静岡英和女学院 中学校・高等学校

This month’s theme for the English Café has been ‘April showers bring May flowers.’ Have you heard this saying before? It is very well-known in many English-speaking countries like Canada and the U.K. ‘Showers’ means ‘rain,’ so this means that it rains a lot in April and, because of that, there are many flowers in May. The words ‘showers’ and ‘flowers’ rhyme, so it’s easy to remember this saying. Please try to memorize it!

This year the rainy season has come very early to Shizuoka, so flowers like hydrangea (=アジサイ) are already blooming. In fact, the ones here at Eiwa are almost finished. The satsuki azalea bushes in the courtyard are still blooming however. In addition, the Principal has planted some vegetables so we can see melon and “apple goya”plants flowering. Hopefully this summer they will create a nice ‘green curtain’ and we can eat the vegetables. How about at your home? Are there any plants or flowers blooming there? What are your favorite flowers?

Personally, I love flowers and gardening and so May is one of my favorite months. Canada is much colder than Shizuoka though, so flowers like tulips are blooming now. In fact, Ottawa, the capital of Canada, holds a big tulip festival every May. I’d love to visit it someday.

I hope you all do your best to enjoy this rainy season as much as possible. And remember, those rainy days are not all bad – thanks to them, we are blessed with green nature around us!