samedi 31 octobre 2009

Destination: Bengladesh


BANGLADESH


I visited the Bangladesh for the first time on my second month of flying. I heard so many stories from different crew that i did not know what to expect from this country and the people.

The bangali are known to be quiet violent on board. They drink a lot. All the men ask for wisky and beer. Serving alcohol was one of the hardest thing for me. As much as i was trying to avoid having the bar cart i still had to do it sometimes. Astargfullah!

As soon as i landed in Dhakka, the cleaners came on board and while they were cleaning and the crew waiting for the next crew to get onbard, cleaners started asking me for food juices anything to eat. I then understood that outside we would be asked as well. Instead of throwing the untouched food as we usually do i decided to take all the muffins, little bottles of milk, cheese...bread. We are not allowed to do this and could actually be fired for this but if your purser is somehow understanding they wont bother you with that!


When i passed the immigration, i saw kids, sick people everywhere....being kicked with a stick to stop them begging. Little kids...so young and violently hurt.



In a heartbeat all the food was gone. They all jumped all me. I was surprised to see them asking for pens.
As all the crew was getting in the bus to go to the hotel, a woman came to be with a newborn in her arms and gave it to me! what do you say to that? just heartbreaking...i of course could not take it but the mother was already gone. My purser came took the baby and gave him to the driver who gave it to the brother, im guessing.



On our way to the hotel i saw all these people in the streets and sooo much traffic. I wasnt expecting so many people in the street but from what i understood they have no where else to go since many of them sleep in streets.




On the bus our purser reminded us not to drink tap water, eat anything from the hotel and be very very cautious when going out, we were not allowed to go out alone and after 7pm. I didnt know we couldnt eat from the hotel so i didnt think about bringing food. But other girls filled theire suitcases with noodles, bread, cheese, chips...You honestly dont think about eating when you've seen so much misery outside.

In gulfair, dahkka is known to be like ive said before one of the worst destination but some enjoy it. Its a place where shopping is obviously extremly cheap if you come with ur Bahraini dinars or anything other devise. Dont be looking for quality you will be looking in vain....this is a very cheap quality of course.

So i decided to go with other girls to "the bongo bazar" a place even more crowded.



I became hysteric in this place. Old and sick people touching me while begging. Everything but touching. I could not handle this...i was afraid and scared. i've never been like this in my whole life. Bongo bazar was just too much for me. Other girls were just fine, used to it i guess...shopping like crazy. I could not concentrate in shopping at all! and even starting feeling guilty from being here. I mean how can you shop when you see all this around you. You cant even shop...they are all calling you from every side. No this is not like khan el khalili souq...when sellers call you lol!
I even paid a man to tell people not to touch me. I was scared, thinking about it now makes me laugh on how hysterical i was.

Back to the hotel after almost dying 20 times. Yes they dont know how to drive...i mean they know but in their own ways. Like if you bring a man in paris he would tell you that we dont know how to drive either!
That was a great experience to go there. I have loved being with all the kids around me...they were amazed to get candies. I met a little boy in bango bazar, not even 8 but able to speak so many different languages. He told me "my dream....is to fly in a big big plane, make money and come back to give it to my mom"
Aaaah he randomly asked me, are you muslim? I said yes...and he told me and you dad let you travel alone? that made me smile....

Here is the little boy

desperate housewife but not a wife yet...

So today im sad, and ive been sad for the last couples of days thats why i didnt feel like writting.

Do you ever feel like things are not going your way...like no matter how you try you feel things will not change. And if you complaing you will sound ungrateful so you keep it inside...and your heart get heavier and heavier each day...


It is taking so much time for husband to be to bring me in Abu dhabi...and get everything settle. And time here is going soooo slow as i am not working. We agreed that i would not be working in a mix place so theres not much (if not nothing) to do. AND im gaining weight of course...staying at home can be depressing when you have nothing to do.

This is all so different from what im used to. From a busy life flying everywhere to staying at home, looking fat. DEPRESSING!!

mercredi 28 octobre 2009

Covered but popping out....

salam aleykoum wa rahmatullah barakatouh

bismillah....


Tonight, i want to talk about something that bothers me...women well covered mashallah who show us their breast to breastfeed their babies.
How many times did i see this scene in flight...sister well covered mashallah...jilbab, niqab and the breast hanging out.

THIS IS WROOOONG....!!!! Give urself some privacy! no one wants to see this in public places and yes a plane is a public place! If you know you are travelling pump your milk...or at least put a veil something to cover yourself.


lundi 26 octobre 2009

yummyyyy


salam aleykoum wa rahmatullah barakatouh sisters!!

I want to share something with you...something soooo good and tasty!
You will probably go "ewwwwwww" when i'll say what it is but you really need to give it a try!

First let me tell you how it all started!
My aunt is really into organic food, she really is cautious about what she eats and only eats things full of vitamines, anti cancer foods (yes there is food that will prevent cancer).
So she was getting her food ready when i saw this!!!


And yes i went " eewww COD LIVER ewwww" how on earth can you even think about buying this???????
After convicing me to give it a try i was like "Uuhhhhmmmm give me more this is good"
On toasted bread, wheat is better!





Here are some of the benefits of cod liver and oil:

- Healthy skin
- Strong bones and teeth
- Healthy joints
- A healthy cardiovascular system
- A healthy nervous system and prevention of depression and other mood disorders
- A healthy lining for your digestive tract

No mentioning that it is full of Omega3. These are essential for the healthy function of the brain, the heart, the joints, the digestive system and many other systems of the body.

And vitamin E content, which helps the body process the fatty acids, is an essential antioxidant and promotes the health of the skin and the hair.


See, Allah sws gave us so many good things to take good care of our body is such a natural way! El hemdulilah...so sisters give it a try!!


Salam aleykoum my sisters!
The training was coming to an end.
I was waking up at 5:30 am, pick up at 7am...and used to be out at around 4pm! Long days...and thats how i looked at the end!




i was very motivated during the whole training but i was soooo tired. I didnt want to fail and be sent back home!
But el hemdulilah i passed all my tests even the emergency evacuation one!! Where theres smoke, no light and you have to evacuate people in less than 90sec out of the plane.


I got my wings on December 25th. The wings day is the most important day, it is what everybody is talking about during the whole training! It is the day where you get your wings to put in you uniform and you diploma attesting that you are qualified to fly. We were told on the first day of the training to prepare a show for our graduation day.




Wings to put on my jacket


It was a whole mess to get all the girls together. One was doing her nails when when was sleeping and the other one moving to another building!! The night before we all agreed to do something about christmas. When we finally ended up being all together, everybody was fighting ahahahaha when i remember it...ahahahah it makes me laugh!! But anyways we ended up doing something really original. And the cabin crew manager told us it was the best presentation he's ever seen since he was in Gulfair! we were really proud.
Just to give you an idea of what im talking about...what we did was different but this is just an idea so you know what im talking about :)

i'd like to warm some sisters that this video has music.



The training was over and the most exciting moment was now to discover my fam flight! where would i go to? Everybody was scared to get Dakka in Bengladesh (it is consider one of the worse gulf air destination) what i was really praying for was PARIS!!! so i could fly home to see my family even for just 12h rest!!
what i got waaassss...... *rolling drum* JEDDAH K.S.A

I was happy to go to K.S.A for my first flight but disapointed because its only a 2h flight...i wanted a longer flight with a night stop!But el hemdulilah ...after all i thought it was better for my first flight to be short so i can at least come back home and tell my friends how it went.



It was early/ late at night! My pick up time was 3 something am so i didnt really sleep...


Ready to take my pick up at 3 something in the morning...i was stressed and worried to fail the briefing where they ask you a bunch of questions about security, safety or 1st aid! When i reached the briefing room everything went fine el hemdulilah...all heading to the airport it felt so wierd to walking in uniform with people staring at me at us. And by staring i mean STARE! Maybe i felt it because it was my first time in uniform walking with the whole crew!



As i got in the plane i had my security check to do supervised by the cabin manager everything went well el hemdulilah. Once i reached Jeddah as i was checking my door




subhanallah these questions came to my mind, what am i doing here? what is this life im running after? why am i not home married taking care of my children? I wonderd if my dad allah yer7mo would be proud to see me doing this...this never came to my mind before. Since this first flight everything became different.

i love these 3 sets! What do you think?










Time for pictures

(I am not on any of these pictures)
In the grooming room.
The whole IT on graduation day.

Sky nannies during Bahrain formula 1.

A bride flying to meet her husband for the first time mashallah.

Where did i land part 1

Downstairs, at the lobby on the computer with my friend we saw new girls from Morocco arriving in the building. Talking with excitement in arabic about all the plans they have in mind.

The next day, coming back from the mall we saw around 4 girls dresses outrageoulsy vulgar in front of the building...my friend and i looked at each other wondering who were these girls and why were they in front of the building. As we walked closer to get in the building my friend recognized the newbies who arrived the night before.

Wearing micro dresses and perched on high heels, cigarettes and phones in hand...they were waiting a taxi i thought. My friend suggested to wait in the lobby and see who would pick them up...i was tired from all this shopping in the mall but was curious to know.
A minute later BIP BIP!! a philipino man took them in a tinted windows SUV....

A week or so later, i bumped into one of the girls at the cafetaria. We talked about the training and how we were spending all our food allowence in malls.
-Did you meet someone since you moved here she asked me out of nowhere?
Of course i met girls from all around the world!
- ahahah! im talking about men!
aaaaah im not interrested in meeting any men. I already have someone.
- is he bahraini?
No, Emirati...
- so he doesnt live in bahrain, right?
No...why so many questions
- just curious, Do you know Amina? she lives in our building!
Uhm amina? no i dont
-You must know her, shes the one with the dark blue range rover always carrying vuitton bags!
Aaah yes ive seen her a couple of times but never talked to her...
-I gotta go! it was nice to meet you she said when my friend came to the table. Inshallah we will finish this little talk later. I live in flat 522 im Ashraf by the way, come whenever you want she added!

Surprised to see me talking to her my friend wanted all the details!
Amina? my friend said...ive heard about her she is known for throwing VIP parties!

We wanted to know more about this....

dimanche 25 octobre 2009

Alsalam aleykoum sisters :)

First of all i would like to thank you all for welcoming my blog so nicely. Im glad you like it and are interested in my adventures...
Also, i want to make it clear that i am not dissing Gulf air and bahrainis in any kind of ways. I am writting about my own and personal experience and opinion. Everything i will write about is true even if surprising.


As soon as i reached Manama my 2 months training started! looong and interesting.
3 french, 1 half french half spanish, 2 spanish, 4 romanian girls. That was my class...The worst IT ever from what instructors told us.

As fast as we starting introducing ourself (some were not even able to introduce themselves lol) our first instructor named me the leader of the IT. I was in charge of the group.I didnt mind it so much, what i minded was the whispers after the instructor's decision. They were already talking about me on day 1. Girls...*shakes head*


During the week days, we had a curfew that no one was respecting including me, 11pm ...!The building i lived in was a residence for cabin crew AND guest house for trainees. It was chaotic. lots of girls were complaning about the noise...loud music...parties going on all days and night.
Some were parties animals, some seemed to have no limits, some were drunk 10h on 24, others were experimenting the first time away from family and some were just loud!


A match man? yeah sure he was definetely watching but not the door... the second one was just a shadow of the first one! USELESS....but lets just call them "phone cards sellers". Their presence did not stop men from going into the building, and it certainly did not stop women to bring them.

Once that i moved out of this building i wasnt surprised to hear that this watch man was caught with more than 200 bottles of alcohol in his room. "i'll close my eyes for a bottle of wisky (please prounonced "visky")lol...
He got fired, put in jail then sent back to india...home sweet home!

Computers were downstairs so you could see who was going in and out, how and with who. Girls were going down to check their montly roster and emails in sleeping clothes as short as a simple tank top and a boxer! So of course in front of the building you could see all kind of men.
The lobby was always busy, girls were either waiting their pickup for a flight, waiting for a computer to check you planning, buy phone cards...or chit chatting about last night party...

And that's the place where i have started knowing the real Bahrain...

vendredi 23 octobre 2009

First move to the kingdom of Bahrain...

I applied in spring 2008 for a cabin crew job on http://www.gulfair.com/

Surprisingly, they contacted me for an assessment day a couple of week later. It came at a time where i really needed to breath some fresh air. My father passed away allah yer7mo a couples of month before that job offer so i thought it was a great opportunity for me to move away.

See new people, new places, new things...and living in a muslim country was a long time dream!!!

Athan in malls, mosque everywhere...learn arabic AND ahaha eating hallah mcdonald, burger king anywhere u want!! i loooove eating!!


A month and a half later, i left my family, house, my so loved room, car and flew away destination the kingdom of BAHRAIN!




Must i mention my fiance lives in Abudhabi so it was just perfect for me! we'd be able to me every now and then as it is only a 45min flight . As much as he liked this idea he just hated me being a flight attendant soooo much.

He said he'd rather have me further than in a plane serving people, in a bad environment. I didnt really know what he meant back then.




The company was offering me the accomodatin in Bahrain and decided to move in a guest house with a girl i got along very well during the recruitment day! Gym, pool, net everything was there! But when i reached the most amazing thing i saw was this:
Mashallah!!! Al fateh Mosque =) it gets really crowded on friday but the rest of the week its completely empty...







aaaah theres more to come! i have so much to say about this whole bahrain experience but now i really need to get ready for my cousine wedding. Its tomorrow inshaallah and im not ready at alllllllllllllllll....

i will show you what ive decided to wear :) inshallah you will like it!



Ma3 Salamaaaaa



Sisters!!
salam aleykoum to all of you!!

im so excited about sharing this little story of mine...ok ok it might not be THAT exciting to most of you but heyyyyy let me have my moment!
Ive been wearing hijab in paris for 2 days el hemdulilah...(hey gotta start somewhere)
As i was walking in the street yesterday, a lady wearing hijab passed by me and greeted me with a salam aleykoum! I had this warm feeling in my heart! then it happend again, and again in the same day!
Im sure it happend to you, did you feel the same?? tell me about your first time going out wear it! i would love to hear about your stories sisters :)


Not sure my family get it! they think its the cold that makes me cover LOL....how silly!
I've been telling them about my wish to finaly cover up but they dont take me seriously and are even trying to convice me that hijab is not a must, that women fought to take it off...telling me on how hard it will be to wear it here in a country like France.
Anyhow, im going to wear it no matter what inshallah.
Beyond all this i feel very hurt because my dad allah yer7mo was always teaching us the blessing of Islam, the right path. And now that he's gone i feel like no one of my family truly understand me and over all dont understand Islam.

Allah yhdihoum wa yhdina Amine.






jeudi 22 octobre 2009

time for introduction...

salam aleykoum


Bismillah...


This introduction thing is the moment whether u'll feel like my blog worth reading and therefore become a follower or find is useless, boring and click on the cross on the right top of the window to do something better lol.


Ahh here i am, telling you all about me.

Im algerian but i was born and raised in Paris france...i grew up in a "muslim" family, im using quotes because except my gd dad allah yer7mo and gd mom (they raise me so i will call them dad and mom ) nobody was really practicing. Fasting ramadan is one of the only thing they do... praying was/is not considerd a must for the rest of the family. My (gd) parents tried hard but no one really showed interest...and living in France certainly did not help.


Anyways, ive always been interested in Islam since i was young, and i used to go to a coranic school every sunday! My sister and i didnt like it at aaaaaaaalll!! this teacher used to beat us up until we bleed!! so after begging my mom for months we finally stopped going...el hemdulilah! we were too young to handle this hard way of teaching!

Whats with those so called teachers?? you cant learn anything when fear is tetanizing you!


I lived in the US for a while. I was supposed to studdy but came back home with nothing but a bitter taste for americans. No offense to anyone but it was hard to have a real conversation with anyone, not mentioning people my age! Questioning me on how long it took me driving from paris france to NY? uuuh uuh! or saying that Algeria was near Perou!! heelloooooo!! Ahahah...


Back home i then decided to be a flight attendant...and became one! i flew to many interesting places :) I was still a cabin crew 2 months ago. Working for Gulfair. I was based in manama in the kingdom of Bahrain. That was a very interesting experience for me. It gave me the opportinuty to go places i would have never been such as Dakkah in Bengladesh but most of all it gave me the best opportunity to learn about myself.
We do carry a lot of pervert and it has been a pain for me to get a trouser! they would only allow me to wear a skirt ...
Sitting on the jumpseat some passengers would always try to get a sneak pee at something they:
1) cant see
2) should not want to see

I will tell you more about this whole part of my life soon inshallah :)
Im glad im not a cabin crew anymore though, its a relief! Although in the past i used to think it would be career for me and not only a job!

I am thankful to Allah for bringing me to the right path and renforcing my iman.







Wedding

salam aleykoum

This week end my close cousin is getting married mashallah :) im so happy for her!
But who says wedding says dress...So today my aunt and i will go shopping for a traditional algerian dress inshaallah!
Im looking for something not too shinny and of course with long sleeve and not open on the chest/back/legs!! it seemms easy because i want a traditional dress but it isnt!
those dresses are made for separated wedding i guess and its going to be a mix wedding...

I'll keep you update with what i have found inshallah

mercredi 21 octobre 2009

i can do it


salam aleykoum sisters :)


i have been following many blogs, and you know how it is. You start reading, then you follow and have to check you favorites blogs everyday and get disapointed when nothing new has been published lol! Then you start thinking uhm..what if i started my own blog?

That why i asked my fiance. I wanted to make sure he wouldnt see anything wrong with that. He laughed and said yes. I was wondering why he was laughing at me...when i found out he didnt think i would be consistent about it, that it was just a phase...!!! that made me so grrr...that it actually made me want to make a blog even more :p

Anyways sisters, i hope you'll like it and that we'll be able to interact together inshaallah =)