{"id":28200,"date":"2022-02-04T00:35:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T05:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=28200"},"modified":"2022-02-06T21:53:20","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T02:53:20","slug":"melanies-olympicblog-ni-hao-from-beijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/melanies-olympicblog-ni-hao-from-beijing\/","title":{"rendered":"Melanie’s #OlympicBlog – N\u012d h\u0103o from Beijing!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

N\u012d h\u0103o from Beijing!

It\u2019s now Thursday evening, and I am so excited for the figure skating events to begin tomorrow!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been so nice to have all week to get acclimated. I got to work out the bugs in the shuttle bus system and got lost when I wasn\u2019t in a real rush, so I can hopefully avoid making mistakes like that now that the big show is beginning. It\u2019s been nice to photograph in (mostly) empty rinks, without having to jockey for photo positions, and I got to try out a number of spots so I think I know which places I might prefer for the events. There\u2019s a draw for Field of Play (ice level) positions each day before the event begins, but so far, the rest of the photo positions will be first-come, first-served. I find this very stressful and much prefer assigned seating, but what can you do?<\/p>\n

Anyway! I think I left off my last blog on Monday night. Since then, we\u2019ve been bouncing between the main rink, the practice rink, and the Main Media Centre. It\u2019s been a lot of riding shuttles and waiting for shuttles, honestly. The shuttle frequency leaves a bit to be desired, and it\u2019s unclear if that will improve as the Games get going. I feel bad for photographers who need to hit multiple venues on the same day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice rink is right next door to the main rink, but we are only allowed to access it via the TinyShuttle(TM), which until today, only operated once an hour. It also has an extremely limited capacity of nine people at a time. Since it wasn\u2019t easy to go back and forth, I cut out some practices that I originally planned to attend, and tried to keep things simple. This is such a long event, and I felt like it would be easy to burn out early, so I tried to keep my health and sanity in mind this week. I\u2019m behind on photos, of course, but I think I\u2019ve had enough rest. I have not had enough food, but there\u2019s not much I can do about that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the shuttles operate on a loop, so you can\u2019t go wrong if you get on the right bus, but one of the routes to the rink is a line, not a loop, and operates in two different directions. Danielle and I got on the bus going the opposite direction one day and ended up at the athletes\u2019 village! We tried to just stay on the bus to head back to the MMC (a short trip, thankfully), but we were shooed off, so we hung out in the small parking lot in front of the visitors\u2019 centre for about eight minutes, and then the exact same bus came back and we boarded to head back to the MMC. At the MMC, the same bus goes on to the rink, but we also had to unload there and couldn\u2019t run to the pickup location fast enough to catch the same bus, so it was a 20-minute wait for another one. Not a huge problem, since it was just a practice day, and I\u2019m so glad we didn\u2019t make that mistake when trying to arrive for competition!

\"\"I\u2019m thrilled that I have already had the chance to borrow some incredible camera gear. I am a Canon girl, but the Canon desk wasn\u2019t lending out gear until today, so I borrowed a Sony a9 Mark 2 yesterday, along with a 400\/2.8 lens. It was my first time trying to shoot sports with a mirrorless camera that can track active subjects. Fortunately, Danielle has recently made the switch to a Nikon Z9, which also uses that system, so she was able to give me a few tips. Then today, I borrowed the Canon R3, which is their new mirrorless flagship camera. The tracking technology was a huge step up from the Sony (which was released over 2 years ago, compared to the Canon which is brand new), and I had the best time photographing dance practice. I was able to extend my loan, so I\u2019ll be using it for the competition tomorrow, too.<\/p>\n

My other big accomplishment of the week was securing a ticket for the Opening Ceremony! I can\u2019t believe that I will get to experience this! I\u2019m not super excited about being outside in the cold for six or seven hours (we have to arrive very early), but I\u2019ve packed extra layers, and I hope I\u2019ll be warm enough. It\u2019s not that cold in Beijing (usually above freezing), so fingers crossed.

We have mostly been eating dinner at the MMC this week, and I have to say that the robot-made dumplings have been quite good. Danielle and I also finally got to try the food that\u2019s delivered by robots from the ceiling today, and it was pretty good, too. I had fried rice and she had fried noodles. Both dishes came with more vegetables than I\u2019ve seen the whole week thus far, so that was good!<\/p>\n

One final anecdote\u2014one day as Danielle and I were getting off the shuttle at the Main Media Centre, a man with a thick French accent told us, \u201cHave a good day,\u201d and then after a dramatic pause, added, \u201cIf you can!\u201d It sounded like a threat. So obviously, that\u2019s been our joke all week. At the end of each practice group, the announcer tells everyone to have a good day, and we always add, \u201cIf you CAN!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m finding myself getting emotional several times a day as I think about how the Olympics is the culmination of a lifelong dream for everyone who makes it here. I feel so awful for the athletes that have had their dreams dashed by a positive Covid test, and I am trying not to let my anxiety over the daily testing take over my experience here. I do feel relatively safe most of the time, except when we all have to remove our masks to eat in the same spaces. But in general, almost everyone I see is wearing a mask properly, and this is the first time that I\u2019ve ever been in such a highly compliant environment! So I keep crossing all my fingers that the rest of us will stay safe and healthy over the next few weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t wait for things to get started in the morning! I will have an extremely long day, with a 5:30am wakeup call to head to the rink, and then the Opening Ceremony at night. I haven\u2019t been able to make it much past 10 or 11pm any night, but here\u2019s hoping that I\u2019ll have plenty of adrenaline to keep me going!<\/p>\n

~ Melanie<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n