There's that famous saying that what you do on New Year's Day will predict how the next year will go. Well, if mine is anything to go by, I'll be sleeping in and getting ready for work in 2013! Not sure how I feel about that...
I had standby just before New Year's- tried to be good and sleep beforehand but it just wasn't happening for me. I got to the standby lounge and semi-unpacked to make myself comfortable for the duration. With about an hour to go, I finally allowed myself to think that I might just be getting New Year's 2012 off since I had to work at Christmas. Mistake! No sooner than I had the thought, I heard "Staff number XXXXXX, you are pulled for Flight XX to (US destination)". Groan!!
U.S. flights are hard work at the best of times; on top of this add hardly any sleep and no good food that morning (had been waiting on the delivery guy to arrive to the standby lounge, so no breakfast!) As the flight went on though, I could manage to think of the positives- we had a good range of crew, the passengers were okay and the destination had some interesting things to see. I'd get through it.
That trip brought me back to Dubai on January 2nd. Since it had displaced me from the following trip (boo hoo- Kuala Lumpur, haven't been for ages!) I ended up with three extra days of reserve. Luckily, I didn't get called but could use those days to recover from jet lag.
Yesterday was a bit of a waste; I slept in, took down the Christmas decorations and spent half the day trying to book some last minute staff tickets for my sister. Of course New York this time of year on standby is out of the question so had to convince her to try somewhere else instead. Then stayed up all night as my body clock was stuffed up and watched movies. Popcorn at 3am, yeah that 'healthier diet' resolution can start next week... ;)
And now, after sitting in a bit of a funk today, to try and get out of my bad mood I have decided to clear out my closet of all the stuff I never use or "will get round to" wearing some day. Unfortunately, I tend toward a personality that likes to have 'stuff', and lots of it. I'm kind of ADD in that I go from one hobby to another with regularity, love it to death then quickly move on to something else. Thus, I have 'stuff' from scrapbook paraphernalia to baking equipment to my fish tanks, proper paper books, comic collection, , beauty products, video games etc etc... which is fine if you live in your own place, not so fine when you share. (At least I have the big bedroom!)
Which brings me to my problem. I'm quite good at making piles of stuff to 'mend' 'throw' or 'give away', but when it comes to getting rid of them, well.... "what if I neeeeeed it?". Last few times I've done this I've ended up regretting getting rid of something as I'd actually wanted it not long after. I don't know if I only thought of it because I had seen the item lately, or if I would have actually wanted it anyway.
So. I need you guys to tell me of any tip, trick or system that you use to get clutter down. I really need to spend less time online as well, but one problem at a time!!! Leave a comment and let me know how YOU do it!!
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Colette Hair
One of my secret "want to do's" for a while now has been to cut my hair short- anything above the shoulder length. I haven't had short hair since I was in school, and even then it was just above my shoulders.
After attending a party wearing a black wig in an Asian-style bob, people started telling me it'd look good if I always had my hair that way. I was always too scared to change my hair much though, aside from the odd colour or change to my fringe (bangs for my US readers). I think it was partly because I wasn't very talented at styling/blowdrying/straightening my hair, and then later because my job required me to wear my hair in a conservative style.
Enter a job change and Pan Am. Instantly, I loved Colette's vintage (yet totally do-able in modern times) hairstyle. It just screamed "put-together stewardess". Since changing airlines entailed a change of uniform, and having to wear a hat- just like the Pan Am girls- the thought of cutting my hair has appealed to me even more.
Add in that one of my New Year's resolutions was to 'try new things' and, well, the arguments for a new hairdo seem to be stacking up quickly.
Last week, a friend who is also trained as a hairdresser offered to make the chop for me. Gulp!! I'm not sure if I can go through with it, I need some moral support!!!
Except for the early promo shots, Colette's hair started out as a blunt bob, but seems to have become softer as the show went on (deliberate, perhaps, as she warmed up to people around her?) and with clever use of hair pieces and curling/styling, still managed to be quite versatile.
So what's the verdict, do you think I should try out "Colette Hair", or not? Or even something else different? Tips for keeping up a style like this for a blowdryer-challenged person such as myself are most welcome!!
Comment away! :)
After attending a party wearing a black wig in an Asian-style bob, people started telling me it'd look good if I always had my hair that way. I was always too scared to change my hair much though, aside from the odd colour or change to my fringe (bangs for my US readers). I think it was partly because I wasn't very talented at styling/blowdrying/straightening my hair, and then later because my job required me to wear my hair in a conservative style.
Enter a job change and Pan Am. Instantly, I loved Colette's vintage (yet totally do-able in modern times) hairstyle. It just screamed "put-together stewardess". Since changing airlines entailed a change of uniform, and having to wear a hat- just like the Pan Am girls- the thought of cutting my hair has appealed to me even more.
Add in that one of my New Year's resolutions was to 'try new things' and, well, the arguments for a new hairdo seem to be stacking up quickly.
Last week, a friend who is also trained as a hairdresser offered to make the chop for me. Gulp!! I'm not sure if I can go through with it, I need some moral support!!!
Except for the early promo shots, Colette's hair started out as a blunt bob, but seems to have become softer as the show went on (deliberate, perhaps, as she warmed up to people around her?) and with clever use of hair pieces and curling/styling, still managed to be quite versatile.
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| Sideswept bangs here... |
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| And now straight ones... |
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| A more rounded look to the ends... |
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| More volume here. This looks more 60's and less 50's to me. |
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| Colette in daywear... this is a more 'Brady Bunch' type look from her |
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| Do you think they've pinned the sides under? |
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| This length is definitely more "work friendly" than her previous styles in uniform. |
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| I wonder if she has a slide comb under the back part of her hair? I also love her eye makeup here. Simple. yet pretty. |
Friday, October 21, 2011
Beauty Goodies & Why So Expensive?
This afternoon when I woke up from my post-flight nap, I was in the mood to tidy up my room, and settled on cleaning out some of the bags stored in my closet which contain some of the stash of goodies I've picked up on my travels. I just love buying makeup & beauty items, but being the hoarder that I am, I hardly ever actually get around to using most of them. It's such a shame because there's some really great items out there.
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| Beauty haul!! :) |
Being that I'm pretty much a novice at anything complicated when it comes to applying makeup, my current range is pretty limited and I don't really get too adventurous with my makeup. I decided that I will have a little giveaway soon of some products. Since I saw today that my blog has 41 followers, once it gets to 50 then I will have a giveaway. I have three lots of items planned for giveaways so there will certainly be more coming if I can get my blog revamped and a bit more interest in it.
In the photo above, the row of nail polishes at the bottom is a local brand I picked up in Bangkok called I-Hana. I hadn't seen them before so I took the chance to grab a few. The range of colours was amazing from glitter polishes to metallics and even matte pastels. Wish I'd thought to take a photo of the table setup as everything was in colour-spectrum order and it looked really cool! These six are marked for giveaways or gifts for friends but I will definitely be picking up some for myself next visit so I can try them for myself and see how good they are.
Other items in the photo include a Heroine Make (Japanese) mascara I've been wanting to try for ages, cute animal-shaped hand cream pots from Etude House (Korea), my regular CoverGirl foundation and Nivea moisturiser and my two newest O.P.I. polishes. I love that you can get 2 for $25 in duty free in Aussie airports, when normally they retail between $20-25 each in Australia.
I really do think that we pay far too much for makeup in Australia; I didn't know any better until I visited the US where I bought a NARS blush for $26, and my sister's MAC foundation for the same price. Both retail for well over $65 in Oz and I cannot find a decent reason why that should be the case! Importing products does not cost THAT much that things should cost double to triple the price in certain countries. Anyone know why this is the case, I'd love to find out! Luckily for me, I can travel often enough that I can stock up and save when I go to the US.
What foreign products do you love but don't buy because of the markup in Australia?
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Ramadan
Ramadan. The time of year that most expats tend to complain about & dread. Long hot summer days with nothing to do, nowhere to eat during daylight hours and most of their friends escaped from Dubai or working.
But, Ramadan isn't all bad. For those who haven't had much exposure to the Muslim culture, Ramadan is about consideration for those less fortunate than yourself, appreciation for what you have and self improvement to be a better person.
One of the more achievable goals during Ramadan is being charitable to others. Of course, this is something that we should try to do at other times as well, but if you've been lost for something to do, Ramadan month can be a good motivator to get started and get ideas.
Back in my home country, myself & my coworkers used to collect the toiletries from our hotel rooms when we stayed in other cities. There was a collection bin in our main office where we could drop these off and the company would then send them on to charities and hospitals to make use of them. Lots of hospitals loved these items, as often they had families of sick & injured patients coming at short notice to stay, often with whatever they happened to be wearing at the time and no luggage. With Australia being as large at it is, some patients were flown in from remote areas for treatment and had nothing with them. So, all of the small shampoos, soaps and toothbrushes came in very handy.
Since arriving in Dubai I have still been collecting the items, but was unsure what to do with them.
I discovered the website Helping Hands UAE; an organisation that helps labourers, abused maids and others in less fortunate circumstances with donations of toiletries, food and other items given by donations from expats and others. I got in touch with them and the lady that organises these things said that they are always in demand of hotel items. They can be transported easily and are a good fill-in measure for people who just need a few items until more permanent arrangements can be made.
So, if any of my fellow cabin crew or foreign, travelling expats are reading this, I urge you to do
the same- collect the toiletries and other small "giveaway" items that you don't use and send them on to others who will. Helping Hands also accepts other donations, just contact Elle (via their website) to see what is required. Ramadan especially is a busy time for them and all help is gratefully received!!!
(Please note, I am talking about the items I am expected to use in hotel rooms, such as soaps, shampoos etc. I am not taking anything such as towels, robes or the like as this would be stealing. I also do not use any items from onboard the aircraft in accordance with company policy. My airline has their own arrangements for charity and I support those also where I can. This post was written solely by me as a result of my own experience and Heping Hands UAE did not request me to write such a post. However, I am sure they would be happy to hear from you for anything you may be able to give!)
But, Ramadan isn't all bad. For those who haven't had much exposure to the Muslim culture, Ramadan is about consideration for those less fortunate than yourself, appreciation for what you have and self improvement to be a better person.
One of the more achievable goals during Ramadan is being charitable to others. Of course, this is something that we should try to do at other times as well, but if you've been lost for something to do, Ramadan month can be a good motivator to get started and get ideas.
Back in my home country, myself & my coworkers used to collect the toiletries from our hotel rooms when we stayed in other cities. There was a collection bin in our main office where we could drop these off and the company would then send them on to charities and hospitals to make use of them. Lots of hospitals loved these items, as often they had families of sick & injured patients coming at short notice to stay, often with whatever they happened to be wearing at the time and no luggage. With Australia being as large at it is, some patients were flown in from remote areas for treatment and had nothing with them. So, all of the small shampoos, soaps and toothbrushes came in very handy.
Since arriving in Dubai I have still been collecting the items, but was unsure what to do with them.
I discovered the website Helping Hands UAE; an organisation that helps labourers, abused maids and others in less fortunate circumstances with donations of toiletries, food and other items given by donations from expats and others. I got in touch with them and the lady that organises these things said that they are always in demand of hotel items. They can be transported easily and are a good fill-in measure for people who just need a few items until more permanent arrangements can be made.
So, if any of my fellow cabin crew or foreign, travelling expats are reading this, I urge you to do
the same- collect the toiletries and other small "giveaway" items that you don't use and send them on to others who will. Helping Hands also accepts other donations, just contact Elle (via their website) to see what is required. Ramadan especially is a busy time for them and all help is gratefully received!!!
(Please note, I am talking about the items I am expected to use in hotel rooms, such as soaps, shampoos etc. I am not taking anything such as towels, robes or the like as this would be stealing. I also do not use any items from onboard the aircraft in accordance with company policy. My airline has their own arrangements for charity and I support those also where I can. This post was written solely by me as a result of my own experience and Heping Hands UAE did not request me to write such a post. However, I am sure they would be happy to hear from you for anything you may be able to give!)
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tee Vee
After convincing myself for ages that I didn't *NEED* a tv, at least not for a few more months, the searing temperatures in Dubai finally made me cave & I figured summer & right before Ramadan is as good a time as any to get a tv. So, I went out and got myself a nice shiny 32-inch flat screen tv. The good thing is, I can connect my laptop to view photos and videos, and watch all my DVDs that I have in a list waiting to be seen.
The tv I got is a Sony Bravia, I had wanted a Samsung but it didn't have a VGA port for my computer (which doesn't have HDMI) and it didn't have a headphone port either. I prefer to have the option in case I want to watch movies in the middle of the night, I won't feel bad about making any noise!!
Next time I go home on leave I'll probably bring back my Nintendo 64, or if I can find one for a reasonable price online, a Super Nintendo. I love me some retro games!!!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
I'm Coming Home...
After a very laid-back layover in Beijing, I put on my uniform and got ready to head back to Dubai. It was a very easy trip, and I spent most of my time running around doing duty free and taking cups of water to sleepy passengers. It was quite good as I made a tidy commission; I've been putting my duty-free earnings into an envelope as savings so it's a little something extra.
Soon we landed, much earlier than I had expected, and on the urging of some other crew I ran to check the flights home and whether there were any seats. Before, the system had shown zero seats on the Sunday flight, so I had booked to go on the Monday, but lo and behold there were now LOTS of seats free- I guessed maybe they had changed the plane to a bigger one. Whatever the reason, I sure wasn't complaining!
I raced home, threw my uniforms in the wash and began madly packing my suitcase, hoping that I wouldn't forget anything important in the rush. I managed to get my bag packed so quickly that I even had a little bit of time to check my Facebook & email before I left, important for a slight internet geek like me :)
Then it was off to the airport in the hope that the figures on the travel website were correct and there were, in fact, seats available. I only needed one!!! I took my bag to the standby counter and to my luck the guy checking people in told me that I didn't need to wait for the flight to close, he could just give me a boarding pass right away. He asked me if I would like "3 or 4 seats".... errr, what??? Turns out there were so many seats free, he marked the ones next to me as last to be allocated so hopefully I'd have some space to lie down and sleep. I really needed to, as I had 2 hours of sleep before my flight back from Beijing, and none since then. So really, I hadn't slept much since the first night in Beijing.
I went through to departures, where I stopped in the store to buy some water, some snacks and a magazine or two to read on the flight. I also somehow miraculously managed to visit the restroom and get myself something for breakfast, all in the 20 minutes I had before boarding started. I'm not sure why everyone else seems to find it hard to find the toilet,or buy water but see, it can be done, travellers!!!! Haha.
Got on the plane and settled in, deciding which movies I'd want to watch on the way while waiting for lunch to come around. Luckily for me, the flight was quite light so the seats next to me remained unused. In fact it was so empty that everyone else who wanted to move to a row on their own got to, without having to sit next to me. Yay for a row to myself!! :)
Typically, I didn't sleep much on the flight. I dozed off until one of the crew woke me for lunch, then I watched a movie (From Prada to Nada which is apparently a remake of Sense & Sensibility) and after that I just. Couldn't. Sleep. Argh!! I spent the time reading the in-flight magazine, my book and wandering around the plane, occasionally chatting to the crew. I must add, they were really great, coming around regularly with water & juice, and one of them even left me a bottle of water & toothbrush on my seat after I had mentioned not going to sleep the night before. Yay you guys!!!
Soon it was time for the "dinner" meal, and I figured I'd try fit in another movie before we landed. I decided on 'Tangled', having heard good things about it, and I wasn't disappointed!
I thought it was a great movie, the graphics were brilliant and the little chameleon sidekick is quite possibly the cutest ever in a Disney film.
I think the lantern scene is my favourite, it's just so pretty!
Soon it was time to land & after spending about an hour in customs & quarantine, I was home free into freezing cold Perth!!! I think I underestimated just how cold it is & really wish I'd brought my fluffy pyjamas. Thank goodness for electric blankets & kitties that want to sleep on your feet! ^_^
Soon we landed, much earlier than I had expected, and on the urging of some other crew I ran to check the flights home and whether there were any seats. Before, the system had shown zero seats on the Sunday flight, so I had booked to go on the Monday, but lo and behold there were now LOTS of seats free- I guessed maybe they had changed the plane to a bigger one. Whatever the reason, I sure wasn't complaining!
I raced home, threw my uniforms in the wash and began madly packing my suitcase, hoping that I wouldn't forget anything important in the rush. I managed to get my bag packed so quickly that I even had a little bit of time to check my Facebook & email before I left, important for a slight internet geek like me :)
Then it was off to the airport in the hope that the figures on the travel website were correct and there were, in fact, seats available. I only needed one!!! I took my bag to the standby counter and to my luck the guy checking people in told me that I didn't need to wait for the flight to close, he could just give me a boarding pass right away. He asked me if I would like "3 or 4 seats".... errr, what??? Turns out there were so many seats free, he marked the ones next to me as last to be allocated so hopefully I'd have some space to lie down and sleep. I really needed to, as I had 2 hours of sleep before my flight back from Beijing, and none since then. So really, I hadn't slept much since the first night in Beijing.
I went through to departures, where I stopped in the store to buy some water, some snacks and a magazine or two to read on the flight. I also somehow miraculously managed to visit the restroom and get myself something for breakfast, all in the 20 minutes I had before boarding started. I'm not sure why everyone else seems to find it hard to find the toilet,or buy water but see, it can be done, travellers!!!! Haha.
Got on the plane and settled in, deciding which movies I'd want to watch on the way while waiting for lunch to come around. Luckily for me, the flight was quite light so the seats next to me remained unused. In fact it was so empty that everyone else who wanted to move to a row on their own got to, without having to sit next to me. Yay for a row to myself!! :)
Typically, I didn't sleep much on the flight. I dozed off until one of the crew woke me for lunch, then I watched a movie (From Prada to Nada which is apparently a remake of Sense & Sensibility) and after that I just. Couldn't. Sleep. Argh!! I spent the time reading the in-flight magazine, my book and wandering around the plane, occasionally chatting to the crew. I must add, they were really great, coming around regularly with water & juice, and one of them even left me a bottle of water & toothbrush on my seat after I had mentioned not going to sleep the night before. Yay you guys!!!
Soon it was time for the "dinner" meal, and I figured I'd try fit in another movie before we landed. I decided on 'Tangled', having heard good things about it, and I wasn't disappointed!
I thought it was a great movie, the graphics were brilliant and the little chameleon sidekick is quite possibly the cutest ever in a Disney film.
I think the lantern scene is my favourite, it's just so pretty!
Soon it was time to land & after spending about an hour in customs & quarantine, I was home free into freezing cold Perth!!! I think I underestimated just how cold it is & really wish I'd brought my fluffy pyjamas. Thank goodness for electric blankets & kitties that want to sleep on your feet! ^_^
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Down Time
The last few days I've been feeling sorry for myself, as somehow, somewhere in the potential bacterial breeding ground that is a giant aircraft, I managed to pick up some sort of bug and was now sniffling and snuffling through the day. As always, I began knocking back the echinacea, vitamin C and water in the hope that it might chase off whatever I'd caught in the minimum of time.
I'd felt fine the morning of my Hong Kong trip but by the time I got up the next morning I had a touch of a sore throat. Nothing to keep me from sightseeing though! But by the time we'd got back to the hotel at the end of (a very long) day, I was fast sounding like the penguin in Toy Story that lost it's squeaker.
Thankfully today I'm mostly back to normal so hopefully I'll be able to fly my next trip. Of course I'll call sick if required but unfortunately as I have leave after that I'll cop an 'absent from work' on my roster and I'd really rather not thanks very much... but, it can't be avoided if I'm sick. Ugh. I was doing so well, not getting sick with anything like this since just before I moved overseas!!
Today was spent in a somewhat frustrating and time consuming process of trying to fix a problem with the tickets for my leave. Getting home was no problem, but going elsewhere that I needed to go was fast becoming an issue. Normally, we just book tickets online but for some reason the system wasn't letting me. Online help wasn't, and trying to phone through to the call centre went unanswered for hours. Finally, I did what they told me to do last time and made the trip into the office to visit the ticketing desk.
Again, as last time, they refused to help me, until I had to plead my case and explain that as no one was answering the phone, and had been giving me the wrong info for weeks, that today was the last day I could possibly get the tickets. Normally, I could have requested them today and picked them up right before my leave, but with tomorrow being a public holiday here I didn't wat to risk missing the ticket collection. (I can't get these emailed to me like I can with everything else).
As with many things in this country, it took a lot of waiting around, a lot of re-explaining my story to several different people and a LOT of errors and wrong info before I finally had tickets in my hot little hand. It was an epic four and a half hours waiting until I got them, so needless to say I am glad to be back at home recovering and away from the freezing a/c of the office. I'm only a bit ashamed of getting a tad emotional with the supervisor but I think it was what finally convinced him to make them help me!! :P
Not much else was going on, as I was pretty much just resting and doing things around the house. I did go to the mall to pick up a few things, one of which was a scrapbook as some friends and I are planning on starting a 'craft n wine' night- bring whatever we're working on, have a few glasses of wine and watch some tv box sets. Yay!!!!
It's getting really hot in Dubai now, I felt the need to be outside for a little bit, so went to the pool with my book but I only lasted 40mins before the heat sent me scurrying back inside. It's sure going to be a change being in Oz during winter- family tells me there was a huge storm the last few days and it even hailed in my city!!!! I'd better pack warm clothes...
I'd felt fine the morning of my Hong Kong trip but by the time I got up the next morning I had a touch of a sore throat. Nothing to keep me from sightseeing though! But by the time we'd got back to the hotel at the end of (a very long) day, I was fast sounding like the penguin in Toy Story that lost it's squeaker.
Thankfully today I'm mostly back to normal so hopefully I'll be able to fly my next trip. Of course I'll call sick if required but unfortunately as I have leave after that I'll cop an 'absent from work' on my roster and I'd really rather not thanks very much... but, it can't be avoided if I'm sick. Ugh. I was doing so well, not getting sick with anything like this since just before I moved overseas!!
Today was spent in a somewhat frustrating and time consuming process of trying to fix a problem with the tickets for my leave. Getting home was no problem, but going elsewhere that I needed to go was fast becoming an issue. Normally, we just book tickets online but for some reason the system wasn't letting me. Online help wasn't, and trying to phone through to the call centre went unanswered for hours. Finally, I did what they told me to do last time and made the trip into the office to visit the ticketing desk.
Again, as last time, they refused to help me, until I had to plead my case and explain that as no one was answering the phone, and had been giving me the wrong info for weeks, that today was the last day I could possibly get the tickets. Normally, I could have requested them today and picked them up right before my leave, but with tomorrow being a public holiday here I didn't wat to risk missing the ticket collection. (I can't get these emailed to me like I can with everything else).
As with many things in this country, it took a lot of waiting around, a lot of re-explaining my story to several different people and a LOT of errors and wrong info before I finally had tickets in my hot little hand. It was an epic four and a half hours waiting until I got them, so needless to say I am glad to be back at home recovering and away from the freezing a/c of the office. I'm only a bit ashamed of getting a tad emotional with the supervisor but I think it was what finally convinced him to make them help me!! :P
Not much else was going on, as I was pretty much just resting and doing things around the house. I did go to the mall to pick up a few things, one of which was a scrapbook as some friends and I are planning on starting a 'craft n wine' night- bring whatever we're working on, have a few glasses of wine and watch some tv box sets. Yay!!!!
It's getting really hot in Dubai now, I felt the need to be outside for a little bit, so went to the pool with my book but I only lasted 40mins before the heat sent me scurrying back inside. It's sure going to be a change being in Oz during winter- family tells me there was a huge storm the last few days and it even hailed in my city!!!! I'd better pack warm clothes...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Things I'm Loving
* DVD box sets-
with the weather heating up (50'C is not uncommon now) a good, addictive tv series is just the way to go. I've been watching The Hills Season 6, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey (which I finished in about 2 days) and Big Bang Theory Season 4. Yay for good tv
* My $9 Jackets-
During my Sydney trip I stopped by SES on a whim and bought 2 semi-military style light jackets- one in a bone/beige colour and the other in charcoal. I have lots of 'cold' jackets and cardis but nothing really in between. I've been wearing the beige one almost constantly since I got back. Shopping this cheap is guilt free! :D
* Staff Tickets-
I really am lucky to be able to make use of discounted airfares to go travelling. As I already posted, I went to Prague for 2 days recently and am taking my sister to Adelaide during my leave so we can visit our grandparents. I'm going to try to aim to do a mini trip at least once every 3 months, if not oftener.
* Twitter-
Aside from keeping in touch with friends, I've been able to find out some great travel info, recommendations of places to go and best of all, I saved money on my credit card by talking to my bank on Twitter! They managed to sort out some issues I'd been trying to have fixed for at least 6 months and all it took was one phone call. I don't like to plug things but National Australia Bank is definitely taking a step in the right direction with the way they're using social media.
* Saving (Well, not spending as much)
As you might know, one of my goals this year has been to pay off my credit card debt- happy to say I've been making progress (with some help from NAB) and have been very good- I went to Sydney and didn't use my credit card once, not even for hotel bills or anything, which is very unusual for me! I'm on track with my car loan and in about 5 months it will be finished so I can use that money towards my credit card and start paying it down even faster.
* The Internet-
Well duh, this is an obvious one for me, but I do love it. Aside from my blog, it allows me to keep in touch with friends and family, and get things done that I would otherwise only be able to do when I go home on leave. Sometimes just a silly random email from a friend is just what I need. Currently, normal everyday emails from a friend about the progress of the house she is building are keeping me a little bit at home.
with the weather heating up (50'C is not uncommon now) a good, addictive tv series is just the way to go. I've been watching The Hills Season 6, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey (which I finished in about 2 days) and Big Bang Theory Season 4. Yay for good tv
* My $9 Jackets-
During my Sydney trip I stopped by SES on a whim and bought 2 semi-military style light jackets- one in a bone/beige colour and the other in charcoal. I have lots of 'cold' jackets and cardis but nothing really in between. I've been wearing the beige one almost constantly since I got back. Shopping this cheap is guilt free! :D
* Staff Tickets-
I really am lucky to be able to make use of discounted airfares to go travelling. As I already posted, I went to Prague for 2 days recently and am taking my sister to Adelaide during my leave so we can visit our grandparents. I'm going to try to aim to do a mini trip at least once every 3 months, if not oftener.
* Twitter-
Aside from keeping in touch with friends, I've been able to find out some great travel info, recommendations of places to go and best of all, I saved money on my credit card by talking to my bank on Twitter! They managed to sort out some issues I'd been trying to have fixed for at least 6 months and all it took was one phone call. I don't like to plug things but National Australia Bank is definitely taking a step in the right direction with the way they're using social media.
* Saving (Well, not spending as much)
As you might know, one of my goals this year has been to pay off my credit card debt- happy to say I've been making progress (with some help from NAB) and have been very good- I went to Sydney and didn't use my credit card once, not even for hotel bills or anything, which is very unusual for me! I'm on track with my car loan and in about 5 months it will be finished so I can use that money towards my credit card and start paying it down even faster.
* The Internet-
Well duh, this is an obvious one for me, but I do love it. Aside from my blog, it allows me to keep in touch with friends and family, and get things done that I would otherwise only be able to do when I go home on leave. Sometimes just a silly random email from a friend is just what I need. Currently, normal everyday emails from a friend about the progress of the house she is building are keeping me a little bit at home.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Stormy Weather
Living in the desert, it's easy to forget what "normal" weather is like. Sure, I don't live in the DESERT desert, like other people, and there are plants and trees and greenery around. But the weather, while mostly nice, can be downright depressing on occasions.
In winter, it's very pleasant, nice temperatures and the odd cloudy days perfect for going to the beach, every so often a windy day and occasionally a sudden dust storm will blow up out of nowhere. Those can be quite scary! During summer it's about 5 months on endless furnace temps (50'C is not uncommon) and the wind only makes it worse...
One thing I do miss living here is rain. Sure, at the time I used to moan about how annoying it was, getting from my car to the house and car to work and getting soaked. But I do love lying in bed & listening to the rain fall, it's soothing. I also love how the air smells after rain, it's fresh and earthy, like eveything is clean.
The other day a friend & I were talking about this exact thing actually, how nice it is to be snuggled up under the covers & listening to the rain on the roof. The weather forecast said there was supposed to be some rain the next day. We pooh-poohed it as probably coming to nothing like most rain showers here. I commented how I really missed the rain and how nice it would be to be able to do just that, hide under the doona while the rain comes down.
Funnily enough, about 30mins later I got a text from said friend telling me that at their place it has just started bucketing down rain, and was it raining at my house yet? It was starting to drizzle a little bit by this time, so I went downstairs. All of a sudden it was like someone turned on the tap- water coming down in sheets, thunder and lightning (very very frightening, haha) It was GREAT!!!
I stood in front of my building under the eave, still getting partly soaked but loving that we were in the middle of a storm and it was still WARM!! I was getting odd looks from everyone else takign shelter in the building lobby. A stack of delivery bicycles and motorbikes was slowly growing in our driveway as the poor food delivery guys ran to the lobby to get out of the rain.
It was awesome, and the rain probably happened again about three or four times that night, and again the next day. The storm seemed really close from 20+ floors up! My friends down the road are more than 40 floors up & said that it felt like the lightning was going to come inside the apartment! I woke up at about 4am with rain pelting my windows. I recalled seeing the window cleaners out all that day prior to the storm and felt sorry for them, all that work wasted and probably lots of gunk washed down from the top of the building to keep them occupied for another month!
So weird that I had just been saying I missed the rain, and not an hour later here was a storm! Now, about that million dollars I've been wanting...
In winter, it's very pleasant, nice temperatures and the odd cloudy days perfect for going to the beach, every so often a windy day and occasionally a sudden dust storm will blow up out of nowhere. Those can be quite scary! During summer it's about 5 months on endless furnace temps (50'C is not uncommon) and the wind only makes it worse...
One thing I do miss living here is rain. Sure, at the time I used to moan about how annoying it was, getting from my car to the house and car to work and getting soaked. But I do love lying in bed & listening to the rain fall, it's soothing. I also love how the air smells after rain, it's fresh and earthy, like eveything is clean.
The other day a friend & I were talking about this exact thing actually, how nice it is to be snuggled up under the covers & listening to the rain on the roof. The weather forecast said there was supposed to be some rain the next day. We pooh-poohed it as probably coming to nothing like most rain showers here. I commented how I really missed the rain and how nice it would be to be able to do just that, hide under the doona while the rain comes down.
Funnily enough, about 30mins later I got a text from said friend telling me that at their place it has just started bucketing down rain, and was it raining at my house yet? It was starting to drizzle a little bit by this time, so I went downstairs. All of a sudden it was like someone turned on the tap- water coming down in sheets, thunder and lightning (very very frightening, haha) It was GREAT!!!
I stood in front of my building under the eave, still getting partly soaked but loving that we were in the middle of a storm and it was still WARM!! I was getting odd looks from everyone else takign shelter in the building lobby. A stack of delivery bicycles and motorbikes was slowly growing in our driveway as the poor food delivery guys ran to the lobby to get out of the rain.
It was awesome, and the rain probably happened again about three or four times that night, and again the next day. The storm seemed really close from 20+ floors up! My friends down the road are more than 40 floors up & said that it felt like the lightning was going to come inside the apartment! I woke up at about 4am with rain pelting my windows. I recalled seeing the window cleaners out all that day prior to the storm and felt sorry for them, all that work wasted and probably lots of gunk washed down from the top of the building to keep them occupied for another month!
So weird that I had just been saying I missed the rain, and not an hour later here was a storm! Now, about that million dollars I've been wanting...
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
LV = Leave = LOVE!
Finally the day rolled around where that blessed green box appeared on my roster: XX followed by two weeks of 'LV LV LV LV LV'. Woo hoo!!!
I arrived from New York at about 9pm, then right away I started doing my washing and getting my bags ready. Of course, after being so tired on the landing and through to the bus trip back to my apartment, by this time I could not fall asleep. I probably had about 2 or 3 hours of sleep by the time my phone rang to wake me up. I decided to skip getting a taxi to the airport and use the convenient Dubai Metro instead. It was a short walk from my building to a station and then onto the train. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes to get to the airport. From there it was easy to take my bags and check in. Phew, my bag weighed right on the 30kg limit, lucky!!!
I spent awhile looking around the shops and the airport in general. It's only when on leave that we actually get to see inside the airport; usually we get taken direct to the plane from our crew centre and so miss seeing all the goings on of the airport. I picked up some supplies for the flight (bottled water and some snacks in case I didn't like what was being served) then had myself a quick breakfast before boarding. (See, it's not that hard to do, passengers who tell me you can't buy water in the airport!!!)
I went to the gate as it said boarding, but silly me didn't actually look outside of the window and check if there was even a plane there. (It wasn't there yet). After waiting about 45 minutes, the plane did show up and was cleaned ready for our flight. While waiting, I got talking to a girl sitting by me, as she wanted to plug her iPhone to my laptop to charge it. No problem. It turned out she used to work in a town that one of my previous airlines flew to. We even knew some of the same people. Small world indeed!!!
Once boarding was called for my section I headed onboard, putting the things I needed immediately in the seat pocket (and making sure I didn't block the aisle while I did so). The size of people's carry on luggage still never ceases to amaze me. I had the smallest of small rollaboard bags, others were bringing stupidly large bags plus myriad smaller items, then getting annoyed when there was nowhere to put them. Of course, putting things under the seat in front (in their own legroom) was out of the question. The lady in front of me wanted to put her bags in MY legroom (Um, no thank you was my answer).
Soon everyone was settled and off we went. I was going home!!! Despite being tired, I didn't (or couldn't) sleep. I ate my lunch (which was the fish as they'd run out of the choices) and it wasn't too bad. Of course some people made such a fuss, so when the poor crew got to me, he nearly had to ask me to repeat myself when I said that whatever he was serving is fine. I wasn't using a crew bag so I don't know if he knew I was crew- his reaction said probably not. After the meal was done I watched some movies. "Morning Glory" with Rachel McAdams and "Never Let Me Go" with Carey Mulligan. I quite like her, aside from her cute awards show outfits she has an interesting face.
Anyway, the flight was okay, weird and uncomfortable for me because I'm not used to sitting for so long. Eventually, we arrived and it was nearly time to meet my family. Yay!
After a brief stop in duty free to buy Moet for my sister's birthday, it was out to Arrivals & my family. We got my bags into the car then headed home. Being around 3am by this time, we were all hungry and I requested to make a stop on the way home.
Hungry Jack's!!! For those of you who like Burger King, imagine it but ten times better. I still haven't found any Burger King anywhere in the world that even comes close to Aussie Hungry Jack's- not even in NZ.
Getting home, I dumped my stuff in the foyer and we descended into the lounge to devour our burgers and fries.... man it was sooooooo good!!! All the while watching 'Jersey Shore' (don't ask) re-runs and me answering myriad questions about my life in the Middle East.
I'm not one of those people who can keep a good gift under wraps for long, so of course then the unpacking of bags in the middle of the lounge room floor followed, I like seeing what people think of the presents I got for them. As it was my sister's 30th birthday I splashed out a bit and bought her the new Dior Cannage makeup palette, she said it was exactly what she had been thinking to buy for herself and the cool thing is onc eth emakeup is gone the case can be used as a clutch bag. Cute!!
For my aunt I got an 'I <3 NYC' t-shirt and glass Arabic perfume bottle and for my sister's BF I got him a set of new york shot glasses with the Subway symbols on them which are really cool looking.
The first few days of leave were spent doing boring stuff like Dr's appointments, car service and all that fun stuff. We didn't really do a lot, I hadn't planned much before I left and we just went with the flow.
Most nights we had a dinner together followed by cocktails and watching tv. During the day it was so hot, which resulted in spending lots of time at the local pool or the beach. I loved going to the beach, here are real beaches, not the yuvky rubbish-strewn ones I'd seen in Dubai. I didn't need to worry about creepy guys taking my photo. SOme nights it was so hot that we went to the beach at 10 or 11pm. I'm also kind of ashamed to admit that we did have our fair share of meals at Hungry Jacks or making stops for M&M McFlurries from McDonald's. The last big meal I had in Oz was fish and chips at Peter's by the Sea, in Scarborough. It's been there since my dad was young and was THE hangout by the beach. Happy to say the chips are as good as ever and the fish was really nice, batter golden crispy and piping hot. As always there was lots of chicken salt involved. Yum!!!
This probably makes for a boring post, but just being at home and hanging out with the family was great. While home, I celebrated my 28th birthday, along with my gorgeous nephew who turned 1 on the same day. We had a big BBQ with delicious food and of course, cake- or in our case- cakes :P
The times when my family were working was when I did all those things that one does when on leave- bank stuff, getting my fillings re-done, sorting my boxes which were in storage. That part was kind of fun (despite the heat) and it was almost like shopping as I got to clothes I had wished I'd brought with me when I moved. Now, I have much more choice when it comes to what I wear in Dubai.
Too soon it was time to get on the plane back to Dubai. This time I had to share the row of 3 with a couple, about my age. All through the flight the girl kept going to the bathroom what felt like evry five minutes. She wanted me to trade my aisle seat for the window. Normally, I'd agree but they had been annoying me so much, sticking their elbows into my space, trying to put their bags in my foot space & so on... plus, I hate being in the window as sitting down for that long is hard enough as it is without being trapped. Eventually, I wandered down the cabin and found another seat as she just kept climbing over me without warning, not giving me the chance to move my legs. Win for the inconsiderate passengers! :P
Finally we reached Dubai. I lugged my bags outside the airport but having never come through the arrivals since I moved here, I got lost and couldn't find the way to the Metro (the odd directions from one of the staff didn't help, either). After about half an hour I managed to backtrack & find the right way. Arrived home at the apartment & typically couldn't sleep! It was okay as I had a day before my next flight.
Soon enough it was time to get ready for work again. This time I'd be going back to Bangkok!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Month of Blah
March roster. The dreaded reserve month rolled around. I didn't mind that I'd be on reserve for one month; I figured it'd be fun to be surprised about where I'd be flying to and maybe to get a flight to Sydney (like most of my friends) or to be assigned to fly somewhere new.
No such luck!! I'd finished February with a nice Bangkok trip, and then I waited expectantly to be assigned a flight- any flight. The days went by without any calls, and I was surprised, but just figured that it was the start of the month & not many people were calling in sick yet. Towards the end of the month is when people usually start deciding they're too run down to go to work or can't rally as much as they can at the start to go to work with say, something minor going on.
I had a couple of home standbys, and I was ready with suitcase (almost) packed and uniform ironed & hung up. (I wasn't sure how much notice I'd get if I was called for a flight). I needn't have worried- I still didn't get any calls. Must be a slow month, I figured.
Finally, on the 11th, I was assigned an airport standby. I knew there were several flights short of crew, so on arriving at the standby lounge at the airport I fully expected to either be pre-assigned a flight or to receive one shortly. A London Heathrow departed with another girl on it. The time crawled by. I wasn't feeling too good that day as I'd had a fight with a friend the day before; that wiped out any chance of sleeping in the quiet room until they called me. Finally, I saw the standby officer on the phone. He was mentioning JFK (New York) and kept looking at me. I was kind of tired for such a long flight but the hours would be good. He saw me looking at him, got off the phone then told me they weren't using me for that flight either, even though it was only an hour or less until departure time. They called someone in from home standby. No flight for me!!
I went home & crashed out, exhausted from the tension of waiting and going so long without working. I was starting to worry about not having a good pay next month, but there was nothing I could do about it. One more home standby followed and again without a call. That night, around assignment time at 6pm, my roster changed to - finally - give me a flight. Manchester. It wasn't the best but it'd do. I hadn't been to the UK in ages.
It ended up being a good trip, which deserves a little post of its own, and soon enough I was back in Dubai, waiting to see what woud be next. I had some days off, then some more standby, followed by a New York that appeared a day in advance on my line. Thank goodness, good hours!! Even though that flight has a bit of a reputation, I was glad to get more work. That trip also has a post in the works, so I won't go into too much detail here, but it was fun!
Back again to Dubai, my body clock screwed up by arriving at night, therefore making me unable to sleep which sent me into about a week of being up all night and sleeping all day. Mushroom shift, I call it- only out at night ;P
I waited for the inevitable end-of-month rush, filling my time by reading, cleaning house, sitting at the pool trying not to get burnt, and other things like that. Had the odd outing with friends when I was released from home standby 'prison' (chained to the phone, lol) and yet... no flights. It was excruciatingly boring, especially when all my friends were going to Hong Kong (with a layover) Bangkok or even the long Sydney Auckland trip. I was dying to go back to Oz, and started to get really homesick.
People were flaking on plans made & friends were popping up on Facebook in photos of fun nights out, days at the beach and other fun things, all while not replying to my messages or saying they were 'too busy'. One of two people were reliable but I really got a glimpse of just how flaky life in Dubai can be... the saving spots were a nice dinner with my new Dubai friends Tai & Robert (yummy food as always; I was sent home with dessert carefully wrapped by Tai) and the few little explorations I made into new parts of Dubai I hadn't seen before. And some good books! I finalyl found a copy of Impossiblecat's book here and devoured it in about 2 days (thoughts on that later)
Roster day was agonisingly slow; it was 2 days late and as always, Facebook was full of people asking if anyone had their roster yet. I was anxious to see what I'd be doing in April, hoping against hope I'd have a busy month and maybe a flight to Australia in the mix. Finally, on the 28th, the roster came. Three flights. I got three flights for the whole month!! I'm bracing myself now for the inevitable two months of really low pay packets. I'm a little bit worried; I'll barely make enough to send home to cover my car loan & other bills, but there's no use worrying about that. Hopefully I can pick up more work in May. Fingers crossed!
April had me going once to London & twice to NY. I was hoping for a Hong Kong trip as it's the last month we'll be doing the direct flight, but I didn't get one. Quite disappointing as people in my group were getting two or three each for the last 2 months, even off reserve. I spent hours on the swap system, trying for a Sydney, but either people or were unwilling or illegal to swap. The standby day inserted in front of about half the Sydney trips was really messing with my ability to get a trip - we can't swap standbys, don't ask me why!! I somehow found a guy to swap with, but he ended up having no US visa, so the swap was invalid. I guess I'm just not meant to go to Sydney this month.
Finally, someone wanted to swap my New York for a Hong Kong layover trip. It was a really hard decision, as I'd lose hours, but eventually I decided that I took this job to see new places & I should seize the chance to go to HKG while it was there. I was going to be poor next month anyway, it didn't really matter how much... :P
So, that ends the Month of Blah that was!!! I know it sounds like a lot of complaining, and normally time off would be great... but I wanted to work ;) We'll see what the May roster brings...
No such luck!! I'd finished February with a nice Bangkok trip, and then I waited expectantly to be assigned a flight- any flight. The days went by without any calls, and I was surprised, but just figured that it was the start of the month & not many people were calling in sick yet. Towards the end of the month is when people usually start deciding they're too run down to go to work or can't rally as much as they can at the start to go to work with say, something minor going on.
I had a couple of home standbys, and I was ready with suitcase (almost) packed and uniform ironed & hung up. (I wasn't sure how much notice I'd get if I was called for a flight). I needn't have worried- I still didn't get any calls. Must be a slow month, I figured.
Finally, on the 11th, I was assigned an airport standby. I knew there were several flights short of crew, so on arriving at the standby lounge at the airport I fully expected to either be pre-assigned a flight or to receive one shortly. A London Heathrow departed with another girl on it. The time crawled by. I wasn't feeling too good that day as I'd had a fight with a friend the day before; that wiped out any chance of sleeping in the quiet room until they called me. Finally, I saw the standby officer on the phone. He was mentioning JFK (New York) and kept looking at me. I was kind of tired for such a long flight but the hours would be good. He saw me looking at him, got off the phone then told me they weren't using me for that flight either, even though it was only an hour or less until departure time. They called someone in from home standby. No flight for me!!
I went home & crashed out, exhausted from the tension of waiting and going so long without working. I was starting to worry about not having a good pay next month, but there was nothing I could do about it. One more home standby followed and again without a call. That night, around assignment time at 6pm, my roster changed to - finally - give me a flight. Manchester. It wasn't the best but it'd do. I hadn't been to the UK in ages.
It ended up being a good trip, which deserves a little post of its own, and soon enough I was back in Dubai, waiting to see what woud be next. I had some days off, then some more standby, followed by a New York that appeared a day in advance on my line. Thank goodness, good hours!! Even though that flight has a bit of a reputation, I was glad to get more work. That trip also has a post in the works, so I won't go into too much detail here, but it was fun!
Back again to Dubai, my body clock screwed up by arriving at night, therefore making me unable to sleep which sent me into about a week of being up all night and sleeping all day. Mushroom shift, I call it- only out at night ;P
I waited for the inevitable end-of-month rush, filling my time by reading, cleaning house, sitting at the pool trying not to get burnt, and other things like that. Had the odd outing with friends when I was released from home standby 'prison' (chained to the phone, lol) and yet... no flights. It was excruciatingly boring, especially when all my friends were going to Hong Kong (with a layover) Bangkok or even the long Sydney Auckland trip. I was dying to go back to Oz, and started to get really homesick.
People were flaking on plans made & friends were popping up on Facebook in photos of fun nights out, days at the beach and other fun things, all while not replying to my messages or saying they were 'too busy'. One of two people were reliable but I really got a glimpse of just how flaky life in Dubai can be... the saving spots were a nice dinner with my new Dubai friends Tai & Robert (yummy food as always; I was sent home with dessert carefully wrapped by Tai) and the few little explorations I made into new parts of Dubai I hadn't seen before. And some good books! I finalyl found a copy of Impossiblecat's book here and devoured it in about 2 days (thoughts on that later)
Roster day was agonisingly slow; it was 2 days late and as always, Facebook was full of people asking if anyone had their roster yet. I was anxious to see what I'd be doing in April, hoping against hope I'd have a busy month and maybe a flight to Australia in the mix. Finally, on the 28th, the roster came. Three flights. I got three flights for the whole month!! I'm bracing myself now for the inevitable two months of really low pay packets. I'm a little bit worried; I'll barely make enough to send home to cover my car loan & other bills, but there's no use worrying about that. Hopefully I can pick up more work in May. Fingers crossed!
April had me going once to London & twice to NY. I was hoping for a Hong Kong trip as it's the last month we'll be doing the direct flight, but I didn't get one. Quite disappointing as people in my group were getting two or three each for the last 2 months, even off reserve. I spent hours on the swap system, trying for a Sydney, but either people or were unwilling or illegal to swap. The standby day inserted in front of about half the Sydney trips was really messing with my ability to get a trip - we can't swap standbys, don't ask me why!! I somehow found a guy to swap with, but he ended up having no US visa, so the swap was invalid. I guess I'm just not meant to go to Sydney this month.
Finally, someone wanted to swap my New York for a Hong Kong layover trip. It was a really hard decision, as I'd lose hours, but eventually I decided that I took this job to see new places & I should seize the chance to go to HKG while it was there. I was going to be poor next month anyway, it didn't really matter how much... :P
So, that ends the Month of Blah that was!!! I know it sounds like a lot of complaining, and normally time off would be great... but I wanted to work ;) We'll see what the May roster brings...
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Kitty Therapy!!!
Like many cat owners, I find that they can provide a general feeling of comfort when times are tough. Here's an example of my two, as seen on my arrival home on leave.
Too cuuuuuute!!!!!
Too cuuuuuute!!!!!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tick Tock...
Since my last post I've done two trips; one to Manchester and one to New York. Of course I took lots of pictures in New York, so a post for that will be following shortly. Manchester was fairly quiet but still worthy of a post so hopefully I will be able to write about that on my next days off.
Of course the big news this week was the floods in Brisbane. It's been quite surreal to see something like this happening in my own country, albeit only on tv. It almost doesn't seem real, but for the emails & Facebook posts from my friends from and in Brisbane.
Luckily the worst of it seems to be over, but the cleanup will take a long time. Now I've logged onto Google and seen that Victoria is now under threat of flooding. Actually, some areas are already cut off by floodwaters. What on earth is going on???
As the authorities are asking for us NOT to donate physical goods at this time, I made a small donation online today. This is the most immediate need- financial aid to get the recovery & cleanup efforts starting immediately. Material supplies aside from food can come in later on. I'm planning to sort out some of my things in storage when I go home on leave and donate the excess. I also have a large stash of hotel toiletries which I collected during the flooding in Pakistan last year, but by the time I got back from my trip the company had asked for no more as they had received more than they could handle. Hopefully I can take them with me when I go on leave, or get someone taking a Brisbane flight to take them for me.
If you want to make a donation too (however small or large) go HERE- every bit helps!!!
I'll leave you with a photo of the retro airplane clock I bought on my travels... cute no??
Of course the big news this week was the floods in Brisbane. It's been quite surreal to see something like this happening in my own country, albeit only on tv. It almost doesn't seem real, but for the emails & Facebook posts from my friends from and in Brisbane.
Luckily the worst of it seems to be over, but the cleanup will take a long time. Now I've logged onto Google and seen that Victoria is now under threat of flooding. Actually, some areas are already cut off by floodwaters. What on earth is going on???
As the authorities are asking for us NOT to donate physical goods at this time, I made a small donation online today. This is the most immediate need- financial aid to get the recovery & cleanup efforts starting immediately. Material supplies aside from food can come in later on. I'm planning to sort out some of my things in storage when I go home on leave and donate the excess. I also have a large stash of hotel toiletries which I collected during the flooding in Pakistan last year, but by the time I got back from my trip the company had asked for no more as they had received more than they could handle. Hopefully I can take them with me when I go on leave, or get someone taking a Brisbane flight to take them for me.
If you want to make a donation too (however small or large) go HERE- every bit helps!!!
I'll leave you with a photo of the retro airplane clock I bought on my travels... cute no??
Friday, January 7, 2011
2010- The Year that Was
Happy New Year, everyone!!!!
I'm a bit late but here's a round-up of some of the things that happened in 2010.
January
Rang in the New Year with my fellow crew while on layover in Adelaide. We drank champagne and annoyed fellow guests by blowing our party horns :P I reminisced about favourite childhood toys, discovered Pretty in Pink at the Rocks Markets in Sydney and decided to start taking responsibility for my finances.
February
I found the perfect black & white Chanel-style jacket, fell in love with OPI nail polish all over again, started cleaning out my wardrobe via selling on Ebay and turned 27! I got the best birthday present of all when my third nephew was born ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!
March
On the spur-of-the-moment, I attended a walk-in interview for a big foreign airline cabin crew position. Visited the new pandas from China at the Adelaide Zoo while on layover. Got the phone call that would turn my life upside down- I would be moving overseas to work!!!
April
Enjoyed my remaining flights & layovers in Oz. I had my wisdom teeth removed and was poked with more injections and blood tests than I care to remember. The Great Wardrobe Clearout continued, with me getting around $400 for all my unwanted stuff on eBay. I also took a lovely 5-day vacation to Bali for my good friends' wedding. I loved it!
May
Re-discovered my childhood love of video games when my sister gifted me her first-generation Nintendo DS (the one that also plays GBA games). Finished preparations for the Big Move Overseas. Loved every last minute of my final few weeks of flying, got some great photos then sadly fell victim to the flu so spent my final Melbourne layover sick in bed at the hotel.
June
Started to panic as my departure date grew closer. Had lots of fun times with my family and final catch-up parties with friends. Finished packing up my life and said goodbye to my family before boarding my flight the the Middle East. Arrived shell-shocked into the hottest part of the Middle Eastern summer, with temps above 50'C in the daytime.
Sporadic internet posting ensued due to lack of internet in my flat until my 5th week in the country.
July
I was still settling in to my new home. Training was very intense yet fun and I made a lot of new friends & learnt about the culture of my new home. Started nesting by decorating my room and making it feel more like 'mine'. We received our uniforms and had extreme fun playing dress-up. We completed our final weeks of training, learning how to do the service onboard.
August
I discovered Polyvore, spending hours procrastinating doing my homework to make fashion sets online. Lol. Through this I came to know about the fashions of Emma Pillsbury from 'Glee', but as yet did not start watching the show. I took my first supernumerary flight as a cabin crew for the new airline. I went to... LONDON!!! My first operating flight was to Paris.
September
Visited Bangkok for the first time. Finally got a taste of home with a 6 day Sydney/Auckland trip. It was SO good to be back 'home', even if it was in a different city. Stocked up on Aussie goodies in Woolworths, had a bit too much to drink on a night out with the crew in Auckland and generally had myself a whale of a time. Had an eBay relapse & bought a Sonia Rykiel dress for a fraction of the price. Took my first trip to Seoul, South Korea and fell in love with Daiso, a Japanese discount store.
October
Another trip to Sydney, where I visited the Chinese Garden of Friendship.
I also returned to Seoul where I rode the metro for the first time and came home with a baby cactus plant for my room. Went to Manchester for the first time, getting to fly with fellow blogger Krysta and hit up Primark for a teeny shopping spree :P I ended October with another Sydney/Auckland trip, where we happened to layover in Sydney on Halloween. The crew all decided to have a last-minute costume party in the hotel crew room which was hilariously fun (and also got us kicked out of the lounge for being too noisy). At the time I didn't know it would be the last Aussie trip I'd have for the foreseeable future, or I wouldn't have bothered sleeping :p
My life became complete when I discovered the hilarity & plain craziness that is Hyperbole & A Half. Seriously, go look!
November
Just the same old, same old!! As I didn't really blog my trips I can't really tell you what I did. Actually, I took my first trip to Toronto, Canada (which I have yet to post about, but it's on my list) and I visited Niagara falls!!! =) I also discovered 'Glee'!
December
Began my month with a trip to Jeddah, had to call sick for my first New York trip (boohoo) which was then replaced with yet another Jeddah turn. Then off to Bangkok/Hong Kong three times, with the month ending with Jeddah again. Christmas was spent in Bangkok. I also hit the 6-month mark in Dubai and passed my probation period to become fully-fledged cabin crew for this airline.
At least the last Jeddah got me New Year's eve off, along with the first three days of January! I rang in 2011 with four cool fellow crew, dancing on the beach to live music and watching the fireworks go off at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Island.
All in all, 2010 was a pretty great year!!! Here's to 2011 being even better!
Myresolutions aims for the year to come are:
* Continue to pay off as much of my debts as I can
* Research the possibilities for getting back to my flying (pilot) training
* Enjoy travel as much as possible & take advantage of the perks of this job for as long as I can
* Don't overthink too much in life or worry about what other people think; do what feels right and stop worrying so much about everything. Be happy with my life & who I am, and stop worrying about being single. If someone is meant to come along, they will!
* Be grateful for the good things when I'm having a bad day
I'm a bit late but here's a round-up of some of the things that happened in 2010.
January
Rang in the New Year with my fellow crew while on layover in Adelaide. We drank champagne and annoyed fellow guests by blowing our party horns :P I reminisced about favourite childhood toys, discovered Pretty in Pink at the Rocks Markets in Sydney and decided to start taking responsibility for my finances.
February
I found the perfect black & white Chanel-style jacket, fell in love with OPI nail polish all over again, started cleaning out my wardrobe via selling on Ebay and turned 27! I got the best birthday present of all when my third nephew was born ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!
March
On the spur-of-the-moment, I attended a walk-in interview for a big foreign airline cabin crew position. Visited the new pandas from China at the Adelaide Zoo while on layover. Got the phone call that would turn my life upside down- I would be moving overseas to work!!!
April
Enjoyed my remaining flights & layovers in Oz. I had my wisdom teeth removed and was poked with more injections and blood tests than I care to remember. The Great Wardrobe Clearout continued, with me getting around $400 for all my unwanted stuff on eBay. I also took a lovely 5-day vacation to Bali for my good friends' wedding. I loved it!
May
Re-discovered my childhood love of video games when my sister gifted me her first-generation Nintendo DS (the one that also plays GBA games). Finished preparations for the Big Move Overseas. Loved every last minute of my final few weeks of flying, got some great photos then sadly fell victim to the flu so spent my final Melbourne layover sick in bed at the hotel.
June
Started to panic as my departure date grew closer. Had lots of fun times with my family and final catch-up parties with friends. Finished packing up my life and said goodbye to my family before boarding my flight the the Middle East. Arrived shell-shocked into the hottest part of the Middle Eastern summer, with temps above 50'C in the daytime.
Sporadic internet posting ensued due to lack of internet in my flat until my 5th week in the country.
July
I was still settling in to my new home. Training was very intense yet fun and I made a lot of new friends & learnt about the culture of my new home. Started nesting by decorating my room and making it feel more like 'mine'. We received our uniforms and had extreme fun playing dress-up. We completed our final weeks of training, learning how to do the service onboard.
August
I discovered Polyvore, spending hours procrastinating doing my homework to make fashion sets online. Lol. Through this I came to know about the fashions of Emma Pillsbury from 'Glee', but as yet did not start watching the show. I took my first supernumerary flight as a cabin crew for the new airline. I went to... LONDON!!! My first operating flight was to Paris.
September
Visited Bangkok for the first time. Finally got a taste of home with a 6 day Sydney/Auckland trip. It was SO good to be back 'home', even if it was in a different city. Stocked up on Aussie goodies in Woolworths, had a bit too much to drink on a night out with the crew in Auckland and generally had myself a whale of a time. Had an eBay relapse & bought a Sonia Rykiel dress for a fraction of the price. Took my first trip to Seoul, South Korea and fell in love with Daiso, a Japanese discount store.
October
Another trip to Sydney, where I visited the Chinese Garden of Friendship.
I also returned to Seoul where I rode the metro for the first time and came home with a baby cactus plant for my room. Went to Manchester for the first time, getting to fly with fellow blogger Krysta and hit up Primark for a teeny shopping spree :P I ended October with another Sydney/Auckland trip, where we happened to layover in Sydney on Halloween. The crew all decided to have a last-minute costume party in the hotel crew room which was hilariously fun (and also got us kicked out of the lounge for being too noisy). At the time I didn't know it would be the last Aussie trip I'd have for the foreseeable future, or I wouldn't have bothered sleeping :p
My life became complete when I discovered the hilarity & plain craziness that is Hyperbole & A Half. Seriously, go look!
November
Just the same old, same old!! As I didn't really blog my trips I can't really tell you what I did. Actually, I took my first trip to Toronto, Canada (which I have yet to post about, but it's on my list) and I visited Niagara falls!!! =) I also discovered 'Glee'!
December
Began my month with a trip to Jeddah, had to call sick for my first New York trip (boohoo) which was then replaced with yet another Jeddah turn. Then off to Bangkok/Hong Kong three times, with the month ending with Jeddah again. Christmas was spent in Bangkok. I also hit the 6-month mark in Dubai and passed my probation period to become fully-fledged cabin crew for this airline.
At least the last Jeddah got me New Year's eve off, along with the first three days of January! I rang in 2011 with four cool fellow crew, dancing on the beach to live music and watching the fireworks go off at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Island.
All in all, 2010 was a pretty great year!!! Here's to 2011 being even better!
My
* Continue to pay off as much of my debts as I can
* Research the possibilities for getting back to my flying (pilot) training
* Enjoy travel as much as possible & take advantage of the perks of this job for as long as I can
* Don't overthink too much in life or worry about what other people think; do what feels right and stop worrying so much about everything. Be happy with my life & who I am, and stop worrying about being single. If someone is meant to come along, they will!
* Be grateful for the good things when I'm having a bad day
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Buddha & Bangkok (Part 2)
On to the second part of the Bangkok photos. As I mentioned earlier, it was quite hot, so we tried to stay in the shady parts and look around there.
I think there would be probably a hundred of these statues all around the temple. Some of them were covered in plastic due to renovations, I noticed they have little number plaques on the base. I'm not sure if that's for the temple staff or if each statue has a particular significance.
In this hall of Buddhas I noticed that they use energy-efficient lightbulbs! :)
The outsides of the buildings had lots of tiles and mirrors on them, it really was quite pretty and almost blinding at times in the bright sun. The photos really don't do it justice.
Eventually after leaving our shoes, we made our way into the hall where the Reclining Buddha rests. It was a nice cool change from outside. As you go in you can hear a repetitive metallic clinking noise, along with the variety of tones of voice of people all speaking in different languages. As I walked along I could get glimpses of the Buddha through the columns holding up the roof.
This is one of the Buddha's feet. All over the soles of the feet are inscriptions & pictures, sadly my picture of this didn't turn out very well. As we rounded the other side of the Buddha, I saw a long line of metal pots on stands lining the walls. These were the source of the clinking noise I mentioned before. Visitors were holding small bowls of coins and walking along the line of pots, dropping coins in until they got to the end.
There wasn't really any explanation of this, but I guessed maybe it's something similar to doing a rosary where each coin is meant to be a prayer or maybe a nice thought. The noises I thought were maybe to bring luck or some such thing. Anyway, I decided to get a coin bowl (20baht) and walk along the line. As I dropped my coins I was trying to think a nice thought for each one, or for something I wanted to do or achieve in the next year. As I neared the end, I saw I sttill had plenty more coins, so started putting in a few at a time instead of one. I found the clinking noise as I dropped the coins strangely satisfying =D
On our way out of the Buddha hall, I spotted this sign, warning about pickpockets operating in the temple grounds.
It's amusing how they stress it's "non-Thai" pickpockets. I guess they want us to know that good Thai people are not pickpockets :p
Found this cat taking a nap in a potted tree in the temple grounds. He looked very relaxed, and doing what I wanted to be doing that afternoon- having a nice sleep! We made a quick stop at the gift shop to buy some postcards before making our way outside to find a taxi. It was too hot and we were too tired to continue on to the Grand Palace.
Outside the temple walls were some merchants selling souvenirs. I didn't really want anything but did notice these little brass bells (with the pink ribbon attached, above) and decided to get one. I always hate bargaining and I know the Thai sellers are less aggressive than elsewhere in Asia, still I thought 450baht was a bit much for the smallest size of bell. In the end I was about to cave and offer the lady her best price of 150 when she said she'd take 100. Win! If only I had a window that opens, so I could hear it ring! It's hanging on the wall next to my desk.
We hailed a taxi only to find that the driver was pretending not to know which hotel we wanted to go to, said the traffic was very busy and wanted to go off-meter and negotiate a price. The one he quoted was way too high, I smelt a scam so we got out and instead walked back through another small market, on our way to the boat pier at the stop before the one we had disembarked from.
After a slight detour around yet another stinky fish-section, we spotted this cool guy making juice from dragonfruit.
He was really nice and very jolly, we nicknamed him the Hippie Juice Guy. I do wonder if he was Thai or from somewhere else, as he had a different demeanor than the rest of the local people, maybe one of his parents is from somewhere else.
Anyway, he happily gave us our juice, told us all about the benefits of the fruit and was very careful to mention that he uses no water or ice, only the juice and it's very good for you with lots of antioxidants and fibre. I thought the colour of the juice was really cool. He told us this jucie is "happy and the colour of love" Awww! Hahaha, anyway, I will definitely go back if I''m in the area again to visit the Grand Palace. I liked the juice, and I was happy that the fruit was tasty as well as looking good, unlike some other cool-looking fruits which taste gross.
We took the boat back to our starting point, then walked to the hotel.
Hungry, we went to a nearby restaurant for a nice lunch, before returning to the hotel for a nap before the flight back to Dubai. Instead of my usual pizza or fish cakes, I tried the mozzarella, tomato and basil along with some garlic bread which was very tasty. Yum!!
The flight back was uneventful, with it being about 2/3 full in economy. I even got to play in business class for awhile after we had finished our service in economy. The cockpit crew were cool enough to let me sit in the cockpit for landing, sadly it being nighttime it was impossible to take photos, but I saw Burj Khalifa very clearly and even my apartment building!! :)
I'm heading back to Bangkok later in January, so hopefully I'll be able to get back and see the Grand Palace.
I think there would be probably a hundred of these statues all around the temple. Some of them were covered in plastic due to renovations, I noticed they have little number plaques on the base. I'm not sure if that's for the temple staff or if each statue has a particular significance.
In this hall of Buddhas I noticed that they use energy-efficient lightbulbs! :)
The outsides of the buildings had lots of tiles and mirrors on them, it really was quite pretty and almost blinding at times in the bright sun. The photos really don't do it justice.
Eventually after leaving our shoes, we made our way into the hall where the Reclining Buddha rests. It was a nice cool change from outside. As you go in you can hear a repetitive metallic clinking noise, along with the variety of tones of voice of people all speaking in different languages. As I walked along I could get glimpses of the Buddha through the columns holding up the roof.
This is one of the Buddha's feet. All over the soles of the feet are inscriptions & pictures, sadly my picture of this didn't turn out very well. As we rounded the other side of the Buddha, I saw a long line of metal pots on stands lining the walls. These were the source of the clinking noise I mentioned before. Visitors were holding small bowls of coins and walking along the line of pots, dropping coins in until they got to the end.
There wasn't really any explanation of this, but I guessed maybe it's something similar to doing a rosary where each coin is meant to be a prayer or maybe a nice thought. The noises I thought were maybe to bring luck or some such thing. Anyway, I decided to get a coin bowl (20baht) and walk along the line. As I dropped my coins I was trying to think a nice thought for each one, or for something I wanted to do or achieve in the next year. As I neared the end, I saw I sttill had plenty more coins, so started putting in a few at a time instead of one. I found the clinking noise as I dropped the coins strangely satisfying =D
On our way out of the Buddha hall, I spotted this sign, warning about pickpockets operating in the temple grounds.
It's amusing how they stress it's "non-Thai" pickpockets. I guess they want us to know that good Thai people are not pickpockets :p
Found this cat taking a nap in a potted tree in the temple grounds. He looked very relaxed, and doing what I wanted to be doing that afternoon- having a nice sleep! We made a quick stop at the gift shop to buy some postcards before making our way outside to find a taxi. It was too hot and we were too tired to continue on to the Grand Palace.
Outside the temple walls were some merchants selling souvenirs. I didn't really want anything but did notice these little brass bells (with the pink ribbon attached, above) and decided to get one. I always hate bargaining and I know the Thai sellers are less aggressive than elsewhere in Asia, still I thought 450baht was a bit much for the smallest size of bell. In the end I was about to cave and offer the lady her best price of 150 when she said she'd take 100. Win! If only I had a window that opens, so I could hear it ring! It's hanging on the wall next to my desk.
We hailed a taxi only to find that the driver was pretending not to know which hotel we wanted to go to, said the traffic was very busy and wanted to go off-meter and negotiate a price. The one he quoted was way too high, I smelt a scam so we got out and instead walked back through another small market, on our way to the boat pier at the stop before the one we had disembarked from.
After a slight detour around yet another stinky fish-section, we spotted this cool guy making juice from dragonfruit.
He was really nice and very jolly, we nicknamed him the Hippie Juice Guy. I do wonder if he was Thai or from somewhere else, as he had a different demeanor than the rest of the local people, maybe one of his parents is from somewhere else.
Anyway, he happily gave us our juice, told us all about the benefits of the fruit and was very careful to mention that he uses no water or ice, only the juice and it's very good for you with lots of antioxidants and fibre. I thought the colour of the juice was really cool. He told us this jucie is "happy and the colour of love" Awww! Hahaha, anyway, I will definitely go back if I''m in the area again to visit the Grand Palace. I liked the juice, and I was happy that the fruit was tasty as well as looking good, unlike some other cool-looking fruits which taste gross.
We took the boat back to our starting point, then walked to the hotel.
Hungry, we went to a nearby restaurant for a nice lunch, before returning to the hotel for a nap before the flight back to Dubai. Instead of my usual pizza or fish cakes, I tried the mozzarella, tomato and basil along with some garlic bread which was very tasty. Yum!!
The flight back was uneventful, with it being about 2/3 full in economy. I even got to play in business class for awhile after we had finished our service in economy. The cockpit crew were cool enough to let me sit in the cockpit for landing, sadly it being nighttime it was impossible to take photos, but I saw Burj Khalifa very clearly and even my apartment building!! :)
I'm heading back to Bangkok later in January, so hopefully I'll be able to get back and see the Grand Palace.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Gym Time...!
I admit it. I've been really slack in the gym department over the last few months. It's quite shameful really, considering that the apartment building I live in has a gym and pool on the premises. There's really no excuse!!
Back in October, I'd decided to get my act together and work out regularly. I'd go to the gym, even if for 40 minutes. Then after a particularly tiring trip, I spent the next three days sleeping during the day and awake all night, and any gym routine went out of the window.
Over the last two weeks, I've been pretty good. I've been going to the gym at least every second day and doing about 20 minutes on the cross trainer and 10-20 minutes on the rowing machine. I'd love to do some weights and I really need to get some toning in my abs but I have no idea how! Not being a gym bunny in any respect, I always feel like a total loser trying to use the exercise machines aside from what I already use.
I also have problems with motivation. I have my ipod and I work out to music or podcasts, but I'd love to find some other ways of keeping motivated in the gym. If you have any suggestions or advice to stop me falling off the wagon again, please leave a comment!!!
Back in October, I'd decided to get my act together and work out regularly. I'd go to the gym, even if for 40 minutes. Then after a particularly tiring trip, I spent the next three days sleeping during the day and awake all night, and any gym routine went out of the window.
Over the last two weeks, I've been pretty good. I've been going to the gym at least every second day and doing about 20 minutes on the cross trainer and 10-20 minutes on the rowing machine. I'd love to do some weights and I really need to get some toning in my abs but I have no idea how! Not being a gym bunny in any respect, I always feel like a total loser trying to use the exercise machines aside from what I already use.
I also have problems with motivation. I have my ipod and I work out to music or podcasts, but I'd love to find some other ways of keeping motivated in the gym. If you have any suggestions or advice to stop me falling off the wagon again, please leave a comment!!!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Preparing for Takeoff...
Well finally we are done with training school. It's kind of a relief but also scary too. No longer in the safe class environment with my batchmates and trainers, I now face real passengers and the actual aircraft that I've never set foot on before!!!
Of course it's not SO scary for me, being that I've flown before, but still... I tend to be moe critical of myself because I HAVE done this before, and I don't want to mess up or look stupid. So I need to keep reminding myself that I'm new and it's ok to be nervous and to ask for help :)
Over my last few days off, I've been doing things around the house, having some time at the mall, meeting up with friends visting Dubai, and of course eating lots of yummy food!
I really must stay away from the bookstore, Kinokuniya is a dangerous money-spending black hole of literary inspiration and goodness :P
I've also been thinking about getting a sewing machine at some point in the future. I'd like to begin making some things for myself, just easy projects like skirts and tops. All the clothes in Dubai are so samey and from chain stores. I haven't had a chance to get to the market in Jumeirah yet but I've heard it's good. A lot of the dresses and skirts here are quite short, I don't like it. I mean they'd be fine in Oz or the UK but here I want to be a bit more respectful, plus wearing short skirts mean men stare at you a lot. I want to find something in between this and the way the local women dress. Even with the abayas on they are so stylish, I had to really stop myself from staring at this one girl on the metro, she was the most beautiful woman I've seen in my time here, wish I could have gotten a picture but of course that's not allowed!
Now I'm just studying my manual before my supernumerary (SUPY) flight tomorrow. Basically it means I'm extra to the regular crew so I can see and learn what goes on before I do it for real. I'm going to London, yay! (Must stay away from the high street, must stay away from the high street!!)
Bye bye!
Of course it's not SO scary for me, being that I've flown before, but still... I tend to be moe critical of myself because I HAVE done this before, and I don't want to mess up or look stupid. So I need to keep reminding myself that I'm new and it's ok to be nervous and to ask for help :)
Over my last few days off, I've been doing things around the house, having some time at the mall, meeting up with friends visting Dubai, and of course eating lots of yummy food!
I really must stay away from the bookstore, Kinokuniya is a dangerous money-spending black hole of literary inspiration and goodness :P
I've also been thinking about getting a sewing machine at some point in the future. I'd like to begin making some things for myself, just easy projects like skirts and tops. All the clothes in Dubai are so samey and from chain stores. I haven't had a chance to get to the market in Jumeirah yet but I've heard it's good. A lot of the dresses and skirts here are quite short, I don't like it. I mean they'd be fine in Oz or the UK but here I want to be a bit more respectful, plus wearing short skirts mean men stare at you a lot. I want to find something in between this and the way the local women dress. Even with the abayas on they are so stylish, I had to really stop myself from staring at this one girl on the metro, she was the most beautiful woman I've seen in my time here, wish I could have gotten a picture but of course that's not allowed!
Now I'm just studying my manual before my supernumerary (SUPY) flight tomorrow. Basically it means I'm extra to the regular crew so I can see and learn what goes on before I do it for real. I'm going to London, yay! (Must stay away from the high street, must stay away from the high street!!)
Bye bye!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Argh!
Having some serious freak-out time at the moment!!!
Have realised I have a shade ovr 3 weeks until I'm on a plane and out of here.
SO much to do before then. I have no idea what I'm even taking with me. What DOES one take when moving to a new country?
Clothes, obviously. My quilt cover & photos so it feels like home. A supply of makeup & toiletries to last me until I get paid properly again.
My computer, some DVDs, a couple of my favourite books.
I need to buy a Nintendo DS as I've been using my sister's. Totally addicted to this game called the 'Legendary Starfy', it's so cute!!!
Obviously the DS is not a priority, but oh well.
Less worried about the money situation, I have about $500 saved to live off plus $200 in my Paypal from selling my:) old stuff on Ebay. My last 2 pays from work will go to my credit cards and a couple of my car payments so I don't need to worry about them for awhile.
Need to buy other things such as: new jeans, some new bras, some flat black shoes for training (I only have heels)
Question: I have my awesome zebra strappy heels, totally impractical but do I take them????
Moresoon, including a pic of my awesome vintage dress from ebay that I 'stole' for $18!!!!
Have realised I have a shade ovr 3 weeks until I'm on a plane and out of here.
SO much to do before then. I have no idea what I'm even taking with me. What DOES one take when moving to a new country?
Clothes, obviously. My quilt cover & photos so it feels like home. A supply of makeup & toiletries to last me until I get paid properly again.
My computer, some DVDs, a couple of my favourite books.
I need to buy a Nintendo DS as I've been using my sister's. Totally addicted to this game called the 'Legendary Starfy', it's so cute!!!
Obviously the DS is not a priority, but oh well.
Less worried about the money situation, I have about $500 saved to live off plus $200 in my Paypal from selling my:) old stuff on Ebay. My last 2 pays from work will go to my credit cards and a couple of my car payments so I don't need to worry about them for awhile.
Need to buy other things such as: new jeans, some new bras, some flat black shoes for training (I only have heels)
Question: I have my awesome zebra strappy heels, totally impractical but do I take them????
Moresoon, including a pic of my awesome vintage dress from ebay that I 'stole' for $18!!!!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Panda Panda
Not too much happening at the moment. I've been busy with work, as Easter is traditionally a busy time for people travelling. I was lucky enough to get a trip to Adelaide, with enough time to visit my grandparents' house for dinner.
While in Adelaide I also went with one of the other crew to the zoo to see new pandas which have moved there from China. Funi & WangWang are very cute, Funi is clearly the 'people panda', showing off a lot for the crowds.
At the moment my medical checks and so forth won't happen until mid-month, due to Easter break and getting an available doctor around my flying schedule. I would rather not call in sick from work as a) it's not really right and b) if I don't fly I don't get paid
That's pretty much it for now. Sold a few more things on eBay which is nice, as these shoes, bags etc are going to nice new homes. Be sure to check the link in my previous posts as I will add some more items soon.
A couple of readers have left comments asking if I have flight attendant experience. Yes, flying 4 years on both jets and commuter planes, with economy & business class experience plus a supervisor position.
While in Adelaide I also went with one of the other crew to the zoo to see new pandas which have moved there from China. Funi & WangWang are very cute, Funi is clearly the 'people panda', showing off a lot for the crowds.
At the moment my medical checks and so forth won't happen until mid-month, due to Easter break and getting an available doctor around my flying schedule. I would rather not call in sick from work as a) it's not really right and b) if I don't fly I don't get paid
That's pretty much it for now. Sold a few more things on eBay which is nice, as these shoes, bags etc are going to nice new homes. Be sure to check the link in my previous posts as I will add some more items soon.
A couple of readers have left comments asking if I have flight attendant experience. Yes, flying 4 years on both jets and commuter planes, with economy & business class experience plus a supervisor position.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Exciting News...
I've been a bit slack lately with posting, I do have plenty of pictures to share but have been super-busy! What have I been doing?
At the last minute, I heard about a walk-in open house for Emirates. They are hiring more crew as they are getting a lot of new planes this year and need more flight attendants. I had tried out for them 4 or 5 times since 2005 but never had any luck getting past the open house.
This past weekend, I went along and I made it past the open house, to the group callback and finally I received an invitation to the final interview! I had that yesterday morning and they said I will know within 2 weeks if I am moving to Dubai! Wow it went so fast and was unexpected, my head is spinning! Of course, this all depends on my passing a (very thorough) medical test which I don't anticipate any problems with! I loved my interview outfits if I do say so myself, sadly I was so caught up in wanting to pass that I forgot to take any pictures!!!
First day I wore a pretty 60's-inspired shift dress with a black and white print along with a more traditional black suit jacket and patent black high heels. The second day I wore a black suit, white shirt and a pretty red-and-black equestrian print scarf (I do have a picture of that!) and the third day kept it simple with black jacket & skirt with a white shirt.
So that's my big news for this week! Oh, one more thing. The lady told me that a few successful applicants will be chosen after training to start right away flying on Emirates' flagship plane, the double-decker A380! How excitement!
At the last minute, I heard about a walk-in open house for Emirates. They are hiring more crew as they are getting a lot of new planes this year and need more flight attendants. I had tried out for them 4 or 5 times since 2005 but never had any luck getting past the open house.
This past weekend, I went along and I made it past the open house, to the group callback and finally I received an invitation to the final interview! I had that yesterday morning and they said I will know within 2 weeks if I am moving to Dubai! Wow it went so fast and was unexpected, my head is spinning! Of course, this all depends on my passing a (very thorough) medical test which I don't anticipate any problems with! I loved my interview outfits if I do say so myself, sadly I was so caught up in wanting to pass that I forgot to take any pictures!!!
First day I wore a pretty 60's-inspired shift dress with a black and white print along with a more traditional black suit jacket and patent black high heels. The second day I wore a black suit, white shirt and a pretty red-and-black equestrian print scarf (I do have a picture of that!) and the third day kept it simple with black jacket & skirt with a white shirt.
So that's my big news for this week! Oh, one more thing. The lady told me that a few successful applicants will be chosen after training to start right away flying on Emirates' flagship plane, the double-decker A380! How excitement!
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