Another Day Another Durham

This week us ab initios (new trainiees) had lots of different departments from within Emirates come in and speak with us. One of the talks I found most interesting was presented by Emirate's counseling department. Bet you didn't know they had one of those, neither did I! The lady who spoke to us talked about the four stages of culture shock, again didn't know those four stages existed. Here's the break down of appartently what I'll be going through over the next couple of months...

Stage 1 - Excitement

The individual experiences a holiday or 'honeymoon' period with their new surroundings.

They:
. Feel very positive about the culture
. Are overwhelmed with impressions
. Find the new culture exotic and are fascinated
. Are passive, meaning they have little experience of the culture

Stage 2 - Withdrawal

The individual now has some more face to face experience of the culture and starts to find things different, strange and frustrating.

They:
. Find the behaviour of the people unusual and unpredictable
. Begin to dislike the culture and react negatively to the behaviour
. Feel anxious
. Start to withdraw
. Begin to criticize, mock or show animosity to the people

Stage 3 - Adjustment

The individual now has a routine, feels more settled and is more confident in dealing with the new culture.

They:
. Understand and accept the behaviour of the people
. Feel less isolated
. Regains their sense of humour


Stage 4 - Enthusiasm

The individual now feels 'at home'.

They:
. Enjoy being in the culture
. Functions well in the culture
. Prefer certain cultural traits of the new culture rather than their own
. Adopt certain behaviours from the new culture

I actually thought that was pretty interesting to see it laid out like that. I would say I'm somewhere between stages one and two. Overall, I'm loving it here! I have met a lot of awesome people, think I made an excellent choice in deciding to work for this successful company, and am having a ton of fun. In my week and a half of being here, I've only had one sit in the middle of my bed clinging to letters from my mom and sister, balling my eyes out, kinda night. So one out of 12, not too shabby!

Anywho, here's just a breif recap of what I have been up to. Last Saturday, I went on a required city tour of Dubai, which also involved a tour of a local mosque. For the mosque portion of the tour, all of us girls were required to wear clothing that covered our arms and legs, as well as scarves (Shaylas) over our heads. The woman who gave the presentation inside the mosque did a great job explaining the 5 pillars of the Muslim faith, as well as exinuating that the Muslim religion is based on peace, love, and growing closer to God, and that any acts that are harmful to others are not at all a part of that religion.

One thing that has stuck out to me during this first week of training has been the similarities I see between Emirates and Disney. Both corporations are very focused on providing the very best product they can possibly offer to their customers, as well as creating a future for their companies. After working for a company that was not customer service focused (not to name names) it's a welcomed breathe of fresh air!

With this weekend brough lots of free time to explore Dubai! Fun fact, because the holy day falls on Friday in the Muslim faith, Friday and Saturdays are considered the weekend here! Thursday was also Austrailia Day. Since part of my life plan involves me eventually marrying a hunky Austrailllian, I took it upon myself to fully celebrate the holiday. A huge group of us went to a humungous night club called Barasti that was right on the beach, tons of fun! Last night, was a little bit more low key and just a few of us girls went to a bar that was located inside of a hotel.

I also visited the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, for a few photo opps!

I also squeezed in a few hours at the pool on top of my building! Something about sun bathing in January just makes me warm and fuzzy inside!


Tomorrow morning the actual hard part of training starts, so my fun is going to come to a big, loud, screeching hault! Last year alone, Emirates received 71,756 applications. Out of those applicants, 35,803 people were granted an interview. And out of those people that were interviewed 2,894 people got the job. With that being said, I'm going to try my hardest to remember during these next four weeks that this opportunity is nothing short of a gift, and to keep my mouth shut when I want to complain about how hard it is. Wish me luck!

I miss all of you and think of you all daily! LOVE LOVE LOVE

P.S. my spell check isn't working on this website tonight, and I'm too lazy to attempt fixing the problem. Hoap ur Able two reed my speeeling atempts.