japan, jet, jet programme, kochi, kochi-ken, literature, nankoku, stixs, teaching abroad, yolo

Nankoku, Japan, is where I began my five-year-break-from-life aka ESL teaching aka quarter life crisis

My blog on living in the countryside of Japan

Last Friday night, I sat with a group of female Ecuadorian college students during ceramics class. One talkative woman was thoroughly impressed with my life — an unmarried woman traveling the world alone.

I have never felt my life–me doing me–was something special. I know I have chosen an unconventional lifestyle, especially for a first generation college graduate who felt the pressure to be the MLK dream. But I just wanted to be happy in life and seeing the world, you know using my Soc degree, was something that I knew would make me happy and it did.

While I was unemployed in L.A. last year, I investigated a career in telehealth. The health guy knew one thing instantly about me — I wasn’t the medical professional type; but, he was kind enough to allow me to help him organize his office for a day to earn some cash. After talking with me, he asked, “What do you really want to do?” He said I was unfocused and asked me this question several times. Finally I said, “I’m not unfocused; I’m realistic. My writing hasn’t been produced/published, and I need a real job/career. I will self-publish on the side.”

Instantly he realized I was quitting on my writing dreams, quitting on myself, so he said, “Maybe you just haven’t found your story to tell.”

It stuck me, his words. So I have been thinking for the past few months, What is the story that I should tell? Is it really not my witty tale of an Ecuadorian searching for God after being molested by a priest? Is it really not the tale of two Korean-American expats playing mind games at night in a red light district of Seoul? Is it not the coming-of-age story of a young man finding courage & wisdom from his grandfather’s ghost? These are some of ideas that I had hope would produce the next great American novel; as for now, they keep me afloat in the sea of life.

But listening to that young Ecuadorian lady say that she wanted to follow in my footsteps, and she even gave me thumbs up on a life well traveled, I thought I am encouraging her to live out her vision for her life simply by living my vision for my life. Thus, maybe my story to tell is my story.

Now, I am embarking on writing about my five-year-break-from life. This topic brought me back to my first blog, Up in the STixs. I love the blog’s description (I forgot how free I felt when I first came abroad):

up.in.the.stixs

What do you do when you’re 25, single, and not ready to deal…you move to Nankoku, of course. A year in the life of a JET ALT. ** the stixs – rural/small city areas of japan **

I realized last Friday that my story is a story worthy of telling to help other young females find the courage to follow their inner voices and see the world beyond their parents’ scope. Ojala que escriba la cuenta complete este ano.