i love my job (Paris)

Bonjour

Just a quick one...

Paris was AMAZING!! I didn't want to come back, fell in love with this place. It is like nothing I ever imagined Paris to be.
The flight there was great, nice people, awesome crew. The moment we landed, we organized a shuttle together. The hotel was quite kitsch, but cool. On arrival, we each got a handful of euros for spending, and our entry swipe card. On our tv was an information channel. I thought this was so cool. When I went to it, it said: "welcome miss alta van der merwe. Your flight has been delayed and the new departure time is..... and your new pickup time is..... We hope you enjoy your stay." Wow, how cool is that, hahaha. When I switched on my phone, it was set to Paris time, and I could still get phonecalls and sms's. (on arrival my network company said: welcome back home, hope you had a pleasant and successful trip) haha, so cute

It was 6 of us that traveled together (we were almost an hour away from the city), but an hour later we split. Me and another South African. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and walked along the Seine river and passed all its beautiful bridges and ended up at the Champs Elysee. It was freakin freezing cold. I bought a pair of gloves, and when you walk into shops, there are warm air blowing at the entrance. We were starving and somehow ended up at this stunning cute organic vegetarian restaurant, with 2 litres of wine (the waiter fell in love with Candice and kept topping up our bottle, haha) The ambience was so perfect, food was great, music, ah - I was in love with Paris. It felt like Long Street to me, young people with skateboards, funky hairstyles, individuality. We asked every 5th person for directions, and even though their English was very broken, they were extremely nice and helpful (no, no one was arrogant:)
Afterwards, we decided to try out the crazy metro system and took a train closer to our pickup point which was at 11pm. It was so cool. By this stage, everything was fantasteeeque, merci boucoup, bonjour, and a whole bunch of phrases we learned on the aircraft, haha. We made acquaintances along the way, as seen on the photos - there are lots more on facebook. We still wanted to try out the nightlife scene, but ran out of time. Next time.

That's about it for now. Now I have 4 days off and then I go see my pookie in Johannesburg!!

Hope your weekend was great
Lots of lurve
Au revoir

delayed

So, how are you all doing?? Mmmm, I don't hear from some of you...

Ok, so I have finally graduated and it was fantastic. They make a big booohaaa about it, and we had photographers and LOUD music, and flowers and it was flashy. Amber (old friend from Dubai) and her flatmate came to see me. I cried when she gave me the beautiful bunch of flowers, it was an emotional day, after all that studying and hardship to have my license in my hand.

Afterwards we all went out for dinner, and then to a club that gave us separate entrance and free drinks for two hours. I got dressed up all sexy for a change;)

My first flights were AWESOME!! I got to sit in the cockpit for 6 flights, it was something out of a movie!! Saw the sun set above the clouds on the way to Istanbul, from the front view and it was spiritual, wow. And listened in on the Aircraft Traffic Control and how they get the plane to land and push all those buttons and all, wow. This is all new to me, and I plan on imagining that it always is so that I can live it so intensely:) It's been weird knowing that I land in another country and not be able to see it. (my flights have only been nights, and turnarounds - meaning that I stay on the airport for about an hour, then come back to Dubai)

One night I met a bikeracer, and I was fortunate enough to get invited and a free pass to go to the Dubai Motorsport Festival, and sit with the guys in the 'garage'. I watched the race (my first one) and it was awesome. The guys (Team Suzuki) came first and third. Attached is a photo of me trying the comfort of a GSXR600 out. The whole team is an extremely nice bunch of guys, and said that they will try to get me to ride on the track. Heehaa!!! I've been out with them a few times, and they are so cool:)

On the downside, I went through a few days of homesickness. I missed all my friends, and dinners and chats and my mom and just wanted to come home, to Cape Town. The crew website asked me to write about Cape Town for them, which I did and that put a smile back on my face:-)

Hope you enjoyed my news today

Okie dokes

Ciao for now

Hope to hear from you

Drukkies,
Alta

checking in

Marhaba

First Aid training was intense. I can treat asthmatic neckbreathers now, epileptic people, deliver babies, deal with diabetics and the list never ends. I am a firefighter, a nurse, a security officer, a waitress, a shrink, a kungfu fighter, all in one. If I was on a LOST island, I would be Jack, and Kate, and John, and Saeed.

Am now in my second week of service training and am seriously starting to loose my mind. My head cannot take in anymore!!! I feel like I'm in university. Not even to mention the Arabic lessons we've been receiving since yesterday. Two more days of that. Good news is, college is almost over. Tomorrow is my biggest exam, practical - we are doing a fake flight from Dubai - Heathrow. Thursday we should all graduate. Man, and will I party. There is a club offering the graduates free drinks for 2 hours, and we will take full advantage. I already received my roster for the month, and will be doing my first flight to Istanbul next Tuesday. Also Karachi, Kuwait and Jeddah. I am very excited about all this. Oh, did I mention that I will be going to Paris, moohahaha:-) on the 25th - my first layover. Getting a day to shop there or something. I will be flying to Joburg end of the month, also day layover, where my pookie will come visit me for the day.
But first, back to studies. I am tired and sick, and have to drag this body around, haha. At the same time hide my emotions and support my team ( they have elected me again for groupleader, sweet bunch) We have become real close, which is nice and comforting.
Oh, meant to mention before - that we are 31 000 people working for Emirates, and 9000 of us are crew. It is quite insane!! They've got quite an impressive system trying to keep everyone happy.
Marcela and I have become good friends, she is from Brazil Sweet girl.


I have been giving some yoga classes, requested by team members. That has been working out well.
Over the weekend I camped on the beach (how cool is that, here you are allowed to camp and make huge bonfires on the beach - the beach was packed, looked like a festival, was nogal interesting), the next day got invited to sail on a catamaran (FUNCAT)for the day, free food and drinks and a few of us got invited to go parasailing. I found myself jumping overboard, swimming in the deep ocean to swim to the next boat that would take us parasailing. My first time, wow. Felt like a little holiday.
Made an effort to see what the sunset looks like in Dubai. Not too bad;)

And otherwise, floating in and out of reality. I will hopefully soon recover, having a few days off after graduation and each flight.
It is great sharing these things with all of you. Please tell me about your days, and moments.


Ma'salama
Alta