Day Two- Start!

Hurray! It was the first day of work. We were asked to be there in smart office attire. Had a little trouble since I brought this floral pencil dress that I intended to wear but was advised by the housemate not to.

We had the talks about what we are going to go through with the programme outline, had to submit our medical forms and passport photos etc for administration.

We were divided into our batches to showcase things that we brought from our country that is personal to us. We also talked about the different countries each of us were from and how there are almost 30 over nationalities int that auditorium. We then played a game where we had puzzle pieces that we had to put together quickly that shows the Emirates' vision and mission statements.

Following which we watched a powerpoint slide on how there were a humongous amount of applications received by the recruitment team, and of that we were the 5% who were interviewed and got chosen, so we were like, very special. The presenter asked us what we thought we were selected for, and some said because they were good-looking, which won a few laughs. The presenter spoke about the Emirates brand image, and told us that looks and appearances are things that can be changed and improved upon, but a person's personality and attitude, are things that even the best trainers, are not able to alter. (Which sounded really nice of course). She also said that we were probably empathetic towards our customers during the interview round, which was a revelation to me how I thought I was probably chosen!

It was funny though as she said that she does not herself know exactly why some people are chosen and some are not. She listed the example of a girl who tried 6 times and finally got in, and how that girl said she did nothing differently at every round. The presenter then attributed it to her persistence, which was funny.

The day was full of administrative work....receiving our heavy big manuals, and getting the red polos and signature scrunchie was pretty cool.

That was about it. Went home to head to Emirates mall which is near my house to go to Carrefore for some grocery shopping.

Day one

Lucky we all have this off day before work starts to buy nail polish, makeup, underwear and whatever we could not bring onto the plane.

I had a fitful sleep having arrived and checked into the room at Ivory Grand Hotel Service Apartment around 7am. Woke up famished and headed to Dubai Mall to get credit on the sim card and exchange for some local currency and to buy food. But of course, not before I could contact my dearest husband to let him know I am still alive. We found out that we were not fully able to use Skype from phone to phone. I suspected that one of us have to be using the PC. It worked after that.

So with a 35.5 dirhams cab ride from Al Basha to Dubai mall, me and another two taiwanese girls finally got to the popular huge mall. There was H&M, Sephora, Victoria's Secret, Zara, La Senza... All the big brands- you name it, they have it. I was happy to see H&M and Daiso. It was quite odd to see religious ladies in their black full hijab shopping at Victoria's Secret but I cannot help being amused to know we all have that something in common. The love for pretty underwear ;)

Finally met some people here and there that we met on Facebook with the same joining date. It was strange because already in a few hours, there were cliques being formed, and people tend to stick to whom they know or their housemates or people from the same country.

We went exploring and shopping. I had KFC chicken rice...the basmati rice smelled odd but it was alright. I also had a non-alcoholic mojito drink from KFC and Bonnie the taiwanese girl exclaimed: "So fast already and you are trying to get drunk?!" That chick is funny.

Anyway we did not get to see the water fountain show and the likes. The aquarium was pretty awesome though.

Day Zero: Flight to Dubai

It was a slightly grueling flight from Brisbane, Australia to Dubai. It was about 11 or 13 hours, give or take, I was lost in the time difference of 6 hours. The flight was a Auckland-Brisbane-Dubai, so there were people who were worse off than me, having to take a long ride to Auckland in order to get to Brisbane.

I thought I brought 60kg worth of stuff for a 50kg check in baggage limit and hoped that my future "colleagues" will be super helpful to let me pass. But nooooo. 60kg was in fact 65kg, and when I removed my belongings, even 53kg was not good enough. That was very miserable. Leaving my husband in tears was also emotional. He was very sweet and patient and endearing of course. He made me laugh as he tried to take pictures of me leaving and captioning me in the bad light: "Janet is leaving me."

Anyway, I was not really recognized as a newbie. From previous facebook posts, there were girls who were in the food preparation area on the plane wearing the emirates hat and having cards signed off by the emirates staff. Well I did get that and was quite envious for a bit.

When I got off the plane, the Marhaban staff, a rather glum looking lady called Angela received me and Keiler from NZ/ melbourne, and we took the monorail to the baggage pick up area. The airport was so huge that you do not walk or take the travellators, you have to take the monorail. So we got our luggage, I had 4 so everyone was waiting for me, then we got through with our e-visa slips, then baggage declaration. Got pulled over, they thought I had too many vacuum-sealed clothing in the luggage. Guessed they thought I was going to be making a business out of selling them. PFFT.

We were ushered to the Emirates room just outside of baggage clearance. Got our welcome pack with details of documents for induction, our sim card. Got slightly worried for not bringing a coloured copy of my passport as they had to hold our passports for visa applications.

The cab driver drove me to the ivory grand hotel apartments in al barsha suburb, which is walking distance from the mall of emirates.

Got first dibs in the 2 room apartment. Chose the bigger one. It was an ensuite with my own jacuzzi! LOL. I need to get bubble bath soap, seriously. Wished my husband was there to join in the fun.

Slept a fitful 4 hours sleep after greeting my neighbours.

Felt like my tenacity for small talk has gone down a lot.

Found my other brisbane interview contender living down the corridor from me. 

Went out to the Dubai mall by taxi, it was 35.50 dirhams.

Restrained. Exchanged money. Bought lunch, I had 19 dirhams chicken rice and 9 dirhams non-alcoholic mojito from KFC. The whole day I actually divided everything by 6 to convert it back to Singapore dollar. I WAS SO WRONG. It was roughly 3. :( sigh and I thought everything seemed pretty ok. Wow it is now doubly, not okay.

I am pretty exhausted now, so my sentences are short. Going to bed for a 6.15am start tomorrow for induction.