Melanie Fischer

Despite getting terrible a cold this week, I had some pretty amazing experiences.

Tuesday two of my tennis buddies, Coco and Rose, took me Stand Up Paddle boarding.  We loaded their inflatable SUP boards into our minivan and drove to the Qinghe River next to the Summer Palace. Although when the Palace was built it was in the country, today it very much in the city. Rose told me the water wasn’t clean – but we wouldn’t get wet – but when we got to our put in location, there were tons of Chinese swimming in the river. Apparently they swim there all year round. She then corrected herself and said it actually wasn’t so unclean. I am not sure how clean the water actually is. We inflated our boards in the parking lot and then dropped them off the wall embankment – three feet down to the water – keeping on the ankle leash so as not to loose the boards. We then slowly lowered ourselves down on to the boards so as not to fall into the water. Rose does competitive SUP racing so the board she loaned me was narrow for speed – hard for me to balance on. I didn’t fall into the water, but by the end of our paddling my feet were pretty tired from keeping me stable on that thin board. Although the river ran between busy roads, it felt really peaceful. We paddled for a couple hours and found ourselves in an area of the river where the embankments were being renovated so between the roads and the river ran a make-shift wall – keeping visitors to this part of the river out – but also – keeping us in. We kept paddling and looking for openings to get out. Rose and Coco would ask workers when the fencing would end. The workers either didn’t know or said not too much further – but the end never came. We finally saw a temporary hole that some workers made to get themselves and their materials in. We climbed out of the river there and dragged ourselves and our boards over the rubble and out the hole in the fence. It was a fun adventure. Dan is now fantasizing our spending a summer sometime kayaking the entire 1000 miles of the River. Sounds fun. We’ll see.

Thursday Celia submitted her Early Action and Early Decision applications! First one in her grade. And she did an amazing job! I am very proud of her.

Last night we had another crazy adventure! Morton arrived back at school yesterday, Friday, afternoon from an eighth grade sleep over camping trip. He then participated in his after-school volleyball class and then was heading back out for a weekend Boy Scouts camping trip. I ran to school to say, “Hello” and “Good bye” to him and most importantly to give him a bag of snacks. 

Dan and I then headed out for dinner.  Someone had invited us to what we thought was dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Our driver drove us downtown to the fancy hutong that we had walked around with the kids. We got off, scanned to go into the hutong (- our every move scan that shows our recent covid test – and also keeps track of where we go) and looked for the restaurant. When we didn’t see it, Dan pulled out his phone to look at the directions he had been sent. There were pictures with arrows. We back tracked out of the hutong and went around the corner. We walked past the KFC into the dark parking lot next door. People quickly asked us where we were going – they must have been some kind of security – and then quickly led us half way back into the parking lot. They touched something hidden there that slid a panel open to expose an opening. It opened to reveal an elegant room with a sunken sitting area with a gas fireplace going. Our host, who we had never met before, was there to greet us, along with another friend who has set up the dinner. A fourth guest arrived shortly after us. The fourth guest was an American who has lived in Beijing for twenty years and is the owner and curator of a museum here – and he grew up not too far from where I did. Our host explained that she owned a good chunk of the real estate of the hutong and had recently built this private area to have guests where they wouldn’t have to scan to get in and she was trying to figure out how to utilize the space. She gave us a tour. I am sorry I didn’t take photos but that felt like that might be tacky. Aside from the room we were sitting in, she showed us a large living room type area, then an open central area where beautiful bamboo grew in a large glass shaft that ran from a flight down to above the ground floor where we stood to get exposure from the skylight above. There were two bedrooms around this area – she said in case guests were too tipsy to drive home. Then there was a narrow outdoor area. Inside this outdoor area she had a crane bring in a couple trees and a large stone to make a tiny but magnificent Japanese garden. She then took us downstairs. There was a lovely staircase but we took the elevator with glass walls, passing leaf papered wall paper on our way down. Downstairs looked like a good sized Chelsea art gallery, with a large beautiful bar and a glassed in wine/liquor cellar. In the middle was the glass shaft with the bamboo growing up to the skylight above. It was all magnificent. She asked for our ideas what to do with the space and said she was not interested in it being a money making venture. That was not the purpose. 

Afterwards, we went upstairs to the dining room (also lovely) where we sat around a round table with the loveliest lazy susan I have ever seen. There was a back door out of the dining room which abutted to a Japanese restaurant’s back door which is one of her tenants. From this door the most elegant Japanese food I have ever seen slipped quietly into the room and was placed onto the lazy susan. 

At first we weren’t really sure how the company would be as we felt a little thrown together, but it ended up being really interesting conversation – hearing about the museum owner’s trials and tribulations getting Matisse artwork into the country when suddenly countries were boycotting China – concerned China was going to support Russia against Ukraine. And hearing about our host’s different business ventures and traveling and quarantining with her thirteen year old son. The only bad part of the meal was when the museum owner started talking Philly sports and I shamed my brothers by having no clue. 

At some point Dan and I got frantic texts and calls from Morton. The BoyScouts had driven the couple hours to their camp sight and then were forbidden entry. We believe there was a case of Covid in the region and so they were not allowed to enter. It sounded like there was an hour or two of going back and fourth discussion- could they stay or not -and then they got back into the bus and were driving back to school. Not an unusual story in China. Around 8:45 we had to say, “Goodbye” to go meet Morton’s bus – ending another amazing, eye opening evening. Not the China I thought I was coming to experience, but definitely amazing.