Practicing hard!

I had 2 consecutive practices these past few days - one on Sunday and one on Monday - boy were my muscles screaming yesterday!  Thank goodness the weather cooled down considerably so it wasn't as tough as when we paddled in the hot sun.

So the big news today was the fact that the opening ceremonies had some 'fraud' going on - I must say, I'm not surprised at all.  I think Chinese people in general worry a lot about appearance over substance.  That's why when you go Chinatown, all you see are a sea of LV, Gucci, Chanel, etc. and the logos are emblazoned on just about anything - the bag doesn't have to look good,  it just has to have the labels   Unfortunately, the person carrying the bag looks pretty drab and hopes that by carrying something with a label, you will judge them as successful or whatnot.  A lot of Chinese people succumb to 'paying for respect' or 'buying class' - totally unnecessary but it happens.  I'm not against luxury items - I just feel that sometimes, there's no need to carry an LV to go grocery shopping  when you're in the nastiest part of town

With the case of the little girl who sang VS the little girl that stood there looking pretty - well, it happens a lot.  It's pretty crappy for the little girl who actually sang but the world's pretty cruel when we base things on appearance.  This totally reminds me of when I visited Shanghai - I bought these delightful looking treats, wrapped beautifully in coloured paper - only to find that the treats inside were MOLDY and spoiled... appearances VS reality folks... things are not always as  seems...