Happy Valentine's Day

As you may have read on facebook, yesterday (or today, depending upon which time zone you're in) was Valentine's Day. Although I don't exactly have a significant other sending me chocolates and flowers, I try not to get too caught up in the whole cliché "I'm single, I hate Valentine's Day," bandwagon. I even busted out my red- heart underwear for the occasion!

This week's training has been focused on medical issues onboard. Luckily, I've been a lifeguard since I was 16 and already have a lot of basic knowledge on how to handle heart attacks and chocking, perform CPR, cool burns, apply direct pressure to cuts, etc. Interesting side note, although different countries use variations of CPR techniques, Emirates uses the American Heart Association's method because globally the US has the highest rates of heart attacks, therefore has done the most research (thanks McDonalds).

Yesterday's topic, which just so happened to coincide with Valentine's Day, was childbirth. Yes, this did involve watching an actual real life birthing video. It actually made me very grateful to be flying solo on Valentine's Day, and any other day for that matter. The way I see it, if that's what "love" leads to, then leave me the freak out! Clearly this video left an impression on me, and I'm still disturbed. Prior to watching this featured presentation, we all got the chance to deliver the baby via the prego mannequin, complete with umbilical cord and placenta! One word: SICK!

Week in Review

1-I passed my Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP) section of training!

2-I celebrated passing my SEP...a lot! Fun weekend for sure! Thursday night I went out with a group of girls to a fun night club called The Lounge. Friday I went to an all inclusive brunch that lasted untill about 7:00 p.m. Saturday was my recovery day, which involved a lovely dinner out to a local restuarant called Coco's with my friend Charlene.

3-I've deveoped an intense addiction to Nutella since I've been over here. I could eat in it in a car, in a house, with a fox, or with a mouse!

4- I was literally heart broken when I woke up to find out Whitney Houston died this morning. That woman has seen me through many a break ups! I got dressed this morning listening to Step By Step, It's Not Right But It's Ok, and, obviously, I Will Always Love You.

5-This morning I had to get Vaccinations for both Typhoid and Hepatitis A. My arms are sore and my neck is stiff, and I'm feeling slightly flu like ish!

6-I'm not a big TV watcher, however, I have missed having at least a little mindless entertainment in my life. Thankfully, a girl who lives in my building has loaned me ALL The Office seasons! I'm in Heaven!

7-Today I started the Group Medical Training section of training. It seems to be easier than the last two weeks, however, the session goes from 3:45-11:30 each night this week. That might be a little rough, even for this night owl.

A Big Win

Exactly a week ago training started in full swing, and I have pretty much had my nose in my flight manual every since then. Studying is a foreign concept to me. I was always a fairly average student in school, I never was one to spend long hours in the library reading chapters and chapters of textbooks. So this whole studying thing is not my forte, to say the least!

However, I have gone through flight attendant training, and know that there is no other way around passing the tests than studying my arse off! So with the exception of two dinners out with friends this weekend, I was in full-blown study mode! Today we had our first comprehensive test on safety procedures, and I passed with a 100%! I would have been more than happy with an 80% (the just passing mark), so I was elated when I found out I had a perfect score!

One of the things I was most dreading about going through flight attendant training again was practiceing ditching, or landing in water. One of my top 5 least favorite things in this world is swimming, bathing, being splashed, etc by cold water. Fact: In 2008 when I worked at Cascades, a summer camp in Seattle, on a lake, I was the sole counselor who did not enter the water all summer long on account of it being freaking freezing! So last Thursday was the dreaded day that my group had to jump out of a raft, fully clothed into an indoor pool that was all of about 35 degree in order to "get us used to the water in a real life situation." Whatever! Anyways, I jumped, I shivered in the water for a good five minutes, and I lived to tell about it, but am VERY glad that part is behind me!

Side note, I miss fresh, inexpensive, quality meat, fruits, and vegetables! It's all imported, and all of the produce seems to be drenched in preservatives. No good!

A little shout out to one of my very favorite people in this world, Kristen Bell! Happy Birthday my beautiful friend!!!!

First Day Of School

Two posts in one week, what is this world coming to?! Well to explain myself, today was day one of actually training. Lots of people had asked me how the first day went, so instead of individually responding, I figured I'd through out a quick blurb on here.

Day one went really well! I remember the first day of training for Spirit feeling so overwhelming because I had no aviation knowledge what so ever! Aft?! Aircraft Right?! Slide-raft whaaaa?!!! So it was nice to at least be a little bit familiar with what the trainers were talking about today. However, I can also see my past experience being problematic at times, because many safety related topics, such as the emergency evacuation commands that are to be shouted at passengers, vary from airline to airline.

Today we were split into groups of 16, which felt much less chaotic than the huge group of 130! We spent the morning learning theory behind different things, such as the doors, the various commands, turbulence protocol, etc. Then after lunch our group actually went into the flight simulator and practiced what we had learned. These flight simulators are AMAZING! They are legitimately just like a real aircraft. Before any of us trainees started practicing what to do during light, moderate, or extreme turbulence, our two instructors acted out an exploded engine scenario. The "windows" inside the simulator are digital, therefore looking out of them we could actually see fire! There is also audio that accompanies the accident. So crazy. Thankfully, there were no fatalities!

Another great part of my training session is that I am in the afternoon section that goes from 12:30-8:30 P.M. Perfect for my night owl ness!

So there ya go! Training Day One in a nutshell!

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.

A Very Very Quick Update...Dubai Style!

Marhaba from Dubai!

I LOVE technology! Althought I'm living on the other side of the world from my family and friends, it really doesn't feel like that. I've been able to use facebook, skype, whatapp, and ping to communicate with everyone, otherwise I'd probably be a lot more on the sad ship side! Since I have been able to communicate with so many of you I forget who I've told what to, so I'm going to try to create a condenzed virtion on here. Wish me luck!

Getting To Dubai...

Things could not have gone smoother. Saying goodbye to everyone sucked, but that was to be expected. However, after that was over, it was smooth sailing, errrr flying. I rode over to Dubai from JFK on one of the airbus plans. Naturally all of the flight attendants looked gorgeous and were very friendly and welcoming to all of the passengers boarding. My seat was equipped with a screen that allowed me to watch movies (fo free). The screen also was able to show images from a camera in the front of the plane, as well as below the aircraft. It made for a very cool take off and landing. The screen also allowed me to track our flight progress, so it was way cool to see how far along we were getting throughout the 12 hours.

Arrival...

Again, everything went very smoothly with getting picked up from the airport. A group of about ten new recruits all had flights that arrived around the same time, so all ten of us went through the customs and immigration process together and were then bussed to our accomindations.

The City...

Dubai is beautiful! It is full of skyscrapers, and in all reality reminds me a lot of New York or Chicago, except much newer and cleaner. I've been out walking at night twice (with other girls of course) and felt very safe both times.

My Apartment...

I've been told I lucked out on the apartment front, as 21st Century tower seems to be the coveted complex. It is very new, and is located right downtown! I have a great view of the ocean from my bedroom window, LOVE! There is a small workout room on the top floor (53rd) and a pool on the roof. My two roommates seem very nice. One is a girl named C from China, the other is a girl named Yifiker from Ethiopia. The apartment is furnished, and I was provided a starter kit consisting of towels, linens, pots, pans, silver ware, plates, etc. that is all mine to keep. The brand of my silver is called "Genny." How cool is that?!

Training...

Training started yesterday, but so far it has just been big lecture sessions welcoming us to the company, receiving our shirts and manuals, and learning about our medical benefits. Our actual tough training doesnt start until next week.

Other New Recruits...

Two words, Barbie Fest. I'm not a fan of low self esteem, and am not being arrogant, just confident is saying that I think I'm a beautiful girl. However, I definitly feel like the fat girl of the bunch! Seriously, never in my life have I ever been surrounded by so many young, beautiful people. All together there are about 100 new flight attendants that are in my class, but out of the large group we've all been broken down into batches of about 14. Out of the 100 there are only three Americans. Everyone seems nice so far, but I do remember the good ol days of college, and perhaps I just spent one two many years living in the dorms, but I give it approximently one week untill the honeymoon stage dies down and the gloves come out. So far, the two girls I seem to be clicking with best are both from the UK, one from Ireland and the other one from England.

Other Random Comments...

I really didn't think about the whole converter situation too much. I have a couple of adapters, but none seem to be working too well. I had to borrow a friends cord to turn my computer on, so I need to do some researching in that department. I'm still not completely pulled together with the time difference. I've been waking up at 4 A.M. wide awake the past two mornings, fun times! As far as food, I went to a small super market two days ago and just bought a few basic things (soups, oranges, yogurt), and have been pretty much living off of that. I have gone out to eat twice. Perhaps you have heard of these famous middle eastern restauraunts...Subway and Tony Roma's??? Original, I know! I think there is an issue with my water heater, as I've taken two cold showers, no fun!

My love to all of you!!!!

A Poem By Kelsey

I’m sitting in the Lambert Airport
Getting ready to board my flight
First I’ll stop in Baltimore
Then onto New York City for the night

Before I continue
Let me take a minute to rewind
The past month has been crazy
So here’s what’s on my mind

I sold and donated
A large majority of my stuff
Trying to cram your life into your car….
Now that is really rough

I said my goodbyes
To my Fort Lauderdale crew
From Florida to Illinois
Eric and I drove straight through

Home just in time for Christmas
I couldn’t have asked for more
All my family was in one place
Can’t buy that gift in a store

New Year’s Eve day was a blast
Spent it at The Saint Louis Magic House
With the nieces and Zanolla’s
Who were on their way to visit The Mouse

Two of my friends from Disney
Came for a weekend on the farm
Lita fell off a horse
Thankfully, she didn’t break her arm

In between all those activities
I hung out and had lots of fun
Like eating homemade food
And fitting in a weekly run

Zumba and ice-skating
Geo cashing too
Rides in the tractor
Sledding with Drea Mc-Q


Playing with baby Joseph
Vanilla cokes at White Hall City Drug’s
Going to my home church
Getting lots of hugs

As soon as the fun had started
It was over in a flash
But naturally I couldn’t leave
Without a going away bash

Some of my very favorite people
All gathered to wish me well
When Allison surprised me from Chicago
I almost fainted and fell

I knew goodbyes would be the hard part
Obviously lots of tears
Now that that is over
I’m left with only a few minimal fears

I have an idea what to expect
But at the same time no idea at all
Stay tuned for the adventure
And for Pete’s sake ANSWER IF I CALL