(In chronological order from oldest to newest)
ALIONA MANVAE, Santa Cruz, California (Colorado Workshop, 201
8)
I took a month-long workshop with CruzinCobGlobal. What I have learnt and lived was much more than I anticipated: watching a house grow from nothing to a living structure was just one of many lessons I’ve received; the community we have created through working, dancing, laughing, cleaning, relaxing, stretching, singing together felt closer than family to me. I appreciated the intellectual and hands-on knowledge of how to build both a house and a community.
NAIANA TEIXEIRA, Minas Gerais, Brazil (Brazil & Colombia Workshops)
Construir uma casa com as próprias mãos é possível! E mais ainda, gastando pouco e em harmonia com a natureza! Depois de um workshop de 3 semanas construindo um espaço de yoga em cob, eu voltei para minha terra e comecei a construir minha casa praticamente sozinha. A sensação de poder fazer isso é indescritível! É realmente um resgate de uma sabedoria inata. Voltar as mãos e os pés para a terra transforma muitas coisas dentro e fora da gente. Sou muito grata a Claudine do CruzinCobGlobal por viajar o mundo ensinando cob às pessoas. Comecei a construir me sentido muito segura e confiante e minha casa está nascendo linda e forte! Viva o Cob!
NICOLAS PIMENTEL, Santiago, Chile (Azores & Colorado Workshops)
Cuando por primera vez fui a un workshop de construcción en Cob con CCG fue sin duda una experiencia transformadora. No solo descubrí un método de construcción que siguiera todos mis ideales de arquitectura y vida, sino que también tuve la experiencia de vivir en una comunidad espontánea por el tiempo que duró el curso. Sin duda cada día era un desafía que requería de mucho compromiso de parte de todos para poder acabar con las tareas propuestas, y hasta a veces era agotador y sobreexigente, pero dar hasta la última fuerza para terminar con un proyecto en común es lo más gratificante. Mientras construíamos la casa de cob, estabamos construyendo nuestra fortaleza, nuestras relaciones. Lo aprendido no se puede equiparar con nada, es un conocimiento que viene directamente de la experiencia, por lo que se queda grabado en lo más profundo de nuestro espíritu y nos sigue a donde sea que vayamos.
Las personas con las que compartí se transformaron rapidamente en mi familia, sin importar de dónde venían, ya que todos vamos hacia el mismo lugar. Fue como una vuelta en el tiempo, un momento de sincronía cósmica para entender por dónde estoy caminando y hacia dónde quiero ir.
Luego de mi primer workshop, mi vida cambió, y un sin numero de puertas se abrieron en mi camino para seguir con lo que me gusta. Cuando uno vibra en el camino personal, todo se sincroniza para seguir andando, y así fue y ha sido para mí. Cada vez que pienso en el barro, en lo que construímos, en las personas con los que lo hicimos, me lleno de alegría y ganas de más, de seguir construyendo, cambiando al mundo, cambiando a las personas, cambiando uno mismo. Esto es lo más importante, ya que si realmente queremos ver un cambio en el mundo, es nuestra responsabilidad comenzar.
Lo lindo de los workshops es que cada uno es diferente, ya que lo hacen las personas, lo hace el lugar, lo hace la vibra con la que estamos. Sin duda cada persona que participa es auténtica y tiene mucho que enseñarnos, y con el paso del tiempo se va conociendo a las personas, trabajando en equipo, construyendo una casa, creando un ambiente en donde la gratitud abunda. Nuevas familias se construyen en cada workshop.
Es jugar. Pero muy importante mantener el fuego, la energía, la velocidad, la motivación para que el proyecto avance. Es sin duda una tarea muy dificil de llevar a cabo, y hay quienes caen en la frustración y se bloquean, pero eso es todo parte de la vida, y es una instancia de aprendizaje, de auto conocimiento, de conocer nuestros limites y posibilidades y pujar un poco más, siempre un poco más, para poder llegar más allá de nuestros límites.
El cob ha sido para mí revelador, y la manera en que los workshops de CCG se llevan a cabo es lo que mejor se acomoda a mis necesidades: teoría y práctica, mucha práctica, muy intenso, en donde todo el aprendizaje se absorbe mediante la experiencia, y donde es mucho más que un workshop de bioconstrucción; es un workshop de conocimiento personal, de construcción interior, de meditación, de aprendizaje ancestral. Sin duda estaré siempre agradecido por todo lo aprendido y las experiencias vividas.
KRYSTAL ALEXANDER, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (Azores, Texas, Colorado, Italy, North Carolina & Tennessee Workshops)
I started this journey with a dream of building my own home. I knew a lot energy and dedication
would have to go into learning such a skill and started looking at options. I found Claudine and CruzinCobGlobal and pulled the trigger on signing up for a workshop and the journey began. After two workshops some of the other students and I had enough experience to start doing projects on our own
. That was a great way to get connected with the local community to find others who are interested in building naturally. With more experience building on our own and assisting in a workshop we were capable enough to be hired in the assisting of building a cob structure. Since then I have been able to travel through CruzinCobGlobal to teach building with cob and meet more incredible people. This journey has brought into my life so many beautiful people who share in the same vision and all have many different skills to offer. We now have a network of friends (which is constantly growing) all over the world who share the desire to live a healthier lifestyle for ourselves and the earth. I know when it comes time to build my own home many old and new friends will join in on the adventure.
PRISCILA BOGÉA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Brazil & Colorado Workshops)
Já há alguns anos quando conheci o cob tive certeza que gostaria de fazer minha casa com esta linda, barata, resistente e sustentável técnica de construção natural. Neste ano descobri o CruzinCobGlobal e fiz dois workshops de cob com a Claudine. Foi uma das melhores experiências que pude viver em minha vida. Antes de começar o curso tinha dúv
idas se teria força, resistência para dar conta do processo de construção, o que me surpreendi positivamente. O trabalho com o cob é amigável e para todos! Descobri uma força que até então não sabia que tinha. Sem contar que descobri ainda a força transformadora de limpeza e renovação que o trabalho com a terra produziu de forma terapêutica em mim. Depois dos workshops tive oportunidade de trabalhar com Cob por 3 meses nos Estados Unidos o que ajudou ainda mais a consolidar o meu aprendizado. Tenho muita gratidão à Claudine que é muito mais que uma professora, transformou-se em uma amiga e grande incentivadora do trabalho com o cob. Gratidão também a todos os amigos que conheci nesta jornada e que contribuíram para meu crescimento no cob e serviram de inspiração para uma existência mais integrada e feliz.
PAULA CARNEIRO, Minas Gerais, Brazil (Brazil, Colombia, Colorado, Italy, North Carolina & Azores Wkshps)
This year I dedicated myself to learn COB building with Claudine Desiree. I attempted my first workshop with her in Carrancas, Brasil, where we built an earthen oven with bench. It was enough to 
fall in love with COB and all the artistic possibilities it was already growing in my dreams. So I followed Claudine to Colombia and Colorado to learn to actually build a house. It was the most amazing and empowering experience I could ever think of. To be able to grow a house from and with the ground is a revolutionary thing! Besides, COB blows up my mind with it’s huge sculptural potential and the possibility to aggregate many different materials. The process of building with COB is also very pleasant, it feels like dancing stepping on the mud and shaping it into the wall and it makes strong bounds, not only between each bread of cob, but also between the fellows who are building together. Not to mention the healing power of clay, with it’s ability to balance the body and soul energy. Being a student of Cruzin COB Global opened a hole new world of possibilities in my life which I’m very grateful for.
XOSÉ RODRIGUEZ, Galicia, Spain (Colombia Workshop, 2018)
Mi experiencia con el COB y Claudine, fué buenísima.Descubrí una conexión con la tierra desconocida, en la cual con las manos descubrimos nuestra fuerza y el potencial con nuestra energía, y con Claudine todo va bien siempre
️
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️.Thanks Claudine
the time, looking for inspiration, having recently uprooted and left a ten year run in the music business. I’ve always been interested in design and aesthetics, so Cob architecture appealed to my senses immediately. What I didn’t realize, however, is how deep the waters run in the philosophy of natural building, as well as the how transformational the process of working with earthen materials is. Through both workshops I’ve attended, not only did I acquire an immense amount of sacred and invaluable knowledge, I emerged a better human being on the other side. I think that’s what makes a CCG experience unique; the amount of internal building you do within yourself is equal, if not more, profound than the beautiful structures you build in the physical realm. 
non seulement écologique et saine, mais aussi pleine de charme! Ce fût une aventure humaine intense, dans laquelle les notions d’entre-aide, de communauté et de partage se sont avérées essentielles. Il ne s’agi pas seulement de construire une maison, mais également de se sentir connecté avec la nature et les gens qui nous entourent.
CHARLOTTE “CHA” GIBBONS, Sacramento, CA (Nevada City, Chile & Azores workshops)
After years of working at a desk job I decided to do something different. I was just looking for a way to construct a pizza oven when I came across a Cruzin Cob Global workshop in my area. I signed up and had what I would call a life changing experience. Not only did I learn how to work with cob and build a small home from the ground up. I also got to meet some amazing people and experienced a different way of being in the world. Claudine takes students through a step by step process of hands on application in working with cob and creating unique structures that feel healthy and supportive of the planet and healthy living. And along the way she creates a team atmosphere that supports relationship building relationships and self-exploration.
I am now looking forward to new opportunities working with cob and meeting amazing the people who are willing to take a step outside their comfort zone and the prevailing way of being in the world. The people I have met in these workshops want a better way of living with our planet and they are exploring the creative process to find harmony inside and out. What a great learning and growth experience.
ZAK SAWYER, Hawaii (Chile workshop, 2020)
Coming into this I had no expectation on how this was going to work. I was amazed with how friendly the host was on helping me retrieve my lost luggage and helping me get set up ! Once the classes started I was skeptical with the teachers because I tend to not like people in power or who are unwilling to question their methods. After the first few days of class I was completely surprised at how open-minded Viva and Nicolas were. Both of them are full of knowledge and wanted to spread it and all the love as well. They never “required” anyone to do anything they would just ask who would want to do what and I think it worked great with the group of people we had. Also the food was probably the tastiest and healthiest I have eaten consecutively my whole life ! I learned so much from just one work shop and cant wait to put all the knowledge I learned to practice for my own home !
CRYSTAL DAWN, Nomad Healer, The World (California & Azores workshops)
Belated) B’EarthDay Blessings For Claudine Desiree whose life work is to bless our Mother Earth and her communities as she teaches how to build sustainable earth friendly, and people friendly, Cob Structures.
BRADY DOETSCHMANN, Software Engineer, Chicago (Tennessee Cob Workshop, 2023)
This workshop more than met my expectations. While I did expect to gain knowledge related to the build, I was unprepared for how affecting the community rituals would be. There are adjustments to my character, my career, and my emotional outlook that are now feeling inevitable, which isn’t what I expected a Cob workshop to address directly. To Claudine’s credit, I was told that it would feel this way.
In terms of the build’s own details, I think the results speak for themselves. I was part of a remarkable build. What more could I expect?
The content was wonderful. The slides were charming, and the insights were beyond useful. I loved the sculpting, which I expected, and really loved the plastering, which I did not expect. It started to feel almost trance-like, and you were a little disappointed when the day ended.
The pace was great; I thought that it was generously paced, and in fact, I had expected it to be a little bit more aggressive than it turned out to be. I’m sensitive to the perspective that this pace isn’t compatible with the treatment of this workshop as a kind of healing retreat, which I know had been voiced by at least one person. All the same, this experience wasn’t framed as that kind of retreat, and I can’t imagine building an entire house and learning all of those skills, especially with the quantity of patience that was afforded to us, without a little bit of discipline built into the schedule.
Amanda Penwarden, Photographer, Texas (North Carolina workshop, 2023)
I’m super grateful to Branden for teaching me how to use a skill saw! That is actually one of my favorite 
moments from the workshop. He was so calm and patient with me. I didn’t feel any judgement from him which gave me the space to actually connect with what I was doing. Prior to this, I had a lot of experiences with my dad working on projects where he’d get really frustrated with his tools or the situation—I never enjoyed trying to do those things with him and often times felt like it was my fault for wanting to do the project but needing his help to complete it. This moment with Branden and a few others observing him were very healing to me—the way he modeled a grace filled approach to building, taking his time, working through each problem without getting emotional and letting that fill the air. I’m really impressed with how all the men handled themselves. Even after difficult or frustrating moments during the build, I saw humility and a positive outlook naturally return—specifically in Josh and Cooper. It was beautiful to see when I’m accustomed to those moments dictating the atmosphere and remainder of the time. I now feel confident in picking up a skill saw which blows my mind because I would have never thought I could actually operate one of those on my own. I could actually cry thinking about it because I’m not reliant on my dad to do something I can do now. It’s very liberating. Yesterday I went to home depot and got wood, came back and cut it on my own and enjoyed the whole process in the presence of my own emotions and thoughts.
CAROLYN BACK, Chicago, (Tennessee workshop, 2023)
Our build was truly a labor of love. We all kept a positive attitude and gave it our all. Every piece was important to the success of the build—accomodations, food, teachers, students, attitude, creativity, community-building, and love. I was nervous about attending because I had a bike accident in January and injured my back and shoulders but we all listened to our bodies and where one person might have needed to take a step back, others stepped up to help out. As someone who works in community engagement, it was amazing to see how quickly we built community. We joked that friends that sh*t their pants together, stay together. I will cherish this experience and new friends forever and can’t wait to build more cob.
CLAYTON WILLIAMS, Texas, (Puerto Rico Full Build & Azores Outdoor Kit
chen, 2024)
My experience with CCG workshops has been more than I could ever imagine. Claudine and her team put a tremendous amount of effort into going above and beyond. There is always an underlying feeling that we are doing something more than building with cob. I sense a higher purpose of building community and helping create the world we desire.
It was extremely powerful, challenging, exciting, joyful, and transformative experience to build with your hands, a few tools, and the earth. During the workshop there will be a highs and lows, and a myriad of emotions such as jubilation, dancing, crying, and laughter. You will come away shaped by the clay into a more robust person, I know I was and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity.
