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.

The next morning Celia woke early and said she needed to see a doctor. Her throat was killing and she was achy all over. Dan called the local clinic and they directed us to the hospital downtown. The doctors there put Celia on more antibiotics and sent her home. She went directly to bed. 

Three days later, no improvement – possibly worse – so I took her back to the ENT at the hospital. He wanted her to stay at the hospital for three days and get intravenous antibiotics. I suggested we go home at night and return for the treatments. Celia got up to go to the bathroom, then turned around, went pale as a ghost, eyes rolled back and passed out. Luckily the doctor saw it coming and got her to an examination chair to land on. A couple doctors and nurses ran around her speaking in mandarin – a bit scary to watch having no idea what was being said. This gave me more pause about taking Celia home but after a half hour or so Celia’s color came back and we decided to stick to the plan: three days of coming to the hospital for intravenous antibiotics, steroids, and glucose and go home at night and then see where we were.

Again, no real improvement and her throat looked worse. The doctor then wanted to keep her in the hospital for five days giving her some completely different antibiotics through IV. I again pushed for going home at night. The doctor spent a while on the phone with another doctor and a pharmacist and then decided there was a different strong antibiotic that Celia could take at home – five large pills to be taken every six hours. Almost immediately after starting the pills, Celia started feeling better and making tons of plans – making up for lost time. 

Two nights later was Friday night and Celia was up for going to Roberta and Ted’s house: American’s who have lived in Beijing for many decades and have become the gathering spot for the Jewish community here. They host Shabbat dinner for anyone who wants to attend every Friday night and made Dan feel very welcome during his solo year here. The community was also very welcoming to us and were so happy for Dan that he was no longer separated from us. It was a lovely gathering.

A few days later, Celia felt up for going to The Great Wall. We went to a section of the wall about an hour’s drive from our home where one can take a gondola up to the wall, walk for an hour or so, and then take a toboggan ride down. It reminded my of going on a similar ride I believe in the Pocconos where my possibly four year old brother, who was riding with my mother, told her not to be scared, to let go of the brake and hold onto him. On the way home we stopped at the local town and got lunch. It was an assortment of inedible (by us), odd, and tasty dishes. One of the dishes was spicier than anything any of us had eaten before.

It was a super fun day!

Other highlights from last couple weeks:

A couple days later Morton and I went to the Temple of Heaven.

On Friday we all went to the kids new school before heading to the visa office to apply for our permanent residence visa. The school facilities are AMAZING! – like nothing we have ever seen before. I have been enjoying the indoor tennis courts. The rock climbing wall looks fantastic. Dan brags about the choices at the cafeteria and all the playgrounds are unbelievable!

Friday night Dan and I went out on our first real date in about a year and a half! We went to Stanliton – a very hip neighborhood – which preCovid was full of weiguaren (foreigners) – but is now mostly full of locals. We went to a lovely restaurant and wandered around. The buildings lit up in crazy lights in alternating patterns and the stores were top notch designers. Dan has his eye on a flying car that was on display – an actual full scale flying car!

Saturday I biked out to a local ”wet market”. Apparently they’re called that due to the live fish splashing around. It was fun to check out all the local foods and other merchandise for sale. Unfortunately I have found that when I speak to local people I can’t keep hitting “Replay” to hear and then decipher each word as I can when I am studying Mandarin. I look forward to bringing the family back there to sample more of the foods.

And Today (yeah! I’m just about caught up!) Dan, Morton, and I biked out to a local neighborhood where I had been told I could do some shopping and there would be no other waiguaren. It made us feel a little sorry we aren’t living – at least for a little while- in this area. The conditions are a lot less posh than where we are living – but it felt like the real cultural experience we came here for. Again, we struggled a bit conversing, but we enjoyed ourselves exploring a bit and tasting a few different snack.

Days are passing/events happening and I am not writing things down. 

We have now been in Beijing for two and a half weeks. Definitely the most challenging part of being here is getting the WeChat app to work so we can function. Everything is done through WeChat. Anytime you walk into a neighborhood, a store, or chew some food – you need to scan a code and show that you have a green health code which indicates that you have tested negative for Covid in the last 72 hours – and as we learned at the Shanghai airport – things don’t always run flawlessly. 

On our first day here we put new Sim cards in our phones, got our new Chinese telephone numbers, and then Dan and I went to a local branch of Chinese Construction Bank to get my WeChat hooked up to pay for things. Ends up joint accounts are not legal in China. We spent a couple hours setting up an account for me – we needed to use my phone to do this and it wasn’t getting reception in the bank – made it difficult – but we eventually walked out my having a bank account and what looked like a linked WeChat pay.

Maybe the next day Celia wanted to go meet a cat. She had been cat shopping online while in quarantine. Ended up the cat owner lived about an hour drive from us so I thought we should do something else on the trip so we weren’t just driving an hour, meeting a cat and then turning around. The famous Beijing art neighborhood 798 was some what on the route, so we went there. We planned to wander the area for two hours then go meet the cat. We were so excited. The neighborhood looked like it would be fun to wander around and Celia quickly had me photograph her to show her friends how cool it was there. Then from that high moment, it all went down hill.

We spent the next two hours struggling with our phones. We wanted to go into a store and our GreenCode wasn’t working.We had to call Dan to send pictures of our passports to try to reset the app. That worked and it seemed like we were back in business. We went into a couple stores with no problem – other than the annoying delay of having to open our phones, get to the correct program within Wechat and then scan the stores’ sign and bring up our Green Code – AT EVERY STORE – and often at the entrance to an area too – anyway…. Celia found an awesome pare of sunglasses at a hip second hand store and we were feeling good – and then I went to pay. My WeChat wouldn’t work. We stepped back out of the store, called Dan, and the three of us struggled to get the WeChat to work – no luck. At this point Celia and I were running out of time at 798 so decided we should stop fighting with the app and see a little of the neighborhood before we would get picked up. The weather was super hot and we really wanted something to cool us down – Celia saw a sign for ice cream. I figured I had emergency cash in my purse and this felt like an emergency. We went in to the ice cream shop probably five times being sent out of the store as our scans weren’t working. When we finally got our apps working correctly we went to order and they said they didn’t accept cash – only WeChat. We were out of luck. We were hot and incredibly discouraged. We listlessly wandered around the neighborhood, popping into a few galleries until it was time to go see the cat. Unfortunately, by this time the traffic had gotten terrible and getting to the cat was going to be an hour – and then another hour to get home. Celia decided to postpone. 

The next day, a new plan. We’d go out as a family, have dinner and meet the cat. This plan worked out better. We were given a restaurant recommendation. It ended up being a fancy vegan restaurant. We were brought to a curtained off table with silk flowers covering the ceiling, and although we weren’t exactly sure what some of the things were we were eating – it was all really good. 

Afterwards we went to meet the cat. It took us a while to figure out how to get into the neighborhood. The map brought us to a permanently locked gate. Texting back and forth with the cat’s owner, Celia found out we needed to go to a different side of the neighborhood. The owner met us there and walked us through a maze of her neighborhood and up to her sixth floor walk up apartment. The lights were out on the first few floors of the stairwell. We got into her apartment where she, her husband, their cat, at least one roommate and her dog lived. To say we filled the apartment was an understatement. It was nice to talk with the owner of the cat who was lovely and to see how she lived – much tighter than we are used to even in New York. Unfortunately the cat was freaked out by our arrival and wouldn’t let Celia anywhere near it. We waited for an hour and then told the woman Celia would come back over the weekend. Unfortunately Celia woke the next morning quite sick and wasn’t able to get back. 

Celia’s still in the market for a cat.

More to follow in next couple days!

Finally – all our bags checked in at the airport, and at the gate having to get more app green lights from the Chinese government to board- we sat down to wait for our 11:40 PM flight.

11:40 came and went with no announcement.

12:15 we were told there was something being worked on on the plane and soon they would let us board and they’d open two doors to make it quick.

12:45 – Celia fast asleep jammed into a waiting room seat- We were informed they thought we weren’t going to be able to fly but the airline was on the phone with the Chinese embassy to figure out how to deal with our Green Codes that would expire in a couple more hours.

1:15 Announcement to get in line for hotel vouchers, that the embassy would extend our Health Green Codes for 24 hours and they would give us hotel vouchers – AND (the worst part) we had to pick up our luggage (all 8 humongous bags!!).

We were fourth in line and waited a half an hour to get to the front. 350 people were behind us. It was crazy.

2:00 AM   We got our luggage and dragged then to where there was supposed to be hotel shuttles – but none arrived – and UBER said there were no drivers available.

We found two car service drivers waiting around that said for an arm and a leg they would drive us the two miles to our hotel with all our bags. Morton and I prayed for our lives as the driver drove us like a maniac to our hotel. The hotel ended up being a dump – with a pull-out couch for the kids – with no pillows or sheets available – but at 3:00 in the morning – we were grateful for a place to lie down!

By the time we woke, it was time to check out – so we – along with the Michaels/Boyle Family that are making the move with us – from Brooklyn Prospect to the International School of Beijing- payed to be able to stay at the hotel until we could check in at the airport that night.  

We took a long walk to a diner for brunch  – which ended up being closed until August – and then ended up sitting outside a Starbucks for a couple hours, eating, chatting and killing time.

That evening we finally made it onto our plane! We flew 14 hours to South Korea where our flight staff deplaned to avoid having to quarantine in China. We waited two hours on the plane for the new flight staff who then flew us the 2.5 hours more to Shanghai – where we finally were able to deplane. One year, one day, and 18.5 hours later – we have arrived in China!

Clearance Sale. Entire back catalogue must go!

P L E A S E   C O N T A C T  :  melanie@melaniefischer.com