The Dubai Diaries
My life as a flight attendant in the Middle East!

3 weeks left of training…

Today is Friday – which means that it is the weekend! This week has been long but it was all worth it in the end; I got 98% on my GMT exam! So now I am all prepared for anything to go wrong on board – baby delivery, heart attacks, anaphylactic shock, epilepsy… you name it, I’ve probably learnt how to deal with it this week!

I have decided I actually preferred SEP to GMT. We did have to study and revise so much more for SEP (the nights before my final A380 and B777 exams I got about 3 or 4 hours sleep!) but I found it a lot more interesting to learn about the aircraft and all that type of thing as opposed to medical stuff. Luckily I’m not a doctor! Maybe one day I’ll change it up from being a stewardess and work in the left seat of the cockpit instead… 😉

Today I had a lovely day with my friend Sally at Deira City Centre. We got the crew bus (which goes from literally right outside our front door!) to Headquarters and then the metro from there, which is about 3 stops. We both ended up buying way more than anticipated – I got 2 dresses, some heels and some underwear! I also got a pack of earrings (pearls and “diamond” studs), but they are for work, so they don’t count! 😉 Sally also got a couple of dresses and some heels, so we are all ready for the next few nights out that we have!

Tonight I’m going out with my group of friends (this seems to be a regular occurrence on Friday nights!) and we will probably go back to Crystal as we had such a good night last weekend!
Tomorrow I think I’m going to have a nice day up by the pool, it’s been horrible weather all week, cloudy and chilly, but today was lovely and hot and I think the same is forecast for tomorrow. I also did a big food shop the other day and even treated myself to a nice steak, which I’m going to have tomorrow! 

This week we also got our passports back with our visas – I am now officially a resident of Dubai! One other small thing I forgot to mention….. UNIFORM!! On Tuesday we went and picked up our big suitcases with all our uniform in, which was very exciting! Of course my flatmate and I had to try everything on in the evening!

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Starting Medical Training

This Sunday we started GMT, also known as Group Medical Training. The second day is over, and we have been crammed with information.

My lovely neighbour has given us the password to her wifi until we can get our own sorted out sometime this week, so I’m finally blogging from my laptop! Another exciting thing happening this week, tomorrow in fact….we are collecting our uniforms!
I cannot wait to finally try everything on, and once we finish GMT and start Security and Service training we will be wearing them to college as well. Very exciting! Of course I will upload some pictures on here as well 😉

Back to GMT. So far it has been alright, I can’t decide yet whether I prefer SEP; a fair bit of what we have learnt so far I have already covered in a first aid course I had to do for my driving license back in Austria which means that I am not finding the general first aid things too hard.

However we have to know all about the different types of medical equipment that is located on board the aircraft, what is in each different bag/pouch/box, and all of the uses for each type of medicine/tablets. I have a feeling that it’s going to take me a while to memorise all of that! We have the final exam on Thursday, and continual practical assessments every day. 

Yesterday was spent in part learning how to do CPR, and we were assessed on that today. We decided to name our resuscitation doll “Big Tony” (no idea who came up with that or why!) but we all managed to bring him back to life! Here’s two of my batchmates practicing with the pocket mask.
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Today we learnt a whole range of things, from choking, to burns, fractures, bandaging wounds, etc.

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Now I’m looking forward to getting our uniform, and we only have just over 3 weeks left! We will also be getting our first rosters on the 26th, which I cannot wait for! I’m hoping to get a nice layover somewhere hot by the beach! At the moment the weather in Dubai is slightly chilly (average of about 20-22 degrees during the day, ha ha!) and very windy. As I don’t live right in the centre there is a lot of sand everywhere, so any time you go out of the apartment block you do get a face full of sand if it’s windy!

One last exiting thing that is happening – 2 of my best friends Maria and Simone from Austria are coming to visit me! They just booked their tickets today for a week at the beginning of April, so let’s hope the rostering gods are nice to me and give me some quick turnarounds or maybe even a couple of days off! I’m hoping to be able to spend as much time with them as possible!

Finally…some pictures!

I’ve taken my laptop to my friend Michelle’s apartment, so I have wifi…..time to get some long overdue photos up!

The first weekend we were taken to visit a mosque, this is it!
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We all had to cover our hair and were given scarfs, mine almost matched my shirt!Image

Our first night out, we went to a place called Barasti which is just by the beach!Image

Christmas Eve night out!Image

And Christmas Day on the beach!Image
This is the view from training college in the mornings, and there is always an amazing sunset in the evenings as well!
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The other day at college we had to go down the slide rafts, which was so much fun! All the pictures look the same though, so this probably isn’t even me!Image
My batch after all sliding down!Image
We also then had to go in this pool with our clothes on….Image
…and with full make up on!Image

And finally last night out at Crystal Club, where we had such a good night out! Jay Sean even came and sang some of his songs!
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I’m glad I’ve finally managed to get a few pictures up! Next week we will be getting our residence visas (FINALLY!) so the first thing I’ll be doing is sorting out wifi in the apartment. Hopefully then I will be able to update a bit more regularly as well!

1 month today!

I can’t believe how quickly time flies – it’s been exactly a month today since I moved to Dubai! 
I have finally finished SEP Training, which means I now have my A380 and B777 licenses, very exciting! This weekend is our first “proper” weekend since we have been here, as we have had one day off here and there for Christmas, NYE etc, so I’m enjoying having 2 days off and absolutely no revision to do! Once we go back to training college on Sunday I’ll be starting GMT (medical training) which should be interesting.

I actually managed to bring my USB stick with me today so I have lots of pictures to upload, but for some reason it’s saying I need to format it….and I have no idea what will happen if I do that, so I think I will come back tomorrow with a different USB stick and see if I can get some long overdue pictures up.

Now I’m going to skype some friends and catch up on everything that has been going on! I’ll put some pictures up asap!

Week 2 of SEP Training…

So here I am, back in the internet cafe again after a long day of revision, having a little break. My flatmate Naomi and I have literally been studying all day long – I had one break to go to the supermarket and do a quick food shop, and now I’m in the internet cafe for a few minutes to update on here. I feel like it’s suddenly got really intense, and we have so much to revise!

We had our first written exam yesterday on general safety – there were 25 questions and I got 100%! It was multiple choice though which did help, but the questions were all very easy and I would have known the answers without the multiple choice. However our next written exam (on Sunday) is going to be a lot more difficult. We have been told there are 50 questions, plus diagrams to fill out and other written parts. Not looking forward to it! Tomorrow we have another practical assessment and verbal exam. So as you can see it’s pretty full on, with exams or practical assessments every day!

I am still on the late shift (from 3:30pm – 11:30pm) every day, but I actually think this is the best one as it gives me a chance to have a little lie in (til about 8 or 9) and then revise all morning before college. Anyone who says being an air hostess is just a waitress in the sky has obviously never seen the size of our manuals or how much we have to learn!

After the big exam on Sunday (which is about the A380 – CANNOT WAIT to fly on it!) we will be moving on to the Boeing 777, and have all the exams again. The next topic after that is GMT – Group Medical Training, and after that we finally have a few weeks that are supposed to be a little bit less work than SEP and GMT.

This week we only have a one-day weekend again, due to the fact that we had Tuesday off instead of Saturday, because it was New Year’s Eve! We finished early at training college which was really nice, and 4 of us who live in the same area got a taxi home so we wouldn’t have to wait an hour for the crew bus. Once I was home Naomi (my flatmate) and I got ready in record time and went over to someone we know’s apartment for a house party! We had a great night and loads of people from training college were there, so even if we didn’t see any fireworks because we live far out from the city we still had an amazing evening!
On New Year’s Day we went up to the roof and sunbathed by the pool, with another friend Sally and her roommate, who started at the same time as us, and then later went to the Sahara Mall (the shopping mall which is about 10 minutes walk from our apartment block) for some food. And of course we can’t forget revision and homework, like every day!

Now I should probably get back to doing some revision – booo! 
As I think I said in my last post I will upload some photos as soon as I get wifi – it’s just too much hassle putting them on to a usb stick and uploading them at the internet cafe! And silly me has also used up all of the internet on my phone so I can’t upload from there…. woops!