Day 6, Saturday August 10th- Almas Shahr

at 11am, Harris and his friend Akhbar came to pick us up from our guesthouse to take us to their local swimming pool called Almas Shahr...

Harris is a contact that Scott came across , he and his  friend Akhbar have been swimming for about 4 months or so at this pool....I think they found us through facebook because they know some of the national team players, they speak great English and help interpret for us...now this pool is not the national team training center, just a local pool that was opened by a local businessman a few years ago....it was a good 30 minute drive from our guesthouse to this pool....our water polo team is still on holiday but this was a good chance to observe local Afghans enjoying the water and swimming pool...because its still kind of holiday, the pool owner decided to have open pool time, free play...there is a very small admission to get n each day...nothing extreme... this pool was for men and boys only...I asked if there was something for girls and women...and they did not know how to answer me....not too many opportunities for females fight now...maybe we can change that in the future...

so we arrive in the complex, switched our shoes to sandals, then their is the locker room, then showers, then the pool complex...probably 20-22 yards by 16-18 yards maybe...shallow end is about 2-3 feet, and deep end is about 6-7 feet.... I saw kids with life-jackets...the deep end was kind of empty, people are afraid right now of the depths because their swimming is not good enough since it is a new concept still...we took a lot of pictures and the locals really wanted to jump in a pose as well....their local coach was a really nice man, he was like 5 feet tall I think...Frank and Scott took some nice photos as well, there was a Jacuzzi/hot tub too....they tried to decorate the walls with modern/western pictures of swim/water polo athletes...even though that pool has not started water polo yet....that's our hope very soon...I think we can do it even in

shallow deep facilities...

I was very happy that it was an indoor pool....So we walked inside their pool office upstairs and talked a little business before we called it a day...it was a very productive and enlightening day for me

We headed back to our guesthouse on the drive I took some video and pictures of the local streets and scenery, I had to always be careful anytime we got close to an embassy, or anything where there was guards or police....

we don't each lunch much, not hungry as expected...well we also haven't done 
much physical activity either....

back in our rooms, took a nap, then woke up to work on my computer

430pm, its raining, hail,  and super windy outside...wow

this is unexpected

dinner at about 730pm, we had some pasta, kind of dry, salad was simple ... some sweet diced up honeydew melon, mmmm.... I ate most of that

I watched some TV, but headed back to my room, and decided to watch Kite Runner on my internet, I watched it many years ago when it first came out, but I think it was appropriate now since I am here in Kabul...you should watch it....so much of it is true