Hi everyone!
It's cooled off just a bit these past couple days, but seems like the rainy season isn't quite over yet, is it? Have you started hearing cicaidas yet?
Today one of our guests brought her (cute!) baby son to free talk. Naturally, we ended up talking about babies and kids in general. I think child development is an interesting topic. For example, before kids reach a certain age, they can't understand that an object still exists in this world if they can't see it. I wonder if that's why some children cry so much when they can't see their mom. Maybe from their perspective, their mom actually doesn't exist if they can't see her.
We also talked a little bit about graduation ceremonies. A couple of our guests have relatives who were valedictorians of their high schools. I was surprised to hear that in Japan, the valedictorian receives a special certificate, but they don't give a speech. In the U.S., it's the custom that the valedictorian usually gives at least a short speech. One of my close friends was the valedictorian at my high school, and she gave a powerful, moving speech. But, I remember that after the ceremony, she told me that she had been really nervous. What do you remember from your graduation? Is there anything that stands out in your mind? Please let us know here at the cafe or in the comments!
Here are the words and phrases for today:
"I'm a bit rusty": To be rusty means that you haven't used a skill in a long time, so your level is a little bit lower. For example, if you didn't speak English for 10 years but you could still remember the basics, you could say "sorry, my English is a little bit rusty".
valedictorian: The valedictorian is the top (#1) student of a graduating class.
muggy: This has the same meaning as the word "humid", meaning very hot and wet weather. I think muggy sound more expressive and I can get more of the feeling of being in the weather when I hear it.
"This year's summer is so muggy, isn't it?"
Thanks for reading, and have a nice week!