It's time. It's Christmas time.

Who said you cannot enjoy Christmas if you're far away from home? Of course it's not the same feeling as when you are there, but the ones who are really making the spirit are the people with whom you spend it. And what do you know, I did it! I'm in the spirit. It took me some time, usually at home I'm in the spirit since 1 December, while in Dubai it came a little bit later, that beeing yesterday :D
The plan went wrong in the last 4 days, after buying tickets and having ready a small surprise for my family and friends to appear home on Christmas Eve, one working day on 24 Dec and the imposibility to change that ruined everything. So here I am stuck in Dubai, with 3 tickets that will not be used soon and just the dream of Christmas carolling :|
Instead of that a very nice family brightened my holidays by comming in Dubai and spending Christmas with them, my folks from home calling me and decorating the Christmas tree along with me on Skype (tree e-decorating was quite nice I must say) and my dear friends packing santa's gifts for friends and family again with me on Skype (God bless whoever invented this program) It might sound too much electronic, but when you'r away from home and from the dear ones on these special days of the year, internet is one of the most welcomed inventions :D
In the end it seems Christmas will still be about spending time with the dear ones, having lovely times and foods together and celebrating God's birth, because even doe Santas croud the places and Christmas trees are everywhere, the celebration is not about them.
Merry Christmas to all and may these holly days brighten your thoughts and hearts.

Gold card...

One great thing that I like about this job is that sometimes, but only sometimes, I have quite interesting discussions on the phone with our customers. The last one, a few days back, was with a "gold member", as in a frequent flyer with Emirates, who reached the gold stage with the numbers of miles earned.
I always say that the "gold card is a cold heart", because of the amount of expectations and rudness that some of these kind of customers have, but of course every forest has its exceptions.
After giving me his booking in economy to be upgraded to business with cash (because now I reached the next stage where I am able to change tickets and know how to read aviation fare rules, which suck by the way) he told me he needs to fly to Singapore for 3 days and, what do you know, in first class. Cause according to him, Dubai is that kind of place where if you don't have fancy cars and travel in business or first class, you'r not "good enought". Of course beeing intrigued by the idea, I rejected it saying that it is each persons choice to spend money in such a way, nobody forces you to do so... The guy paused a few seconds and agreed, but still he bought the first class ticket, which was for my good sake of course :))) Besides that his assistant was travelling also, however the guy was "punished" to stay in economy, in a normal chair with a normal screen in front of the eyes, with chicken biryani and fruit, not a flat bed in an own compartment, with lcd wide screen and champagne and caviar as dinner :))
Apparently the customer was not at all boderred by my sincereness and after releasing his card of a few thousand euros, he wanted to know some more about the agent who disagreed him, within the company confidentiality policy of course, do not imagine otherwise :P And here we were after 50 minutes of chit chats, exchange of ideas and book impressions (because what do you know, I started to read here :))) ) happy with the service and with the long talk, the "gold guy" went to have a beer and I went pleased home, happy that I made someone happy that evening.
Gold card...sometimes warm heart :D

Happy nation(s)

Stuck (in a good way) between 2 countries, and what a coincidence, both with the national day in consecutive days, 1st and 2nd of this month. We celebrated 2 times of course, first on 30 Nov, with Arabic goodies and traditional tea and last but not least on 1st Dec, with traditional Romanian food and Romanian colors. If you are wondering, no fireworks, no parades, no music, quite a chill celebration, not as sophisticated as I would have wanted it. And now ... a little bit of history.

1. Romania, a small country on the left hand side of the Black sea, independent from the turkish domination since 1877, completely united in 1918. Official language our own, Romanian, flag colors red, yellow and blue, cleared out from the comunism rules in 1989, when Nicolae Ceausescu was erased from the image. What you can do here, well almost everything cause you find mountains as well as sea. Winter -5 degrees even less, summer 30 degrees even more. Snow and sun, forests and sea (by the way it's not black even doe it's called Black sea, just to be clear :)) ), traditional clothes and delicious foods, welcoming people, kind of corupted ruled but which country isn't :P This is my home country which I miss so much.


2. UAE, in translation United Arab Emirates. Now here there are some interesting things to say, first may it not be confused with Arabia, as in Saudi Arabia, which is a totally different story. UAE became independent in 1971, so 40 years of life were celebrated this year. The "country" is formed out of 7 emirates: Ras al-Khaimah, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and Abu Dhabi which is the capital, each with its own ruler-emir and a national president. Official language, Arabic, flag colors red, green, white and black. Well known for the strong Arabic coffee, which I do not like at all, palm tree fruit-the dates, Arabic tea which is good and the long clothes that cover the entire body both the men and women. The culture and people hospitality I cannot write about, cause I did not really meet it, probably because of the interesting fact that there are lexx than 20% of local arab people living in this area, the rest are other world nationalities. Desert and camels all the way, falcons, mosques, tall glass buildings, very less vegetation (a thing that I hate), a beautiful, extremely salty and healthy sea, dry stony mountains. This is my host country.

...in search of ...