Sorry is has been a few days, technical difficulties. My computer isn’t even a month old and the screen is acting weird!!!

Let me start with the talent show! You think all we can do is run jump and throw?? WRONG!! Although I haven’t personally been granted much talent outside of running abilities, my teammates have proved that there is more to Team USA then our stellar ability to win medals. Reese Hoffa started the show off with a Rubik’s cube demonstration. He can complete a Rubik’s cube in 45 seconds!! I don’t know about you but in my opinion that is genius, He did two for us. There was among other things a dance routine, two people did spoken word and a fashion show between each performance.

I really enjoyed watching everyone strut their stuff but the performance of the evening went to Dwight Phillips. He sang two songs. One written by his kids and the other he wrote himself. I have never seen anything funnier in my life. He approached the microphone in Japanese garb a with no shirt underneath and some tea to soothe his throat. After warming up his voice by saying “my little white dog” repeatedly into the microphone a few times he launched into “Daddy’s little babies love shortening” and “ Want me a Cadillac” I am sorry if you cant see the humor in my description you will just have to take my word on how hilarious Dwight and the program in general were. Maybe he will do an encore in an interview after he wins worlds.

So Tuesday we had wonderful send off from training camp. Hands down the Japanese have every country I have ever been to beat in the area of hospitality. They are at our service and with a smile constantly. I have not wanted for a single thing since I have landed here and they are constantly giving you little token gifts. I have so many presents I don’t have to buy a single souvenir to take home. After an hour and a half bus ride, we arrived at processing to get credentials which was very organized and went by quickly considering the amount of people they were dealing with then on to our hotel. Rooms are … compact but one of the perks of being a world champion is a single room so I am just fine because it is my own LITTLE space. After getting settled in I spent about two hours getting lost on a walk with Torii Edwards and Nicole Denby.

Being lost when it is hot out and you’re a sprinter who doesn’t like to walk is no fun. We eventually found our way and got to do a little browsing as well so it turned out OK. We just had to laugh it off.

Today I was still a little weary about how I was going to be able to enjoy the sights of Japan when my first venture was so … overwhelming.

Still after a morning training session I decided to venture out once again. Sanya Batman and Wallace (my crew) were all missing in action so I decided I would go to the aquarium alone. When I was signing out ( you sign out in the USATF office so they know where you are in case of emergency or drug testing) I noticed someone named Sarah signed out signed out two minutes earlier also headed to the aquarium so I hustled to the lobby to see if I could pair up with her. I managed to guess right on the first try as to who in a lobby full of people Sarah was and asked if I could join her. She said yes she was just waiting on two friends who joined us shortly after and off we went. The other two girls were Brittany and Jessica. It was my first time meeting everyone. All three are throwers and it is there first time on a team. So I got to be the very old veteran today. Thanks to yesterday’s drama, I was able to navigate us in the right direction and whenever we were unsure anyone we reached out to helped us. (I didn’t use the word ASK purposely, we didn’t talk to the people we just pointed and were lead in the right direction. This is important because in other countries you usually can’t get anyone to stop and if you do when they realize you don’t speak the same language they move on.)I feel like I am getting a little long winded with my play by play so let me sum it up… We made it to the aquarium and it was immaculate!!! I should mention that I am a fish person so I may be a little biased (I have a salt water tank at home which I spend entirely too much time and money on) Living in Miami and having just recently been to our Seaquarium (HUGE disappointment and in my opinion should be CLOSED because it is a complete rip off and a waste of time!!) I wasn’t expecting much.

There were tons and tons of fish ( I am stating what seems like the obvious but Miami Seaquarium doesn’t have fish) sea lions, otters, penguins, dolphins, a sloth and lots of other things. Their main exhibit is the whale shark which you see us pictured with. There animals had personality!!! They were just laying there looking at you they were putting on a show constantly and it was a set up show like sea world or the seaquarium these were just animals doing there thing. I really enjoyed myself and am having a good time here in Japan. Stress free environments creates better performances and I am really liking the vibe of TEAM USA right t now. Ok until 2morrow…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 8:51 am and is filed under laurynwilliams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.