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Actions speak louder than words

I’m sorry I was unable to blog yesterday, but on the way home we experienced an amazing electrical storm. Dazzling lightning bolts and cracking thunder greeted me when I got off the train. The rain was bucketing down and by the time I got home I was completely wet through. I think the storm must have affected the phone lines because I couldn’t connect to the internet. Hopefully, it will all be sorted out by the time I get home tonight.

It’s a shame to hear that one of your friends has had some conflicts with his parents over his choice of girlfriend. I agree with you that he shouldn’t rush into getting married when he is feeling so emotional about the situation, otherwise he may live to regret it. I’m happy that he saw sense after your chat and agreed with you about what to do. I’m sure if he and his girlfriend prove their commitment to each other and show his parents how serious they are, then they will agree to their marriage.

I remember when I met Tomono’s family for the first time. I felt nervous that they wouldn’t agree to our relationship as we are from different countries and cultures. I suppose they were concerned about their daughter being with somebody who wasn’t Japanese. In Japan, I think the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words’ means a lot, so I worked hard to endear myself to them by working hard and taking care of their daughter. They saw how happy Tomono was and when we told them that we had got engaged they were overjoyed, and her mum even gave me a big hug! We were really lucky to have such open-minded and understanding parents.

Your next blog post describes a very tragic event. My heart goes out to the soldier’s family, who must be going through a terrible time. I hope that the war in Iraq ends soon so no more parents have to mourn the loss of their children.

“Who do you admire most?” That is a tough one to answer. Gandhi is a very good choice as he brought an end to British rule in South Asia without the use of violence. When you look at the world today and you see conflicts and violence used to settle disputes, it really amazes me that Gandhi achieved his goal using non-violent methods.

I’ll have to think about the question a bit more…How about other readers?

Lewis


Today’s useful English

(The rain is) bucketing down

(to be) wet through

(to) connect to the internet

(to) sort out (a problem)

(to) have a conflict (with someone) (over something)

(to) rush into (doing) something

(to) live to regret (doing) something

(to) see sense (about something)

(to) agree with someone

(to) prove something to someone

(to) agree to something

‘Actions speak louder than words’

(to) give someone a hug

someone's heart goes out to someone

(to) go through a tough/difficult time

(to) mourn the loss of a loved one/a child/a friend, etc.

(to) bring an end to something

(to) settle a dispute (by doing something) OR (with something)

(to) achieve a goal

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