Wednesday 19 May 2010

Thunder

After the storm today, here are a couple of idioms for you:

I had a really good idea in the meeting, but Nick told everybody his plan first and stole my thunder

What's wrong with Nick? He's got a face like thunder!

Enjoy

Sunday 9 May 2010

English Apps

Do you have an iPhone or iPod Touch?

Here are some apps you can add for learning English:

Top 10 iPhone Apps for learning English

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Our view of Tbilisi

This will be a new feature of the blog - we'll write some thoughts on life in Tbilisi, and link some interesting words and phrases so that you can learn them. Enjoy...

My neighbour is an interesting guy. He's quite old, but on the day I arrived in Tbilisi he came and introduced himself, and told my Georgian colleague that if I have any problems I should go and see him, which was a nice gesture, I thought. However, he doesn't speak any English, and my Georgian is still limited. Every time I see him, though, he tries to communicate things to me. This always follows a pattern. First, we exchange pleasantries in Georgian (I can manage that now...). Then, he asks me, or tells me, something in Georgian. I shrug and convey that I don't understand. He then tries again in Russian, even though he's aware that I don't understand Russian. I shrug again, he looks dismayed, we smile at each other and part company.
One day, he knocked on my door and gave me a book. It's a book in Russian about learning English. He suggested I could learn Russian from it. This was a nice gesture, but I tried to explain to him that I can't read Russian, so had no idea what the book said. He didn't understand, so I still have the book, and he seems to think that that is how my Georgian is improving.
He may sound a little mad, but I think he is a good example of why I like living in Georgia - he's always friendly, always tries to chat with me, even though he knows I won't understand, always shakes my hand, and whenever someone is around who speaks English he asks them to tell me that I can call on him at any time if I have any problems. Very hospitable and welcoming.

Do you have any similar stories? You can add them in the comments below, or you can just say what you think of the story.

Monday 3 May 2010

Weekly idioms

We are hoping that spring will arrive soon, so here are some idioms connected to spring.

'We like Nick, but he's no spring chicken!'

'What a mess my flat is! It's time for a spring-clean!'

'The sun is out and everybody's happy - I think we've all got spring-fever.'

'Nick looks happy - he's full of the joy's of spring!'