Day 4, Tursday August 8th- Eid Al Fitr

So this is a special day for Muslims who fast for the month of Ramadon. Eid al Fitr is the last day of fasting (or was it the day before ? ) I don't know... just go with me on this one... so people greet each other by say "Eid Mobarack", which means Happy New Year or New Beginning... its not necessarily a new year, the Islam calendar'
s new year actually starts the first day of spring, usually March 20th or 21st, and people greet each other with "Eid Now Rooz" which means New Day or Near Year Celebration... so Eid is another word for celebration, Mobarack means like happy... so Fitr...that is the actual word for last day of fasting I think
Anyway, so although many of the shops are closed, and people do not work much...there are still people on the street working, trying to earn a living, others are buying supplies because they are prepping for a party at home, so when the sun officially sets, that's when the celebrations really begin I guess

Scott, Frank and I decided to go outside for a few hours walk around town in Kabul.... we just picked one street and followed it on both sides of the side walks, sometimes we had to illegally cross over as there are not too many signs or traffic lights....

we came across mosques, embassies, ministries, small shops, run down and destroyed buildings, etc.... there was a lot of trash on the streets and the side walks...it is obvious the there is a sewage/sanitation problem....the smell was terrible ...lots of dirt/dust.... the sky is not clear and I bet I inhaled a lot of bad air particles.....Frank has a lot of expertise as he has lived here for many years and he educated us on where things are, what to do and not do, what kind of NGOs and other groups are here and what they are accomplishing.....we were walking at least 5 miles worth and back....I was exhausted, maybe a little heat stroke, sun burned, running out of water, in high elevation, with poor air quality.... we got to the end of the road (Darlaman) where we saw a run down old presidential palace from a long time ago, we took some pictures too...
..as we were walking back, we had to be careful to not take pictures where there were police or military personal.....sometimes behind these tall walls along the side walks are residences of upper class or very important people that are heavily guarded by security....sometimes you have to guess what is behind the walls.....our few hours walk that started at 8 am got us back to our guesthouse around 1145am or so..... Zach who was leaving for China today, was waiting for his taxi ride that was supposed to pick him up at 11am, well .... people are always late around here so it seems like....they show up, when they show up.....its crazy, our guest house doesn't even have a unit number, and our street, guess what ? there is not street name.....and we are in a better part of town...

.its not that it is ghetto or anything, there are a lot of new buildings being constructed where we are, some apartments and condos .... they haven't really named the street yet I guess .... so giving directions is a little difficult as you can imagine....we have to just physical landmarks to tell people where we are at.

OK, so I got back to my room and crashed on the bed, I am still getting used to/acclimating to the climate and other things as well....I woke up and it was like 6pm I  think....took a cold shower, worked on my computer a little, then ate dinner with Scott and Frank...we had some rice, lamb, salad, water, tea and pear for fruit...pretty simple meals

We have yet to do any water polo training or go to the pools because it is a holiday .... Fridays are also like a religious day off/family day/no work.... almost like sundays back home

Scott has made a lot of progress with the details of our training, pool set up, meeting the right people and delegates. Frank is setting up some meetings with us with very important embassy people who can possibly help is out in our project goals for the future

its taken me some time to figure out how to upload my photos and videos taken to my computer.... some ways I can, some ways I can't.... I am not an expert in this area obviously

my sleep is kind of screwed up, the time change, weather, climate, the bed that is so hard, etc....I am getting there