Cultural exchange
<p>Jordyn Bojorquez (back, center) and friends from a Japanese girls basketball team flip the peace sign to the camera June 18.</p>
<p>Jordyn Bojorquez, left, hugs her host sister, Naho Egashira, on June 17. Jordyn spent 12 days in Tokyo, where she learned about Japanese culture, education, family life and history.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - "Hajimemashite" is a common phrase 15-year-old Jordyn Bojorquez found herself saying when she met new people in Japan.
"When I met my 'mom' and 'dad,' I would always say, 'hajimemashite,' which is, 'nice to meet you,'" she said, describing how 'hajimemashite' opens reverent Japanese greetings, usually accompanied by a bow.
Jordyn, 15, of Hayden, recently returned from a 12-day international exchange trip to Tokyo. She stayed with a host family and experienced what it is like to live in the Japanese culture, attend Japanese school and see a way of life on the other side of the world.
"It taught me to be a lot more respectful," she said. "It definitely taught me to get out of my comfort zone because I was in a new country and I didn't know it at all. I barely knew the language, I only knew a little bit, so I had to adjust."
Jordyn went to the top of Tokyo's World Trade Center, visited the Tokyo Imperial Palace, washed her hands in the fountains of Asakusa Temple and rang bells and bowed at a Buddhist shrine.
"When you ring the bell or clap or anything like that, it's to show Buddha that you're there, so he listens to you, I guess," she said.
Jordyn is an incoming sophomore at Coeur d'Alene High School, where she has already completed a year of studying the Japanese language. She traveled to Japan after earning a scholarship through Compass USA, a program that invites international students to experience the U.S. way of life and provides study abroad opportunities for American students.
This was the first time Jordyn had traveled and studied abroad, but the Bojorquez family has previously hosted three international students - from Brazil, Taiwan and Japan. Jordyn and her mom, Kim, were introduced to Compass through one of Kim's acquaintances. Kim said she and a coworker volunteered to host exchange students for two weeks because they love kids and the $150 provided by Compass to the host families seemed like a fair amount to cover expenses.
"Once you do it, the money is like nothing," she said. "You don't even need the money. You get so much more out of it than what that money could even buy."
The family's most recent exchange student, Nina Chen of Taiwan, stayed with the family for a year and graduated from CHS in June. She and Jordyn were on the same flight out of Spokane when Jordyn left for Japan. The Bojorquez family will be welcoming another Japanese teen to stay with them July 22 to Aug. 11.
"It is a lifetime experience," Kim said. "Even if you don't get to go over there, when you're hosting somebody and when they come over here, they're teaching you about their home and their food and what things are like in their country."
Jordyn said she loved visiting Japan and is already planning to go back. She said she bonded very well with her host family and made some lifelong friends along the way. She went bowling with her Japanese friends, sang authentic karaoke and experienced real wasabi.
"I took a little bit and it wasn't too bad," she said. "Then I took a little bit more and almost started crying ... it was really hot, but it was really good."
Jordyn and her mom both agree that hosting and being hosted is beneficial to all parties. They are looking forward to hosting again, and Jordyn said she will always remember her experiences in Tokyo.
"These memories I'll always have, and I'll always remember," Jordyn said. "It's probably one of the best experiences that somebody could have."
Info: www.compass-usa.net