Who is in the pond?

While we were watering our bionic plants on the balcony this morning in pre-school, and chain of toddling 'hoikuen' kids made their way up the riverside. Our girls wanted to join in - so we did what we wanted to do this morning - our giant floor puzzle, a new matching game taking turns nicely - and had a picnic in front of school on the grass for lunch.

Ant invasion! It was funny to see spillage being reclaimed and carried through the grass and over our feet back to their nest! We could almost here them saying "Thank you for lunch!" They were quite big, and tickled when they walked on us!

It was a bit too hot, so cooling down in front of the fan was essential - and we read how other animals keep cool in a pond or by rolling around in the mud. We made our own pond, and were careful not to dangle our toes in it - bit dangerous! Soon enough, after we read the book together (podcast available tomorrow afternoon) we dived in to find an alligator with sharp teeth, a rhino, a hippo and a pair of baboons grooming each other!

Goodness me, a wildlife pond right here in the middle of Luna. And "Who was in the Pond?"....we were :)

Country profile: South Africa

Image via Wikipedia

The Republic of South Africa is on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The capital is Pretoria. It is a big country - 1,219,000 sq. km and it is the 25th biggest country in the world. It is about 3 times bigger than Japan.

It used to be the Netherland's and Britain's colony, but it became an independent country in 1948.

The languages spoken in South Africa are iZulu, Xhosa, Africaans, English and other African languages.

There are nineteen National Parks in South Africa, including Kruger N.P. & Table Mountain N.P., where you can see fur seals, buffaloes, elephants, leopards, lions, rhinoceros, and the national symbol, the Springbok.

The Republic of South Africa exports gold, chromium, antimony,coal, iron ore, managanese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gems, diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt and natural gas.

There are writers like Nadine Gardinaer & J.M. Coetzee. Of a population of 47 million, there are 5.7 million people who live in South Africa with HIV/AIDS, and the highest death rate (from HIV/AIDS) in the world.

The next FIFA World Cup will be in South Africa! Japan's first game is on June 14th, against Cameroon.

Toshiya's homework, after reading about the life (and tragic death) of Dian Fossey and the gorillas she studied, defended in Central Africa.


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