From coconut to palm tree!!

I recently admired a huge beautiful palm tree at a friend's house. He said he just got a old dead coconut and planted it and he got this beautiful palm tree.

So I asked one of my workers putting up my fence if any of them had a coconut. So far I have found that these very simple and humble people will do anything they can to please you. So just as they showed up with the fruit this time they showed up with a coconut. And as you can see it has a leaf already growing out of it.

As I mentioned to my housekeeper that I had gotten this coconut that was on the side of the house sitting in a bowl of water as per the instructions of my gardener so we can keep it in "good health" for another week or so, she offered to bring me another one so I can "balance" my backyard and not just have one huge one. She said that this way I can put one on each corner of the bottom of the backyard. And the other 2 smaller ones in between and it would look more balanced. So you can see that out of a half dead coconut, that I have received for free I will make it into a beautiful palm tree.

I find most people here are so grateful! That they will do whatever they can for you if you just treat them right. My housekeeper this morning brought a list of terms that she asked if I could research on the internet for her daughter. She said her daugther did not get her allowed internet time at school so she asked her this morning when she was leaving home who she was working for today. My housekeeper told her my name. Her daughter told her that since she was working for the nice good lady maybe I would not mind helping her. Keep in mind we are up in the mountains and the closest internet access is all the way at the bottom of the mountain and you pay for it. In order to get there you have to sit at a small maket and wait for a "taxi" and pay to get down the mountain. These people cannot afford to pay for a $5 round trip to the bottom of the mountain and they are not going to let their child go down by themselves, so it gets very expensive for them when you think that they only make $10 a day and that would all be spent in a trip to the internet.

So I sat down and spent a couple of hours looking up all these terms and finding photos to go with them. For example, archeology, anthropology, etc. This is probably why she offered the coconut because she felt very appreciative that I actually spent the time to help her daughter. The last time I saw her daughter in church she came over and gave me a big hug. If you only could see the conditions these people live under you would be amazed. It is hard for them and they appreciate anything youn do AND just like you and me, they will do anything so that their kids dont have to live the life they live. Her daughter got a scholarship to go to a school in another larger town next year, she was selected because she was very smart and she will have to board during the week days.

As I have been cleaning up my scrapbooking supplies of papers I have been giving my housekeeper papes and stickers and all kinds of stuff to take home to the girls. She very proudly told me this morning her daughter had an assignment and she used one of the flowered papers I had given her. And her paper was posted on the board along with everyone else's. The only problem was that everyone used plain white paper and she was the only one that had flowered paper so her teacher asked her where she had gotten the pretty paper and she told her she just got it from somewhere. But I could see that my housekeeper was very proud that she had stood out among everyone else in the class and put some thought into how to present her assignment. It is the simple things we all take for granted that are so difficult for these people and it is such a pleasure to see them be appreciative for what you give them.