By Jack Eddy

Our Town

Three Tracy teenagers, just hours back from their youth exchange trip to Japan, couldn’t stop talking about their summer experience.

Trevor Brenkwitz, Kari Delcol and Katie Petz were among five young ambassadors from Tracy taking part in the annual five-week stay sponsored by the Tracy Breakfast Lions Club. Janey Hines and Rafael Vasquez also made the Asian journey. During the past two weeks, Japanese students visited Tracy as guests of the Lions club and stayed with host families.

The Breakfast Lions honored the Tracy teens Aug. 16; the Japanese visitors were feted to a breakfast Thursday.

Lion Ken Yasui, who directs the local youth exchange program with his wife, Harriett, said the reward of their efforts is "the experiences of our youth. That’s what’s all about."

Brenkwitz’s experiences included: visiting a movie park dressed as a samurai, cooking a duck, arranging flowers, climbing a mountain, watching fireworks and visiting many temples. Before he left for Japan in July, Brenkwitz said he spoke no Japanese, but by the time he returned he could give an extemporaneous speech in the foreign language. His secret: be a good listener during a stay with three different families.

Delcol returned to Tracy with much more than three designer dresses (that don’t fit); she said she brought home experiences of rafting, finally getting a tan, experiencing a Japanese earthquake and communicating with new friends through hand signals.

"I also realized that all they (the Japanese) want is peace, and, of course, to learn English," Delcol said.

Petz described her journey numerous times as awesome. She had visited Memuro, Japan, as an eighth-grade representative of the Sister City program, so this summer’s trip was less as a tourist. Her biggest surprise was seeing the comic-strip character subculture of Tokyo, although bathing nude in public at a hot springs won’t ever be forgotten. Her favorite experiences were the almost daily visits to festivals.

"I will incorporate things from Japan into my life here," Petz said. "I wouldn’t change (the experience) for the world."