Hola all !

I’m still in Dubai, UAE, taking care of myself ! Have already been to the beach (who wouldn’t anyway) and loved the white sands, blue water and scorching sunshine. It is located in Jumeirah Beach Park which is a privately owned piece of land turned into Beach Heaven. With a lush green/flowered park before you get to the very clean beach. No litter lying about. It’s great. Otherwise, yesterday was our first training session in SEP (Safety & Emergency Procedures). The facilities are “State Of The Art”. Emirates have spent a huge amount of money on their infrastructure to provide the best possible knowledge and practice to SEP ignorants like myself. We theorised on Basic Aeronautics, Turbulences for the first two hours of our training and then went onto practicals for the rest of the day. Meaning we had an Boing 777 (said triple seven) simulator for ourselves to practice turbulence in. It’s basically role play in a moving simulator reproducing turbulences in mid air. We had a demo by the trainers then we had to impersonate the cabin crew and do a role play. First time hands on the galley cart, talking to dummy passengers. We had a laugh, but it’s damn serious and trainers are here to remind you. And it went on to Boing Door Operating. Open, close in normal operation. Then Open in Emergency… Strict procedures are to follow otherwise you might just knock a ground staff to death with the deploying slide-raft… Anyways, it’s all very interesting and all new to me so I’m absorbing alot of information at the same time. By the end of the day, you’re nakered. Ready for a shower, something to eat and a little nap. And the real fun starts here !

Jeremy, from Malta, one of our fellow batch mates, organised a first outing session with all the girls & guys from our Ab-Initio. The Shenanigans took place in what is called the BIGGEST DISCO IN UAE called “The Lodge”. And believe me, it’s humengous ! We all congregated to the open air dancefloor, and did a quick meet & greet with everyone, picture taking and then got our moves out on the dancefloor. To electronic/dance music until the wee hours of the night. Pictures follow…
It was hilarious, everyone having a good time and dancing the night away after such a stressful and intense start to the week. It’s what each one of us needed : letting it all out with a few drinks.