hot, dusty and over-active

Where to start? Telling everything about my trip to Bahrain seems just as difficult as one of my homework tasks stating that I have to write down what I learned the most during my flight. You learn something, or you don't learn something, I don't have the idea that you can say, I learned this less than that. Anyway, I both will try (to tell the whole story and make this homework)....

Let's just start with the flight and type of aircraft, the A-330. Wednesday just before noon Eva and I (Eva is one of my fellow trainees and was on the same flight) had to report at the crew centre of KLM. We managed to do the whole of our checklist and still forgetting something, but those were just the nerves and the excitement. We introduced ourselves to the senior purser and purser and the work began. During the briefing we got to know the rest of the crew and all our specific tasks and I was signed to the mid galley in the aircraft and to colleague Pascal, who would be my buddy during the flight. The aircraft is a wonderful aircraft with all new features like personal tv screen and entertainmentprogramm in the seat in front of you (also for economy!!!), but next to that also a completely different aircraft from the inside than Eva and I learned until so far. Getting acquainted with this Airbus was one of our tasks during the flight, as well as working in the big team and serving the passengers. So we had to keep our eyes and ears open all the time!
Oh, and of course we were both seated in the cockpit again where the cockpit crew is flying the airplane by means of a joystick (yes, like Nintendo!) instead of a 'steering wheel'. There I found some interesting cockpit literature....
The flight went great and I liked this way of service. It's a lot and you hardly have any time to rest (especially for us as between services we were working on our homework), but due to all the excitement of our first intercontinental flight we just had big fun!

So we arrived at Bahrain. First of all a nice suprise as the boarding crew was consisting out of two of our fellow trainees, so great to see them, while we were leaving the aircraft and they took over, heading home. My first experience in the Middle East and within a second you just knew you arrived in the Middle East: leaving the arrival hall, there were big, big, big white dresses and tullbands with men under it. The temperature felt great, it was about 10 pm, but not chilly at all, you could feel the desert climate, warm and dry heat.
After arriving in our hotel we went for a drink in the hotelbar, where the local music was waiting for us.... Well, not exactly, the band was playing south-american music, so if it wasn't for the tullband guys staring at the half naked singer in front of us, you would have thought to be in Cuba or something. About this singer: we were informed by our purser to stick to the local customs, so don't wear short skirts, tops revealing your stomach, watching men too long in the eye (it means you want more from them), etc. But this girl... wow, even in Holland everyone would turn around to have a better look, can you imagine how all the arabs were in the bar! After some more drinks they started to yell with their tongue in this special arab way and clapping their hands like crazy, when I thought it was time to check my room and bed.

Although tired I had a hard night of sleep, like all the nights since I'm in this training. There is happening so much, that when I go to bed, my mind is still busy with all the experiences of that way. So I got up early and Eva and I went out to explore a little. First of all breakfast: we ended up in a Philippino restaurant and there I got my rice-soup again! Just like in Thailand, lot's of rice, chicken, lemongrass and a very cheap price. It was great! On the streets you hardly see any women, or behind their burkas, the mosk is yelling several times per day, this is really the Middle East. We had to squeeze in each other arms just to make sure that this was really happening to us. We ended our short exploring tour next to the swimmingpool, by eating mezes from Libanon, great! By then we thought it would be wiser to try to sleep some, as we would live that night at 23.45 pm and had to work the whole night trough. And getting up early to explore the outside world was therefor not that smart. But hey, we were so excited! Of course no sleep again, so with some of the crew we went into the souks: small souvenir shops everywhere, gold, dresses, .... Finally we found some local shops, full of food, fruits and vegetables, which gave me a better idea of the local dishes. Ending with a Starbucks coffee (where not? O yes, not in Holland...) we went to our rooms again to rest for a couple of hours before pick-up time. And again no sleep.... :-(

But hey, Eva and I had still some adrenaline running, so the whole night was not as difficult as I thought! This time I was working in the aft galley (at the back of the airplane) and was left with the girls instead of the guys in the mid galley, Eva and I switched places. I never realized that so many sleeping people would stink that much! No kidding, walking through the cabin was horrible at a sudden moment. As a passenger you don't notice it because you're in the middle of it, but this was different.... yak! They were snoring everywhere, gasping, open mouths, feet stuck in the middle of the aisle, but somehow you needed to pass with your trolley. We had some hilearious moments! Also when we got a little tired, were having a break and came up with the idea to make some nice (read silly) photos of Eva and me, to remember our first ICA flight. Later this week, when I will receive all the photos of Eva as well, I will put them up.

Arriving at approx. 5.30 am I suddenly got tired... Outside the gate we got a nice present of the complete crew, yelling camels (in arab), and a postcard full of sweet messages. Our evaluation was great, although at a sudden moment Eva and I got worried. The pursers were discussing it already for 2 whole hours (!!!), while there are only 4 skills they need to evaluate. They were taken their jobs very seriously... But in the end nothing to worry about, we both got an excellent evaluation.

I had a great flight! Still surreal to realize that this is going to be my job (while laying next to the swimming pool). But great to discover places like this, although short.
Just check this blog later this week for some impressions of Bahrain and the nice photos of Eva and me on our flight. They will follow as soon as possible!

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The last picture I just uploaded is from Eveline and me. Eveline was back in Holland for just one week, so of course there was lots that we needed to update each other about, as the last time we saw each other was somewhere last november. So last week we met for a nice and sunny afternoon in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam for just talking, talking and talking, accompanied by mint tea and hot chocolate!