the Burj Al Arab in the distance

this is the famous Sheik Zayed Road, where I live.

this is the view from my gym. The dry docks and the UAE flag!

Je ne parle pas ALLEMAND!!!

Trauma? Hatred? Shock? Whatever... the fact is that I cannot speak German anymore! After my meeting with Frau Kartoffel and all of this week's events the traces of all teutonic words in my brain have been wiped out! It could also be too much flying...

On the flight back from Manchester I met a girl from Portugal and while talking about Lisbon and all the nice places in the city I could not remember a single name of restaurant or bar or attraction... the conversation was more or less like this:

- I love that restaurant near that area. What's the name? Hmmm... You know, that red restaurant near the river, close to the bridge.

- Which bridge?

- That one, the long one. What's its name? Hmmm... Can't remember.

- Is the restaurant serving typical Portuguese food?

- Yes. I love that dish with that fish. What's it called? Hmmmm... That pink fish with potatoes, in that red restaurant!!! I love it. The name is...Hmmm...

So it goes... The same happens when a passenger asked me for a coffee:

- Excuse me, I would like a coffee!
- Of course, Sir. How would you like your coffee?
- White, two sugars.
- So one coffee with milk and sugar. I will bring it shortly.

... Vicente walks away from the cabin, into the galley. Start looking for a cup, a saucer and for the coffee powder to brew. Heat the cup, get a tea spoon and look for the sugar. All of this takes around 3 to 4 minutes and opening several carts and containers...

Than the big questions... did he want milk? Or was it tea? Green tea? No, it was coffee, I think with milk, no sugar. But will put a little sugar sachet just in case and will take the milk on the side, in case he did not want any...

So I walk into the cabin, with a cup filled with black coffee, one sugar on the side and a small pot of milk.

- Here is your coffee, sir. Did you want any milk?

The passenger looks at me as if I were a moron.

- Yes please. And can I have another sugar please? (with another you-moron-look)

- Of course sir. Will be right back.

-----

Tonight I have a flight to Mauritius, the island in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a nice flight because it is during the night and most of the passengers will be alseep, too tired to be pressing the call bells. However we stay there only 12 hours. It is time enough to get to the hotel, stay at the beach for a while and collapse in bed until the wake up call, at around 20:00 hours, to fly back to Dubai, during the night. With a schedule like this it is normal that my brain starts to falter.

A beira de um ataque de nervos (in English)

Today I woke up in Manchester, England! And since the keyboard at the hotel reception's computer does not have the Portuguese accents I will write in English.

For the 8th consecutive day I spent more than 6 hours on a plane! Will probably become dry like a prune in the next few days. I even think that what I have been doing is not good for the brain since yesterday I forgot my name for a few minutes!

Well, I was in Frankfurt on Monday. Actually I flew from Dubai to Frankfurt, via Vienna on Monday and had dinner with Daniela Stein, an old time friend, in front of the Opera. All of this in preparation for a job interview with Lufthansa!

On Tuesday I woke up early (had nightmares all night long, of course), had two liters of coffee and went over to the Personalabteilung of the Lufthansa-Basis in Frankfurt Airport. You cannot imagine how nervous I was! First because I would have to interact with people in German and second because I was (and still am) unsure about getting a new job, leaving Emirates, loving Emirates, hating Germany, moving away, etc, etc, etc...

For the first two hours of the interview, during the group exercices and the English test all was fine. I was just sweating like a pig but had a T-shirt underneath the suit to control it all(and had applied and extra coating of deodorant just in case). So I was just smiling, saying Ja, Nein, Hahaha, Naturlich, Tannenbaum, Schokolade, Kase... when I had to walk into the psychologists' office for the Personalvorstellungsgesrpraech I felt like fainting, or running away. All I wanted to shout was: Sheik Ahmed, bring me back to Dubai!!! Well, had to face it. And the lady was ready to 'destroy' me! She could not understand how come somebody who works for Emirates and (in her words) live like princes and princesses, not paying taxes, earning rivers of money and being part of today's most successful airline could think of applying for humble Lufthansa, where I would earn 1500 euros a month before the 40% German tax!!! AND SHE WAS RIGHT!!! But this I figured out before I even boarded the plane for Frankfurt!!!

Once the interview was over I ran to the Emirates counter and took the next flight back to Dubai. Almost kissed and huged the whole crew!!! And during the flight I thought: how lucky I am to have a job with Emirates.

Had barely time to rest in Dubai as yesterday morning I needed to operate the flight to Manchester, which was a disaster. Full, children everywhere (not well behaved German kids but Indian and English brats). Very new crew, little experience, I was running up and down the cabin like a headless chicken and thinking: What the hell??? Who could possibly like this????

Beau Vallon Beach, Seychelles

In front of the Al Mare restaurant, Beau Vallon Beach at sunset in Seychelles. Myself, Kamonkarn from Bangkok, Maria from Badajoz, Ilenia from Milan, Hisham from Beirut, Kalyani from Bombay and Girish from Cochin.

at the hotel bar in Seychelles, Beau Vallon Beach in Mahe Island. Ahmed from Oman, Kalyani from India, Maria Jose from Spain, Ilenia from Italy and myself!

To Africa, for dinner!

Yesterday I had dinner in Seychelles, Africa! And this is the best way to describe the short hop to the former French colony in the Indian Ocean. The flight left Dubai at 10:30 am landing in Mahé Island at 15:00. We all went to the hotel for only 16 hours. When getting there the whole crew, which by surprise was nice, came down and we went to eat at a restaurant in front of the sea for sunset. Took some pictures, walked back to the hotel, had beers at the swimming pool bar exchanging stories about Sultan Qaboos from Oman with the Omani guy and about the Hafik Hariri murders with the Lebanese crew. up to the room (some went to the casino), sleep and today back to Dubai for lunch!

This time I did not take my camera because the weather forecast was showing rain and fog. Of course once we landed it was the most beautiful day ever, with sun, blue transparent waters and a colourful sunset! Too bad! At least some of the crew will send me their pictures by email so I can publish here.

Felipe came back from India. He almost died. Caught salmonella in a Club Sandwich in Varanasi (why would one eat eggs in Varanasi?) and ended up at the hospital there. He told me horror stories about the clinic in India, with coackroaches and a dirty toilet. Plus another clinic in New Delhi. Now he is getting better but he lost 5 kilos and one of his vomiting-diarrhoea attacks lasted for 15 minutes non.stop. Poor thing.

Some engineers came to our flat to fix the ac before summer arrives. It is all a mess now but at least cool. The cleaners are coming tomorrow to clean the whole mess up! I still dont know if somebody steppped with dirty feet over my bed but changed the linen and pillow covers nevertheless.

Tomorrow I am off to Viena, connecting to Frankfurt for a big day on Tuesday! Next post will be about it! Surprise!!!

olha eu!!!

SANAA - YEMEN

esta eh a ultima moda em Sanaa. Sarong, palet�, pano na cabeca e uma faca na cinta!

Claro que TODAS as mulheres vao cobertas de preto, estilo Barbapapa do Mal, dos pes a cabeca, luvas negras incrusive!

Ei tio! Tira uma foto minha?

na porta do hotel havia este camelo que movia o moinho de farinha do vizinho. Tr�s romantique!!!

Histórias da Arca de Noé

Fui ao Iêmen para descobrir que falo árabe!!! O pouquíssimo que aprendi aqui nestes 2 anos e meio me serviram para visitar Sanaa, comer, pechinchar hotel e taxi!!! Deve soar meio língua de índio para os árabes mas pelo menos me entendem. Acho que vou colocar no meu currículo, junto com catalao e sueco.

Adorei Sanaa. Mas foram duas alegrias: chegar e ir embora! No dia de ida parei em Áden e me pareceu um lugar interessante para visitar, com uma praia imensa e um vulcao extinto. E fica bem pertinho do Djibouti, no chifre da África. Isto tudo de dentro do aviao. Quando cheguei em Sanaa já estava escuro, troquei dinheiro e falei para o taxista: fi fundouk arabia felix. E lá fui eu para o hotel do guia, no meio da cidade velha de Sanaa, patrimonio histórico da humanidade. O hotel estava lotado de turistas franceses, alemaes e holandeses. Me senti seguro, já que a única coisa que havia escutado sobre o Iêmen era que havia muito seqüestro de ocidentais. O hotel era um prato cheio! Daria para alimentar todo o país com o total do resgate que as embaixadas pagariam! Estava cansado e fui dormir.

5 da manha e acordo com a gritaria das mesquitas! Nunca foi tao alto. Bateu até o recorde da mesquita aqui na frente de casa numa sexta-feira! Entao começei o meu dia a vagar pelas ruas da cidade. É interessante mas pobre demais, suja demais e depois de 2 horas de caminhada já podia pegar o aviao de volta para Dubai. No final da manha começou a chover, deu blecaute na cidade e fui para o meu quarto de hotel. Aproveitei que nao tinha nada para fazer (nunca viajarei mais sem meu iPod) e fui ler a história do país no meu guia.

Descobri que o Noé era iemenita! Ele construiu a arca em Áden. E Sanaa foi fundada pelo filho dele. Nao sei se antes ou depois do dilúvio. Também li que o país fazia parte do reino de Sabá, da famosa rainha de Sabá. Esta mulher africana foi até Israel e o rei Salomao se apaixonou por ela. Tiveram um filho juntos. Todos os decendentes deste filho, que povoavam a zona da Etiópia e Iêmen eram, por tabela, judeus. Entao quando houve a guerra civil no Iêmen (depois da independência da Inglaterra, havia 2 Iêmens, o do sul, comunista, e o do norte, capitalista) o estado de Israel evacuou todos os judeus da área para perto de Jerusalém. Fizeram o mesmo com os etíopes durante a grande fome (e agora muitos os etíopes que foram para Israel sonham em emigrar para a Jamaica. Coisas de Rastafari).

Acabei ficando o dia todo lendo e comendo hoummos. Dormi e agora estou em Dubai, pronto para ir à academia! O resto das histórias minhas em Sanaa eu conto na próxima vez que a gente jantar juntos, ok?

Yemen

Nao sei como se escreve Yemen em português. Será que é Iêmen? Mas me lembro que nao há palavras em língua portuguesa que terminem com 'n'... anyway...

Quem acompanha o blog deve ter notado a novela que virou esta tal história de ir até Sanaa, a capital. Foram várias viagens de taxi até o consulado, aqui em Dubai, telefonemas e emails para conseguir uma carta convite de alguém dentro do país, me convidando para ir até lá, etc.

Amanha é o grande dia mas estou com o pé atrás. Já me ligaram da Yemenia, companhia aérea nacional dizendo que o vôo que eu queria foi cancelado. Vou tentar pegar um que sai antes mas vai via Áden, cidade onde houve um ataque terrorista aquele navio americano SS Cole, programado pelo Bin Laden. A propósito, todo o país me parece que é controlado por milícias Al Qaida. Se eu nao voltar para Dubai e desaparecer, por favor mandem um ativista do Human Rights Watch ir me buscar em Guantánamo, lá pelo final do ano!!!

Volto para Dubai de manha cedo na Sexta-feira! No Sábado vou para o Seychelles pegar praia.

Mrs Yamasaki!!!

I desperately need your new email or mobile number. Tried getting in touch with you on your birthday but with no luck!

Easter in New York (or almost)

I can say I almost spent Easter in New York! I was there on Wednesday and Thursday, on the build up for Easter Weekend! I even met Easter Bunny in Central Park! After many months with New York-withdrawal syndrome, Emirates finally sent me again to the Big Apple. This time no Garden City bullshit. It was the real thing: Manhattan.

As life cannot be perfect I was terribly jet lagged. Managed to enjoy Central Park in the morning for a long walk. But being a holiday, combined with Spring Break, the hotel had around 450 young adults from the Midwest, coming to New York in a large group for the first time! Of course I got a room in the same corridor, where doors where constantly bangging, people chatting, mobile phones ringging and myself going crazy inside the room! I felt like running naked in the corridor to scare them but since it looked like most of them were quite religious I decided to be polite and ask them to shut up with an Arabic accent, just to scare them off!!!

Back in Dubai I could not fall asleep so a friend passed by and drove me to the beach for a long walk. It felt nice to wake up in Manhattan and go for a walk on the shores of the Persian Gulf before going to bed.

Over here I have been keeping myself busy meeting new friends and visiting the old ones. Felipe and 6 other people are leaving for India tonight and they are all here at home preparing their bags, travel guides and so on. Feels great (maybe I should have gone with them).

I have 3 more days of reserve. Feels like they will send me to Europe on Monday. Once back I have a trip to Seychelles, than Frankfurt, than Manchester, than Mauritius. Will also try to squeeze Yemen in now that I have the visa!

this is what you do in Dubai when there is a sand storm, or Al Shamil, outside!

Al Shamil

Al Shamil is the Arabic word for Sand Storm. Today Dubai is under one of those. I woke up with a strange noise coming from the window. Once I had a peek outside I noticed pieces of paper flying around and, of course, lots of sand.

Than I decided to walk to Starbucks to get a Skinny Double Tall Latte in order to set my brain in motion. Left home on my shorts, T-Shirt and flip flops and once outside was met by this massive wind with sand. In less than 2 seconds there was sand in my eyes, ears, between my fingers and toes and my legs hurt by the grains of sand hitting the skin at high speed. The sky was brown. I am glad I am not flying today and can stay at home.

Funny enough, Al Shamil is how the high speed internet connection is also called here. Instead of 'turbo' or 'banda hancha' the data is transferred to the computer at a sand storm's speed! Think of that!!!

For how much longer?

Quero ir embora, nao quero, quero, nao quero...

Voltarei a escrever mais freqüente quando a vida voltar ao normal. No momento só como, durmo, trabalho e encho a cabeça de abóbrinhas. Nem mesmo os vôos para lugares distantes sao interessantes afinal já estive em todos os lugares interessantes para os quais a Emirates voa.

Entre as abóbrinhas que enchem a minha cabeça está a vontade de ir embora. Estou no processo de traduzir currículos, escrever cartas e buscar ofertas de trabalho na internet. Sem muito tesao, diga-se de passagem, pois hoje eu quero ir embora mas amanha tudo fica normal outra vez. Depois de amanha quero ir embora e assim adiante... Coisa de gente chata!

Bem, prometo que assim que houver novidades eu escrevo. Também nao tenho nenhum vôo marcado pois estou em reserva (talvez isto explique a falta de novidades). No final do mês tenho Seychelles, Manchester e Mauritius. Vamos ver se fico moreno para ir lindo às entrevistas de trabalho em Maio!

A propósito, em Maio vou para Estocolmo no aniversário de 30 anos da Suzy (amiga de Barcelona). Depois me encontro com minha mae em Berlim e Praga. Alguém vai estar pela Europa no meio de Maio?