Ripon's Rotary Club hosted four women and one man from Taiwan as part of a group study exchange program through Rotary International.The Ripon visit, which took place May 7 to 11, 2006, enabled the group of Taiwan professionals a chance to learn about how American industry conducts business, as well as to discover more about American culture.

"The whole process was to learn more about how we do things, and how they do things differently," said Lee Prellwitz, Ripon Rotarian and one of the organizers of the visit. "They enjoyed things they had not seen before, things that Americans did a little differently.

"When they toured the [Ripon] library, they were fascinated we could order a library book from home."

While the visit to Ripon aimed at exposing the Taiwanese group to a variety of aspects of American culture, one focus of the trip was to investigate how local businesses operate.To accomplish this goal, the group toured several area businesses, including Hilltop Manor, Ripon Printers, Alliance Laundry, Pick 'n Save and Creative Forming.

"Chuck [Prellwitz of Prellwitz Strawberry Farm] let them climb on a tractor and combine," Lee said of the visit to the strawberry farm. He added the size of the tractor amazed particularly Yu-Chin "Kristy" Shih, who is a research assistant for the Taiwan Department of Agriculture.

The female members of the group adopted Americanized names for the trip to ease conversations with local clubs.

"Their country is so small and so densely populated, space is an issue," Lee said. "They'd never seen equipment so big ... They can't comprehend that kind of size."

Shih also was fascinated with how lettuce could be packaged, shipped and kept for long periods of time, as Taiwan would need to do this in order to effectively export its produce."She went to Pick 'n Save and was so excited to see the Dole packaged lettuce," Ripon Rotary president Sue Finch-Brown said, noting she hoped to bring that concept back to Taiwan.

Another visitor, however, simply was impressed by how local farms operate. "We have been to many farms, and I was impressive of their high productivity," said Ching-Chu "Irene" Lin, who is a sales administrator for product export in a Taiwanese company that manufactures synthetic products.

Lee said Lin also found Creative Forming's plastic extrusion process fascinating."They certainly have all the technology that we do, but don't have some of the infrastructure yet," Lee said. "But the thing that most amazed them was size, scope and magnitude - whether it was food-serving sizes, farm equipment, size of farms and open space, the huge metal-stamping press in Alliance, the size of the presses at RCP, the size of the equipment at Creative."

While the visit focused on exchanging business know-how, it offered an opportunity for the Taiwanese visitors to learn about American culture as well.While they found the size of equipment in companies interesting, little things left the biggest impression on them. "I think the most impressive for me is the potluck party, because this is my first time to experience it," said Ying-Hui "Yvette" Hung, who is a teacher in an after-school program in her hometown. "In Taiwan, if I want to have a party, I usually have to prepare the food for everyone, and I also have to clean it after the party, include the leftovers. Potluck is really a very nice idea, and I will share it with my friends and relatives."

Lin was surprised at how safe Riponites feel."The most impressive part is people let the door open or unlocked after leaving the house," she said.

Hung, however, was touched by how differently American senior citizens are cared for when it comes time for them to live in an assisted-living facility."I've been to one nursing home in Taiwan, and there were only two workers and one nurse inside for taking care over 10 elders," she said. "The environment and quality make me feel terrible. At that time, my friend told me most of the nursing homes are like that one, so I didn't like nursing homes anyway." Her experience at Finch-Brown's Hilltop Manor made her believe her country must find a new way to care for its eldest generation.

"I think there should be a better way for elders to enjoy their life. The first time I went to Sue's office, I saw her say 'hello' to everyone, and have a little talk with them," Hung said. "That really moved me. I don't know how she made that, but the nursing home makes me feel home. "The elders are not only the customers, but friends. The workers there treat every elder as their parents, listen to them and talk with them. How wonderful. I think, in this part, we still have a lot to improve for our elders in Taiwan."

While they will bring back plenty of knowledge about American business to their home country of Taiwan, Lin said it is the Riponites they'll remember most."We have seen quite a lot in Ripon," she said, "[but] the best experience is the people there." This sentiment hit home with Finch-Brown, who caught up with the exchange group again Sunday, when it visited a Brewers game and participated in a Rotary tailgate party at Miller Park. She was told that "one thing that stuck out [for the visitors] was what their perspective of what America was and how it changed," Finch-Brown said. "[They believed] all Americans were rich, that Americans were rude and self-absorbed."But through the people they met, that changed. Everyone was just extremely nice to them and willing to go out of their way to show different things to them."

Finch-Brown noted she felt she gained just as much about the Taiwanese visitors as they did about America. "I learned a lot," she said.