I spent the weekend on the floor.  No, I wasn't drunk (most of the time).  I finally decided to put down a new cushion floor in my classroom.  It was the first time I've tried it, so I spent a few weeks researching "how to" videos on you tube, and started Saturday afternoon.   [caption id="attachment_2442" align="alignnone" width="363"] Step 1, measuring and cutting.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2443" align="alignnone" width="800"] Step 2 fixing the holes in the old floor.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2444" align="alignnone" width="337"] Step 3, putting down glue and waiting for it to dry.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2445" align="alignnone" width="337"] Step 4, lay cushion floor.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2446" align="alignnone" width="800"] 1st half finished.[/caption]     [caption id="attachment_2448" align="alignnone" width="800"] Step 5, remove furniture from other half, . . repeat.[/caption]     [caption id="attachment_2450" align="alignnone" width="800"] Almost finished, completely exhausted![/caption]       [caption id="attachment_2453" align="alignnone" width="800"] The final product[/caption] I was actually very pleased with the results.  It came out better than I had expected.  What do you think?  Be honest! The worst part of the whole job, was moving furniture.  I had to take out four big bookcases, a huge desk, three tables, a white board and a big monitor.  I hope my back will be okay. This got me thinking about "floors".  There are many idioms in English that use "floor".  Here are a few:

1.  I'm floored!  This means "I can't believe something, or I am very surprised.  I was floored by the prices in the supermarket last time I went shopping.
2. Rooted to the floor.  This means I was so scared or interested that I couldn't move.   When I saw the terrible news about former PM Abe, I was rooted to the floor.
3. Mop up the floor with.  This means to win decisively.  The Angels mopped up the floor with the dodgers (I wish).
4. Get in on the ground floor.  This means to start with something from the very beginning.  If only I had gotten in on the ground floor of Apple, I would be so rich now!
5. Have the floor.  This means to be in charge for the moment.  I will now turn the floor over to our new President.
6. Sink through the floor.  This means to be so embarrassed you want to disappear.  After I tripped going down the aisle in my wedding ceremony, I wish I could have sunk through the floor.
7. On the cutting room floor. This means some idea that was thrown away.  I had some great suggestions during the meeting, but now they're all on the cutting room floor.
8. Pace the floor.  This means to be very worried about something and walk back and forth on the floor, literally or figuratively.  I've been pacing the floor for weeks about my new job.
9. ROTFL, Rolling on the floor laughing.  This means something was so funny I couldn't even stand up anymore.  It's used in SNS as ROTFL.  That YOUTUBE video had me ROTFL!!
10. Eat off the floor.  This means the floor, or house is so clean, you could eat off the floor.  It's used as an exaggeration.  My new floor is so clean you could eat off it . . . .until tomorrow.

One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor

One of my favorite flowers has always been lilacs.  I have memories of waiting for the school bus in front of my house next to my mother's lilac bush.  The flowers smelled and tasted wonderful. About twenty years ago, I bought three lilac bushes at the Ueki Ichi in Yabase. Two of them died, but one of them slowly grew into a tall and beautiful tree. Unfortunately, about two years ago, it started dying.  First I lost half of it. Then this year, it completely died! I was so sad! I spent yesterday morning digging up the tree and the huge roots. Here is my hope for the future. Finally after a week with a bad back from cutting up my lilac tree, I planted two new lilacs this morning.  Here's hoping they grow into great trees someday.

Today's BGM

We'll gather lilacs in the spring again

Frank Sinatra

After many weeks and months of thinking, worrying and planning, I have decided to return to America.  I'm going home today.  This will be my final post here. Thank you for all the wonderful years, I really enjoyed teaching all of you . . . most of you . . .  some of you!                      

I'm JOKING!!!

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ENJOY YOUR DAY!!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1497067710131417088   https://youtu.be/gEX7Xxfr-qc I've been feeling very sad, depressed and discouraged this last week.  I've had trouble sleeping with all the turmoil in the world going through my mind at night. I have nieces from Ukraine with family who are stuck there.  My brother is doing all he can to get them out safely. In the face of all this, I want to focus on PEACE today. These quotes and more can be found here.  

• “Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.” —Lyndon B. Johnson
• “ If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It's one world, pal. We're all neighbors.” —Frank Sinatra
• “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one.” —John Lennon
• “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” —Mahatma Gandhi
• “Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.” —John Lewis
• “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” ―Indira Gandhi

Waking up on Sunday morning to the delicious aroma of my mother's homemade cinnamon rolls.  What a wonderful memory! As a child these were one of my favorite treats. When I came to Japan in 1984, I don't remember seeing cinnamon rolls anywhere.  I missed them so much that I tried to make them a few times. Let's just say I wasn't successful. Last year, out of the blue, there was a cinnamon roll boom in Akita (Japan?).  After reading about the best cinnamon rolls in Akita in Mari Mari, I went on the hunt for the ultimate cinnamon roll. Here are the results:76 Bakery Starbucks タミーユ　bakery YOUパン パンノキ ヴィ　ド　フランス [caption id="attachment_2458" align="alignnone" width="627"] ルーシーカンパニー[/caption] All of the rolls were delicious in their own way, however my favorite was from a little shop　ルーシーカンパニー,in Omagari AEON.  I will continue my search for the ultimate cinnamon roll. So what is your comfort food? Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture. I did enjoy a kind of non-calorie (or minus calorie) comfort food last week.  I had my first winter campout and snowshoeing of the season.  Nature is one of my comfort foods!

I hope you have all been doing well!

Today we will learn some idioms about tigers.

1. Paper tiger.  Something or someone who is all bark and no bite. Many people are quite scared of North Korea, but I think it's really only a paper tiger. 

2. Catch a tiger by the tail.  To be involved with something or someone that is too powerful or threatening.  I started trading BIT coin, but now I feel like I've caught a tiger by the tail and I can't let go!

3. Tiger team. A group of the best employees gathered to do something.  You are our tiger team for the corona vaccine!

4. Tiger juice / milk.  Hard liquor, whisky or brandy etc.   Let's bring a couple of bottles of tiger juice for the campfire tonight!

5. The lady or the tiger. An unknowable outcome to a problem.  

After four Halloween parties at the end of October, I was exhausted, and took a bit of a break.  I'm back now, and though it's a little late, I would like to finish my series on "masks". Due to corona, all students had to wear masks at the parties of course.  I decided to turn this into an opportunity.  I gave each student a plain white mask as a canvas and challenged them to create their own original mask to wear with their costume.  We had a contest with prizes for the best masks.  I wanted to share some of their wonderful creations with you here, unfortunately, the photo quality wasn't good enough to zoom into the masks without revealing the identity of the children, as you can see here: So, here are some random funny masks off of the internet:     I wonder, when can we finally take off these masks??? Finally, here are a few pictures from my Halloween.