Pretty and Proud

13:15pm. The chatter was dissipating at Emirates Aviation College, as the ab-initio (new crew) groups filed out into the 52deg swelter, and headed for the auditorium across the road to receive their wings, their licence to fly. In the meantime, all of the A380 trained Cabin Crew (all 148 of us) had been brought back into Training College for the day, and were instructed to wear our old uniforms but have our new ones ready, for an unknown purpose.

13:30pm. The green light was given, the training college was clear and it was time to ditch the Navy Blue and Beige ensemble, and don our new Chocolate Pin-Striped uniforms. After having our grooming approved by the Image and Uniform Department, we were to scurry over to the graduation ceremony, and wait outside the auditorium.

14:30pm. It was finally time, the back doors were opened, and like a 17 year old gate crashes a party, all 148 of us gate crashed their ceremony. After the Senior Vice President of Service Delivery had warmed up the crowd, we filed in en masse, filling the auditorium, with the awes of the new graduates seeing the new uniform for the first time. We received a standing ovation as we came in, camera's flashing in every which way but loose, and have to say, looked amazing in the new identity of Emirates.

A6-EDA, our first A380 not-so-little baby is delivered in a ceremony from Airbus on 28JUL, which can be watched live on www.a380delivery.com/emirates broadcast live from Hamburg in Germany. 58 of my wonderful colleagues have flown to HAM to represent one of each of the 58 aircraft that Emirates has purchased, and will participate in many ways during the handover of the aircraft, and these people will get to finally see the aircraft as it is unveiled to the world for the first time. We have had fantastic use of the CST (Cabin Service Trainer) a to-scale replica of the aircraft inside our Aviation College in Dubai, however, we know there will be a few differences on the real aircraft, and we can't wait to see it with our own eyes.

Myself, and Turiya (SC:380), are unfortunately unable to be a part of these festivities due to us being involved with training for the new Nujoum course, for which we are both facilitators. Meaning 'stars' in Arabic, it is a fantastic one day programme which will see all 9000 Service Delivery staff at Emirates participate over the course of the following year. I am however incredibly excited for the team that have travelled to Germany, and for the people involved with the first flights. My first supersized journey is on 08AUG, a 2½ day stay in New York. This is then followed by a myriad of days off, and then a 5½ day stay in New York at the end of August.

Start spreading the news... New York, NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert (The Netherlands), Ryan and Natasha (Australia), Me, Miguel (Portugal)

Daniel (Australia), and Me... Blending the old with the new!

Me, and Turiya (Australia), my Nujoum-ette

My My, How Could I Resist You?

From the haunting opening notes of I Have A Dream, to the closing jump into the aisle hooplah of Waterloo, Mamma Mia: The Movie has been released, and is amazing, or as some might say, its frickin' UNREAL.

Your favourite Major Motion Picture cast members such as your Meryl Streep, your Colin Firth, your Peirce Brosnan, your Julie Walters, your Christine Baranski, all feature, in singing and dancing fervour, creating a visual spectacular that has you chuckling, chortling, and downright guffawing in the cinema, leaving you feeling like a hundred bucks! Yes, I might be lying if I wasnt slightly sceptical at the thought of those mentioned actors gurgling about on screen, trying to hold a tune, but, I will bite my tongue, and never mention it again, as they all proved their talents tremendously!

After having seen the stage show in Brisbane nigh on 4 years ago, I was intrigued as to how the on-screen adaptation would follow the storyline of Sophie, a 20 year old, on a journey to discover who her father is in the lead up to her Greek Island Wedding. Blended, uncannily well, to the rhythms of ABBA's back-catalog (which is thankfully less painful than blending songs from your's or my's back-catalog!), you will be fascinated by just which song will come up next. Oh, and yes, they adapted it VERY well!

The era of the Movie Musical has definately joined us, and is thankfully here to stay; I can't to discover which one they decide to make next!

So I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing... . . . . . .

A Time To Let Our Hairs Down: GRADUATION!

As quickly as the doors were shut behind us, we have now officially graduated and have become licenced to fly the flagship, the A380. Anyone who is anyone in this business knows that the day you receive your wings, or as in this case, you re-receive your wings, it means its time to celebrate. Mocktails or Cocktails, we didnt care, we were out on the town!

Our newly appointed Social Coordinator for the 380 Team; Miss Turiya Todhunter (and seeing as all airlines love abbreviations, we shall now call her SC:380), was entrusted to plan what became our second official soiree of fabulous people, and once again she came up trumps, with a night out at Ginseng, everyones favourite fusion bar. Undecided in what we were fusing things with, the one conclusion was made, the fusion of alcohol was inevitable. On so many levels... Fusion of flavours, fusion of colours, and infusion of livers... Or should I say the pickling of livers.

After graduating on Thursday afternoon, we set off for a quick spruce up, to make ourselves as presentable as possible after two relatively painless-yet-tiresome weeks at the Emirates Aviation College. 8pm rolled around, and we started off the night responsibly. A few plates of Fusion tapas (there we go again), and a large bottle of Evian amongst cocktails, we thought we were planning ahead quite well. Things suddenly took a turn for the worse when the tequila shots arrived. We all know, at the best of times, I am not ohfay with the paint-stripper of alcohols, however I proudly, but barely, kept it down! I figured I'd stay on the vodka's for the night, until people so kindly began ordering my drinks for me, and the fusion of flavours then pursued.

The moral of the story is: if you want to pickle your liver, quickly, seek any graduating party of Cabin Crew, they'll assist you in an instant, with a flicker of the eyelashes, and a smile which says; "you are going to whimper in the morning". And whimper I did.

Unable to lift my head for most of Friday, the last thing on my mind was anything to do with smiling, talking, or being entirely friendly. Certainly the thought of having to go through a Tasting Session at 8am on Sunday morning of the airline's new range of alcohol was not a welcome sparkle in my mind. We struggled through it, alas, pretending to take notes on the woodiness, the hints of cinnamin, and water-cress like properties, we just wanted the session to end to enable us the oppportunity to sit in the sun and wallow in what we punished ourselves with in the days prior.