swimming in Kazakhstan

You may have read earlier about the astronomical entrance fee for swimming at the pool that is close to our house in Almaty. I can’t think of one Kazakh person who could afford such an expense. Then I found out that they never open before 10:00 in the morning. One thing the pool owners have not considered is that people might like to get some exercise before work. Then I figured that the people going there must be the ones who are so wealthy that they don’t have to work.

One thing about the pool here in Amsterdam is that there are no doors. There are no places to take a shower while separated from the opposite gender. I’ve seen people simply keep their swimming suits on in the shower. The only time of absolute privacy is while seated on the toilet. Even the men’s urinals have only a small separator coming out from the wall.
The first couple days I was there, they had a low diving board sticking out into the common swim area. The interesting thing is that they didn’t seem to have any rules about when the next diver could climb on to the steps, nor were there regulations about waiting for the previous diver to reach the side of the pool before jumping. Everyone seemed to be doing fine time. On Tuesday, the board had been removed without explanation—at least without explaining to me. Someone may have broken a bone when someone landed on them…