Tickled Pink

Hello everyone! I hope you are all in the pink of health despite the Covid-19 pandemic. I know what’s happening around the world can be really stressful, but keep the hope alive. We will get through this. We had our first Zoom lesson today and I was SO happy to see my students’ faces again! We have missed you. Thank you parents for supporting your children‘s education no matter what. We will continue to find ways to provide lessons in these uncertain times and improve the quality of our lessons online. That’s a pinky promise.

Sakura season is here and unfortunately many of us cannot have hanami or fully enjoy the lovely cherry blossoms. Luckily for me, I can see them almost everyday when I go running by the river. Such lovely, lovely pink! I’m tickled pink!

Normally, parks and riverbanks would be crowded with people having a picnic and drinking until they start to see pink elephants. But, this year is a quiet time for the sakura trees.

Anyway, the lovely cherry blossoms inspired me to share some English expressions with the word “pink”.

Tickled pink

To be very pleased or delighted about something.

In the pink of health

To be in very good health or condition physically and emotionally

Pinky promise/swear

In Japanese it is called “yubikiri”.

In English we call our little fingers “pinkie/pinky” Pinkie means tiny or small.

So, ”yubikiri” is “pinky promise” in English.

“It is said that the “pinky promise” or “pinky swear” originated in Japan where it is known as yubikiri, which means “finger cut-off.” This is because in Japan the person that broke the "pinky promise" had to cut off their pinky finger. However, over time the "pinky promise" has become a more casual way of making a promise.”

See pink elephants

To hallucinate or start to imagine unreal things from drinking too much alcohol

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That’s all for now. Be safe everyone!

Remember the Prefix “Re”

Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing great.

This is our third week off and I busied myself today by doing some indoor gardening. I took some photos of my house plants and I thought this a good chance to share a quick English lesson with you!

There are many words that begin with the prefix “RE”.

The prefix “Re” means again or back.

Try to rewrite the words in the picture to easily remember them.

Auntie Moment

Here's me spending time with my cute nephews and nieces albeit online. Andreas, one of my nephews just turned 6 years old three days ago. Sadly I had to cancel my trip back to Manila to join his birthday party. He had a big birthday cake but only had his mom and his grandparents to celebrate with. Chase, my other nephew is 9 years old, Charm is 7, and little Cherish is almost 2. I sorely miss being with them.

Although using the Internet has become a huge part of our lives, I hope that this will not be the "normal" way of socializing in the future because nothing beats being with people in person. I come from a country where greeting and saying good bye to each other with a hug, and holding hands, embracing and touching the people we love- our family and friends, are an important part of our custom and culture. Anyway, I think the Corona virus is just making me more appreciative and grateful for a lot of things that we took for granted when everything felt safe and secure.

Stay strong, safe, and healthy everyone. Keep learning new things as well.