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Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Tsunamis

What a catastrophe!!! However I was lucky not to be in any of those places. All of the Emirates crew was fine as well and we keep on flying to Madras, Colombo, Jakarta, Bangkok without major problems. Malé airport in the Maldives is back to normal as well.

I was here in Dubai, under lots of rain, yes, it has not stopped raining in Dubai! It is even cold here, with temperatures getting down to 15ºC at night!!!

There are 3 more flights on my roster for this month. Will get back to Dubai from my last one, a Doha, on the 31st at 19:30. There was a small party at my place which has now been cancelled because Miquel is flying to Hyderabad in India at 1:20 am and I am actually going to spend midnight at the airport, boarding a flight to Amsterdam because I am on holidays from Jan 1 to Jan 20!!!

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Christmas Day

Today is Christmas and thank god I am in Dubai. From all the places where I have already spent this day away from family and old friends this has so far been the best. Why? Well, there is no Xmas spirit, no Xmas carrols, not even a holiday. Today was a normal day, as any other in the Persian Gulf. I went to the bank, to the laundry, supermarket and came home to rest! Tonight I have a flight to Doha (a mere 2 hour working day) and tomorrow another to Karachi (4 hours working day).

Got my roster for January already and I have the 1st and 2nd off, from the 3rd to the 7th a flight to Jakarta in Indonesia, than holidays until Jan 19th. Will try to change this flight to Indonesia for days off so I can go to Brazil earlier! Or stay a few days in Europe to see some friends. After my holidays I have RESERVE, which means staying at home and not knowing if I am going to be in Australia, New York or Ghana on the following day! :)

Just had some pasta with tomato sauce and tuna. How exciting! :) Anyway, just thought it would be nice to drop a few words to tell you how is it to spend Xmas in Dubai!

By the way, Miquel and I decided to do a little get together at our place on the 31st of December as nobody was making a move!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

2005, Globo e você..... tudo a ver!

Quando a gente é criança o Natal tem uma conotaçao totalmente especial. Tudo é mágico, afinal estaremos ganhando presentes (de preferência brinquedo pois roupa só gente chata que dá), montamos a árvore de Natal, escutamos histórias de um tal Papai Noel, que vem de um lugar no Pólo Norte. O verao está chegando, as aulas acabando. Logo estaremos todos na praia por 2 meses (menos os amigos que ficaram de terapêutica ou recuperaçao), começará o ano novo, que a gente passa longe de casa, fica acordado até depois da meia noite e pode beber Champagne escondido. De um mês para outro tudo muda. Os amigos do colégio vao para outras praias, os tios de longe vêm passar Natal com a gente, temos que arrumar malas, trocar a casa em Curitiba pelo apartamento em Caiobá. O ano muda. E cada ano, quando se tem menos de 20, passa como se fosse o ano mais importante da nossas vidas.

Sem mais nem menos ficamos mais velhos. O Natal passa a ser outro feriado, que se tudo der certo dá para emendar com o Reveillon. Damos graças a deus que nao há escola e o trânsito fica ligeiramente mais leve para irmos ao trabalho. O ano muda, fazemos novas promessas que sabemos que em Maio já nao estaremos mais cumprindo. Saímos correndo depois do expediente para ir ao shopping comprar o que nao sabemos bem o que de presente. Amigos secretos. Jantares de firma. Nos aliviamos que mais um ano acabou mas já nao lembramos se o que passou há um tempo foi neste ano ou há 3! Ficamos mais céticos? Viramos ‘gente grande’?

E eu aqui em Dubai, onde nao se comemora Natal. Nao há pinheiros nas esquinas e só se nota que o Natal está acontecendo longe daqui pela decoraçao de alguns hotéis, pelo copo de papel vermelho do take away to Starbucks e quem sabe uma propaganda ou outra na BBC ou CNN. Por um lado é um alívio nao ser lembrado 24 horas por dia que vou estar longe da família e dos amigos de infância, que vou estar num aviao voando para qualquer lugar do Oriente Médio onde Natal é algo que se vê na televisao. Interessante para nao dizer trágico!

Estava tomando café com um amigo carioca e nao sei por que perguntei para ele o que ele sentia quando escutava duas músicas. Uma começa:

‘Quero ver você nao chorar, nao olhar prá trás, nao se arrepender do que faz..’ e termina com aquela vozinha fina de criança: ‘prá vocêêê...’

A outra:

‘Hoje é um novo dia de um novo tempo que começou. Todos nossos sonhos serao verdade, o futuro já começou!!!’ e todos juntos ‘Hoje a festa é sua, hoje a festa é nossa, trá lá lá lá lá... A Xuxa brindando com o Zacarias, Toni Ramos com a Cristiane Torloni! E o espectador sensível chorando aos prantos pois mais um ano que está acabando...

Feliz Natal e um magnífico 2005 para todos aqueles que também ficam de garganta presa quando escutam alguma destas músicas!!!

Friday, December 17, 2004


The nicest workplace ever!!!


Vicente having some nice Illy Coffee near Syntagma Square, Athens...


Very nice sunset in Athens on Monday 13th. Will go back to Athens for two more days on Wednesday 22!!!


my new uniform!

Tuesday, December 07, 2004


This is me in Moscow this morning (06 Dec) in front of the St Basil's Cathedral - Red Square... will be back there on Thursday!

Saturday, December 04, 2004


Taj Mahal em Agra


The way to get around cheaply in Delhi (and anywhere in India): auto-rickshaw


India Gate


Dhobi Ghat is the place where all the laundry is done in Mumbai... and guess much more is washed with the bed sheets...


people trying to catch the train at Mumbai Central


Brigit, from Switzerland and myself ready to go to the party at the Grand in Delhi


the car ready to whisk the bride around Delhi


this is a picture of me, Christina from Norway, Karina the bride and Chintu, the groom at their religious ceremony at the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi

December is going to be a crazy month!!!

Got back to Dubai safely and am quite glad to have left India behing and start working again! I have not done a flight since the 17th of November and hope not to have forgotten how to do it tomorrow!!!

Once at home yesterday I washed all of my clothes twice to get rid of the Indian stench and showered with lots of shampoo and nice shower gel to be pure and clean for real again.

December has started off crazily in India but nothing is compared to what I have lying ahead of me... have a look at my roster...

05: Dubai > Moscow
06: Moscow > Dubai
07: rest in Dubai
08: Dubai > Moscow
09: Moscow
10: Moscow > Dubai
11: day off
12: day off
13: Dubai > Athens
14: Athens
15: Athens > Dubai
16: Dubai > Lahore (Pakistan) > Dubai
17: rest in Dubai
18: Dubai > Moscow (am trying to swop this flight for days off)
19: Moscwo > Dubai (am trying to swop this flight for days off)
20: day off
21: day off
22: Dubai > Athens
23: Athens
24: Athens > Dubai
25: Dubai > Doha (Qatar) > Dubai
26: Dubai > Karachi (Pakistan) > Dubai
27: day off
28: day off
29: Dubai > Khartoum (Sudan) > Dubai
30: Dubai > Muscat (Oman) > Dubai
31: Dubai > Doha (Qatar) > Dubai with time to get home, shower and celebrate New Year's Eve!!!

So I am quite glad to be flying to -5ºC tomorrow to finally kill the remaining Indian germs that are around my hair and skin on the streets of Russia!!!