Awesome Welcome Party

My brother Felix had told me about the wild parties they have here, so I was ready for anything.

Caspian and I put on fresh jeans and tee-shirts. I got quite exited about wearing this to a pool party.

"Will we get wet at the party?" I asked Caspian.

"I hope so. Getting wet fully clothed is the main thrill of a pool party, right?"

We headed for the pool to see what's happening. The air was hot, the music loud. Most of our fellow swimmers had gathered already, dressed in polo shirts or hoodies, jeans or jogging pants. Oops, I just realised that we didn't bring hoodies like many of the others.

I felt a bit shy. Never been to a pool party, let alone fully clothed. As I sat down at the shallow end, dangling my feet in the water, lifeguard Harry took the microphone:

Shower Call

"Attention all party guests. If you haven't had a shower before you came down, please do so now. Keep your clothes on. Dry is not an option."

Now that's a new twist to get a pool party going. Get everyone wet from the start, cool.

I got up and followed the others into the crowded showers. It was fun to watch them take turns as they soaked their shirts, hoodies and jeans.

"Hey, Tim," Caspian shouted from underneath a shower, "come here, you can share mine."

His clothes were already dripping wet and I was still dry, hesitating a bit, looking at the others getting their clothes wet in the showers. Should I join him or wait for a shower to become available?

Caspian knew what is more fun. He swiftly pulled me into the shower and held me under the running water until my tee-shirt and jeans were soaked through to my skin. The warm water flowing through my clothes felt really good.

We stayed under the shower for a while, holding on to each other. I could feel Caspian's excitement and anticipation to go into the pool in our clothes.

Into the Pool

After the shower we all jumped into the pool. It was pleasantly different to see the whole team swim around fully clothed rather than in swimsuits, a new experience for most of us.

"Hey, guys," Alex shouted when he saw us wearing just tee-shirts and jeans. "Put on some hoodies from the drying room before you get too cold."

We did as told and headed for the drying room, dripping all over. Looking through the rows of hoodies for a while, we picked hoodies that were a bit too large for us. I've never worn a hoodie in the water. This was so exciting.

We waded back into the pool at the shallow end. It was nice to watch and feel how these hoodies slowly got wet. In the water the large hoodies were really comfy, floating around, feeling good. Out on pool side they almost went down to our knees. Huge fun.

We splashed around while more team members put on hoodies or sweatshirts. For many this was the first time swimming fully clothed. We talked to a few and they all said that swimming in clothes felt really good. They were looking forward to the swim training in the pool and outdoors.

More Pool Fun

Harry took the microphone again: "Are you having any fun? Are you enjoying your hoodies in the water?"

A big cheer followed. Harry said we should try out a variety of clothes from the drying room as they would be part of our training from tomorrow.

We swapped the hoodies and jeans for long nylon cagoules and nylon pants. The cags had no zip, we had to pull them on over the head, like thin lightweight hoodies. The soft nylon felt nice in the pool.

Harry came into the water in his lifeguard uniform, polo shirt and jogging suit. He told us that we would wear cagoules and nylon pants a lot in the first part of our training. The second part involved tough resistance swimming in jogging suits. In the third part we would wear rain gear on top. This sounded like a lot of fun coming our way.

Bedtime

Finally we got out of the pool, returned the wet hoodies and cagoules to the drying room. Back in our place we shared a bath to rinse the chlorine out of our clothes. This was most enjoyable. I had never shared a bath with someone. After a while we undressed each other, hung up the clothes to dry, and snuggled up in bed. Caspian and I quickly became close friends and I enjoyed sharing bath and bed with him.