Back to Earth... I Miss the Sky!

Aug 19, 2010

It's been a week now that I've been on ground, and I must admit... I miss the sky. I'm not accustomed daily life with schedules, routines, and normal hours of the day. I'm looking forward to finishing training and getting back in the air. I'll tell you more about that in a second.. but FIRST....
I'd like to thank everyone who voted for Ryan and I to win the photo competition. We went a bit spam crazy, begging and pleading for votes and likely driving everyone on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr a bit nuts. It was a tight race, and while we didn't place first, we were both still very happy to win second place... and $200! The money will go towards a flight to Toronto so that Ryan can join me as soon as I get a layover there! I'm really hoping that my September roster will bring me good things.
Anyways, back to training. For those of you who weren't aware, I've made the switch. I'm converting. No, not my religion, although you'd think so given the reaction that I often get when I tell people that I'm moving to the A380. The Airbus A380 is a huge double decker aircraft and the largest passenger airliner in the world. Depending on the configuration, they can carry up to 853 passengers. Fortunately, my airline has opted for a much less intimidating capacity of 517. It's big, it's exciting (lounges and stairs and showers, oh my!) and most of all.. it's just really pretty.
Remember back to when I first begun training and I wrote about the stress of learning the safety procedures, medical training, and service? I've had to face this all over again, just condensed. Rather than 6 weeks of training, I'm back at the Training College for 2. However, when you are used to being on the go hopping around the globe, 2 weeks of sitting in a classroom feels more like 2 months. Today marked the end of week 1, and after successfully passing all of my exams, I'm planning to enjoy my weekend by curling up on the couch with a stack of DVD's.
One more week, one more week.
Another topic that I know some people have been curious about... Ramadan in Dubai. Ramadan is the Holy month in the Islamic faith. Muslims abstain from eating or drinking anything during the day, and break their fast each night at sunset. It's intended to teach them to be appreciative, patient, and to feel hunger in order to understand what life might be like for those that aren't privileged enough to have food on the table every day. So what does that mean for us Non-Muslim residents? Most importantly, eating or drinking (even bottled water) in public can land you a fine. Most restaurants are closed during the day and reopen each evening. For the party crowd, it is a month of boredom as no live or loud music is permitted. Nightclubs become silent and dancing is also against the rules.
Fortunately for me I'm not a party girl and even if I was, I'd be too busy studying for exams. The cafeteria in the Training College remains open, so Ramadan hasn't really affected me all that much aside from not being able to bring coffee to class. At the worst, it's meant that I've had to cook my own meals on occasion rather than waiting for the restaurants to open. It's only a month. Once it's over, we'll be a month closer to winter and much welcomed cooler temperatures.
As much as I'd love to continue updating you on my not so exciting life, the sun is setting and I'm going to catch up with the lovely Miss Piriya as soon as the restaurants open their doors!

2 comments:

Sarah Simpson said...

Where Cuinn and I live it's heavily populated with Indians and cultures that celebrate Ramadan. Although our city doesn't go to your extremes, we have definately been seeing the effect. Such as all the kids are out much later than usual since they're waiting to eat, and all the restaurants getting really really busy as of 10 o'clock, so I can kind of sort of understand what you're going through, although I can still eat and drink in public!

Krysta said...

It's not as bad as I'd expected it to be, the only thing that I struggle with is not being able to drink water... it's 50 degrees outside! Haha.

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