November 9, 2012

The American political situation calmed down again.
Of course, our family isn't American citizens so we are not related to that directly.
Time is moving toward step by step.
The daylight saving time finished by last week it seems almost winter now.  

ESL theme: the review of Pardon That Turkey

<review>
This book is summary about Thanksgiving story.
The beginning of the book is about how to start and  be declared Thanksgiving.

My image of Thanksgiving was just that the early American settlers who survived that first year in their hometown gathered together to feast and give thanks.

I didn't know that a special woman, Sarah Josepha Hole, had to fight to have declared for long time, so I felt interesting.

After seventeen years and thousands of letters to Presidents, congressmen and local officials, Sarah's fight had come to end.

President Lincoln saw her point. After the civil war, the country did need something to help pull it together.

In 1863, he declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.
It would be celebrated every year on the last Thursday in November.

ESL theme : American Colonies

1, Original map

Colonies During the French and Indian Wars, 1754-1763

The Original 13 English Colonies 1607-1733

2, Names of the first 13 colonies and History

The Thirteen Colonies were some of the colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1733 (Georgia) by a variety of interests from England and later Great Britain. They are best known as the founding political entities of the United States of America.

The colonies were: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Each colony developed its own system of self-government. Residents of these colonies were mostly independent farmers, who owned their own land and voted for their local and provincial government. Benjamin Franklin, in 1772, after examining the wretched hovels in Scotland surrounding the opulent mansions of the land owners, said that in New England "every man" is a property owner, "has a Vote in public Affairs, lives in a tidy, warm House, has plenty of good Food and Fuel, with whole clothes from Head to Foot, the Manufacture perhaps of his own family." Following aseries of protests in the 1760s and 1770s, these colonies united militarily in opposition to Great Britain and the rule of King George III with the outbreak of theAmerican Revolutionary War in 1775. In 1776 they declared their independence and formed a new nation, the United States of America.

Before independence, the thirteen were part of a larger set of colonies in British America. Those in the British West Indies, Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec,Nova Scotia and East and West Florida remained loyal to the crown throughout the war, although there was a degree of sympathy with the Patriot cause in several of them. However, their geographical isolation and the dominance of British naval power precluded any effective participation.

The British empire settled its first permanent colony in the Americas at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. This was the but the first of 13 colonies in North America. The 13 colonies can be divided into three regions: New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. The chart below provides additional information include: years of settlement and founders.

Sort: Colony Name, Year

View: List

COLONY NAME	YEAR FOUNDED	FOUNDED BY	BECAME ROYAL COLONY
Virginia	1607	London Company	1624
Massachusetts	1620	Puritans	1691
New Hampshire	1623	John Wheelwright	1679
Maryland	1634	Lord Baltimore	N/A
Connecticut	c. 1635	Thomas Hooker	N/A
Rhode Island	1636	Roger Williams	N/A
Delaware	1638	Peter Minuit and New Sweden Company	N/A
North Carolina	1653	Virginians	1729
South Carolina	1663	Eight Nobles with a Royal Charter from Charles II	1729
New Jersey	1664	Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret	1702
New York	1664	Duke of York	1685
Pennsylvania	1682	William Penn	N/A
Georgia	1732	James Edward Oglethorpe	1752

November 8, 2012

My English skill is a little bit better than as before so it makes me energetic.
It is fun for me to communicate with others recently.
Now, I don't feel some hesitation and irritation and can relax to communicate with a native people.
It is like a treasure for me so I can spend my life in USA as it's in own country, still more.

November 5, 2012

Today was a lucky day.
In second ESL class, the senior woman said to me " You are with a nice air, aren't you?".
It made me stare in surprise, but I felt so glad more and more.

After that in the evening, there was a Parent-Teacher conference for my younger son's class.
I and his teacher talked about him for about 20 minutes by myself.
It was no problem and I could ask her almost questions, so I have satisfaction with that.

I would like to keep such a happy things in my mind as long as I can.

  

November 3, 2012

I think it would be best to stay calm mind every day.
I want to always stay positive, sometimes I can not.

Now, I have a challenge to change the way of thinking of myself.
Because I tend to take things too seriously about human relations.
I'm a bright personality to the surface, the inner one is not really,and  I get nervous sometimes.

My age is probably about a half of my life.
It is very important for me how to enjoy and how I spend gently the rest of my life.

ESL theme: Electoral votes states

Election day is Tuesday, November 6th.
We were talking about the voting system in USA.

The followings are the electoral votes and population(estimate for July 1,2011).

<Top 5 states>
1    California     55           37,691,912
2    Texas           38           25,674,681
3    New York    29          19,465,197
4    Florida         29          19,057,542
5    Illinois          20          12,869,257
5   Pennsylvania 20          12,742,886

<Bottom 5 states>
1   Wyoming     3            568,158
2   Vermont      3            626,431
3   North Dakota 3         672,591
4  Alaska             3         722,718
5  South Dakota  3          824,082

2012 Electoral Map in USA

Democratic Party: Obama

Republican Party: Romney

 

November 1, 2012

Today is the normal day after Halloween.
It seems everything is quietly more than as usual.
Many trees on the road sides are very beautiful color so I can enjoy seeing them everyday.

I've cut my hair after a long time and felt refreshed very much.
It might be my feeling was lighter,too.