Moe visits us from Japan in 2019
Melissa and I have had two Japanese exchange students in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, our first was Megumi, and in 2012 we had Moe (pronounced Moy) come to stay with us for three months each. Just imagine that – as a student, being required to travel to a foreign country for three months, speak a different language, and have little to no contact with home. I know many do this and I think its amazing – I never did it nor did anyone close to me.
But here we are – two very funny, very shy, Japanese students – coming into Australia into a family of a decent size already. When Megumi came, we already had five kids – the youngest was still very little (under a year old), so the household was already quite busy. In 2012, Moe came to stay, and she was there for the birth of the youngest, child number six! She had only been with us a very brief time when the youngest was born.
Something very special happens when you have an exchange student for such an extended period of time – especially if they fit well in the family, and the family embraces the guest with lots of love and laughter – they remain part the family for years to come, and you tend to stay in contact with each other.
When we had Megumi, we took her everywhere – all the sites, all the experiences, I tell you, by the end, we were all exhausted but all very sad to part our ways. We got such a good reputation for our first time doing this that the agency begged us to do it again for a second year (and recurring years as well). I was surprised to hear that in the same year we had Megumi, there were families that just weren’t coping with their students, one so bad in fact, that the guest had to be moved out of the family home and into another – I couldn’t believe it when I heard this!
Megumi came back to us for a brief visit a couple of years – she had worked, saved money, and longed to catch up with all her Australian high school and church youth group friends – it was great that she could come back and stay with us.
Moe on the other hand, was younger that Megumi when she came to stay and had more schooling still ahead of her before she could work enough to save and visit us.
Come 2019, she sends Melissa and I a Facebook message advising that she would like to come back and is saving money to come visit. We kept in touch on this subject as the year progressed, but kept it quiet from the kids – we wanted to surprise them.
Months later, she sends us a picture message – plane tickets!! Kids still didn’t know, we both organised annual leave to spend all the time possible with Moe as she was arriving Friday morning and heading out again Monday morning – a very short trip, as her employer couldn’t give her anymore time off…
By the time we were about 20 minutes out of the airport, the kids had pretty much guessed that we were picking someone up – they just weren’t too sure who! I threw some really bad clues at them to help throw them off the scent, but keep them guessing – because that’s just how I roll!
Melissa spent a little bit of time planning a jam-packed weekend to send her home exhausted, but many of the destinations did involve a lot of driving, so unfortunately we did spend many hours in the car getting to places – but Moe had an amazing time!
First stop once we picked her up was to head down some alley ways for some photography, but as usual with Hosier Lane, in the morning, it really stinks as many people use the off-shooting laneways as a toilet, and I couldn’t remember some of the other places I had lined up (poor planning on my part).
After that, we had planned to head to Chocolait for a very yummy lunch – one of Melbourne’s best kept secrets, but on the day they weren’t able to serve us – it was a public holiday and we hadn’t booked properly. Nonetheless we headed into Melbourne Central – a place I hadn’t been in for many years! We decided that lunch would compromise of sushi, wraps, and burgers!
After lunch we headed down the Yarra River on one of the river cruises – by this time the weather had turned cold, windy, and a bit wet – but still the cruise as good, you learn a thing or two on these cruises about the places you pass by. Got some okay photos too!
Saturday we headed down the Great Ocean Road – we had intended to see if we could make it to the Apostles, but unfortunately had ran out of time. We stopped at Lorne – a place I have always wanted to stop at, such a beautiful little spot!
Sunday was a little more relaxed, well, so we intended, but a BBQ lunch at Ben & Steph’s place, then head up to the Dandenongs for the afternoon & evening. We stopped into the William Rickets Sanctuary for a little over an hour, hadn’t been there since Moe came out to Australia the first time.
While there, I met another lady who also had exchange students, and they had both come back to visit together – she was showing them the same places that we were in the Dandenongs.
After the sanctuary, we headed up to Skyhigh Mount Dandenong – some photos in the Giant’s Chair, then head down the rocky track to the lookout. We stayed until it was almost black, was cold, and starting to drizzle when we were almost back at the carpark.
After such a jam-packed weekend with lots of driving and walking, I tell ya, I know I needed a weekend to deal the weekend we had! Anyway, enjoy some snaps…
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