Kalakasan is inviting everyone to the Christmas party on Saturday, December 8th 11:00AM until 16:00PM.
Let’s bring something that we can share, food or drinks and most especially yourself! We will also have exchange gift worth 1000yen.
Please join us and enjoy celebrating Christmas in Kalakasan!
Date: Sarurday, December 8th
11:00AM – 16:00PM
Place: Catholic Kashimada Church
August 11-12 Summer Camp at Yamakita, Ashigarakamigun, Kanagawa Prefecture
Participants: 18 KALAKASAN mothers and members; 13 children; 11 KALAKASAN youth; 4 staff members; 5 volunteers and 6 friends
Exodus traffic for Obon holiday week slowed down our travel to our destination. For lunch we stopped at a parking area near Tanzawa Lake Dam to eat our bento lunch.
Check-in at Sasakozawa Bungalow at 1:00 pm. The afternoon was then spent playing and getting wet in the shallow river stream by the campsite. Mothers prepared for BBQ supper which was ready by 6:00 pm.
After supper, we went up to a level area of the campsite and had fun around a campfire. We started with Tanko bushi bon odori and continued on with modern dances to Filipino dance music. As the fire was dying down, marshmallows on sticks were distributed to roast in the campfire.
Campfire was followed by kakegori 🍧after which the mothers continued their dancing while the youth gathered for their social night.
After breakfast the next morning, many trooped to play and get wet in the river until mid morning when we had to get ready to leave the campsite. Before leaving, we had the treat of nagashi-soumen to enjoy with fried chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelon.
As is our custom, we celebrated the August birthdays. A cake was brought to camp and we sang Happy Birthday for 4 people of KALAKASAN.
Before heading for home, we stopped at nearby Buna no Yu onsen where we could take hot baths to warm and clean ourselves from the cold river and rainy morning.
We headed home around 2:00 pm and again Obon holiday traffic slowed us down and we reached our home ground KALAKASAN office at Kashimada Church at 5:30 pm.
This year is a historic one for KALAKASAN. One KALAKASAN youth volunteered to oversee reservations and networking with the campsite and our volunteer drivers. One of the volunteer drivers was another KALAKASAN youth. And another KALAKASAN youth with skills in English and Tagalog became the bridge between the Filipino mothers and staff and the bi-cultural, Japanese-speaking youth to facilitate our team efforts at organizing the camp event.
We are grateful to all volunteers and friends who made this year’s Summer Camp possible.
Kalakasan camp: August 26 – 27 at Yamakita Camp Area
49 persons joined: 2 children, 16 youth, 21 mothers, 4 staff and 6 volunteers (4 drivers and 2 volunteers for the youth)
We enjoyed doing the following:
Walking along the Kurokura Rindo river and splashing and swimming in the river along the way.
We had a barbecue at dinner time and had fun dancing after.
The following day, some went to Buna no Yu onsen directly while the majority enjoyed the cold and refreshing river besides the onsen first. Then after took a hot bath in the onsen.
Everyone truly enjoyed and was refreshed not only with our activities but also with the beauty and serenity of nature.