A teacher's mother writes?!?! - Luna's Hanami BBQ 2018

Mother and son enjoying a beer together!

One of the hottest day in April 2018 in Matsumoto was a great day for me.  It was my 2nd visit to the Luna International School BBQ party since 2014.  Lovely to meet up and chat about with people whom I knew of from the previous party.  So many happy people shared the fun time at that day near Susuki river were students or parents of them or grandparents of them and a parent of a teacher like me.  It was absolutely fabulous BBQ party I must say.  There were plenty of food, chilled drinks.  The wonderful thing is that everyone of the attendance brought such a delicious and a gorgeous homemade cakes, sushi and Okazu.  Many brought their own outdoor picnic stuff like tables and chairs, parasols and such.  The cook, I assume that Jim was in charge of this important task of the day.  Hope he had enough chilled beers... 

I totally enjoy the warm, relaxed and caring atmosphere with the Luna International School bunch.  The younger students (I mean the teenage or younger) were not shy about responding back to me in English.  That is WOW. Thank you everyone at Luna for a wonderful day.

Posted for Damian's mum, Hideko

The Annual Hanami BBQ - Sunshine, smiles and satisfied stomachs

Where's the meat?

Last Sunday was Luna's annual hanami BBQ party along the Susugi river bank and what a blast it was! The sun was out, the cherry blossoms were almost in full bloom and we got to share the whole experience with a host of our students, families, friends as well as the teachers from Sasabe kindergarten. Even Damian's mum made a flying visit to join in with the festivities! It was great to see some many familiar, and some not so familiar, faces all gathered together to have a great time.

That's more like it!

Lots of our wonderful guests brought along something to share with the rest of the party goers. An excellent effort made by all. Fortunately everybody remembered to bring their appetites with them. It was quite the sight seeing all the different dishes from the classics sausages to Sri Lankan and Moroccan style dishes and of course the imperative Japanese BBQ food: the onigiri and the oinari san. We at Luna however like to take the traditional, let's say British, way of hosting a BBQ. Lots and lots of meat and hold the salad! And boy did we deliver. There was always something on the BBQ from start to finish (a special thanks to all those who helped cook all of the delicious food) and the air was filled with a fantastic aroma all day long. Everybody was left stuffed, satisfied and possibly slightly guilty from devouring such a feast.

Everybody tucking in

Whilst the adults were busy  responsible with BBQ tending and beer drinking duty, the children were enjoying themselves by running around and collecting cherry blossoms, making their own "flower pots" in paper cups and soaking Damian sensei with their water pistols! Luckily for them Damian sensei was far too full from his 20 portions of sausages and drumsticks to waddle after them. Maybe it would be a good idea to bring a lasso next time to round up the mischievous trouble makers.

Many thanks to all our fabulous guests for making this such a joyous and memorable event, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!  We look forward to hosting you all again next year!

Damian Gowland