Friday, June 29, 2012

I'm definitely a communicator

.. I write 300 word messages and e-mails all the time, being generous with information and suggestions and I get back 3 to 7 work replies ALL the time. (Occasionally replies stretch to 2 sentences...)

funny.. Am I over-generous? Or are you annoyed by my wordy communication?


Thai Massage and Yoga Teacher qualifications / ONE definite 'knowable'





below are my recent Yoga teaching and Thai Massage practitioner qualifications. What any qualification you ever achieve should first and foremost remind you of is that these pieces of paper signify the beginning of your journey, or a mark along a journey of learning that will continue forever. If you are to be a good teacher, if you wish to be a good massage practitioner, if indeed you hope to be a good artist, mother, father, friend or lover, then you will know that you have never learnt 'it all', that you are never 'fully qualified'. Our whole lives are lives lived learning if they are lives lived well. My most alive periods of my life have been those in which I was most active seeking understanding and knowledge. You will always find that no matter how many signposts you find along the way, the path forward is kind of unknowable. 
Life will always offer you new learning curves, new reasons to remember or re-learn old lessons learnt but forgotten. There is SO much to learn. Always. That is one definite knowable.



above are my Thai Massage and Yoga qualifications to date:

Thursday, June 28, 2012

treasured fresh handmade paper notebooks from India ...

aren't these notebooks adorable!? 


I have a little bunch of them for sale. The large books are £12 
and the small ones £7. If you buy a large and a small together you will get a £1 discount! 


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

One daily cup of coffee blog and book

You probably already know about my love of coffee.. I used to take photographs of ever coffee I drank. In recent years I didn't keep up as diligently. I think this is a good time to review past coffees
(gathered in my coffee blog as flashback coffee moments) and once I catch up consider a fresh start.
I once had a coffee blog on which I would review coffee qualities and service, ambient and clients of cafe's I visited. I started a postgraduate degree just as I got really into the blogging / critiquing. It may be the future for this coffee blog: One daily cup of coffee.

One Daily Cup of Coffee
Q: What do you think?.. What would you like to see on my coffee blog?
Q: and what would you like to find in my coffee book?
I would love to hear from you.

below is a first draught for my first coffee collection book. It will be small format and paperback. But I would like to build up to a larger book in hardback in the future... Something to enjoy over a cup of coffee... perhaps.


Over 7 Seas & Birgit Deubner Etsy Stores pledge to Donate to a family in Cambodia


This is very important to me:

I WILL DONATE 5% of profit made through Etsy to Nakry's Family in Cambodia. (To calculate I will deduct only production costs, not my time or any other costs)

I will keep a public tally of how much is raised on this blog. I also accept donations for Nakry's family.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Birgit75

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The backstory:
I want to donate money to the family of a friend I made in Cambodia. I know first hand of several very good charity and NGO organizations who are active in supporting children and people of all ages to have a better future. I will update this post with a link to my blog that I have to write more about these causes.

My friend's family lost 50-60% of their rice crop to last years terrible flooding that swept across Asia. My friend's name is Nakry, his family live in a small house on stilts, the wood of which is splitting and they fear it will snap if another flood hits them before they can replace it. Nakry's family, like countless families in Cambodia, rely on their family's rice harvest to supplement their basic food needs.

I don't know how cambodian families will get through this time. Food across Cambodia will have run out some time ago (it is June now, the next harvest is not due until around december, most farmers only have enough water supply for one crop a year, few are lucky and can try their luck twice annually)

My friend's name is Nakry, his home has an open door policy welcoming any children from the extended family, if they are hungry Nakry's family will share their already tight food. Tight food? The children of the family have stunted growth, as has Nakry, he is rather small, the children who are 13 years old, look as if they are 7. The loss of the rice crop is dramatic on a family like this. It is all part of why for example Nakry's cousin left school before she finished, to work for small change as day laborer on other people's fields. She is 16, she could have become fluent in french had she stayed in school. This is a can of worms. I hope you will visit my blog when I forward the address in the next weeks (I need to update the stories, or at least make a strong start).

What is needed? Money to flood proof the house, the family fear that the wooden stilts it stands on will snap if the house is submerged once more for 2-3 months in 2 foot / half a meter of water.

collage of quirky leg photographs


Monday, June 25, 2012

Nakry and his Family

I just wanted to anounce that I am still collecting donations for Nakry's family, to help with recovery from last year's flooding. There is a real danger of renewed flooding this year. I would like the family to have a safety net: enough to eat, and maybe the needed tools should their house collapse due to the high water levels. (The stilts of their old house have split last year in the 2 month submerge-ion in the flood waters. It would be good to have a tool kit of some kind of temporary patches to hold it up (I am thinking a sort of brace reinforcement!