Ine Helvik

 Getting ready involves several things. I am working on getting used to the tables and the cloth (Andy), I am trying to get over the jetlag, I am working on the mental side of the tournament and I am working on relaxing. All of the above is equally important if I want to play at my very best on thursday.

Today we have been lucky to get an hour extra of practice time on the tables. They ( the hotel employees) are very insistent on following the rules they have been told form the organizers: Only one hour of practice pr day, even if the table is empty… that calls for some luck and some inventiveness.  The four of us, Caroline Roos (SWE), Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) and Lyndall hulley (AUS) aand I have joined together to get as much play as possiblle and it is working:) I feel I am not far from knowing the table properly, and that feels good!

Caroline Roos at one of the four practice tables

Yesterday Caroline and I went to the old Empire Palace and spent most of the day there and downtown after practicing. The Chinese culture is really something else. They have put so much work an honour into these old buildings. This particular palace was the first empire palace in China and it is build between 1625 and 1637. It is extraordinary. There are two empire palaces in China, the other one is the more famous “Forbidden City” in Beijing.

Empire Palace

Empire Palace

We ended the day by going to a local dumpling restaurant. “We” means Lyndall and her mum Margareth, Caroline, Marika and Alison Chen. Going out to eat we face some small challenges. Caroline is a vegetarian an mum does not eat garlic or onion. No meat, garlic or onion…. It took Alison about 20 minutes to order us the food (thank god she was with us and speak chinese). The dumplings arrived, pork and vegetable, and we ate for a while. Suddenly Caroline looks at me and say: Whats is this!!” and it is a shrimp in the vegetable dumpling. Actually it is a lot of shrimp. Alison turns to the waiter and says something in chinese and when she turns she looks stunned. She asked about the shrimp and the water answers. But shrimp IS a vegetable! Whar can you do but laugh. Even Caroline laughed:)

Now it is time for bed. We have practice at 0900 in the morning and press conference, dinner and draw tomorrow.

Have a good night and thanks for reading.

Ine:)