Chinese visitor heading for home today

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Lu Rong Rong, the Chinese team teacher leaves New Ulm today after spending the past 9 1/2 months in New Ulm.

Lu team taught English with Ingrid Liedman at New Ulm Middle School last school year.

Her host families were the Russell and Karin Treat, Curt and LuAnn Vanderwerf, Nancy Besse and Mark Navara families, all of New Ulm.

Before leaving the country, Lu will visit the San Francisco Bay area with the Besse family before flying home to Hangzhou, China, a large city on the coast.

"I had a great year," Lu said. "I learned a lot teaching with Mrs. Leidman. People are very polite here, more so than in China. Everybody took very good care of me. They made me feel relaxed, not like a foreigner."

Among her favorite memories of New Ulm was the charm, hospitality and friendliness of the people of the community, the warmth of the students she met and the clean air, something hard to find in large Chinese cities.

Middle school students created and dedicated a peace pole with the message "may peace prevail on earth" in four languages including Chinese -- something Lu found very meaningful.

She visited Yellowstone National Park with the Liedmans after the school year ended several weeks ago.

"It was a wonderful trip," Lu said.

Lu's other memorable events with her host families included the Renaissance Fair, Miss New Ulm Pageant, Thanksgiving, Christmas and her 30th birthday party. While visiting the Navara lake cabin, she caught a sizeable bass fish and cooked it Chinese style (whole) with garlic, soy sauce and cooking wine.

Among the things in China she missed most was fresh seafood, which is readily available in Hangzhou and her family. Her husband is a promotion manager for Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co.

Lu voiced gratitude to the New Ulm Area Foundation for sponsoring her New Ulm visit.