Quarantine?

For some reason Lithuanians call school being canceled due to an outbreak "quarantine." They told me they don't have to go to school because their school has a quarantine. I asked them if all the sick kids are being isolated in the school, but they said no. They even thought that sounded bizarre. Well, I'm not the not who said the school was being quarantined!

Apparently the deal in Lithuania is that if 40% of students are sick then schools is canceled.

In similar news the absentee rate at my daughter's kindergarten has reached 85%. Once it got up to 80% I said to the wife, screw this, let's take her out before she gets sick instead of after!

The Prisoner

Yesterday in my TOEFL class were were practicing Speaking, and the question was "What is your favorite holiday?" One kid joked that New Year's Eve was his favorite holiday because he couldn't remember most of his last one. He asked me if I remember what I did for last New Year's Eve, and I said, "Of course I do, I'm married with children!" Everyone burst out laughing. Apparently, I accidentally blurted it out in a way that made my statement sound like a lamentation: they said I sounded like a prisoner.