no worries, **the hostess** is still alive!+introducing the new **tea mates**

Image from: http://www.theage.com.au/news/diet/get-a-natural-sugar-high/2007/10/16/1192300736338.html

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the day: mango black tea from Trader Joe's Speciality Teas--very very refreshing and I just LOVE the scent! Besides the black tea leaves and the natural mango flavor which contributes to most of the scent, each tea bag also contains blackberry leaves and hibiscus and calendula petals...**deeply sniffs her tea and sips it and says: "....ahhh...!!"** What **tea** would you like to be served this time??

My God...once again, it has been a while since I've last posted. Honestly, my schedule wasn't as busy as last time, but I wasn't feeling too emotionally well during the summer and thus had a complete block of ideas and inspiration for posts and tea time with you, my lovely **tea mates** and **tea guests**...hopefully your **tea times** with me have been missed lol.

*Sighs* but no worries my brothers and sisters...I'm now slowly feeling better and hopefully you'll see me post more often (especially since I just started my 6 month internship and hence no more distractions from homework, quizzes, papers, or exams...except that I may feel too exhausted after I return to my apartment each day during the weekdays!).

It seems that I've gained more readers during my absence and only recently seemed to have lost one. Aside from the latter (and I don't blame her for leaving the **tea house**...she must've felt too lonely without me sipping **tea** with her! As mentioned...I am quite a slacker as a **hostess** lol...hopefully, as I become into a better blogger, that will change), I think that is a great sign! That is why, among the many rituals of the **Tea House**, they must be welcomed and introduced, in fact, this is actually the main reason why I decided to post this particular entry! Thus, I'd like to introduce you to the following new **Tea Mates** (only those who have blogs or websites of their own or Blogger profiles have links to them. Also, I haven't sent a personal message to those of you who are following me through the NetworkedBlogs app on Facebook as I didn't want to seem too intrusive):

• Alcolea
• Hello Relaxation
• Imola
• Celtic traveler
• Amy
• Lila Kuznetsova
• Less Barbara 
• Misbah El Muttaqin
• Greggy Kavambaya
• Zeenat Merchant-Syal
• Shahzaib Bajwa
• Mubeen Riaz
• Hassan Ismail
• Farah Khan
• Facebook User

Now before I leave, I'd like to give you a heads-up about what the upcoming posts may look like. Expect me to share a short story and a bit of poetry written by me (and I'd love you to share your own writing or any piece of art or photography as well, please let me know if you'd like to do so! And no...it doesn't really have to have anything to do with **tea**!! Will post more on terms & conditions of that soon...), an update on my knitting, and a compensation for the missed "inspiration of the month" posts with some additional ones as well lol! (In case you don't have the slightest idea of what those "inspirations" may be, please do take a look at here, here, here, and here. In general though, each inspiration consists of one of my favorite quotations and my thoughts on it). 

P.S. to Carnations: expect me to reply to all your wonderful comments on my blog entries soon lol!
P.S. to Hassan Ismail: expect me to reply to your awesome message!

From your **Tea Mate**,

Reema B. :-)

knitting updates!

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the post:  blend of Samurai Chai Mate and White Ayurvedic Chai from Teavana. Didn't drink that in quite a while lol. What tea would you like to be served today?? Before I start with the main topic of this post, allow me to officially welcome and introduce you to two new **Tea Mates**: Sreelatha and My Getaway. Thank you again for stopping by the **Tea House**! I hope you have both received my welcome email :-) Will be checking out your blogs soon!

Finally, here is the update about my knitting (see my previous knitting post here) and my thoughts about my first knitting products and services from Darn Good Yarn online. Although the products took a while to ship, the balls of yarn I bought were AWESOME, I got a free size 11 bamboo circular, a free crochet needle, the yarn prices were reasonable, and the person who runs this online store is SUPER friendly; she even sent me a handwritten personalized card and had stopped by the **Tea House**! Thank you again Nicole! And please do sip some more **tea** here! :-) In other words, I am overall very satisfied with my purchase.

The yarn sold in this store are recycled, hand-spun, and fairly traded. There is a variety of colors and choices and the store keeps adding more products that keep getting better and better. I plan to buy more of my knitting items from there. For those of you who are into knitting or are even just starting like me, please do check it out for yourselves!

When I first received the stuff I had ordered, I was experimenting with one of the balls of yarn as I watching video tutorials about knitting (check out KnitPicks for free video tutorials combined with pictures and written step-by-step guides great for beginners like me. They also seem to sell good products and I may consider buying from them and testing them out). I then finally decided that I'd like to knit a scarf; its seemed quite easy and I thought it was a great opportunity for plenty of practice.

However, I came to realize that the amount of yarn I was having was not even close enough to knit even half a scarf!! LOL am I a "smart" or what??!! Thus, for this reason, combined with my busy schedule, I stopped for quite a while and decided that I'd like to order some more of that yarn online when I'm free. Now that my Spring semester has ended and my vacation has finally started, I looked at the Darn Good Yarn store today and saw that the particular ball of yarn I wanted was sold out! :-( Looks like I need to wait a bit longer...*sobs*...

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

my experience with reiki

TEA TIME!!!!


Tea for the day: Two Leaves & A Bud Tea Company's Whole Leaf Organic Darjeeling Tea Sachets. I had apparently over steeped it but I was in need of it regardless; I've been having a soar throat these past few days; probably due to the changing weather in Boston. What tea would you like to be served today?


This may seem random, but I thought that I'd like to share this post I had written in my Facebook notes about my Reiki I Training which I completed on Saturday. Enjoy :-) :


------------------------
I had recently completed a Reiki I training and attunement in the Sacred Space of my campus. The price was cheaper than typical Reiki I trainings and was definitely worthwhile. I must admit, I did have my doubts but my trainer gave me a great way to think about it: "Do you meditate?" she asked me, "Yup" I responded, "Then take Reiki as a meditation, that's what it is. And be a scientist; experiment with it."

I was also told that although Reiki is secular, I may use my own religious and spiritual background to aid me in grounding myself before and as I'm doing it for myself or someone else as long as I do not neglect the Chakra system--if I'm not comfortable, the person I do it for will also not feel comfortable.

Therefore, Reiki doesn't interfere with anyone's belief system or anyone's "non-belief". The Chakra system, although being based on Ayurvedic Hinduism, doesn't in itself conflict with any belief system; it is just a tool and a framework diagraming energy centers (some forms of Sufism, Kaballah, and some Native American spiritualities also have similar concepts although the "energy centers" are diagramed differently and called different things). In fact, traditional Reiki as it is practiced today originally started off when the founder was asked about how exactly could Jesus (pbuh) have healed others with touch? Therefore, traditional Reiki doesn't really have a "religious" label attached to it. My trainer also emphasized the importance of joints as energy centers to be focused on since most movement produces a lot of energy. Among the goals of Reiki is to unblock these energy centers mainly via Chakras or joints.

Basic Reiki is done through touch or merely having the hands glide over the person without actually touching him. Advanced Reiki (i.e. Reiki II) focuses on the non-touch aspects of Reiki and on healing or reducing emotional and mental suffering through energy. Reiki III is the master level and is typically taken when one wants to teach it to others.

Energy is sensed in different ways for different people. I personally sensed it in the forms of vibrations, heat (sometimes internally; not just the natural way it is generated with any touch), magnetic field, or as a warm air going to areas of pain and energy blockage. Since I take Reiki as a meditation, I think that even the natural physical expressions of heat and touch itself helps me focus on that area that is currently being touched or at least visualize energy flowing with the same results as actually directly sensing the energy. Sometimes, Reiki can intensify a pain or reveal a pain you did not sense before hand and then slowly alleviate it. According to my trainer, pain always has something to tell us and we need to listen to it especially when it arises in the process of doing the Reiki.

Reiki practitioners do not claim to be the source of healing. In fact, it is considered to be more of a stress reduction technique which could potentially result in the body naturally and gradually healing itself with its innate wisdom or at least as a preventative measure when it is done frequently. It does not actually guarantee healing for everyone or in just one sitting. To me at least, the meditative aspect of Reiki is done by both the practitioner and the client, and to me also, unless both of them are in a meditative state then it won't fully work. The source of such healing or energy is believed to come from the Universal Life Energy (which some have identified as God or His "barakah" as some Sufis may label it or simply mere energy in the none divine sense of the word). The Reiki practitioner is merely a channel of energy.

I remember that before ever hearing about Reiki, I used to perform particular kind of supplication for pain I learned in a book of "azkar". It involved touching the area of pain and saying three times (translation); "In the name of Allah the Gracious, the Merciful" and then 7 times: "I seek refuge with Allah and His Words from the evil of whatever I find and undergo." I noticed that whenever I did this with total concentration, it always worked with either alleviating the pain or simply reducing its severity. There are more examples of such practices in Islam that involve invocation of God and I've even heard of a story of the Prophet (pbuh) healing a man's ankle by touching it and supplicating. To me, I'd think that such things are a sort of "reiki". Thus, if we are define such practices as forms of reiki, although not "traditional" or structured, then we could argue that Reiki is indeed as old as time itself and is more universal than a lot of people think.

One of my friends here has shared a beautiful and heartwarming blog post about reiki (or at least a form of it), I highly recommend you to read it, it's called Healing through Compassion: http://darvish.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/healing-through-compassion/ he also told me that there is an actual clinical offshoot of Reiki called Polarity Therapy. I don't know anything about it but I'd love to research it.

I had an intense experience during the attunement process in Reiki I and I am currently brainstorming a poem about that, so stay tuned!


From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

befriend me and your fellow **tea mates** on facebook!

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the post, Numi Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea. Besides this tea, I have so far tried their powdered Moroccan mint tea and chamomile/lemon tea and I must say that I like the latter best. At first, I used to like the mint tea but there are times when it makes me feel like I am drinking minty toothpaste. What **tea** would you like me to serve you today?

I have been so bad with blogging since November till now lol. However, I am glad that I have gained another **Tea Mate** again, therefore let me officially introduce you all to her. I'd like you all to welcome Neva Flores. I'm currently following her blog where she writes beautiful poetry, I'd highly recommend you to check it out.

I finally uploaded my knitting pictures but I decided that I'd type up this particular post for another purpose and (once again) procrastinate updating you about my knitting. But no worries **Tea Mates** and **Tea Guests**, I will share that pretty soon. My Spring semester is ending in two weeks and its also getting busier with final papers, presentations and interviews with potential employers for my very first internship.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd like to let you know that I have created a Facebook account  (yes, I already have my own but I have some private information in that one and I'd rather reserve that for my family and the friends I've met in person) so that I can actually get to know you **Tea Mates** better and also to connect with my other online friends (however, those whom I've known for a longer time, I may add them in original Facebook account). I think it'll also be nice for you to get to know one another as well if you're interested.

Anyhow, on the right margin of my blog, I have placed a widget that connects to my Facebook account if you're interested in connecting. Alternatively, you could search for my username which is: Tea Hostess Reema, but if you still can't find me, then you could search for me via my email: rpen90@gmail.com

See ya there!

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

the wonderful world of podcasts!!

Image from: http://sporeflections.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/my-mac-is-a-disappointment/ 

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the day: warm green tea with milk and tapioca. Yes, I've finally tried it but in a restaurant setting. I bet you they add way too much milk and sugar to actually make it taste so good lol. What tea would you like to be served today? *Sigh* I understand that I haven't been a very good host in the end of 09 and in this year as well....at times I find myself either busy or just feeling lazy and uninspired otherwise I'm sure that I CAN post daily lol. Haha and it looks like I am quite behind with the monthly dosage of my "Inspiration of the Month" posts!!

Before I jump into the topic of my post, I'd like you all to welcome CY who's a new **Tea Mate** (lol, I know CY I should've done this WAY earlier!! Please do forgive me, I am now looking at your blog and I'll be one of your followers ;-) ).

Anyhow, how have you **Tea Mates** been during my absence? I recently got a 13inch MacBook Pro; my very first Mac ever!! I was always a PC person but I had a friend convert me through screen sharing on Skype...I'm sure that any of you who has also experienced this conversion knows exactly how it feels!

Now since I was playing around with my Mac, I was looking at I-Tunes and was amazed about a world I have never explored; free podcasts. There's like a podcast for anything, even the most unexpected of things. I feel like I've been missing out on a lot especially during those long moments of struggling to wake up from bed and long walks and rides. Yes, music is nice but (yes, I know this is going to sound very geeky and nerdy now lol) I would rather invest those times in learning new things and exploring souls and worlds through short stories (whether fictional or not), poetry, people's contemplations, their travels, and their cooking. So far, I've only been subscribing to the podcasts and didn't really start listening to them. I also don't even have an Ipod or an Itouch so that I could listen to them in my long walks and rides.

Personally instead of listening to music while walking or on the metro I always like to dig into my own thoughts, meditate, or listen to the "music" already around me; the music composed of birds singing and flying, people walking and talking, my own foot steps, and cars passing by; each passerby having stories of their own. There's also visual music of streets, plants, people, birds, and cars passing by. There's also music of sensation of heat and cold, changing weathers and seasons. This is indeed worth contemplating about wouldn't you say? (As I'm typing this, I'm suddenly remembering watching August Rush; I really loved it!).

In conclusion, I'd love to tell you that if you still haven't experienced the wonderful world of podcasts, then you better start now! In the meantime, I think it'd be cool if you **Tea Mates** or **Tea Guests** can share recommendations if you're already immersed into that world.

Before I leave now, I'd like to assure you that I will be updating you about my knitting. I still haven't uploaded the photos, so stay tuned to that and come back for more **tea**!

From you Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

fundraising for the boston area rape crisis center

Image from: http://www.firstgiving.com/reemab

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the post: Mighty Leaf Organic Hojicha Green Tea. What tea would you like me to serve you today?

This post's gonna be pretty short as I'm quite busy this week. Since I had already mentioned that I am currently volunteering in a rape crisis hotline, I thought I'd let you **Tea Mates** and **Tea Guests** know about an event organized by this rape crisis center which is a 5k walk. In registering to walk in this event, I've also created a fundraising page. I would highly appreciate it if you could sponsor me and donate for my fundraising page to help support the Center especially as I've heard that federal funding for such cirsis intervention centers have decreased.

To access my fundraising page and support me, please see the first right hand side widgets that's lime green and is titled as: Help Me Support BARCC!!! (the one that says firstgiving). Or you could directly go to my fundraising page by clicking here: http://www.firstgiving.com/reemab The fundraising page will be disabled (and its widget here will be removed) on July 11, 2010.

Would highly appreciate your support and let me assure you that, as a volunteer there, your money will not be excessively wasted on administrative costs like many charities. Below is a description about how your donations help and actually bring results:

• $25 helps BARCC answer two hotline calls.
• $75 pays for medical accompaniment to a hospital emergency room by a trained volunteer.
• $200 supports the first three sessions of free counseling for survivors and their families.
• $1,000 allows a new volunteer or intern to attend BARCC’s comprehensive training program

Here's the main website of BARCC itself: http://barcc.org/ and here's the link to the walk itself: http://www.firstgiving.com/barcc


From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

knitting

Image from: http://www.shop.darngoodyarn.com/product/dgys-premium-recycled-silk-yarn

TEA TIME!!!!

Tea for the post: bubble green tea with milk. I personally never imagined having green tea with milk, but I really liked it! However, since this was the second time I had something like this, I think I preferred the one I had the first time at Infusions Tea Spa in Allston, MA. Also, I think the next time I drink this, I'll try it warm, without sugar, and maybe with less milk or with the Rainbow evaporated milk with cardamom flavor rather than fresh milk (I typically use this brand of evaporated milk whenever I drink Lipton tea; I feel like it gives a nice scent and flavor to the tea. Unfortunately, I can't find it here in the US...but I did hear that it could be found in Indian grocery stores in the country and I personally haven't really checked).

Speaking of trying out new stuff, since I started going to my hotline trainings, I found it funny how most of the girls and young women there (most of whom were between 19 to 25 year olds) would have their knitting projects ready to work on as they're out and about! This is really not a sight to be seen back in my home in the UAE, especially in Dubai; so yes, it was quite an extraordinary sight for me! Watching them work on their projects during our break times really inspired me to want to learn knitting (as you may have noticed in the "fun" list I was talking about in my previous post).

In my search of free knitting video tutorials, I stumbled upon Knitting Help.com. The first video I watched seemed to be simple and easy to follow, hopefully, once I get the knitting tools I need and have the chance to experiment, I'll try to follow these tutorials and will some day post a review of the website here ;-)

Knitting Help.com also provides free patterns and project ideas and links to some knitting stores online. Among the knitting stores linked is a website called Darn Good Yarn that sells recycled and fair-trade yarn,  local Californian Alpaca wool yarn, banana fiber silk yarn, and silk Sari yarn. They have AMAZING colors (see the picture above) and offer a 5% discount with all first-time orders. Although the website only sells yarn and offers free patterns and ideas for projects, it did have a special offer only for February the 8th of getting a free pair of size 11 bamboo circulars if you order two or more balls of yarn on that day.

I didn't know about this offer until after I started emailing the owner of the site about weather I could get samples of the yarn to experiment before actually buying the yarn. She told me that they didn't but that they had that offer and that since I'm interested in learning, she'd also provide me with a free crochet needle in case I go in that direction! So, I ordered two balls of yarn and she added the free bamboo circulars and the free crochet needle. One of the balls of yarn cost $7.59 (originally $7.99) while the other was $6.64 (originally $6.99). The shipping cost $3.99, so I've paid a total of $18.22, plus I'm receiving the free needles; a good bargain for an expensive craft like knitting.

Although I placed my order on that very day and she had shipped it the next day, I still didn't get my package so I still can't comment on the quality of the products yet. So far, this long delay is my only criticism of this online knitting store. But then again, the package probably didn't reach me yet because of the bad weather in some cities and also due to this long weekend (it was President's Day today...I personally don't understand why do Americans have so many holidays; but I like that!!). I guess I should receive it by the next day or two because, according to the package tracking online, it is in transit and has just left the sorting facility in Boston. Will post a review of the products once I get my package and spend some time experimenting with them to see if this really was a good bargain overall ;-)

Would highly appreciate it if you **Tea Mates** and **Visitors** share links to good knitting stores online and free online video tutorials.

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

the "fun list"

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the day: fusion of green and white tea. What tea would you like me to serve you now?

During one of my hotline trainings, we were discussing "self-care". As the name implies, it means taking care of yourself to avoid or reduce the probability of getting secondary trauma or depression as a result of interacting with survivors of trauma (in the case of my hotline: survivors of rape and sexual assault). Speaking of which, I had my very first call in my very first shift overnight on the Monday that just passed! It went very well, although I was so nervous at first and felt like I forgot everything from the training until I picked up that phone!!

Anyways...among the suggestions for self-care is to create a "fun list"! I really like this, I mean, a lot of us create lists about errands we should get out of our way, however, although I think that is very good habit, when we finally have some free time, we have no idea what to do! We therefore end up spending those hours in facebooking, watching T.V., etc. when we could be doing something we love to do but always felt we didn't have the time or mood for it!

So I finally decided to create this "fun list" (although in my case, I decided to call it the Free Time List (a boring and lame name, I know!) because I also added hobbies I wanna learn, like knitting, or relearn after a while of not doing it like Tae Kwon Do). In my current list though, I just added stuff I wanna do during my free time while I'm in Boston in the vicinity of my campus so that I don't feel too overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I wanna do (although my list is still looking somewhat overwhelming...).

What do you **Tea Mates** think about this? Any other suggestions about how to deal with "free time"?

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

oil-filled lenses bringing sight to those in need

TEA TIME!!!!!


Tea for the day: that same old blend of green and white tea (oh yes, and I still got more Lipton tea to get rid of....I don't know why I have too much of both of these teas!). What tea would you like to have?


I found this video after clicking on a link from one of my friend's links on Facebook about a Hello Kitty Chanisaw! Haha, well now this video doesn't have anything to do with chainsaws or Hello Kitty lol, but it talks about a simple yet innovative idea; a solution to providing eyeglasses to those who need it in developing countries.


I personally find the narrator's use of the label "Third World Countries" as very offensive...I'd personally rather use "Developing Countries", because no world to me is first, second, or third, in reality, we are all poor and it is this denial that breeds arrogance and increases the gap between the "rich" and the "poor".


I also don't get why is there a rabbit in the very beginning of the video...


Anyhow, enough of my blabbering, here's the video!  Oh yes, and before you start the video, don't forget to pause the background music via the Ipod gadget on the right hand side of the blog!! (Scroll down a bit and you should see a dark brown, floral Ipod)


Adspecs from Joel on Vimeo.

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

inspiration of the month 4

TEA TIME!!!

Tea of this blog post: organic Moroccan herbal mint tea by Numi. Although I was at first skeptical about whether this was really mint until after I smelled it and drank it; this sort of tea is also part of my childhood and I always loved it. What tea would you like to be served today?

Yes I know, this ritual of "inspiration of the month" has been skipped twice I guess....that is why I'm not skipping anymore by posting now. For new **visitors** of this **Tea House** who don't know what this ritual of "inspiration of the month" is about, please see the first "inspiration of the month" blog post.

Before I share with you the "inspiration", I'd like to say something about the music I've finalized for this **Tea House**. The Ipod gadget (the Mixpod) gadget displayed in the right hand side of the blog now has a total of seven soundtracks. I made sure that they were as diverse as possible and yet matching the theme of the **Tea House**. I'm open to suggestions. By clicking on "menu" in the Ipod, you can choose what song you'd like played as you sip some **tea** at the **Tea House**. Below is the name, singer/composer, and language of each of the soundtracks:

1. "Tea House Moon" by Enya (instrumental) 
2. "Memories of Light and Wave" theme from the video game Final Fantasy X-2 (instrumental)
3. "Now We Are Free" by Lisa Gerard; theme from the movie "Gladiator" (I'm not sure what language is this sung in, but I'm assuming it's Gaelic or an invented language?)
4. "Chouwa-oto" by Kokia (Japanese)
5. Naseer Shamma playing Jamil Bashir compositions (instrumental: oud)
6. "Doosh doosh" by Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat (Farsi)
7. "Mina Sonati" by Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat (Farsi)

I hope you enjoy them!

Now, here's your simple inspiration of the month! I found this simple yet beautiful quotation from a bookmark I found in Barnes and Noble bookstore nearby my campus:

"Wisdom begins in wonder." 

---Socrates

I really think that this quotation still stands true especially for our modern age where people seem to be much more cynical and critical of everything and justify such attitude as being realistic and as key to knowledge. However, although asking questions is indeed key to knowledge, it is the attitude and mindset from which it is asked that matters, for one can approach a problem, statement, argument, etc. with a mindset of either blind-faith, doubt, or wonder.

In blind-faith, one accepts anything without doubting; simply basing their values, etc. on mere faith. Doubt involves critical thinking and always questioning everything. With doubt, you're only making sure that you always argue against the claim, argument, etc. without attempting to understand it more fully or considering views that maybe a balance between your view and the other's view. Wonder also involves some amount of critical thinking, but it also involves creative thinking and leads to a more open mind compared to the previous two.Wonder is a balance between the extremes of blind-faith and doubt.

If we can learn to live our lives always in constant wonder and awe, like childish scientists or childish artists, then indeed there's so much more we can unlock and learn and we can thus live our lives fuller. It is with wonder that a lot of music, art, and inventions are made rather than abiding by either of the extremes of blind-faith and doubt. I'd love to learn how to master this art of wonder myself, I always feel I forget this wisdom myself or that there's much more to it that I still don't understand yet. However, having this bookmark with this quotation by Socrates helps remind me to keep that mindset as I mentally have a "debate" with the claims and statements of an interesting book. I hope he does the same for you.

From your Tea Mate,

Reema B. :-)