"Isang sarbisa, paki", I answered. A GI never forgets how to order beer, no matter what the language.

Mhay nodded, and I continued "San Miguel?", and she nodded again.

Mhay waited patiently when Kelly asked me what I'd just ordered. When I told her I'd asked for a beer ("Isa is 'one', add 'ng' to the end for grammar; sarbisa is beer, paki is please"), specifically a San Miguel brand, she indicated she'd like to try one, too. I looked up at Mhay, and said "Dalawang, paki". She smiled her understanding, and left us to return a few moments later with two cold bottles of San Miguel, and two glasses. Kelly and I both carefully filled the glasses before taking a sip; again, Kelly's eyes lit up at the taste.

Kelly and I had both gone through about half our beer when Mhay showed up again, along with one of the other stewardesses. She introduced us, saying "This is my friend – kaibigan in Tagalog – Cherry". I could feel Kelly start to giggle next to me, and I discretely nudged her to indicate that it wasn't the time for that. She quickly got control of herself, and told Cherry "It's nice to meet you." followed by my own greeting.

Mhay told us "Cherry wants to practice her English – she already speaks Chinese – so she will be helping me."

I could see on Kelly's face that she was surprised that the cute little Cherry already spoke another language, and wanted to practice yet a different one. I assured both of them that we would be happy to help, and thanked them for taking the time to help US.

For the next couple of hours, the two of them coached both Kelly and I in pronunciation and expanding our grammar as we coached Cherry – who took our polite corrections in the good will that they were intended. A few times, Mhay and Cherry both laughed when Kelly or I (or both) badly mispronounced a word, and started to blush at embarrassing us – until Kelly and I laughed along with them, and assured them that we thought it was funny, too. As it sank in that we weren't going to play at being 'Important People', they gradually became even more friendly, and willing to correct our errors.