I’m now in California for USA Nationals. Thanks to everyone for the support and well wishes in Shanghai. I’m sorry that I couldn’t write updates…my site and facebook were blocked sites in China.
Overall, I was really happy with my swims. Leading into the meet I was curious because none of my in-season times were close to what I wanted to be at Worlds. Fortunately, all the work paid off and I swam non-body suit best times. I was really hoping to get an individual medal but I can’t complain with the progress I’ve made this season. I also wished I could have been faster in the finals of the 1500. I’m excited to see how fast I can go next year at Trials. The pool was incredible though, and the Chinese did a great job of making the meet exciting.
Shanghai was an interesting experience. As soon as I got off the plane, it was like deja vu from Beijing all over again. The two cities are very different, but China is China. The air is not very good, and the language and cultural barriers are significant. The people are very nice though, and eager to help. I found them to be very trustworthy, as they could easily take advantage of foreigners who don’t speak Chinese, like myself. I didn’t get to see much of the city but the view from the hotel was amazing.
I also went to the top of the Financial Tower and the view almost does justice in showing the size of the city.
I also had a chance to go to the markets to buy some knock-off junk. If you ever go to China, this is a must-do activity. To be fair, some of the stuff is good quality, but most of it isn’t. The fun is haggling for it. This was very popular on our team.
It’s nice to be back in the States though and I’m excited about swimming some other events this week.
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