Melanie Fischer

A few days before departing for our winter holiday, Celia calls to say she’s been running a high fever and is worried about getting better in time to meet us. The airline said we couldn’t change her flight, even with a doctor’s note. I schedule a wheelchair to take her through the airport and to transport her to her connecting flight – but ultimately she is too sick to travel. We are sick from sadness she won’t join us. 

We fly to Bangkok – which we scheduled just to meet Celia’s very late at night arriving flight and to give her a little time to see Bangkok. But of course, she won’t be there.

We check into our hotel and then go grab a Tuktuk to take us to a pier. The Tuktuk driver tells us it’s the weekend and the boat we want, or the pier is closed. He would take us to a different pier where we can get a different boat. When we get there he points us to where we buy the tickets. It ended up being a private pier – not the public one we intended to go to and the price was crazy high – as opposed to the inexpensive public ferry.  We started asking questions like why is this boat was so expensive? The woman selling the tickets told us to leave the pier immediately. We stepped away and were discussing our plan. Clearly the Tuktuk driver had scammed us taking us to this private ferry. The lady selling the tickets then started yelling that this was a private area and we had to leave the area. We guessed she didn’t want other customers to realize this was a scam. We started walking out, found the same tuktuk we had just gotten off of and he took us to the pier we had asked to go to – which was open. 

After some misdirection of being  sent to the line of the second ferry to depart, we finally go onto the ferry and headed up river, seeing many of the Bangkok sights. We got off at the dock closest to the Grand Palace. 

We grabbed some lunch. Morton ordered a chicken and rice dish -and then ordered it again.  – sometimes a 17 year old boy can eat!

Once in the Grand Palace, the buildings were so over the top with glittery surfaces – amazing! 

We went into one building which had the most famous jade Buddha. I was surprised by how small it was. It was way up high, wearing a woven golden cloak.  Apparently the king had to climb up a ladder three times a year to change the jade buddha’s clothes – how crazy! Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures.

Once we got to the second section of the palace – closer to the more residential section, we found they had closed it off to the public for a year while the country mourned the death of the Queen a few months earlier. 

On the way towards the exit we stopped at the Queen’s textile museum – which showed how the queen prioritized Thai style and Thai fabrics.

Tired, we took the boat back and decided to take the elevated subway back to the hotel – do you call it “an elevated subway”? Obviously that’s an oxymoron. Maybe we took the El back to the hotel. 

Once back at the hotel, Dan and I decided to go swimming on the rooftop deck. The view was so beautiful.

We walked out that evening for a really good Thai dinner at a place called NohNoh.

The next morning, Dan and I headed to the gym in  a glass cube on the roof. An amazing place to work out with the view all around. The few other people in the gym seemed to be taking more pictures of themselves working out than actually working out. It’s a funny time. 

We took a quick rooftop-swim, hotel breakfast and headed back to the airport.

We Flew to Vientianne, Laos. I had read everywhere that it wasn’t worth spending any time in Vientianne so only scheduled about 24 hours there – but we actually thought it was a really nice city. The hotel was lovely. 

Cute towel elephant greeted us in our hotel room. 

After checking in we sat on the balcony at the hotel in the third floor bar – overlooking the street. The bar was out of almost everything on menu. Finally we asked, “What do you have?” But the view was lovely – and we enjoyed watching the people below. There were many more foreigners per capita than we see in Beijing. After finishing our snacks, we wandered around the city for a while and ended up in a French restaurant after other places lines were too long – but the restaurant was lovely as was sitting on the patio. 

Boys on hotel/bar balcony

The next morning we had a surprisingly lovely breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to see a little more of the city before leaving it. Dan and I thought jogging would be nice before getting back on the road. Morton wasn’t thrilled, but he kept up. Our first stop was Liberty Arch, Based on L’arch de Triumph with Laos flair. – really lovely. We scheduled to arrive just after it opened but when we got there it wasn’t open to go up. We decided to wait a bit, sitting next to one of the two fountains next to the Arch that the Chinese donated (along with the airport, a high speed train line and stations…) The fountains played music while water jumped and shot up to the music in an amazingly long choreographed dance to many different songs. It was pretty amazing.

me dancing along with the water jets and the Arch behind.

The Arch finally opened. We payed for a ticket and headed up. Half way up there was a museum display about the city but the lights were off – and strange that no one was monitoring the museum or the entire interior of the arch. We went to the top and enjoyed the view – looking over the city – before heading back down and heading to our second stop the Golden Stupe. 

On the way we walked past Pun Cafe – Dan’s still talking about it.

We took a lunch break at a roadside, open air restaurant – there were many along the road and very few customers -so proprietors chased us trying to get us to go to their restaurant. At all of the restaurants, there, and that we passed along the road, hammocks hung near every table. At first I assumed it was for restaurant workers to take a siesta but later I realized that customers come and then take naps – a funny and nice custom.


At the end of our first day at Siem Reap our tour guide explained to us that it was such a problem he only had sons – not what one normally hears. Apparently girls stay and take care of their parents when they get married.  Their husbands move in with their brides. The boys have to give a big dowery, as they will go live with the other family, and then there is no one to take care of the boys’ parents if they don’t have a daughter. 


The next day we went and visited an area in which most of the houses are built in the water and the people get around by boat. It was amazing to see. 

OMG! I can’t believe I forgot to mention this in the last post. When we went out to dinner with friends in Hanoi we ordered spring rolls – the kind you put in water and they soften and you wrap around fresh vegetables and shrimp. This is a Vietnamese dish. We ordered it and the waiter came and is showing us how to assemble the – she brought us wraps in the package – which seemed very strange. Then she assembles it without putting it in the water – so it’s breaking apart. I was thinking, “maybe this is a different kind of wrap”, but then it’s all breaking apart as she’s trying to wrap this crispy wrap and then she hands it to our friend who takes a bite and thinks it’s very weird. Then I ask her to bring us some bowls of water – which of course fixed the problem. But how can she not know that the wraps need to be soaked first -both because she works at a restaurant where they serve this food and because it’s a Vietnamese dish and we’re in Vietnam. SO STRANGE!! 

I regularly get texts regularly in Chinese which I can’t read, and if I have AI translate them, they make no sense. I often have no idea if these are message I should pay attention to or if they  are junk. I don’t want to get a virus, so I don’t click on them. I recently got one of these messages. The same message has come in a number of times and I had a feeling it was from my internet and phone provider so I finally sent a copy of the email to a Chinese friend who said it was in fact from my phone provider saying I hadn’t paid the bill and my phone and our home internet was going to be turned off.  I couldn’t figure out how to pay the bill online, so I had our driver take me to the  office where I signed up for my phone and internet. We got there and it was locked with a note scribbled on the door that was too sloppy to translate but the driver eventually communicated to me that the office was closed for an indefinite period of time. I asked him to look online for the nearest other office – where he drove me. It ended up being in a mall and when I found the shop it was locked, though the hours said it should be open. I went into the shop next door and, with my broken Mandarin, asked the woman  when the phone store would be open. She insisted it was – until we walked next door. I explained my problem and that it is too hard for me, with my minimal language skills, to negotiate this over the phone in Chinese. She called the main number and was told the shop was open. We walked back over. I knocked hard on the door and after a few minutes a woman appeared from the back – looking like she had been napping. The reason I retell this mundane story is that it really got me thinking about  foreigners in the US – or other places – how easy to get lost in the system. I have many people willing to help me and still I struggled to keep my phone and internet on.

Mid October, late one Friday evening we were closing down shabbat dinner at Roberta and Ted’s when Roberta told us she was having a “Run for the Cure” early the next morning, followed by a yoga class our friend Robyn was running and she’d love for Dan and I to join us.  I wasn’t thrilled that it was already late, we had to drive half an hour home and another 45 minutes to get to the race the next morning – but we wanted to support it – plus it sounded fun. Ended up being a beautiful Sunday morning. We were a bit concerned in the beginning of the run as they were trying to keep us together and stopped us a couple times to take group photos – but eventually Dan and I and a few other people sped up, ahead of the group, and enjoyed running in the beautiful park.  Afterward it was lovely sitting outside on our mats, doing a little yoga. The event organizers had tons of photographers along the route and around us as we did yoga- which felt weird – but nonetheless we had a great time. As we hadn’t planned to do this race, we had already scheduled a mixed doubles match with some neighborhood friends at 1:00 – so we had to bolt – get back out to our neighborhood and play a couple hours of tennis. We were REALLY tired that evening and the next day.

Morton told me he wanted to get his hair trimmed – which was really needed – so I quickly scheduled a hair cutting appointment before he could change his mind. As we were going down town, Morton and I planned a whole day and Dan joined us. 

For whatever reason, ISB planned their annual International Day to be scheduled on October 31st. Everyone dresses up in their home country’s traditional clothes, there is a parade around the track, and parents set up booths representing their countries  – presenting information and often serving samplings of their food – among other activities. This year Yao Ming and the Ambassador of Guyana were  guest hosts of this event – leading the parade, saying some words, and hitting the gong which officially starts International Day. We spent some time chatting with them before the parade, which was lovely and later Yao Ming held an assembly in which he just answered everyone’s questions. Yao Ming is like no star in the US as he is the first and really only star who made it outside of China.  – Maybe Jackie Chan is the one other – but Yao Ming is so much more noticeable than Jackie Chan that his experience is so much more extreme. Yao Ming has been out of the NBA for a couple decades but he can’t go anywhere in China without causing an avalanche of enthusiastic followers.

Meanwhile, Celia and her friend in Boston went out to a Halloween party dressed as Clark Kent and Louis Lane.

That Wednesday after school Morton and I went to the photography mall and found him a new camera for his birthday and to bring on his trip. 

Friday night Dan and I went downtown to the main art area, Qi Jiu Ba (798), to attend an art opening that the school’s art club put on. We arrived as a presentation was going on. – about the show and presenting the artists. Morton was called. We had no idea his work was in the show! 

Dan and I had hoped to also get away for the weekend, but ended up Dan had to work Saturday morning, so I decided to book a hotel Saturday night  in a hutong downtown – with the traditional interior courtyard – and spend some time wandering Beijing.

A few days later I flew down for a very quick trip to Shanghai to attend my friend Wang Xin’s big art opening. I asked her to suggest a convenient hotel for me to stay in. She sent me a link in Chinese on a Chinese app. I was surprised by how cheap the room was and it looked pretty nice. When I arrived – the room was an interior room – no windows! It just had a fake one!

After dropping my bag at the hotel, I went and met Xin and a couple of her friends for a late lunch before we headed to the opening.

The show ended up being really beautiful, I ran and saw a couple other shows nearby, went to the after show dinner, made plans for brunch and art viewing the next day before flying back and then I headed  back to my windowless hotel room. When I got there I looked at my phone. Lots of messages from Dan.  

Yao Ming’s handler kept saying to him they wanted to get together with him whenever he got down to Shanghai. Dan was very curious why they wanted to meet with him so much. Maybe Yao Ming was starting a school??? When I made my plans to go for Xin’s opening, Dan told him he’d be down for those two days – he figured it would be convenient to go then. But he didn’t hear back, so I went to Shanghai on my own as originally planned. Of course, while I was there, they called and asked Dan and I for tea the next morning. Dan was calling to tell me he was flying down the next morning and to meet him.  I quickly told Xin I’d miss brunch but meet up later for some art viewing.

The next morning I went to the address and found myself at a very upscale hotel lobby. A manager stopped me at the door and asked what I was doing there. I explained that I thought I was meeting Yao Ming there but wasn’t sure of the address. He asked if I had an appointment and when I confirmed he told me Yao Ming lived across the street and would sometimes meet people at their tea house upstairs and I should wait. Dan came soon after and then Yao Ming’s handler. He took us upstairs and we ordered drinks. Yao came a few minutes later and joined us. The four of us had a lovely time chatting for a couple hours and then we headed our separate ways. Yao walked us to the door and then a fan chased after him. Didn’t seem like there was an agenda, maybe it’s just hard for him to meet people? Not sure, but both he and his handler were lovely. 

Dan and I then went to check out the Biennial at the Shanghai MOCA before heading to meet Xin and another friend for some more art and then back to Beijing.

It was a lovely, and fast two days.

The next weekend our good friends Leo and Ami invited us to an undisclosed art location they wanted to show us. It was a museum and hotel of stone. It was both amazing and very strange. The owner of the museum/hotel went around the country and would find or be shown large rocks. He would then hire people to saw them in half. If he likes what he saw, he’d have them slice off that piece and he’d frame it. If he didn’t like it, he’d have slice it off again, and again until hopefully he had a slice he liked. The artworks were beautiful. They looked like they were paintings or ink drawings. And the museum and hotel itself were amazing with light fixtures and windows made out of stone. 

Afterwards we went right by the Forbidden City. We went to this beautiful museum, that I had been to once before, and then to a lovely tea house – where Morton joined us- for tastings and then a private dinner – they only had one table at this restaurant. It was really lovely. 

Other things this fall:

Weekend before Thanksgiving we had another long weekend. For a long time I had wanted to go to a city called Datong – so Dan, Morton and I headed there. We took a two and a half hour bullet train there Friday morning.

I had booked us into a lovely Chinese hotel in the old town. We checked in early, grabbed some lunch nearby and then headed to see famous grottos that were just outside of the town. They blew us all away. There are hundreds of these caves that were carved into the rock faces by monks in around 300 bc and the caves are full of Buddhas. 

That afternoon we decided to bike around the old city up on the old wall. It was very much like when we biked on the old wall of Xian, my first year in China, but the bikes were a lot better. Morton biked taking photos along the way. 

Walking back to the hotel from the wall I noticed an interesting looking building which we decided to walk by. It ended up being a theater. Two women approached us with tickets to sell. Apparently it was a show about the story of Datong (the city we were in), and the show started in about ten minutes. They were selling the tickets for pretty cheap so we decided we’d risk it.

We headed into the theater and headed down what we thought was the ramp down to the section where our seats were. We ended up entering a room and we were supposed to stand in the middle of the room. As no one spoke English and our Mandarin is limited, we weren’t exactly sure what was going on. After a little bit the show began all around us as we stood with the other spectators in the middle.

After about 15 minutes, we were all ushered into a different room where the story continued. We ended up being shuffled into about 5 different rooms with different sets all around us and often above us also.

The story, from what we could tell, seemed a little cheesy but the sets and lights were pretty amazing. I don’t think they often get foreigners at this show as the ushers would always gesture, making sure we went to the correct area. At the end of the show an usher grabbed us and had us pose for a picture with one of the stars of the show.

As Thanksgiving is a work day here in China, we decided to wait until the following Saturday to throw our Thanksgiving dinner. It would be our first larger party in our new house and I wasn’t sure how/if we could make it work – where everyone would fit and how I’d make the dinner without an oven! We were 17 people in total and I really wanted us all to sit around one table. We covered the pool table to put the food out, everyone helped cook, and we all squoze (I love that word – even if it isn’t a word) around a long table. We couldn’t have fit even one other person. It was really lovely and made me feel appreciative of my Beijing community.  People here really show up to things and we meet people we would never meet in the US – so our friends do all sorts of different things in their lives. It makes it really fun.

I hope you are all having a good winter holiday! We’re currently traveling in Thailand, Laos, and soon to Cambodia. I’ll write some more when we get back. Xo

First I want to add this photo I couldn’t find for the last post as it is so over the top. It is of all the people swarmed around the tiny pond that has stocked with fish. The fish are swimming in circles as the people fish for their dinner. Too crazy!

After the endless flight that is the flight NYC to Beijing, Dan met me at the airport and I returned to our new home that I had only live in one day before heading to the States at the beginning of the summer.  It was great to see Dan and Morton but then they were off to school and work and I was in this house that still had lots of unpacking and organizing needed. A little depressing but  I got to work.

A few days after I got back to Beijing Morton headed out to Hokaido, Japan. At the end of the last school year, one of the school’s art teachers heard about a photography competition in which a school submits a three students photography and if they are a winning team, they and the faculty advisor, get an all expenses paid trip to a small town, Higoshigowa, on Hokaido, Japan where they meet with teams from around the world, each day having different photography assignments and competitions. Morton and his team was chosen and at the end of August they headed out. We weren’t thrilled about his missing a week of school but were also happy for this honor and hopefully amazing experience. It ended up being a life time highlight. He had such a great time taking photographs, working with his team, and getting to know kids from all around the world.

A few days later My friend DaHai asked me to go to our neighborhood meeting. He was out of Beijing but the community management really wanted foreigners there and he wanted to stay on their good side so I agreed to go. He promised it would only be a one hour commitment and  I didn’t have to say anything. He said someone would pick me up – which seemed odd as the meeting was in our tiny community but I guess they really wanted to make sure I was there. 

About 20 minutes before the allotted time two people showed up at my house. I got into their car and went the max quarter mile to the community organization building. It quickly becomes clear that this meeting is being filmed by CCTV and there was a pre meeting going on and the actual meeting wouldn’t start for about an hour. When I expressed that I was told it would be one hour of my time – there was some shuffling around and the meeting quickly started. Apparently the meeting was being filmed to show how international communities meet to discuss proposed changes to their communities. No idea why the International part mattered – maybe it was a series about international communities?? During the meeting they presented two proposed changes in the community and then they went around the table asking everyone to state their opinion. The second was about what to do with a large empty space in the neighborhood. Turning it into a library area was proposed. Drawings and diagrams were presented. Again – around the table. Everyone thought it was a nice idea. When it came to me I said I didn’t think anyone would use this space as everyone has a nice house with books and a place to sit. What would draw them to that space? What was the need? What would actually draw people out of their houses and maybe crate community. Maybe a restaurant or cafe or gym or space for Dance (seniors dance a lot for exercise in China) . I was then quickly told delivery men would use it and they’d consider my ideas and moved on. 

Then we were told to drink the tea (which was completely cold by now)for the cameras and then the meeting ended. 

After the meeting the host for the tv show told me my comments were really interesting – he really liked them. Every building with extra space is turned into a library and such an interesting idea to think what people would actually use. So strange that this was an interesting idea.

Dan heard that the first Minigolf course in Beijing (maybe China) had just opened – so of course we had to go. When we got to the address a woman sitting at the building’s entrance told us there were two courses, the first eleven holes (???!!) was up on the building’s 5th floor and the second course was outside and had 13 holes ( again – what 13 holes???). We told her we would play both. She brought us up to the 5th floor and turned on the lights – no one else was there. Both the indoor and outdoor courses were odd with hills too steep and holes in locations that made no sense. It was as if the creators of these courses had never actually played mini golf – which possibly was the case, but nonetheless Dan and I had fun playing – Morton I’m not so sure – being a professional, he was more disturbed by the nonsensicalness of most of the holes.

Every year the Australian Chamber of Commerce organizes a gala on The Great Wall  – aptly called Ball on the Wall. We were supposed to go last year but the school’s board called a meeting during it so we couldn’t make. We wanted to go once while we are in China so at last minute we bought tickets to go this year. It was a part of the Wall we had never been to before – not too far outside of Beijing. It was a beautiful night, it was fun to get dressed up, go to a beautiful location, catch up with friends who were there and dance up on The Wall.

And I continued to unpack and organize the house. We invited the parents of Morton’s “No Screens Saturday Nights” group over for dinner, along with the boys, to kick off this school year. This was a good push to get at least the downstairs of the house under control and art work up. The house came with artwork on the wall that I didn’t want to live with and the house owner agreed I could take it down. I couldn’t (or didn’t feel comfortable) getting one of the pieces down. I hired the community workers to help me. They brought over this crazy ladder with rope supports. I had never seen anything like it.

I am just putting the above picture up because – what a color! I went to breakfast with a friend and ordered what I was told was “plain yogurt with mango, granola and”(other fruit I didn’t catch). When it came, it was this color! I loved the color but wasn’t sure I wanted to eat something this color. It ended up being pretty good.

This is Morton at the school’s club fair. He is co-captain of the school’s ultimate team. Morton also proposed putting in a disc golf course at the school last year. His created a budget and was given money for a few holes. The short course was a hit with PE classes using the course – along with Morton and his Ultimate cohort. The school suggested he create a new proposal with budget and design sketches for more holes. Now the school has installed under his guidance a nine hole course! 

One weekend Dan and I went to breakfast in an outdoor mall not too far from where we live. Afterwards we decided to stroll a bit. Walking around we came across this: kids paddling around in the middle of the mall. Pretty funny – and fun!

A good friend of ours came to Beijing around 1980, working for a firm that was interested in opportunities in China. Seeing the state of medical facilities, Roberta and a friend, suggested importing medical equipment. Eventually they started doing it on their own and this led to founding a hospital – which now has grown to a large chain of high end hospitals. She came to give a talk at the school recently. It was so inspiring to hear of her life here in Beijing.

The following weekend, we went on a hike with a few of Morton’s friends and their parents. The hike and company were lovely – as were the view. We ended our hike in a little village where we first visited the most beautiful coffee shop. The owner had taken a traditional small village home – in which the walls are not insulated and people traditionally would just paste old newspapers on the wall to keep out blowing cold air – and where the beds were elevated on tatami style mats under which ran the pipe from the cooking stove – offering the only heating in the house. They left it much as it had been and then installed beautiful artwork and furniture. It is almost unheard of in China the leaving and appreciating the old – as that past is so recent – people want the new and the shiny.

After the hike and tea house we went to Texas BBQ restaurant that a parent at the school opened. I don’t think I have ever been to a Texas BBQ restaurant before. Funny the first time I went was in a small village in China. Apparently the restaurant has brought people to the village, bringing many weekenders and thus the sophisticated coffee shop. I don’t eat meat, so I had some delicious BBQed fish balls (not sure they have that in Texas), grilled vegetables, a yummy kale salad and some slaw. The meat looked quite impressive and everyone ate beyond their fill. 

The Jewish New Year was upon us and our diminishing Beijing Jewish community (foreigners are leaving at much higher numbers than arriving) flew in a rabbi and his wife from Chicago for the holiday. We had a lovely service and meal in our friend’s back yard.

School got out for the National Holiday/Golden Week vacation. That afternoon we headed to the Winter Olympics campus to see the first qualifying round for the World Table Tennis Smash competition. I don’t know a ton about table tennis, but it was super fun and dramatic to watch.

Clearly in China, some of their players (mostly the male ones) are celebrities – with women traveling far to come see them play and the fans cheering them on. On our way home we saw fans on the street stopping players for autographs and pictures. We were getting into our van, me from the door in the middle of the road, when a man ran over and pushed some paper and a pen at me. I was very confused. First I thought he wanted me to sign it for some reason – then I thought he was trying to sell me stationary. I told him no.  He stepped back and he was hit in the back by a passing car (luckily a very slowly moving one). He was fine – but it was a bit scary. Our van door closed and Dan and Morton asked why I wouldn’t give him my autograph – clearly he thought I was a famous player -or I think a coach is more likely. 

The next morning we were to leave for Hanoi, Vietnam. I had spent a lot of time planning the trip and as we were getting on the plane I got a message from the place we were going to the second day for a few days, that we wouldn’t be able to go there due to an approaching hurricane – and rain was predicted everyday of our vacation. 

We arrived, dropped our stuff at the hotel and I tried to see if there was any way to get to the island – the government stopped all ferries to the island for the following few days. Knowing we had an extra couple days in Hanoi we decided to take a nap. After the nap we headed to the Old Town to go to the water puppet show.

Traffic was insane and it took us much longer to get there than planned. We had to walk the last block or so and the road was insane with walkers, scooters weaving in and out of everywhere and a few cars that were the slowest moving. The sidewalks were either non existent or generally in disrepair with scooter and motorcycles parked all over them making walking by impassable and pedestrians were pushed into the narrow and crazy streets. When we arrived to theater we were 20 minutes late for the show. I asked at the theater if we could use our tickets for a later show (no), or if we’d understand the narrative going in so late (this concept met with not understanding faces – understandably as those who spoke English it was not their first language). We decided to go in. There was no narrative as we know it. The Puppets appeared to be dancing and swimming in a pool of water that served as the stage. People from behind a screen controlled the puppets from poles that ran under the water. The show was vignettes about country life in past Vietnam. It was beautiful to watch but coming in late was the correct decision.

Afterwards we headed back into the crazy streets to walk to a restaurant I had read about – a chu ca restaurant (a famous fish dish). The restaurant was full of local people. They only served chu ca. it ended up being a wokish type pan they placed in the middle of our table with battered fish pieces in it. They placed many bowls on our table. One contained a green vegetable and we were shown to throw it in the wok and cook it with the fish. Then we put some rice noodles, fish sauce, some leafy herbs, and peanuts in our small bowls before adding the fish and greens. I was afraid Morton would be scared away from the food but he, along with Dan and I, really liked it. Afterwards we wandered the streets for an hour or so more- Morton shooting photographs- before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel rooftop, taking in the view, before changing hotels. I thought if we were going to be stuck inside a lot during a typhoon we should move to a hotel with amenities (pool, gym) and closer to the sites. Dan found us a place that fit the bill and we caught a Grab (the Lyft/Uber of Southeast Asia) to the new hotel. We checked in and then headed out to walk to the Botanical gardens – which was more of just a park with an entrance fee of about equivalent to 10 cents. Morton wanted to find a geo cache there (notice a theme). Morton was struggling to find it and asked us to help him. I looked down and saw it immediately. It was quite funny. 

We grabbed a late lunch at a Malaysian restaurant before Morton went and joined a local Ultimate team for a practice. Dan and I strolled some more – with the Botanical Gardens “guard” – an elder lady- insisting we repay the entrance fee to walk back through the garden. We eventually headed back to the hotel to get out of the rain (- it was lightly raining on and off all this time) and hang out at the super nice hotel pool . 

That evening we headed out to another restaurant I had read about. We struggled to find it and finally realized it was just some tiny plastic tables with even smaller stools on a sidewalk with some umbrellas up for the rain.  They served some form of Pho. It was pretty good – a bit spicy- and was a fun experience. Afterwards we walked the crazy hectic streets again before heading back to the hotel.

The next day we found a cute cafe in the quietest neighborhood we’d found in Hanoi (which isn’t saying that much but Hanoi is very hectic). We loved the little cafe, DoubleB’s, which sat on a canal. We sat on it’s outside patio which was on the street but nestled between two buildings, protected from the rain.

Sitting there Morton spotted an interesting store on the other side of the canal he wanted to check out. On our way there we got caught in a major downpour before ducking into it. The store was a men’s thrift store of what I think of as American clothes from the 70’s. Morton bought two cute shirts.

We then called a Grab and headed to the Hoa Lo Prison museum – where the U.S. captured pilots were held during the Vietnam War – as it would be interesting and it would be indoors. The museum’s main focus was about the origin of the prison which was originally built by the French to hold Vietnamese prisoners under terrible conditions. In the end of the museum there was a section on the time during the war with the U.S. – including a picture and story of a very young John McCain who was held there for 6 years and was super cute.

That night we met up with a Beijing friends who were also in Hanoi, and then Dan and I went to the Sky Bar at our hotel – on the top floor. The view was amazing – no idea why we didn’t take any pictures!

The next day was our last day in Hanoi and the Typhoon was in full throttle.

We had to check out early but were in no rush to get to Ninh Binh – the next place we were headed to – as everything there is very outdoor centered – including our hotel – where only our room was indoors. So we checked our luggage and headed back to Double B’s. We decided it was too rainy to walk the short distance there and once we had a taxi, we were concerned the taxi would be washed away as many of the streets – especially the canal side street DoubleB’s was on was extremely flooded. We eventually made it and hid out in the alcove enjoying our nook and watching the crazy storm.

After enjoying an extended time at DoubleB’s, and trying to get a taxi for a long while, we had to head back to the hotel by foot. Luckily the rain had slowed a bit. At the hotel, we spent a couple hours at the gym and at the fantastic pool and pool deck – that was under an arched glass roof that opened whenever the rain stopped.

Later that afternoon we had a driver pick us up to drive us to Ninh Binh. The streets were a bit crazy and the driver had to alter his route when he came to roads that were too flooded for driving. Once he took a ramp off the highway and had to do a uturn when the bottom of the ramp was too flooded – reentering the highway via an exit ramp. A bit scary! When we finally got to the area of the hotel, the roads were not paved – they were incredibly bumpy with flooded areas and we had to do a uturn at one point and find another route.

We finally got to hotel and it was a lovely place on a small lake with tiny cottage rooms surrounding it and lots of hanging white lights, Christmas style. It was lovely.

The next morning the plan was to take a row boat/raft along the river to see the scenery – which was similar to Yangshuo, China with karsts – though much wider karsts than Yangshuo. We decided to walk to boat as it was only supposed to be about half a mile walk. The walk was so lovely, walking on the dirt path looking at the lovely scenery and local homes….until the road ended in a flooded lake and we could go no further. Did we go the wrong way? We walked back to the hotel and told the manager we couldn’t find the boat. He explained it was very close and very easy to find. He reexplained where we were to go. We realized we had made a mistake and we headed back out again, retracing our steps. We soon realized we had missed our turn as this road was so flooded it looked like a lake. Much to Morton’s shagrin, we tried to walk around the flooded area but to no avail. We tried to call a Grab, no luck. We again headed back to the hotel, thinking we would rent motor scooters. Ended up they only had one left. Eventually the hotel manager got us a private car for the price of a Grab.

We were dropped at the boat, bought our tickets and headed to the boat launch. There were few tourists but clearly it was set up for massive amounts of tourists. Our driver later told us that during the high season there are over 100 people lined up before 5am waiting for the ticket office to open at 7Pm when they quickly sell out – and at the high season there are 2000 boats on the water at once! sounds terrible! As we approached the boat launch area a major down pour started. We hid out until it slowed and then caught a boat – but as the ride was about 2.5 hours – there was no way to avoid being caught in heavy rain. A highlight of this boat ride is not only the scenery – which was lovely – but also going into the local caves. Unfortunately the water was too high for us to be able to go in. But the local guides were excited to point out the local “village” with sculptures of people that was built for the movie King Kong. Sadly none of us had ever seen the movie.

After the boat ride we grabbed some lunch and then rented motor scooters, and headed out. The roads were all deep potholes full of muddy water, so it wasn’t an easy place to start riding these gas scooters – which have a much different feel than the electric ones we drive in Beijing. We headed to a hike I had read about up to a pagoda with an amazing view. Again – we had to detour due to flooded roads but eventually we pulled up to what was clearly a big tourist site. A person stepped in front of my bike to try to force me to park in their parking area. As a newer person to this scooter – it was a bad idea but somehow I didn’t hit them.

The area was quite beautiful. We walked along a beautifully manicured swamp area with walkways – clearly set up for tourists to take photos. The hike was a 500 steps up climb to an amazing view. It was steep and we sweat but it didn’t take too long. At the top there was a crazy line to stand with the dragon at the top of the mountain. We passed. But Morton and Dan did search and find a geo cache up there.

Once we got down we strolled through the pretty swamp/lily pad area, then stopped and bought a coconut to drink from. We headed back in the dark and found a little cafe to get some food before heading back to our hotel.

The next day we decided to spend the day exploring by motor scooters. We saw sights, but to me, the highlight was just scooting around, seeing the scenery. We stopped at the old capital from around 900AD.

We hiked up to some kind of alter where Morton searched for and found another geo cache. Near by I was looking for a pagoda and we came across a place set up for tourists but no one was there. Morton thought it was creepy and wanted to turn around. The entrance was a tunnel drilled through a mountain karst. Bikes were for rent and a big sign hung above the tunnel. We weren’t sure it was worth our time and money as we couldn’t find anything about the place and no one else was there, but we finally decided to buy tickets, rent bikes, and enter. After biking through the tunnel we found ourselves in an opening between mountains with a lake in the middle and a biking/walking path around. It was lovely – but strangely empty. We biked around, stopped and hiked up to one lovely temple in a cave, and then finished our loop before heading out.

Dropping off the bikes at the entry, we jumped back on our scooters for more exploring. We grabbed a late lunch at a roadside restaurant before searching for a temple in the area. The map took us to the back of the temple grounds but the guards said (or more gestured) that we couldn’t enter that way – that we had to enter by the front. We tried biking around the grounds – we could not find the entrance! We stopped at what ended up being a hot springs (if only we had planned for this!) – they pointed us in a direction – still couldn’t find it. Unsure if this was worth the trouble as I thought it was going to be a single temple and I was just using it for a point for us to explore. When we finally found it – just as we were about to turn around and give up – it was one of the largest parking lots (all empty) that I think I have ever seen. It felt like going into an empty Disney World. At the ticket booth we were informed there were different options – the higher the price the more you could ride the electric shuttle around the grounds. We were tired and hadn’t planned on such a big site so we paid for the most expensive tickets. The place was beautiful and HUGE!! I felt lazy but glad to be able to jump on the shuttle between all the different religious sites. Apparently this complex gets used for religious events, but hard to imagine how it supports itself. One of the last stops on our shuttle gave us tea and a foot soak. It made us feel so much better!

We left as the sun was going down, and we headed back to our hotel in the dark. I was a lot more confident on the dirt full of ditches than I had felt the day before. We jumped in pool, then shower at the hotel, had dinner, and headed out to catch a 10PM train heading south to DaNang. Morton is always asking to take trains, and specifically an overnight train, but I always opt for flying as we live right by the airport in Beijing and the train station is an hour and a half away – so I decided we’d take this opportunity to take the train. I heard it was supposed to be a beautiful ride. I wan’t happy to see the third bed in our birth was taken, but the Chinese man who travelled with us ended up being super nice and spoke more freely being in Vietnam about his issues with his home country. The train was an old Soviet Era train that was extremely slow and rattled a lot. The ride was fine. The view in the morning was nice but I’d take the plane next time. – even Morton agreed.

We had been told to stay at a beach resort by Hoi An – which was about 40 minutes by car past DaNang. Dan booked the Robinson Hoi An. Driving more than an hour past Hoi An, it became clear that the Robinson in Hoi An was not IN Hoi An. We were all tired from all the travel and not excited to be so far from the city we came so far to see, and then we drove into The Robinson. It was so nice. Three lovely pools, tennis courts, padel courts, a beach volleyball court on a lovely wide white sand beach with nothing else on the beach as far as we could see. Yoga classes, a lovely two room suite, and fantastic food. We ordered some food, sat down on the beach and realized we weren’t going to make it to Hoi An.

The next morning Dan and I got up early to take a yoga class. The teacher asked us if we were foreign. I was very confused. Obviously we don’t look Vietnamese. She then clarified that by foreign she meant not German. Apparently it’s a German hotel chain and almost all of their guests are German – though at the time it appeared as if they didn’t have more than 15 guests at the hotel – at most – maybe not more than 8.

We spent a few lovely days at Robinson before heading back to Hanoi, by plane this time, and then onto Beijing to settle back into our Beijing life.

Back in Beijing, the head of development at the school asked me to design a hongbao envelope for the school’s 45th anniversary (a Hongbao is a red envelope that people hand out holiday tips in). I spent the last few days working on it.

Only thing more to mention, this morning I got up early with Morton who took the PSAT this morning. I put on some water on the stove to get some hot water to clean the dishes (the hot water takes a ridiculous amount of time in this house). After a moment I heard a, “beep” and the stove turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. After many calls and texts I finally got a workman over to the house who showed me that to get the gas to go back on I had to first pull out everything from a cabinet, worm into the cabinet, then stick what looks like a credit card into the meter back there, then pull out a knob on the top of the meter and then, “voila!” (French is the next language I need to study!) – the gas goes back on. No idea what this is all about. I assume the card is registering our gas use? And at some point we’ll be charged – from the card?? I have no idea. But we have gas back on our stove top, so I’m happy. I’ve had a terrible cold for the last few days but it’s a lovely early fall day and Dan and I just sat outside at a cafe and I got some soup – so can’t complain. I hope you all are as well. Xo

ADDENDUM: A day after I wrote the above. Just had lunch with two Chinese friends. They told me I need to go put money on my gas card for when gas turns off again. If empty – won’t refill. Good to know. Better go do that!

Chinese New Year holiday quickly followed our Winter holiday. We headed to Phuket. Dan wanted to go Kata Beach on the southern end of the island as it is known for beach volleyball and not far from where is the best kite boarding. I insisted we also go somewhere else as that area looked like it gets very crowded.

As it was Chinese New Year and there is a direct flight from Beijing to Phuket, everything was booked and priced at a premium. At last minute our AirBnB cancelled on us – as did the next one we booked! I have never heard of this before. Anyway, we ended up staying in what I believe was a small apartment building that a Russian man was building when Covid hit and now he is renting out small apartments to vacationers. He had his nephew running the place, who didn’t seem to be too interested. There was a beautiful rooftop infinite pool and a gym next to it.

Next to the gym I went to the bathroom. There were two stalls but not door between the stalls – which was very odd. I went to put my clothes in a locker and all the lockers were full of cleaning supplies. The shower also had buckets with mops in it and no soap or paper towels by the sink. A back door was open to a deck off the bathroom. I peaked out there before getting changed and there were staff asleep on cots. It was odd. But room was lovely and location convenient.

Next to the pool was room for pingpong. The owner of the hotel told us he takes pingpong lessons every day and invited Morton to join – which he did one day. Apparently there is an active pingpong community on Phuket – but Morton didn’t have time to join the local competitions.

One day we went Kayking and boating around the area.

One day we headed to a beach from which the boys kayaked and I swam to another little island. it was fun to get in a good swim. The beach was small and more secluded – which was lovely – and had a tiny hotel with a restaurant.

Morton liked the smoothies.

Before we left Phuket we had to play a round at the Dinosaur Mini Golf Course pictured below.

And Morton and Dan had to check out Thai Martial Arts. I passed on this experience.

After Phuket we went to the northern part of the island (Kata beach is on the southern part)

I had heard of a sport resort and thought that might be fun for us. Par for our course, it ended up being both lovely and a bit odd. Before Covid it had been thriving and at first sight it was still lovely but we quickly realized it wasn’t running at full tilt. Over half the resort was shuttered while the other part looked lovely. We went to the restaurant the first night and realized it was primarily serving as a cafeteria for the training olympic hopefuls who come to the resort to train in lieu of many vacationers – it didn’t make for an ideal eating experience. Attached to the resort was a K-12 United World College school which boards high-schoolers from around the world – many tuition free- including many war torn countries. We took a tour of the school – which was amazing. There were parents of some of the younger kids who work remotely at the resort cafe. The resort had beach volleyball courts that weren’t being used. A couple times we recruited one of these parents, a Russian man, to be our fourth. The outdoor pools were amazing – as were the tennis courts. There were many sport facilities but many were not fully functioning. We did take a couple yoga classes, play tennis a couple times and rent bikes and go for a long ride one day.

Soon after we returned from Thailand, on the evening of February 13th, we were sitting on the couch and the door bell rang -seemed very strange at that hour. Dan went to the door and said to Morton and me, “Come here”. We went to the door and the entryway was covered in hearts, many with cute messages on them, and a plate of beautiful cookies in the entryway – no people in site, no note. What a sweet Valentines surprise! Over the next few days I heard this happened to a few other neighbors. I thought it might be a girl scout troop that I know meets in our neighborhood – but the mom who leads it told me it wasn’t them. Later I heard it was a church youth group that go to ISB that decided to heart bomb a few homes. I need to remember to do this to someone sometime. It put a smile on my face for days.

The day after Valentines day we headed to Mutianyu – the part of the wall that has the slide down it. Morton wanted to take a picture of himself putting a golf ball on the wall wearing his Hartland Golf work t-shirt (where he loves working during the summer time). 

Unfortunately I can’t get a video to attach here. As the golf ball picked up momentum and hitting all the uneven bricks of The Great Wall it bounced more and more, picking up speed until it bounced over the side of the wall, cascading down the cliffs, to who knows where. It was funny in how surprising it was but, fingers crossed, no one was below.

And of course we needed to take the obligatory slide down.

For my mom’s 87th birthday, Dan sent my mom this snuggly. I thought it was ridiculous but apparently it was a hit.

At the beginning of March, My friend Michael Cherney gave a talk about his art work at the Italian embassy. Afterwards we were invited to a dinner at the Italian ambassador’s home. Aside from the food being fabulous – the ambassador’s home itself was the most lovely embassador’s residence I’ve been to  – I’ve only been to three – the U.S. Ambassador’s, the Israeli, and now the Italian – and it’s interesting how different they are. The U.S. is impressive and formal, the Israeli is in a small apartment building with the Ambassador living on the top floor and apparently the kids run from floor to floor – more communal – which I love . And the Italian – the most tasteful I’ve seen.

I have been working on a number of landscape artworks so wanted to look at more traditional Chinese landscapes. My friend HanBin saw there was a landscape show at the National Art Museum so we headed there – for my first time. The show was not great but afterwards we stumbled into the wing of patriotic art. HanBin just wanted to get out as it had more personal meaning for her – but I thought it was so interesting. Some of the works were just straight forward propaganda but the double painting below I really like and only seemed like propaganda in context of the room – and even then wasn’t so clear to me.

A couple days later my friend Gilli invited me to an art opening at a gallery in a complex by the capital airport. The space itself was interesting. Someone built a humungous complex out by the airport – very far from downtown Beijing – with a large hotel, crazy large outdoor pool, a bunch of businesses – including a lovely gallery space, restaurants – not sure what else – but it’s mostly empty. Obviously Covid has hurt the Chinese economy, but also it feels like people here have an idea for a business and then they just go for it – there often doesn’t seem to be a lot of research to see if there is a need before plowing ahead. 

The middle of March brought Purim and in traditional Beijing Kehillat style, Ted Plafker wrote his annual contemporary version of the Passover Story. We then have a large Purim dinner with many people acting out the play. It’s always hysterical. I was Melania Trump as Queen Vashti, someone played Trump as Haman and Dan was Elon Musk as Haman’s henchman. It was quite hysterical.

Dan was called to Lausanne, Switzerland as a finalist for the Head of School for the International School of Lausanne so at last minute Dan and I flew off to check it out. It was a tough but also lovely trip. The flight was 11 hours and we went for under a week. But the city is lovely. It’s a beautiful old city sitting on an incredibly steep hill that sits on Lake Geneva and overlooks snow covered alps. Our first night there members of the school board took us out to a lovely restaurant overlooking the city. While there, we kept busy: Dan spent a couple days interviewing, community members gave me a tour of the school and city, we rented peddle assist bikes and explored the city and surrounding area, we went out with some friends who now live in Geneva, and I explored a couple local museums. The weather was lovely – which certainly helped our impression. We stayed in a funny hotel downtown. To get to our room we had to take the main elevator up a few flights, then walk way down two hallways, and then get on another elevator to get to our hallway. But the view was fantastic.

One day I went to a bagel shop and got us some sandwiches. I struggled ordering as the ladies working there didn’t speak English and my minimal school French is lost somewhere deep under Mandarin in my brain. The next day Dan asked if I’d pick him up another bagel sandwich as he didn’t see a break in his interviewing schedule. I walked into the bagel shop and the two ladies who had helped me the day before were speaking to one another in Mandarin. It was very funny. I preceded to order in Mandarin and chat a little with them. It was much easier.

Two days after flying back to Beijing I flew down to Hong Kong to meet my artist friend Wang Xin to check out Art Basel. It was more conservative than Art Basel Miami but it was fun to explore the show and Hong Kong with her.

Before flying out, Wang Xin wanted to check out the Picasso show at the M+ Museum. Picasso is always inspiring. She then ran to airport to head back to Beijing and I caught two other shows at the museum: Contemporary Chinese Art and the contemporary Chinese clothes designer Guo Pei – which was so fun!

Dan landed in Hong Kong that evening in time for us to make it to an ISB alumni event, and Morton arrived the evening after school got out for Spring break – so much traveling this spring!

After the games, the guys had me meet them at a “Brooklyn style diner” that they found. Guess what it was called.

The next day while Dan was at meetings, Morton took me up what he learned on UTube to be the longest escalator in the world. Ends up being multiple escalators but going up the hills of Hong Kong, there is one elevator after another – with places for people to get off at cross streets. We must have been on an escalator for forty minutes. We continued to walk around the city and eventually walked to the cable car that goes up to Hong Kong’s Highest Point. We paid extra to go to the look out tower but it was in the clouds – so all we could see was white. Morton was excited to go to the Bubba Gump’s at the top though. A few flights down we were able to get a view.

That afternoon we headed to the New Territories, a much less developed part of Hong Kong that I heard was great for outdoor activities. We checked into a lovely hotel on the water in the town of Sai Kung.

The next morning we wandered into the tiny town and found a Chinese diner type restaurant to grab some breakfast. The people there thought it was amusing seeing white people coming in – it was mostly full of seniors who were holding very basic, inexpensive looking, golf bags. We later found out that we were next to the ferry dock where people catch a boat to an island just off the coast that had been turned into one big golf course. Anyway, after a bit of struggle (the Chinese in this area is not Mandarin or Cantonese but their own dialect) we got some breakfast. Afterwards we went to find our kayak guide and then spent the day paddling around the islands just off the coast.

That evening we went to a local fish restaurant. There were all these tanks where you could pick out the fish you wanted to eat and a woman climbed up them to pick out your choice.

The next day we headed to a National Park to do some hiking. We caught a Didi into the park and then started hiking. I had read we could hike from tiny village to tiny village and then take a boat back to where our hotel was. One of us checked the boat schedule as we were meeting up with a friend of Dan who was working not too far away. We started hiking and the boys were caught up in Geo Caching and I decided to continue on ahead. The path went through a couple villages – that were really just a restaurant and maybe two houses and a camping ground but the coastline was beautiful.

I came to the “village” where I thought we were going to catch the boat and figured I’d confirm the time and location. I saw three men standing by the water. Using my Mandarin, I asked them where I could get a ticket for the boat. They were quite surprised that I spoke to them in Mandarin. One of the men insisted on taking me to where they sold the boat tickets. I kept insisting I didn’t need him to accompany me. It became clear to me that we were having some miscommunication, but wasn’t sure what it was. When we got to the cafe where they were selling tickets for the boat, I found out the boat wasn’t coming hourly like we’d read but would only be returning late that evening – which would be way too late to meet Dan’s friend. The man who had brought me there wanted to share WeChat contact information – which seemed odd – but not that big a deal. Then he transferred me money. It became clear that he was also visiting from Mainland China. He had ordered a meal at this cafe but his WeChat didn’t work in HongKong. We all had that same problem – presumably because the Chinese government doesn’t want people transferring money out of the mainland. I tried to help him out, but also failed and then returned him his money.

I walked back on the trail a ways until I was able to get a signal to call the boys and explain to them the boat situation. They were just approaching an earlier village and there were told there was a boat leaving in an hour and asked if I could get back in time. I didn’t think we had much choice so I basically jogged up and down this mountain path to get back in time. I got there a little early and ran right into the ocean. Apparently everyone in the cafe watched with shocked awe. They all thought it was too cold and it was surprising to see this white woman coming out of no where and running into the water.

Unfortunately the time came and went and the boat didn’t show. Eventually it became clear that it probably wasn’t coming and we needed to hustle back to where we had been dropped off. I was pretty tired after all the hiking and jogging but we headed back in a hustle to our starting spot – no stopping to search for caches. When we got to the starting point there were a number of people there – all trying to figure out what to do as there was no reception and no cars. A bus was supposed to come at some point but what that point was, was not clear. We decided to just start hiking the road looking for a signal. Maybe a half mile later, we found one and then waited for the Didi.

We took quick showers and then headed to meet Dan’s friend. He had been a Head of School in Beijing the year Dan was there alone, but is now the head of a United World College high school there (the same chain we had visited on Phuket). This school is strictly high school. He gave us a tour, which was lovely, and then we headed to his house on campus to meet his family and then head out to dinner.

The next day Dan met up with a former student of his from when he worked in Beijing at School Year Abroad in the late 90s. This former student was taking him on a challenging hike and Morton and I thought we’d pass and went on a local hike and boat ride back.

We headed back to Beijing a couple days early to meet Dan’s parents who were coming in for a few week visit.

Herb generously joined me to look at a lot of apartments and houses as I was looking to move at the start of summer. Just before Herb and Fumiko were leaving for a few days in Japan, we were invited to a viewing of a documentary about the Chinese Consul General Feng-Shan Ho in Vienna during WWII who went against orders and issued visas to Shanghai saving tens of thousands of Jews. Once the movie started we realized the movie was in Mandarin and we couldn’t follow it. We were about to sneak out when the movie cut to interviews. All the interviews were in English with Chinese subtitles. We stayed and watched the film, understanding the interviews. On our way out, the producer of the film made a big deal of our being there – but we quickly left as Herb was coming down with a bad case of food poisoning.

Herb was quite sick for a couple days but luckily recovered in time to make their flight to Tokyo and for the family reunion there.

The Spring moved along quickly after that.

Morton and I spent a fun day checking out a photography mall. He wanted to get an old camera fixed that had been my mother’s brother’s, to no avail, but we enjoyed walking around. We bought lunch afterwards outside the mall from a cart and then headed out to a park to play Disc Golf. There were small boys who were throwing toy airplanes. The airplanes kept getting caught in the trees. Morton used many methods to retrieve the planes until we decided enough was enough and we’d continue on with our Disc Golf game – the boys weren’t learning.

The road which we take to ISB had beautiful willow trees all along it. One day at the beginning of May, I was headed to school and all of the trees were cut down. It was crazy. I heard rumors that some of the trees had a disease and they didn’t want the disease to spread. It was so sad! And crazy! I have never heard of anything so drastic being done to prevent disease spreading on trees.

The school year ended with lots of activities. Spring Fair, with Dan and Morton participating on opposite sides of Tug of War, and Dan doing his annual Dunk Tank shift. Lots of end of year tennis parties – the tennis players love to party. Dan and I were invited to an event at the Blue Note, which was super fun, and a friend’s annual party at their out of town, up by the Wall, house with live jazz music. Before the party Dan and I decided to take a hike up to the Wall in an area we hadn’t been before. Morton decided to sleep in and meet us at the party. We were dropped off at the wrong spot for the hike but thought we could walk to the path. We were dropped off in a little town. People were fishing there in a small stocked pond. Tons of fish were swimming in a circle and tons of people were surrounding the pond. It was a crazy sight. When people caught a fish, they brought it to a man who would slam it down on the road and kill it. The people would then go into the local restaurant and have that fish served to them. We didn’t participate – but it was quite a sight!

We passed through this town and headed uphill – looking for the path. We walked for over an hour on a very steep path – looking for “the path”. No luck . We turned around and back tracked. After about an hour and a half of difficult hiking we found our path – still a few hours straight up. Our legs were shaking; we were exhausted. Finally we made it to The Wall – completely late for the party and exhausted but were rewarded with an absolutely beautiful, unrenovated/reconstructed part of The Great Wall.

The big looming thing was our move and preparing the new house for our arrival – getting the house cleaned, replacing the two story floor to ceiling living room windows, reviving the garden, and having a bike/scooter storage shelter built. Apparently we made the mistake of having workmen who aren’t known by the complex we were moving into. They were stopped at the gate and not allowed in. Their drawings of a simple soft sided shelter was rejected, repeatedly – despite the fact that most of the houses there already had them. A Chinese friend who has lived in this community for many years helped as an intermediary. The management office don’t know this contractor and the relationships are not set, so they didn’t want him working on our place. What a headache. The work eventually got done.

The house doesn’t have an oven – typical Chinese kitchen. I ordered one on wheels to be delivered as there was no place to install one. It came and didn’t plug in – needed to be hard wired – which makes no sense to me – then why have it on wheels. After getting an electrician to come, it became clear that the house wiring couldn’t handle an oven. And to return it I needed to have someone build a new box. UGH! By this time I had left China and was negotiating this all from Boston where I was visiting Celia, my brother Elon, and Dan’s cousin Jane. Celia insisted that air fryers are amazing. I found someone online who was leaving China who was selling their air fryer cheap. I figured I’d try it out. I also found a microwave, and figure I’ll pull our barbecue to the back door. Hopefully between all these I’d be able to host a dinner party!

In Boston I gave Celia a skirt I embroidered for her before leaving China

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMER:

Celia and I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – which I had never been to – and was amazing – just the building alone! Checked out a quilting show at the Boston Public Library, had dinner with Jane and walked a lot with Elon.

Ran down to NYC, had dinner with Mildred and Susan at Gertrude’s, a cute restaurant in Prospect Heights, spent a couple days seeing art with Chris at the MOMA – the Jack Whitten show, the Textile show and the Hilma Klint show were all great. Then we went to the newly opened and renovated Frick – which was so beautiful! – so many great paintings! And there we ran into a guy we lived with over two decades ago and hadn’t seen him since. It was pretty crazy to run into him while we were together! Caught up Leslie, Mitch and Leina for an early dinner, took a walk in Prospect Park with Roxanne.

And always a highlight when I’m in NYC to get together for an Art Luck lunch and drawing together.

Before jumping on a train to Philadelphia, I met up with Jeanhee to see the Amy Sherald exhibit at the Whitney – which I thought was really lovely – and was only topped by at the end of the show Jeanhee getting a call and being offered a job that she had been interviewing endlessly for (YEAH JEANHEE!!).

Meanwhile, Morton and Dan were finishing up school. Morton’s teacher sent me this photo of Morton making a Chinese pastry on his last day of Mandarin class.

Morton had an art opening at a gallery where a photograph of his was showing (go Morton!)

AND … Morton found out he and two other ISB students won a trip to Hokaido, Japan to take photographs with students from around the world at the end of August. So amazing!

I jumped on a couple trains to my mother’s. I spent the night, then loaded the car and she, Bev, and I drove to the beach – rushing to get there before Morton arrived. I had set up to have the local First Aid Squad meet us at the house to carry my mom up the stairs. That worked amazingly! They pulled in right behind us. It made it all go so smoothly. I am so grateful! My nephew Finn was already at the beach working at a coffee shop – school having gotten out May 1st. It was lovely having him around.

Morton and Dan landed in the U.S. and the next morning ran to the DMV for Morton to get his driver’s permit before he ran to catch bus to the beach and Dan ran out to Fire Island to see college friends.

After Fire Island, Dan ran up to CT to pick up a new boat he bought – I believe a 34 foot trimerand. He and his cousin Dave planned to sail it down to the beach. After many delays with getting it ready to get into the water, they finally got sailing. They had lots of wind and had a great wild sail down the coast.

While they were finishing up their sail down, I ran to NY to catch our friend Michael, from China,’s art opening in Manhattan. I got to catch Olav and Gilli – who were both in NYC visiting and we and Chris and Anita all had a lovely evening.

Ran back to the beach where Dan and his cousin Dave had arrived safely, and cousins Mitch and Leina came to meet them. Family friend Al came, made us some fabulous pineapple pancakes, and we all went out for a not very successful sail as Dan and Dave tried to figure out how to navigate a very busy inlet – but it was nice to get onto the boat and onto the water.

Other summer highlights:

The best bonus for me was that Judd was mostly at the beach for the summer – running back and forth to DC when needed, but mostly at the beach. His daughter came down for a good bit to work at Inlet Deli – where Morton worked the last couple years- and Tanya came down for a long weekend every weekend. Was super nice! And having Beverly at the beach all summer, taking care of my mom and spending time with us, was really great to have that time with her.

After planning for months, Morton met a Korean friend and his parents who he had known in China and who had moved to Detroit for their first New York trip. Morton was their guide – showing them all the sights. Sounds like it went super well. While he was there he met up with Celia – who was staying with her friend in Brooklyn on her way to the beach for the month of July. (Yeah!)

Celia returned to NYC for a weekend with Dan to also get her driver’s permit. Two learning driver’s – give me strength!

So many people came through – which was lovely! Aaron and Brigitta came through for five days, Elon and Anna came through for a week, Jeanhee, Luke and Chiara, Reid, Jenn and Bryce. Later in the summer Rohan and family came through. Was so nice!

Anita and I took what has become our annual Upstate Art Fair trip and this year Celia joined us – which made it extra special – and she got to do a bunch of driving practice. So much great art!

Anita left her luggage on the train up, so we stopped at a yard sale and bought her a wardrobe. Luckily a month later she got her luggage back!

We celebrated Anita’s birthday up there and I gave her this dress I embroidered for her of her making blueberry jam.

Back on LBI, at the end of July, Dan had to head back to China and Celia to Boston. Morton milked being an only child for all it was worth – getting me out to play disc golf a few times, once to search for a geo cache, and to Mustache Bills Diner before he finally took off to New York – for a day and a half of running around there before flying back to China.

Judd and I both played and won the club’s men’s/women’s doubles and then together in the mixed doubles tournament. It is always so fun to play together. It was too much tennis in one weekend though. We were too tired. The club needs to spread it out over multiple weekends.

The last few days before Morton left the beach he was planning for his friends to go downtown Beijing and play some hide and seek game called Jet Lag. He spent so much time planning it -and the day he landed at 6am he met up with his friends a couple hours later for a full day of Jet Lag – while I’m sure he had terrible jet lag. I am pretty impressed by the planning and execution. They spent the day running around downtown Beijing having a great time. Pretty great!

School started a couple days later.

Two days after school started Morton, two other students, and an art teacher, flew off for the photography trip to Japan they won. They met up with photography students from around the world, taking pictures, getting to know one another and trying to take the best photographs. Morton had a blast getting to know the other kids, taking tons of photographs and exploring Hokaido. Plus Morton’s photograph was chosen to be used for the Beijing poster!

Soon after the tennis tournaments I started my goodbyes. First to Judd and his family. Then the First Aide Squad came again, carried my mom down the stairs, and I drove her and Bev back to PA, unloaded the car, said more hard goodbyes, then jumped on a train to NY, where I made more quick goodbyes – catching a super fun Red Grooms show with Herb and Fumiko, a quick show at MAD museum and walk in the park with Manju, two evenings with Anita and then running to New Haven, CT to spend my last couple days with Celia.

Celia and I mostly walked around, ate great food, explored Yale and New Haven, and did some drawing before I caught a train back to NY and then went directly to the airport – returning to China for another year of adventure and missing you all. Xo

Final pictures from New Haven:

This is our family Chinese New Year Video. Happy 2024! Made by Celia