free....?

It's Saturday morning and the only thing I'm stressed about are my finances. Since last december I didn't have any income and I still have to wait another 3-4 weeks for KLM. So not really fun to worry about, but hey, I'm not worrying about my training and this is something new!

Last week we had a crazy week with so many exams (the first exams after all the previous tests), a trainingsflight, an oral exam and papers to write. This whole training until so far was just living by the day as it was simply not possible to look any further. That's why we suddenly realized on Thursday that our next written exam will be in one week and a half....! I was just quiet for a whole minute (which is very unusual for me) and had a reaction like 'but what am I going to do this weekend?'.
Ok, we do need to read a whole new chapter before Monday, but there is a big difference between reading and studying. This is weird, finally I realize there is more than this training, I'm in contact with friends again, trying to meet them. And as there is space to look ahead I realized that in 2,5 weeks time this training is over, with just 3 exams to go (2 written and 1 practical).

Last Wednesday I went on trainingsflight again, this time to Madrid. I had the best flight ever! It couldn't be better... We had an amazing crew, so much fun together which influenced the passengers as well in a very positive way. My colleagues were so helpfull, explaining me a lot as I had a complete checklist of homework to do in this Boeing 737. Next to that they were taking so good care of me as they knew about my first trainingsflight. This crew was just amazing, it was not played, but their warmth was so real, not only towards me, but towards all of us and the passengers. Such a big difference with my previous trainingsflight and so good to notice this difference.

During landing and take-off in Madrid I was seated in the cockpit again and this was great! Due to bad weather we were kept in holding, which means that you can't land straight away and have to wait, while flying circles near the airport. The cockpitcrew was very busy, changing route the whole time, next to that this part of the flight was very bumpy, due to all the clouds and rain. It was fun and so interesting for me to see how they were working and what they were doing. During take-off we had the same problem, due to strong cross wind we were not allowed to take-off and were waiting at the runway with many aircrafts around us. In the end we didn't have enough fuel anymore to make it until Amsterdam, so we needed to return to the gate. Arriving at the platfrom we saw (empty) containers flying around like crazy. So dangerous! We waited about 2 hours extra before the wind finally slowed down and we could return to the runway. Meanwhile all the passengers stayed on board, but there was no sign of passengers getting angry or anything, while some people would miss their connection to Asia. The purser told us that this had all to do with our behaviour and that we were constantly in the cabin.
Meanwhile I was getting a little worried about my exam of the Boeing 737 the next day, as I needed to study big time that evening and had no clue when we would arrive in Amsterdam. But again the crew was so sweet and told me to sit down and study, as we didn't do any service at that time. So I was studying in business class and suddenly the purser arrived with some tea, water, cookies and a chocolate.... So sweet!
This example is such a good example of the whole crew taking care of each other and the passengers. But I couldn't concentrate and wanted to work, so in the end, after 20 minutes I got up and started to work again ;-)
The purser had to evaluate me on my skills (interpersonal sensitivity, effective communication, teamwork and service towards passengers) and I got such good grades. Well, we don't get exactly grades, but I scored above the norm (as they say) and here comments on my skills were great. She concluded with writing down that I'm a great asset to KLM.
I was of course proud and happy, but felt a little uncomfortable as well. But yesterday afternoon we had another evaluation, done by our trainers, our unitmanager, and our teammembers and the same comments came up. It was so funny, as for about 10 minutes I was hearing so many good things about myself, that I needed to take off my jacket as I was getting so warm :-D
We all had, by the way!

So in the end I had a very tough, but great week! I passed all my exams with very good grades, I had a wonderfull flight and good evaluations. And guess what? Next week I will be flying to Bahrein! My first intercontinental flight....

Enjoy the pics!