A postcard...from South Africa

Dear Jim et al.

Hello! Hello! to you all from Africa!

It's winter now so a very pleasant 22 degrees C. A perfect day for the beach!

Studying hard with exams just round the corner...

I hope you are all well?

Take care, and lots of love,  Tana x

Postcard from....South Africa

Dear Jim, Yukari and all at Luna International.

Wow! It's been so busy since I got back, but not a day goes by when I don't think about you and wonder how you are doing! I'm nor happily settled in at college doing my PGCE and learning more and more about the teaching profession every day. My fellow students and teachers are all really great. Life really is what you make it. There are many troubles here but also nothing that can't be overcome! And there are many good people here working to make a difference. It's really inspiring!

Well, take care and lots of love,

Tana

We toast Yuki & Tana a fond farewell

A massive thank you to Yukari for organising a very good party for Yuki & Tana's farewell, and to Tomoko for her help on the night. We had a really good turn out of students, former students, mums and brothers & sisters - the younger ones enjoying the crawl space under the tables to have their own little party!

The waitresses were not the fastest, so by the end of the evening we had a backlog of drinks on the tables that we were forced to abandon. Criminal!

There was a steady stream of good food, which found a hungry audience - the kids devouring all the spring rolls as soon as they arrived. The layout was less than useful for speeches, which was a relief, instead messages flew around by paper and on a voice recorder - I'll be cleaning up the background noise if I can. Presents also landed on Yuki's lap and Tana's, which were very gratefully received.

It was all over in a blink - unlike both girls' time with the school. Some of us carried on to a second party, babes in arms headed home. Thank you everyone for coming, as well as for all the messages from those who couldn't make it, far and wide. We gave them a good send of, but it won't be quite the same as having them around all the time!

Meantime...anyone got any good photos? Please email them to Jim!

Goodbye, goodbye, it's time to say Goodbye

The day finally arrived when we asked Yuki & Tana to give us back the keys to the school. They will always have the keys to our hearts and cherished memories of their endless cheerfulness will linger long after we've lost the keys.

Thank you Tana for being super every single day you've been here, last day as bubbly as the first. Everyone will agree she has been a wonderful advert for English teachers in Japan, a (nice & quiet) ambassador for South Africa, a friend & confidant to our adult students and a warm-hearted buddy for all our younger learners. Tana has been great to work with and has never (really) complained or stopped smiling. YOu have seen aspects of her work here on the blog, and rather than me waffling on, I encourage her students to add their voice to my thanks here.

Likewise, I invite you all to 'big up' Yuki. She has been the rock upon which the school was founded. I do not have the words to express my admiration, affection, and faith in Yuki. She has forever been the voice of reason over stupid gaijin boss, of organised calm against stupid chaotic owner, of planning ahead versus where is it Jim. She learnt everything about the school from the ground up - everything necessary about using the computer, immigration law, accountancy, internet connections, banking, gaijin cards, driving licences, studless tyres, children's books, Cambridge ESOL exams, the English language, parenthood, Bon Bon dance, first aid, flu epidemics, tax, bizarre foreigners & their weird girlfriends/habits/food/hair/hygiene, landlords, contracts, train timetables...Yuki is Wikipedia in Japanese. She is a one off, and we will never be able to replace her - and we don't want to. She is staying nearby, and can now concentrate on really being our friend and not having to do everything Jim asks her to. Thank you, Yuki, you have added "Yuki" to a lot of peoples' dictionaries around the world.

Jim, Yukari, Tomoko, Kevin & Naomi all wish you both the very best for your futures. Thank you both for giving so much of yourselves to the students, our community, my school, and to me. Miss you enormously.

Tana Benzon  2007-2010
Yuki Momose 1999 -2010

The penny drops

Well folks, the moment is finally upon us as we are no longer able to use our lovely large room. This morning I moved the last few bits & pieces out & cleaned up the balcony, before helping the builders rip up the carpet tiles. It looked very bleak - and sad - and empty, just as it did four years ago when Yuki and I decided we'd move in. The world turns and we have to get on with things!

Tana's cosy classroom

Squeezing all of our stuff into 50% of the space has proved to be a challenge, and I am afraid the next week or two we will have rather cluttered classrooms. I assure you this is temporary - we are moving through this month as our new premises get cleaned get & a lick of paint. Please bear with us?!

Jim's very full classroom

Our students and mums arrived and looked disorientated this afternoon; which proves that the letters we gave out didn't find their readers again. We are going to make a big effort in 2011 to get our message out to everyone electronically. Tana's room was even fuller than it looks today, as Kevin joined in with her classes - let's hope the students don't scare him away?! Jim's students needed a shoe-horn to get comfortable, but at least it was easy to keep warm.

In Jim's first class, Yusuke & Sho had a good giggle singing the "Are you Happy" song from English Time 1; check out the podcast - they were really good!

What of tomorrow? Well, it's our very very last day to have the Unique Yuki & Tremendous Tana on the team...going to be a bleary-eyed one I think.

Postcard from - Okinawa

Dear Tana and Yuki,

Hi!

I went to Okinawa on a school trip this week. This was the first time I go to Okinawa with my students as a HRT. We had a wonderful time! I really missed you when I heard you'll leave Luna. But I hope you'll be happy and take care of yourself.

Thank you! See you next week!

Yuki

Goodbye NOT YET!!

Dear friends and students,

It seems that I have created some panic by not saying WHEN I will be leaving. Let me assure you that I haven't left yet, and that there is still plenty of time to say goodbye!

In fact we'll be having a joint farewell/welcome party on Saturday, 4 December, so please keep that day free.

My last teaching day will be the 30th of November.

Sincere apologies for any misunderstanding.
I hope to see you at the goodbye party!

Tana

Fond Farewell

At the end of these three years I find myself asking "Where has the time gone?" So much has happened in the last three years that it would be hard to recount everything. Sufficeth to say I've had a wonderful time getting to know my students, have had lots of fun in the classroom and have really enjoyed my life in Japan. Also, thanks to Luna being a Cambridge ESOL centre, and Jim's tireless efforts, I have been able to train as an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge exam suites, and have had a lot of input with regard to professional development.

It is with mixed feelings that I return to my home. On the one hand I will really miss this beautiful country, the fresh air of Matsumoto, and the people I have met here. On the other hand I am really looking forward to seeing my friends and family again and seeing what has changed in my hometown, if anything, since I've been away. I will spend a year back at university studying General Education, and then will continue my career in teaching.

Many thanks to all the Staff at Luna, and to all my students for making my experience of Japan a really special one. Please come and visit me if you ever find yourself in Durban! I would love to see you!

All the best,
Tana

New podcast episode - Misaki interviews Tana

Yes folks, the skeletons come tumbling out of Tana's closet in this exclusive 'teacher bares all' interview.


Just how much did you think you knew about our effervescent Springbok sensei?  Find the latest installment of Luna's podcast series on the easy listening page (tab above) or go directly to the podbean .


Why not subscribe, y'all, and save me boring you with updates like this :)

(By the way, I think Misaki does a terrific job, don't you?)

Pics of the parade - Luna's Bon Bon

Hate it when you leave

This little learner of ours impressed the hell out of me when he joined our school - aged four. He has impressed me and all his teachers over the eight and a half years he has been with us. He impressed me most when he complained his buddies (who joined Luna together) were "not studying hard enough" and that he "wanted to study on his own" - how often do you hear that from an under ten?!

Yuki is a charming young chap: he ALWAYS says 'hello' and ALWAYS addresses the person he is talking to. He ALWAYS makes conversation and does his homework, he ALWAYS tries 100% in class and ALWAYS leaves Luna with the teacher feeling that something 'went in'.

When Yuki first started with Luna I was his teacher. I was very concerned that he would stab himself in the eye whenever we used pencils for writing letters or colouring - he was SO short-sighted his face was closer to the paper than the end of the actual pencil. I am not kidding, he had to get  his face SO close to the page, and favour his better eye.

Corrective surgery has helped Yuki a lot; he has always been a confident reader, for his age. He will be one of the kids my staff & I will miss very much - he has to get better at his other subjects to pass stupid entrance exams (his English is well-above the curve). He has munched his way through OUP's Story Tree like a very hungry caterpillar; he has stolen the hearts of all his teachers.

So this evening we say goodbye. I know Yuki will come back in about 10 years to say 'hello' again, like all of our 'favourite' students do; he will be able to talk in English and Yuki & I will feel older still...This little laddy will be a leader, of that I am very sure. Good luck Yuki - look forward to reading about you :)

Kamisya - Onbashira in Chino

Image by ijiwaru jimbo via Flickr

An awesome day wandering around looking for logs, drunks, photo ops and sunshine (still a bit nippy in the shade).

People kept giving us booze! I'd forgotten to bring a cup, but it didn't take long before Tana & I had both been collared with offers of sake & ume shu (plum liquour). Throughout the rest of the day we were plied with sake from generous tree-pulling, happi-jacketed, red-faced gents (thank you!)

I vaguely remember seven years ago - I say vaguely because I ended up extremely drunk, skulling sake in the sun & being treated by Bridgestone friends. I recognised the hill, and found a way around the crowd to the top of the hill where the logs were descending (four of them, altogether) line astern, attended by their hundreds of pullers/steerers/cheerers/chanters etc all in their gaily coloured jackets. Everyone was having a good time - police officers being teased by drunk old goats in a way that simply couldn't happen in the UK, cartons of sake or bamboo tubes filled with grog being proffered to friends and strangers alike. By the end of the day our pockets were bulging with cup sake!

As we had arrived the first log (call it the red one) was tipped over the lip of the crest, edged a bit further then bang - one of the big fat anchor ropes snapped & the log et al rapidly disappeared from view heading off to the right of the course. Everyone OK? No idea, but a lot of concerned participants quickly raced up the edge to look over. bizarrely, the same thing happened to the next log an hour later, after Tana & I had wriggled our way to the front. Here it was possible to see the spaghetti of ropes and anchors carefully laid out to help prevent carnage (that's the plan, at least) with teams on either side also help steer & balance the thing - here in Chino the logs have antlers/horns/outrigger looking things (next week in Suwa they do not) with young men proving their verility not clinging on for dear life, more like bull-riders with arms aloft.

Once the hill-drop has been negotiated, the logs are dragged (this 1200 year old tradition would seem to pre-date the invention of wheels?) through the streets - houses lining the course are obliged to offer sustenance to passers-by (all 2 million expected this year?!), and indeed we were invited to in to 'Please get drunk with us'. Hard to decline such wonderfully hospitable offers but I was keen to photograph this septennial event as much as I could. The outriggers barely squeezed between the houses/under power lines; every care taken by the teams to pick up their litter (tree bark mostly), all the while chanting, imbibing, smiling & dragging!

The procession was playing follow the leader down to the shrine, where these logs are raised vertical in a later ceremony (June). Barring the way is a river, which is forded en masse; we were shivering in the stiff breeze...plunging into this Apline run off at this time of year only for the foolhardy! Here, as with the hill, action preceded by lots of shouting & precision lining up; band playing their team tune; old lady wailing in a high-pitched prayer carried afar on the wind. As with the hill, people can & do get killed here, so there were rescue divers in the water just in case. Didn't seem to be any untoward drama today, but pulling a tree into & then out of a river with 50 odd guys on it not the simplest thing to co-ordinate.

As we lurched homewards, more sake from the last team, and an invitation Tana was unable to refuse to climb a bamboo pole. Smiles literally everywhere as everyone intent on having a good time and having it on time. For such a big event, seemingly chaotic, this went like clockwork. everyone has a job, and in the thousands all chipping in (very Japanese) to the greater mission. Really annoyed I'm going to be in Kyoto next weekend - would love to see how things work in Suwa (Shimosya I think?)

Brilliant day out - make a date in your diaries for 2017! Check out the other 699 photos on Flickr

Passing out in Korean

The Korean school had its graduation ceremony this morning, and it was a pleasure to attend again this year. Must admit, the speeches are a bit dreary but I assume a lot worse back in the motherland. The children Tana has been teaching most recently deserve a bit more of an emotional send off we reckon.

Anyway, best uniforms on and enter into the spirit of things :)

Tana has been very popular with her students, which was obvious this morning - staff and students huddling around for photos (OK, Eleanor was a draw too!). The mood at this school is always communal and friendly; two of the new staff Jim recognised as ex-students from a dozen years back, and even better they didn't run away! Let's cross our fingers that Tana will be back and get a hero's welcome...she deserves it :)

Korean school graduates

Today was the last class before graduation, which is a happy and a sad time for me as I have been fortunate enough to have taught these students for some time now, and have watched them grow and increase their English skills considerably since the time we started together.

This is a particularly spirited group, adventurous and full of fun. Before class I am always greeted with boisterous hello's from the boys and sweet hello's from the girls, along with a barrage of questions and other attempts to communicate.

Before the class started the teacher rounded us up and took a photo, and at the end of the class they presented me with this delightful little card. As you can see it is all in English! Very impressive!

And so, to the kids in this class I wish you all the best for the future, keep studying, stick to your dreams, and remember me from time to time!

Much love,
Tana

New Luna Project - our own podcast

Excellent news folks - we have started to produce our very own podcast, with original content & ideas from our students. The first podcast features an interview with Tana, about her home country (South Africa) and her feelings about Japan after two and a half years. She was interviewed by Toshiya (11), who had done his homework (see his earlier posting here) and had a long list of questions! Think you'll agree he did a really good job, and we got to learn a lot about Tana's beautiful homeland.

Please support this new venture - you can find the podcast in the right hand margin. I know it's a bit 'small', but you can subscribe right there, or go to the site hosting it (podbean.com) and 'follow' us there too.

New editions will be highlighted here as they come out and on Jim's Twitter feed ("oyajimbo"). Please be a bit patient, as Jim is famously rather an analogue kind of guy (easily baffled by new technology)!

Look forward to reading your comments & maybe joining us in the pod for a chat!

Jim

Happy New Year!

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They came, and they danced!

It rained the whole day through and yet they still came! As the roads were closed around the city centre at 5pm, trolleys, kimonos and umbrellas appeared in place of the cars.

Our group was welcomely boosted this year with Eri's friends, and our pre-school gaggle of little ones and parents, braving the elements. As every year, Jim got a bear hug from a Yamaga gorilla, and we met lots of old friends and students along the way. Obviously the weather had dissuaded a lot of people from coming to watch, crowds along the route noticeably down, and the general mood a bot dampened.

Not our gang though, as you can see from all the photos on out Facebook group - if you have your own photos or videos to share with us, please do so. Tana didn't stop dancing all evening, so the Salsa is paying off! Eri assumed command with Yuki having to go home early. By the end of the evening we'd exhausted ourselves, as well as all the ale, and we said goodnight and thank you in the middle of eki-mai dori...for some the evening continued in a very nearby bar, until we eventually had to haul all the trash back to Jim's place.

Time to say "Goodbye"

Last night was Haruka's last class at Luna. Very sad for us, because she was with us from the very beginning of the school and we have been privileged to see her grow up from cheeky toddler to beautiful young woman. Of course we wish her all the very best of luck for her future studies, especially right now as she is concentrating on those horrid entrance exams...

So now all three of the darlings have flown the coop - Yumeka, Sayaka and Haruka. Feel like their dad in many ways, with lots of fab memories of the fun we have had and the smiles they gave us. Looking forward to seeing them come back all grown up (as Sayaka has done this week from her Canadian homestay) etc.

Exit stage left. Tears, hankies, applause.

Tidy up or warm up?!

We've got a lot of lovely new resources for the pre-school children to play and learn with, but it seems not entirely unuseful for our bigger children too!

An earlier group of visitors had left the place a mess, so Tana's very helpful group got organised and put our ABC tiles back together again. Not as easy as it looks because there are two or three sets, and everybody had a couple of pieces in their hands/were working upside-down etc.

All very jolly fun as usual with this group, who are growing up very quickly and maturely - one of our nicest groups I think, and I should say thank you for helping us make our school look nice and tidy again before your class started properly :)