2013 JGP Minsk Blog: Stitches & Sportsmanship
Hey from Belarus!
Joe here again. Tory’s having a bit of difficulty with her internet so she’s going to blog from my computer at the earliest opportunity. It’s been a very eventful two days after the arrival! We started out the first practice yesterday pretty strong, minus the collision that required Tory getting stitches on her left shin. Just want to inform you all that the skating still feels great, and she was a total trooper about the whole thing. I nearly lost consciousness at the sight of Dr. Hans patching her up. One short dance practice/starting order draw later and we were free for the rest of the day, so after hanging with Max for a while we had a relaxed end to the day eating at an American-style Belarusian restaurant where all orders were carried out with our waitress via charades. After arriving at the hotel, max and I wound down by watching studio Ghibli movies. Sportsmanship shoutout to fellow dancer Quinn Carpenter for bringing me PB&J to start the following day’s short dance comp. Gotta love team USA!
The next morning, my mother (max) shook me out of bed at 4:50, made sure I had everything, and sent me on my merry way to the official warmup. Tory and I had a good practice, then met up at the hotel with Nathan Chen and Spencer Howe for breakfast. After breakfast it was right back to the rink to get ready for the event, and lo and behold- we have no bus. We fretted for a few minutes, but were treated to a cab ride over to the rink by Olympic pairs champion Artur Dmitriev. Kinda cool. The warmup was good, and we were third to go. The program was a blast to perform, especially on international ice for the first time. We were happy with the skate, and got done early enough to cheer on Lorraine and Quinn through a first place winning short! They were awesome, so proud to be their teammates. Much in need of naps and showers, we all headed back after the draw for freedance and relaxed in our own favorite ways. Max and maddie left the hotel to warm up for short, and Tory and I followed suit after grabbing dinner. The two of them put on a mesmerizing short, and sit in 3rd after the event in a very close race. Christina and Ernie were awesome too! New season’s best, great job to them too. Well, the next studio Ghibli movie’s about to come on (spirited away!) and I’m pretty sleepy. Stay classy, everyone.
Goodnight!
Joe