It's less than 60 days until the Tokyo Summer Olympics. There's a lot to be done on my end between then and now.
Probably most important on that list of things to be done is the second payment on my accommodations. The invoice arrived in the Accommodation Management System last week and it's sitting on my desk with a deadline of early June, so that will get done soon.
There's also plenty of COVID-related issues that have to be dealt with prior to Tokyo. I have filled out numerous forms online and will have to download a health app that will track us while in Japan to keep people aware of any possible close contacts that might happen.
While Tokyo is coming up quickly and is on the radar, there were also deadlines to be met for the Beijing Winter Olympics next February. One of those deadlines was for the first payment for my accommodations, which was due on May 1. However, I did not even receive the invoice for the payment until after that date, so they gave me until May 15.
So, like I've done for three other Olympics, I went in to TD Bank, where I have my Olympic account, and got set up for a wire transfer. However, as it turns out, TD Bank does not offer wire transfers in the Chinese Yuan, which is what the Beijing Organizing Committee has asked for. I had one previous issue like this, when Sochi asked for one of the payments for services in Russian currency and that wasn't an option. Luckily, a friend worked at Citizens Bank at that time and agreed to let me transfer from her account.
This time, I decided to try sending it in US dollars and the transaction went through. However, a couple of days later, I got the e-mail that I was expecting, that the transaction had to be in Chinese currency. So, I made a call to Citizens, checking to see if they made wire transfers in Yuan. The woman I spoke to in the Wolfeboro office was very helpful, made some calls and called me back stating that they did, though I did have to have an account.
Last week, I went to TD Bank and withdrew money from my Olympic account and went to Citizens and opened a new account and a couple of days later, I went back in and made the wire transfer. The woman at the Wolfeboro office worked with their wire department and got everything straightened out and sent. Before I had left Wolfeboro, I had two different calls from the Citizens wire department, checking on the legitimacy of the wire transfers, wondering about what I was paying for. They both said that the wire transfer would be released and the money was taken from my account, though as of Tuesday, I had yet to hear from Beijing that they had my money.
On a positive note, I did check on Tuesday morning and the money I had originally wired in US dollars was returned to my account at TD Bank.
Two Olympics in the course of six months might have been a bit much to bite off. After all, there's still the busy postseason coming ahead for the local high school teams. And plenty of donuts to be made too.
Less than 60 days until the Tokyo Olympics.
