YBA
2017

For the past 4 years Jordyn has enjoyed her time in the YBA at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. Now that Tyler is a Freshman in high school, it's his turn to particiapte. So far, he's gone camping, played volleyball in an overnight tournament in Fresno, had fun in a day-long beach trip to Carmel, ran around all day at Great America, and had a blast at the annual YBA Halloween Party. Mind you, all of this has taken place in the last 4 months! MVBT YBA is the best!

Tyler left around 4:30 in the morning on Saturday, Nov. 11 to head down to Fresno for the annual CC Jr. YBA Conference. While there, he will participate in workshops and a talent show. Here's hoping Mountain View takes first place this year!

The Bay District Conference was held at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple up the freeway from Mountain View. Tyler had to be in Palo Alto by 8:30am so he could attend morning service and then participate in the many workshops. Later, he would return to Mountain View for a break, change clothes, and take pictures. Afterwards, he and the rest of the Mountain View YBA would head back to Palo Alto for dinner and a dance.

One of the big fundraisers at the MVBT is the annual Chicken Teriyaki Fundraiser. Every year scores of volunteers help with all aspects of this endeavor. For instance, Dad helps with the actual cooking of the chicken, Mom helps with making lunch for all the volunteers, and the YBA helps where ever they're needed.

On Friday, June 22, 2018 Tyler and the rest of the Mountain View Buddhist Temple YBA drove down to Watsonville for a campout at Sunset State Beach. They had a great time cooking, eating, and hanging out. This is one of the many fun activities sponsored by the MVBT YBA.

July 21-22, 2018

Usually, the MVBT YBA runs the Spam Musubi Booth at Obon. This year, however, we couldn't make rice using our gas rice cookers without proper ventilation. So, instead we grilled hot dogs and had special toppings to make them unique. Toppings included kim chee, kewpie mayo, furikaki, sriracha, and ramen. In the end, we sold more hot dogs than we thought on Saturday, so mom, Aunty Pauline, and Auntie Betty went out and bought more on Sunday. By Sunday, before Odori, all the hot dogs were gone. It was different and maybe a little easier, but still a lot of fun.

Every four years the Mountain View Buddhist Temple YBA makes a trip to Disneyland. Jordyn did it as a Freshman and now Tyler has his chance too. They left Saturday morning from the San Jose International Airport. Their first stop was in Orange County to visit the Orange County Buddhist Church. The OCBC YBA was waiting for them and the two YBA's hung out and bonded. Afterward, they all drove back up north to the Higashi Hongwanji Obon. There, they met up with the YBA's from Gardena and Utah. That's a lot for the first day, and they haven't even gone to Disneyland yet!

Every year in August the Salinas Buddhist Temple YBA sponsors a beach picnic in Carmel. This year was no different and many coast district YBA's joined in the fun. Tyler and 4 fellow MVBT YBA members attended and played in the sand, jumped in the water, ate burgers, and made smores. In the evening they had a bonfire and hung out. What was supposed to end at 8pm didn't finish up until around 10pm because no one wanted to leave.

Every year over Labor Day weekend, Fresno Betsuin hosts a volleyball mixer and invites YBA's from all over California. This is Tyler's second year participating. He always has a lot of fun playing volleyball and hanging out with his friends.

After the volleyball mixer in Fresno, Tyler returned to the South Bay for a meeting of the Coast District Cabinet at San Jose Betsuin. Here, he and other members from the Coast District met to plan the Coast District Conference scheduled for next year in March. After the meeting, he and a bunch of fellow YBA'ers caught "Crazy Rich Asians" at Santana Row.

Midori Kai Fundraiser
Sept. 7 & 8, 2018

The MVBT YBA held a fundraiser at Midori Kai the weekend after the volleyball mixer in Fresno. On Friday, Sept. 7, the kids met in the evening and made Hurricane Chips and a Furikake Party Mix to sell on Saturday at Midori Kai. The snacks were a huge success as everything sold out by 2pm in the afternoon.

Over the Veteran's Day weekend, Tyler ventured south to Fresno to attend the Central Coast Jr. YBA Conference with his fellow YBA'ers. They left bright and early Saturday morning around 5:00am. When they got to Fresno they had breakfast followed by a short service and then workshops. At lunch they participated in the annual talent show followed by more workshops. Finally, they retired to the hotel to get ready for dinner and a dance. On Sunday, they left Fresno about mid-morning and stopped off at Sonic for lunch in Gilroy. Tyler always has the best time at these conferences.

To start off Tyler's Winter Break, the MVBT YBA held its annual Holiday Party. This year the big event was an Escape the Room activity masterminded by YBA Advisor, Brent Izutsu, and expertly executed by the rest of the parent advisors. Dinner was pasta from Maggiano's at Santana Row. No YBA Holiday Party would be complete without a white elephant gift exchange with a twist. After choosing a present, gifts were kept, traded, stolen, or shifted left or right. To round out the evening some of the boys played basketball, but all stayed up to the wee hours of the night.

Every February, the MVBT YBA holds a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser. Tyler, along with the entire membership, take it upon themselves to help make this fundraiser come together. Tyler was part of the donations committee where he and three other members went out to various retailers and businesses to ask for donations to give away during the dinner. Even Mom and Dad helped out. Dad drove the donations committee around to first solicit for and then ultimately pick up donations. He also helped on the buffet line. Mom worked the door during the dinner and helped check in all the guests. In the end, the 2019 MVBT YBA Spaghetti Dinner was a huge success due to all the help from members, parents, and advisors.

Workshops and activities for the Coast District YBA's Conference were in the planning stages for about a year. YBA's from all over California were invited to participate. In the end, about 125 kids (Delegates) from Coast District, North District, Bay District, and Central District participated. Tyler was group leader and led his group through all the various workshops and activities during the conference. At the end of the day, delegates enjoyed a buffet dinner with chicken teriyaki, Kalua Pork, sushi, gyoza, and chicken katsu. A dance followed dinner from 8pm to 11pm. The fun didn't stop there though. Many kids stayed at least another hour just to mingle and talk. I guess nobody wanted to go home.

Every Memorial Day weekend the Buddhist Temple of Alameda hosts the Bay District Volleyball Tournament. This year, only 6 YBA members from Mountain View could attend. Since this was a smaller group than normal, they combined with San Jose Betsuin and Salinas to make combo teams to compete. After the first round of games on Saturday many YBA'ers went bowling and played video games to relax and unwind.

One of the really fun activities the YBA organizes is the Breakfast Fundraiser. They usually spend a weekend in early June to set up and cook breakfast to make money for future activities. Since this year's theme was Hawaii, breakfast included fruit salads, eggs, spam, and rice. It's so gratifying to see all the students working so well together for a common cause.

Just like last year in the third weekend of June, the MVBT YBA drove down to Sunset Beach for their annual campout. The students did all of the usual activities like Iron Chef, go to the beach, and s'mores. This year, however, there was the added hot dog tasting to determine what was the best hot dog to serve in the YBA booth at Obon. Of course, as luck would have it, Tyler's birthday always falls during the campout, so there was the added bonus of birthday Otter Pops to celebrate.

Right after we got back from our Grand Canyon vacation, Tyler was out the door the next morning for a YBA activity in Santa Cruz. A bunch of his YBA friends from Mountain View, San Jose, and Salinas were all there. He always has the best time with these kids.

Every Labor Day weekend Fresno hosts the Central Coast Volleyball Mixer. Kids come from all over the Bay Area and Central Valley to participate. Tyler always has a blast at this tournament. He gets to see all his friends that he's met over the years through these get-togethers.

The MVBT YBA always celebrates Halloween with a party at the temple. This year was no different as the kids came down to eat pizza, carve pumpkins, and watch a movie (they tried but couldn't get it to play). Here are a few pictures of them getting into the Halloween spirit.

Tyler traveled to Fresno to participate in the Central Cal Jr. YBA Conference over the Veteran's Day holiday weekend. He woke up early Saturday morning to meet everyone at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple at 5:00am. From there they made the 3 hour drive to the Fresno Betsuin Buddhist Temple and spent the entire day in workshops and presenting their Monsters University based skit with the theme, "It's what's inside that counts". The day culminated with dinner and a dance.

One of the great things about the MVBT YBA is the Holiday Sleepover to start Winter Break. This year, Parent Advisors coordinated games, an Iron Chef competition, and White Elephant gift exchange. The night always lasts well into the early morning hours the next day, so the kids are always zombie-like when we pick them up. I'm sure they'll all tell you, though, they wouldn't have it any other way.

The YBA's biggest fundraiser of the year is their Spaghetti Dinner. It takes months of planning and everyone gets involved. Last year Tyler shadowed Vicky and learned all the in's and out's about soliciting for donations. This year he was able to get some wonderful gift baskets from Trader Joe's, Bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt, a gift certificate from Safeway, and checks from a farm in Hawaii and a mortuary in Mountain View!

While the dinner takes place on Saturday, the actual cooking of the sauce and much of the set up takes place Friday evening. The sauce is made in 3 huge woks (spaghetti sauce made in woks?), salad is tossed with dressing, garlic bread is sliced and prepped for warming, jello is made, tables and chairs are set up, flowers for the tables are cut and arranged, signs are made, and the bingo game is pulled out of storage and put on stage.

The next day around noon, a bunch of dads and YBA Advisor, Brent, make tons (literally) of spaghetti noodles. This year it took about 4 hours to cook all the pasta. The rest of the YBA arrived around 3pm to finish up all the little details and start the process of warming the sauce, heating the bread, hanging the last of the signs, and setting up drink stations. It's a huge undertaking but somehow it always comes together and everyone has a great time.

With COVID-19 still affecting the world and sheltering in place still the norm, the MVBT YBA held another general meeting using Zoom.

The COVID-19 Panedemic has changed life dramatically for everyone on the planet. At the temple we would normally be working hard preparing for the upcoming Obon festival and bazaar. However, in order to help prevent the spread of the virus the 2020 MVBT Obon will be held virtually. Part of this year's virtual OBONatHOME will be cooking demos. The YBA decided to create a video on how to make spam musubi. Individual members will explain each step in the process. Tyler chose rice cooking as he thought it would be the easiest to explain. Little did he know just how confusing it could really be.

Unlike previous years, Tyler wouldn't be leading the Spaghetti Dinner Donations Committee. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser had to be scrapped for something else that wouldn't require a bunch of people gathering to eat dinner in close proximity to one another. What the Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser Committee decided was to team up with The Pasta Market in Los Altos. The way it would work is everyone would call the restaurant and order dinner on Saturday, Feb. 13th. They would mention the Mountain View Buddhist Temple YBA and The Pasta Market would donate 20% of the total back to the YBA. This was a simple solution for continuing the Spaghetti Dinner while fundraising so the kids could continue to participate in future activities or attend conferences. Some things didn't change though. They will still play Bingo using Zoom, and they will still hold a 50/50 Raffle that both Tyler and Connor are in charge of.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Tyler and his friends Brandon, from Salinas, and Connor, from San Jose Betsuin, had to brainstorm ideas to create a virtual Coast District YBL Conference. As their temples' Coast District Conference Representatives it was up to them to come up with a Buddhist theme and create workshops that gave insight into what they wanted to relate. Fortunately, they received a lot of help from countless friends, advisors, and parents. While they weren't able to hold a normal conference where everyone could meet in person, they were still able to create a virtual event where delegates from as far away as Washington state (Seattle and Tacoma) and Los Angeles could participate. There were ice breakers, workshops, and fun activities that taught about Buddhism to all who participated. The day after the conference, at Mountain View's online virtual Sunday service, Tyler thanked the Sangha (congregation), Mukojima Sensei, and everyone else who helped for their support.

Finally, after a year and a half with no in-person activities, the Coast District YBA organized their annual CD Beach Activity. San Jose, Salinas, and Mountain View gathered at the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk for a day of sun, sand, and surf. Everyone, even the advisors, had a blast. It was great fun to get together with everyone to share some laughs and just be with other people. This, sadly, will be Tyler's last YBA beach activity as he heads off to Fullerton in about a week.

A day after Santa Cruz, the MVBT YBA had a Meet-Up in Cuesta Park in Mountain View. Normally, in mid July the YBA has a camp out where they pitch tents and sleep under the stars down near Capitola. Due to COVID, however, they haven't been able to have their camp out the last two years, so to kind of make up for it they created the Meet-Up. At this activity the students can have one last event with the outgoing Seniors. At the same time they can say hello to the incoming Freshmen. While not quite the same as the camp out, the Meet-Up accomplished the same goals - have fun, laugh hard, and make memories.

While Tyler was on Spring Break during his Junior year at CSU Fullerton, he returned home so he could work at Minaris to earn some extra spending money. While he was home he attended Sunday Service at the Temple with Connor, Mom, and Dad. There were a number of other college students on break as well, so at the beginning of service when the Dharma School students went to burn incense he wasn't the only college student to o-shoko.

Tyler caught up with some old YBA friends before Finals. It was a welcome break and super fun going to Disneyland. They spent the whole day there enjoying the rides and taking in all the attractions. It was a nice break before having to study full-force.