Birthday bonanza - three times three, plus one

Today we celebrated four birthdays all happening within a week, within the pre-school, and invited friends to come and join us for the afternoon. Altogether, twenty little & large ones made up our birthday bash.

Our preparations were very disrupted as Yuki couldn't join us - Hijiri caught a bug he doesn't want to share - and therefor couldn't take care of food & 'crowd control'.

Our mums stepped up to the task but a flat battery saw lunch stalled in Jusco & the cake in danger of melting; indeed we all melted with the heat, even with the extra shade we put up along the riverbank. It was impractical to try & play the games we intended.

The food did make it just in time, and we had a lovely chatty lunch with the children sharing nicely and asking for things politely. I culture shocked my own daughter eating grapes, skin & all. Why wouldn't you?!
We found relief from the blazing sun in our great big main room, teaching our visitors a couple of our favourite songs and getting mums to roll around on the floor singing "ten in the bed"/get chased around the room playing "Mr. Wolf"! The splendid chocolate cake, with a nice pink 3 on it, met with approval and stuck to fingers & faces just right!
Check out all the photos on our Facebook page right here!
Of course we had a good sing for Naomi, Hinata, Eleanor and Sota - a great big  

Happy Birthday  

What's the time, Mr. Wolf?

Naomi's flying colours

Big congratulations to Naomi, who took the time to take her Cambridge ESOL PET exam in Tokyo back in June. It was a long way to go, but worked out very worthwhile as she passed first time!

We are are all very pleased for her, as she is also doing fab work with our pre-school children. Naomi's warm, gentle touch has helped all our very small ones get used to a new environment without mummy; they are becoming self-reliant to brush teeth, wash hands, and have lunch together - and lots of other little things that mark a child's very early development. As for the English the children are picking, I am staggered by the amount they are picking up and retaining.

As it is Naomi's birthday tomorrow, the children have been secretly practicing the Happy Birthday song - and we had a real reason to do it today as well, because Hina is two. A busy singing week for all! Congratulations Hinata today (hope you get lots of cool pressies!) and Naomi tomorrow.

xxx from all of us

Tanjobi Tomoko

So everyone was really busy yesterday and kind of forgot it was Tomoko-chan's birthday. Oooops! What a horrible lot we are!?

Fortunately we were able to put things right this afternoon, buying Tomoko a delicious chocolate cake and then helping her eat it very quickly (well, Jim did anyway...the girls were much more delicate). Apparently Tomoko is only 22, which means she lied when she applied for the job...

Happy birthday Tomoko, and thanks for your ever-cheery enthusiasm xxx

Jim, Tana, Naomi, Yuki

Happy Birthday Hijiri

We helped Hijiri and his mum, Yuki (our manager), celebrate his very first birthday today.

Hijiri looked really excited and was the centre of attention, as he got presents, cards, and a lovely cake with a little candle on it for him to blow out. To be honest, Hijiri is always the centre of attention when he comes to work with his mummy - we can usually hear him chirping away, pointing at things and generally trying to put the whole office in his mouth!

A year ago Maki was holding the fort for us, and we were struggling up a really steep hill with our first Cambridge exam sessions in Tokyo, handling entries and enquiries from all over the country, etc. We're doing that again now, but thank goodness we actually know what to expect & were able to prepare properly first.

Hijiri brightens up everyone's day at Luna; he's already on the verge of walking by himself, so we'll have to be extra careful not to trip over him. We love seeing him here, and are delighted to eb interrupted by his singing & pointing!

Congratulations Yuki & Taka - you've got a lovely little boy on your hands - and happy birthday Hijiri....ONE already!

Happy Birthday Tana

Birthday best wishes for Tana today, who isn't 23 anymore!

This time last year she was in a queue at the Japanese Embassy in South Africa trying to get her visa sorted out before flying over to join us. Besides celebrating her birthday, I am delighted to report she has also recently signed a new contract to keep her with us for another year at least. I am sure everyone will be glad to hear that and want to congratulate me on managing to keep a good teacher?!

Unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate last weekend so her party/BBQ was called off...I am sure Tana will come up with Plan B soon, and we eventually sing "Happy Birthday" for her.

Congrats Tana from all of us - Yuki, Hijiri, Tomoko, Iinuma, Jim, and all your students.

Somebody remembered!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Hard to believe but our blog is already a year old! I was really surprised when I realised at the end of last week, and have been having a look at some of the statistics.

I added a counter to the blog in November; in the last six months we've had 4047 hits. That is an average of about 20 a day. Exactly half of all visitors are 'unique' or first time.

The map shows us in some detail where visitors are checking us out from. "Luna" is Spanish for moon, so I am not surprised we get a lot of traffic from South America & southern Europe. However, why we are popular in Iraq, India or western Africa is a mystery (must be all the good writing!). We have been read from South Africa to Iceland, Hawaii to New Zealand.

Our blog is busiest on Mondays; the busiest time of day is 5am. (I think this can't be local time! Maybe US time zone?). There are 124 authors registered, and there have been 212 posts. Another 40 or so people have been invited but have not yet signed up (shy?!).

We have also added a lot of useful content on the right-hand margin; links to sites for learners, weather forecast & dictionary to name a few. We have also had very popular photo contest and a number of polls. If you keep missing stuff, subscribe! Get the latest posts straight to your mail box.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed in the last twelve months. I think we have got off to a great start, with a lot of interesting work, opinions and reviews. Keep it up, and remember to tell your friends too! This time next year, Manchester United will be defending their European title....