April 1st! Food drive n party!

What a deal, had a ranch in Kobe pony up with 10 head of prize Kobe beef for the food bank!! hahahaha april fools! Well actually we didnt have a food drive this time cause so many of our trusted friends were off to their birthplace eating moms food and we had a bunch of posting to do, but that is important to right?! You know how bear is always complaining about paperwork... We did however have a barn burning shindig in Yodo though: ) Not a lot of people and seems they were several that were here before I signed on but it was fun as always to meet new folk! Oh Yeah, we learned some English too.The most important thing? Fun? Friends?? Hahahaha, it was the food silly! Papa bear made a mountain of tasty American food. Chicken steaks, rice pilaf, salad, Uncle Ole's famous Norwegien salad dressing!! Dont miss the next one, I know I wont! -Yukiko

March 4th food drive and party!

Had alot of new folks helping out on the food drive and this was Lars sensei's last event. We will miss him cause the brawny boy could sure pack a lot of rice : ) Anyway, it was a ball as usual. Thanks to all you newbees! Of course we gathered at the Kozmoz Kansai Center and partied it up afterward, talked about the day and who was gonna pack the bags next time since Lars Sensei was heading back to the land of Taco Bells. Food?? You betcha! A mountain of ribs with Papa Bears famous BBQ sauce, mashed taters, curlycurly pasta salad n some special beans to boot. Dont forget to come and help out at the center on your free day. See ya next time, Yukiko

Feb 4th food drive and party.

Man it was cold.... My hands were just about purple by the time we were finished,but it was a good day we a good number of participants, we all worked hard and had a good timeSpeaking of good time our party after the event was awesome!!!I had so much fun !!!I got to meet new people and talk with them and drink beer!!!We had a mountain ribs that went fast.....they were gone in a flash.. I was so sad....We also had mash potatoes and gravy, salad and rice... Now thats what I call a real American Barbecue !!!After we were done eating we had and overall review on the event and talked about next time. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and I cant wait to see the face of the kids when we go to the orphanage.I was glad this neighbor hood we had been in was so kind! I hope the next place we do the event will have nice people tooWell after that we played some games talked some more and had a wonderful time. I hope you can come next time- Caston

Jan 21st Thanks Giving Party!

Hey, did you help on the food drive?? We had a special party for everyone that helped out. Special thanks to Friends World Campus in Kyoto and Osaka YWAM for providing logistic support. We pounded the pavement for the under priveleged in the cold in North Kyoto, knocking on doors and gathering donations for local orpanages and relief centers. After we all met at the Kozmoz International center and had a TEXAS BBQ complete with SPARE RIBS n special sauce that is the recipe of papa Bear's great, grandfather OLE from Norway... OK, Maybe thats a stretch but he did mix up some magical sauce, smothered em n'  BBQ'd em right in front of us. Finished it off with some steaming mashed taters, pasta salad, rice pilaf... Oh, the list goes on... Yummmmmmy katta: ) Of course someone brought some beers and it was a great time for all. Lots of fun, laughs n new friends. Plus some cool info on upcoming events with Second Harvest Kansai. Looking forward to the next Food Drive!!

Dec and Jan 7th report!

We had a great time in Dec. and Jan but... I havent had the time to update our page... sorry!!Maybe you could help out and be staff?? Then you could have all the fun for free! Anybody interested in being support staff, drop us mail cause we are short handed and we love to have fun so if anything gets shorted, its the paper work!!! I will be waiting for your mail so dont disappoint me. Bear

November report!

Well, November's party saw the most people in the Kyoto centre since I have been here (August, 2005). The flavour of the month were our super staff Toshi and Tomomi- way to go T-girls! On the culinary side, we enjoyed goulash, spanish rice and my favourite - Nachos!!! Delicious. Washing it all down with beer n chu-his while talking to new faces and making friends was a great way for us all to relax after a hard week. With our big event planned for the 19th of November, we have had scarce a chance to unwind. We hope some of our new friends from the party will come and help out at the 19th event and continue to be part of the big group of cool people we like to call Kozmoz International. See you all at the next party and let's remember the valuable words from November's "Street-English lesson" !!!

October report!

Once again, we had a great turn out! Many friends from different places came. Some old faces and new ones, too. New introductions from here included Michael, Pamela and Hana-chan. Food was once again in the form of a grand feast, with many flavours from abroad, and also some Japanese delights so that Michael could remember where he was! As the beer and cocktails were enjoyed, many topics of conversation ensued - some deep and meaningful, some downright hilarious. The party continued into the night, with some people sleeping little before their Sunday work activities!!! All in all, it was a great celebration, and I want to express my gratitude to all who participated. Hope to see y'all next time, November 5th, Kyoto!

September report!

I think everyone had an excellent time at this party... We had about 25 people turn up, many of our favourite friends, students and staff. Also, some bright new faces. Thanks everyone who came! Hope you can all come to the next party on October 1st!

Besides lots of Chu-hi, we all enjoyed a feast of international foods: from fresh Japanese sashimi (brought by the Nakamura family), to Mexican-style tortillas, filled with chicken, rice and salsa. We also nibbled on popcorn and garlic & parmesan toasted bread. There was some macaroni and cheese, sandwiches expertly made by Nanako and her cool mum, and also some strange but delicious cookies I made! Here are some photos from the party CLICK HERE

August report!

Wow! What a great party. There were two big items on the agenda. One which is a bit of sad news in that Joey-kun will be heading back to the States this month. Everyone loves little Joey and we hope he'll be back soon. All is not a total loss, as we'll be getting the girls back here. I know they're looking forward to seeing you all again. I wonder if you'll recognise them, having grown up so much! Other big news is the arrival of Leon from down under. He should be a big help this next year, leaving his kangaroos at home to dedicate his time for the cause. We also had many new faces at the party. Poor Atsushi was the only male amongst 7 new girls! Our loyal staff and hard-working students all came too, many helping with the preparations and cleaning up afterwards. Thanks everyone.

Our American cuisine rocked again, with some mini-hotdogs, coleslaw, salads, Barry's Wonder-Pilaf and of course delicious beer! A big thanks to Naoko too, her (homemade!) muffins were a smash hit. I managed to get one before they dissappeared. It was "Pucka" (for all you British out there!). It was hard to talk with everyone as the time passed so quickly, but we could all hear the goals of the organisation and what we are aiming for in the short and long term future.

July report!

i how is everybody doing???
We are going to have a big month! We have big news!! First Barry says that there is going to be a new Food Bank Japan in Kyushu!! Isn't that cool?? He is going to go down there on July 11th to check things out! I wish I could go?P take me?P!!! But wait it gets better!! Second Harvest Japan would like to welcome our new doner Universal Studios Japan! Isn't that cool?????? They have a half a truck full of sausages ans we will be delivering them to an orphanage in Kyoto later this month.
WOW it's going to be a great week but since Barry is going to Kyushu and a party is not a party with out Barry we are going to have to cancel the July 16th party! Thats a bummer I am sorry guys...
But here is a review on this months party! First, Iit was Caston's friend Nanbu's birthday so we had a awesome birthday party!! There wasn't tons of people cause it was test week , but he was happy so it's ok!!!
We decided to make something we had never made at a party, but it's always cool to try new things!! We had Ravioli, Garlic, Green Salad, with Italian dressing with spaghetti!!! mmmmmmmm it was so good! We should make Italian more often!
Oh! I got more good news
This week our new super intern Leon will arrive from Australia!! He is a really cool guy! In August we are going to throw him a welcome back to Japan party!! He says he is looking to meet people at the party!! So if you got the time, I hope you can come! See ya on August 6th!!

June report!

Seems like everybody is always so busy in June. I don't know why though... but that's ok we had a lot of fun with the people that came!!
We decide to welcome summer with a big huge barbecue party!!!!! Nothing is better than a big juicy hamburger with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese,ketchup, mustard and mayo on it!!! Don't forget the side dish of watermelon, green salad and mashed potatoes and gravy!! It was the second party in a row that I ate too much!! My news year revolution was to loose weight, what am I going to do!?! We had some new faces at the party which was reall nice !! We had many interesting conversations that stetched us all!! One of which was what does a woman look for in a man?? It was very interesting to hear how a woman thinks and how that is different between American, Aussie and Japanese girls!! It was cool to get some insight as us guys dont really hear it from the horses mouth so often. Well, not until it is to late..... hahahaha...I think that I am not alone in asking myself a few important questions as of late. OK, see ya at the next party.

May report!

Always late on the updates... sorry about that. Maybe with a few more staff members we would be on top of it! Any volunteers??
Caston and I are both May babies so May is a big month for our family..So we always share our birthday party with our friends and staff!!!
Of course we cooked up a mountain of my favorite food! Which is Meexican !! We had Tacos with Aussy beef lettuce and tomatoes with a touch of Salsa?Immmmmmmmm. Its sounds so good! We also had soft tacos, enchiladas, taquitos and sweet southern chili!!! I ate so much I was about to explode!!! Which is OK because we had a real good time!! My two favorite students got me a nice birthday present!! A giant bear size sombrero!!!! It is great! I put it in the classroom so every body can see it. I hope it inspires some more folks to participate in the Mexican programs this year. As usual, after the early to bed crowd migrated home, some of my bestest buds hung around and worked on solving the worlds problems till dawn of cold beers n chips with salsa!

April report!

Still busy as beavers, but Yui and Nambu brought some friends so it was cool to make some new friends. Start of the year so lots of people were busy so it was kind of fun to have smaller parties and get to know people better. Had some good ole standby munchies like beef stew and texas chilli. Oh, and some mouth watering scalloped potatoes!! Just like mommy used to make... Had a birthday this month!! Remember Hanachan?? Everyones darling turned 7 this month. She is studying English in Seattle this year so we didnt get to celebrate her birthday with her. We are looking forward to seeing her and Pamela when they get back in August this year. Next party?? Gotta come, gonna be a blow out for Caston and Barrys Birthday!!! Last year was a riot! What will happen this year?? If you got time, come help us celebrate!

March report!

Hey!! Spring is in the air: ) Had a great time meeting some new folk and some old folk as well. Got a report from Eri in Spain, seems she is having so much fun she might not come back!! Guess she has flamenco fever... OH, Caston made taquitos the last party and they were absolutely scrumtious!! Of course there was more like, avacodo salad and nachos and some of the best soup I have ever eaten. Caston is getting to be a great cook like his old man. He will make a good wife er... I mean hubby someday girls so you better get in line! Ahhhh, busy busy!! I will write more next month!

February Report!

Well, February was ccccoooldddd outside, but we were warm and cozy here. Had some real rib stickin' comfort food like stew n chili, german cabbage, spanish rice, apple pie..... think maybe I put on a few pounds during the waning winter month that I will have to work off now. Mom was still here and that was cool cause everybody loves Ma, and her cooking. Had some old friends come by and some new ones as well. Sad news was that Sayuri had to go to Okinawa to take care of her grandma and Eri is off to Spain so we are a bit short staffed... Had a rocking month though as Morgan Stanley properties contacted Second Harvest and we were given the task of finding homes for 2 commercial kitchens, hundreds of beds, and THOUSANDS of dishes. We spent several weeks contacting orphanages, care homes, and homeless support shelters and mangaged to find homes for literally tons and tons of stuff. Our thanks to Morgan Stanley Properties Japan! Lets all remember that name when are in the market to invest?B

January Report

Well, the 1st saturday fell on the 1st so since everybody was out hatsumodeing, we thought we would just pass and watch the live update on all the bowl games. My alma matta Ducks didnt make it to a bowl this year so..... next year! Go Ducks!! Anyway the party was fun as always with lots of scrumptious treats from the "old country to tempt my tastebuds.... Something really cool happened though?P my mommy came to see us!! Now I am living the life of leige and we all enjoyed her cooking. Now, the new year is time to make resolutions and everybody got a chance to tell us thiers. Passing tests, getting married, getting new CDs n stuff were big on the list. But for the guys.... EVERYONE said they wanted a new girlfriend! Now some of those guys have girlfriends already!.... whattcha make of that???? Well girls, if yur gonna keep your guys, you will have to be thinking about their wanderlust... Or maybe you could move on to greener pastures yourselves! Hey guys, that just might come back to bite you! As for us, we are making our focus group to support "Second Harvest Japan" again this year. Charles McJilton is doing a bangup job supporting the less fortunate andhere in japan and we are gonna spend this year holding his arms up again so he can continue to fight the good fight. Our goal is to administrate and raise 1, 000, 000 dollars us for them this year. Give me a hand and lets get this done!

Dec 4th, 18th Report

Now that was a great party! Christmas time with all my family and buds?? I wish my little girls could have been here, that was the only down side... What did we eat?? Well, ROAST TURKEY and all the trimmins, just like my grandma always made! Cranberry sauce, mashed taters n gravy, bad little deviled eggs, olives for all our fingers, vegtable trays with the special recipe dressing that came over on the boat from Norway with Auslaug Linder....... well you get the idea, it was absolutely scrumptious! Had a great time to recap the year, and what a great year it has been! Of course we topped it off with a suprise visit from SANTA CLAUSE! He is an old personal friend of mine and stops by our Christmas party every year. Did ya miss it? Tooooooo baaaaaaad...... dont miss it next year?o^

Nov 6th, 20th Report

Well, had a great time as always. Kumi and Kaori came to tell us about their ryugaku in Spokane and their trip to disney land. I wish I could have been on the trip with them but work, work, work. Had some new folks come so thanks to Kyoko and Yui and Tsunami and Taka and Akiko and Hide and Tomoko and Yukari... well if I missed yur name, sorry... Not to forget that Eri got back from Spain! That was cool to hear about but I wanna hear more!! AH! Nove 20th was our annual Thanksgiving party, and we had Turkey and all the fixins' , just like mom used to make! It was extra special cause we had a dry run the week before. We made a full course holiday for Asahi television, too bad that it will only be aired in the Tokyo area, but I will get a tape for anyone that is interested. By the way, speaking of moms home cooking, guess who is coming for Christmas?? You guessed it, Mommy! Ah, she will be here for the big feed on the 18th so be sure to come. Guess the coolest thing was that we got a chance to hear about Isaac, and we are excited about helping him build a school and training center in Nigeria. Dont for get to drop a line and see how you could help! The only down side of the party lately was my cup. I think someone is playing a trick on me. Because no matter how many times I fill my beer. It never seems to have anything in it.... See ya on the 4th!

Oct 2nd Report

Barry got back from America and got a chance to meet some of the newcomers. Caston made some out of this world Chicken Cacatore and all the fix'ns for dinner. Joey was Joey... everybody loves Joey...Got to hear about things on the American side of the Pacific, hope things go well and the permanant Mexico center becomes a reality next year. Special thanks to Masako and Junko for staffing things, you were just great. It was also nice to meet Kalisha from America. She will be doing a 3 month internship here and is excited to see all the sites. She already booked up all her time with new friends from the party so... we might not see much of her outside of classes: ) Thanks to everyone that came and we are looking forward to seeing you next time. If you read Japanese, you can check out our bulletin board to hear from friends about current events on our bulletin board.