Moe's page- Japanese Intern

MOE’S REPORT  18/11/2025

Since November 8, I have been staying with Ludvik’s family (Ludvik is in 2LD). I’m having a great time with them. Thank you so much!

🌲Our Adventure

I visited a rainforest and a redwood forest with my host family, and it was truly an adventure. In the rainforest, we walked to the waterfall. Following our captain Ludvik, we pushed through the tall grass, crawled under the fallen trees, and hopped from rock to rock. Then, we carefully crossed a log and finally reached the goal.

Next, we drove to the redwood forest, playing our favorite songs in turn. The redwoods were very very tall and stood in straight rows. They were perfect for playing hide and seek. We walked with long sticks in our hands and enjoyed the sounds of water, birds and insects. The whole adventure made me feel like a kid again!

🥟 Homemade Gyoza Dumplings

We made Ludvik’s favorite food – gyoza dumplings. Gyoza originated in China, but it’s now very popular in Japan. We were excited even while shopping for the ingredients. The best part was wrapping the filling. It was Ludvik and Ilze’s first time, but they learned quickly and made beautiful pleats. Look at the picture below. You can see how happy they were!

Since Ludvik usually doesn’t eat cabbage, we made two kinds of dumplings: pork with cabbage, and pork only. He loved the pork gyoza, and he even tried the cabbage one, saying, “Delicious! I’ll take both for tomorrow's lunch.” During dinner, we played High Low and Buffalo as usual, and the High of the day was making and eating gyoza!

🇯🇵 Shichi-Go-San

The foundation students learned about the traditional Japanese culture called Shichi-Go-San. Shichi-Go-San means “seven, five, three” because when children reach those ages, we appreciate their growth and pray for their happiness. Around November 15, Children dress up in beautiful kimonos and visit a shrine. They receive long candies called Chitose Ame, which symbolize a long healthy life. Our foundation kids made their own Chitose Ame using origami papers. Even though most of them are not five or seven years old, I would still like to celebrate their efforts and I wish them lots of  happiness. Let’s keep enjoying Japanese!