a tree is a tree is a tree

when it comes to presents - i am difficult to say the least. i enjoy buying them - i spend a lot of time thinking and rethinking what to choose and what can make the receiver of the gift happier... i try to be original and love the whole "surprise effect". of course such accuracy and dedication to presents for others results in an unbeliavable talent in (too) often feeling disappointed by whatever gift i happen to receive. truth is - very seldom i can say that i truly like what i get. and i have felt this way since i was a child. as stated in my opening line: in short, i am difficult. picky and difficult.

problem is...as my maternity leave is approaching -- these days i seem to receive a lot of presents... from colleagues, from students. and...since the local taste (especially when it comes to newborn girls) verges on the embarassing... i have started to collect incredible barbie-like outfits, tiny hats, furry things... and all of them are invariably candy pink - a colour that makes me cringe only if i think of it. ok, while on one hand i tend to thank and appreciate the thought that prompts these gifts...on the other i keep on being 100% put off by most of the stuff i am getting. with the "best" number so far being a pink, furry (and i mean yeti furry) coat - that would make even the most innocent toddler seem like a copycat of jody foster in taxi driver.

anyway -- given this foreword... imagine my face yesterday when i received from my sunday class an envelope whose content was a certificate by the "aegean forestry department". turns out eleven students decided to pay for an olive grove to be planted under my name. it took them twenty minutes to actually explain this and translate the certificate for me - and the idea sank in as rather different and kind of original - even to me, an old grumpy bag when it comes to presents. apparently the trees (eleven) will grow along the river menderes. wikipedia helped me locate the place and read a bit about its history - making it all sound kind of cool actually... and i do love olive groves...their trees are beautiful to say the least. there is something wild and wise at once about them and they are one of the symbols of the mediterranean.

plus...best part is - they are not pink!