vineri, 29 iulie 2011

Once upon a time...


So many things are going through my mind lately, especially before I go to sleep. I recap the whole day, I think about what might happen tomorrow, what i have to do, if I need to do follow up on any passenger, if I talked to my friends today or when will I get the time to call them and so on. And of course one main thought that is always there in my mind is... where I want to travel next. Working with an airline company is making impossible to keep this thought away.
Then I think of all the placed in the world and I imagine myself there. And somehow the images are not at all new, like I've seen that before, I've been there maybe once, that view looks familiar in a way. In those moments I believe that long time ago, before being a Oana, I definitely was something else, or someone else, maybe who traveled a lot, or maybe I was one of the palm trees from my dream views, or maybe I was an animal that lived somewhere not far.
I remember being little and my folks telling me that I must have been a rabbit in another life, cause my first 2 teeth were too big for my that time dimensions. How cool must have been to be a rabbit, I must have had a blast of a time running around from a place to another, with my small little fluffy tail, eating fresh plants all day and peeing in different colors according to whatever I was eating. Cause you know bunnies pee green when they eat cabbage and orange when they eat carrot :))
Being a frog must have been quite an interesting life for me, because of my big eyes, everyone called me at least one time froggy eyes. I wonder if I really enjoyed eating all those insects, catching them with my tongue, just like frogs do. In this case who needs Chinese food, anyways I probably had more insects than all Chinese people in the world.
What I wonder if I really was a giraffe at some point, cause my long bones would really say this about me. And if I was, it means all Africa was at my feet, right? Life must bee quite amazing to be seen from up in the sky, being able to eat leaves directly from the tree, without a later to get up in it...
I'm now thinking if I was a fish one time, cause whenever I go to the beach I hate staying in the sun for tan, I could be in the water all day, getting all pickled and full of salt. And I dive, and I play, and I swim from one side to another, like a crazy small fish who is just getting used to his habitat.
But since one year, I keep thinking that maybe one time I was an Indian, cause since I got to that place, I felt like keep going and going, and visiting and seeing, and eating and living just like Indians do. So...maybe I was an Indian a life before this one, and I tend to think that I loved my life cause I feel very attracted to that part of the globe, no matter the differences and the difficulties and the dusty roads :P Me, the person who hated bugs in the house, and who was sneezing because of dust, and who was always eating nicely with the fork and used to hate to sweat and stay out in the sun in 30 degrees :)
So here I am, with a whole lot of experience in my subconscious , living in Dubai and being OANA in this life, waiting like crazy to see where is my step going to take me, and my next life, and then the next one and next one and the next one.
Man it's so cool to be alive!

vineri, 22 iulie 2011

Welcome to Emirates


Welcome to Emirates. This is Oana speaking. How may I help?
Life in call center is not that bad yet, I must say. But still have some more months to go, so the impression might change...right?
Anyways welcome to my world, day by the day the same phrases, the same faces, the same inquiries, but still not yet bored. Why is that? Maybe because I keep "entertaining" the customers, when I can of course, and in the meanwhile I entertain myself while entertaining them.
But the crazies thing is actually how much money people spend on travels. Every time I speak to a customer I try to imagine what would be his job, what kind of social situation he has (and if he is flying Emirates that must be quite good), if he is having a good or bad day, if he has a family or not, if he is really interested in his inquire or just calling to pass the time, cause yes, we have "customers" like that as well :) I've faced till now people who were hoping to "find" me on the phone when they call next time, frustrated people with no time not even to talk on the phone and book their own business flight, people who did not have enough credit on the phone and were expecting me to call them back..., people who are traveling for a living and spending like nothing on one way flight from Europe to Middle East, people who are barging with me to give them a better fare, people who actually know where Romania is and even have friends there :), people with huge families that travel only in business class, people who know exactly what they want when they call to book a flight, people who have no idea why they are calling and many many others. So in this case how can a day be boring, when actually besides the lines that open and end my call, I have situations to which I may respond different every day. And improvise of course in case I don't know something :P Hopefully my calls won't be listened too often :))
Last day I also realized that in my days off, I am kinda getting bored, especially if I am the only one from my friends having off. You can imagine a whole day only sleeping and eating and watching movies and again eating? I couldn't till a few days ago :P
Dubai is still not for me, and this lifestyle is still not for me, so the only thing keeping me here are actually the customers and the daily situations...how fun is that?
Life in call center: quite joyful till now! Next step? Expiry of the first 6 months and then...
MAY THE TRAVELS BEGIN :D:D:D

luni, 11 iulie 2011

Lost & found


Usually I never lose things, I take good care of my keys, my phone, my head, however one thing I cannot take care of is my umbrella, so this is the only thing I always lose, no matter how big or fat or colorful it is : ))) But what happened last week made me reconsider my bad memory even in terms of umbrellas, because... I lost my fresh bought I-Phone 4.
Yes, exactly! Right after paying a lot of hundred euros for this sophisticated and fancy item, I found myself in the food court in Emirates Mall without being able to make a call. It was more than weird because I didn't even remember what I did with it, after leaving the beach. So the first option was the cab. I called the cab company "crying my heart out" that I need to find my phone. Of course they would call me as soon as they find something out, however I was very skeptic about this. And because my friends did not let me leave in peace without trying to do more to get it back, I decided that I will call the police and give the ID number of the phone to track it down and bring the "baby" back home.
Therefore after 2 days, the story continued with me thinking about my lost phone every minute of the day&night and calling to the police to ask what is the procedure to get track my item down. And while I was swearing that the line is busy since 20 minutes, a weird number is calling my mobile.
"Hello, did u lose an I-Phone?" You can imagine that my knees felt like jello and my voice started trembling..."Yes! I did!"
SURPRIZE!!! My phone was in Qatar as that moment, with a nice man who found it in the cab, took it with him just in case, cracked the pass-code , found out my number and gave me a call...from Doha-Qatar to Dubai-UAE to tell me that a friend of his will be coming in Dubai, not to worry, and he will send it back to me. How amazing is that?????!!!?!??
So after another 3 days, just as the man said, a friend of his came to Dubai and returned my "baby" to me.
At the moment, me and my "baby" are living happily ever after, trying to learn more about each other and enjoying every song and application together :D
"Si-am incalecat pe-o sa, si v-am spus povestea mea"

sâmbătă, 2 iulie 2011

Arabian wear


We all know that black and heat never go well together. However it seems this side of the globe is ignoring this fact, because as you can see all over Dubai, Arabian tradition says... Abaya and Niqab.
Since I came here, one of my dreams became this...to wear at least one time the traditional Arabian clothes. And I will succeed eventually, I am sure.
Now about the locals and the black wear. For some it's tradition, for some it's religion, however, all locals (it seems all) have their heads covered. And they look lovely. Or at least some of them. Besides this, under that long black cover, you will be able to see the latest fashion, from all the brands in the world, especially Armani, Gucci and D&G. Just like in sex and the city movie :D
Exotic perfumes with strong essences, big sparkly bags, high heals (a MUST), hairpins, make-up, a cool mobile phone (either Blackberry, either I-Phone) all are part of the modern Arabian wear.
However, the BAG is the most important part of them all, because it is the only article in the Arabian wear that you can see completely. Some women here spend thousands of Dirhams, equal with hundred of Euros, just to have a cool, modern, fashion BAG to go with their wear. If not thousands than at least some good hundred Dirhams, just to be sure that they have the latest fashioned bag.
The purpose of the Abaya and the Niqab is of course to cover the woman's shapes, so that she does not attract the looks on her figure. She can get it off only when she is surrounded by family.
An Egyptian "story teller" told me one evening that the way the locals wear the Niqab is reflecting their social status. As big the hair bun, the higher in the social class...
One thing is amazing in this traditional wear, the fact that some woman cover themselves completely. Meaning that you cannot see not even a little part of skin from the persons body. Some Arab woman cover their face completely and also wear gloves and closed shoes, which must be quite difficult to wear I imagine...
There are the "modern" women that only cover their hair either with a Niqab, either with simple scarves. Them I would personally call "araboaice rebele" :)
I keep thinking if I would be able to live like this, if I would bare this heat combined with this wear, and those are the times when I feel happy I didn't grow up in this part of the world doe, no matter how beautiful the women are and how much money they have.
Fascinating, isn't it?