Indian babe

Someone told me that dreams come true only...if you're living in a dream. Of course I refuse to believe that because I am now, for real, living whatever I was dreaming about. Because dreams do come true, but only when you really believe in them.

So here I am, after one year and a half, back in India, the place that I loved the most from all my journeys till now.

I landed in the city called Hyderabad yesterday morning, here to visit my dear friend Zahraa, who was anxious like a baby to see me again...just like me actually. I flew with Emirates (duh), and as expected I had a great flight, with goodies and nice atmosphere and friendly faces there to serve you anytime.

Hyderabad is a quite big city, bigger than my old Nagpur anyways, all green (comparing to the deserted dubai :))) ) and as I expected, very crowded. Dust is everywhere, cows walk freely on the streets, people walking on the sides of the road, just like I knew it :)

So my Indian adventure started with a long walk in the city, looking guess for what, a damn exchange house. If you can easily find exchanges in any place of the world, here we had to go 30 minutes with an auto ricksha and another 20 minutes walking. Can you imagine! Colors everywhere on the streets, women in sarees walking around, fresh fruit at every corner, fried Indian snacks all the way and lots of cars and bikes. I was just walking around, breaking my neck to catch every part of the world around me, to see every move, every shop, every person passing by. The lovely but tiring day ended with a shopping session in an open kind of park-bazaar and fresh fruit. But the most adventurous experience was the way back from the open market, traveling in the auto ricksha. The traffic went crazy by evening, so besides not being able to bargain to get a good price till home, we found ourselves "squeezed" between ten of cars, bikes, and a huge buss who was about to squish us for a couple of times. Amazingly this never happens, because the ricksha drivers, as crazy and as illegal as they move around, they never get stopped or have accidents. Or at least I never witnessed one, thank God :D

Irrespective of whatever people say or think or imagine about India, I know that this is a place where I will always love to be. And this came clear to me now, when I found myself here for the second time.

Tomorrow new adventures await for us, and after a traditional romanian lunch with polenta and cheese and onions today, and Zahraa wearing traditional romanian clothes (IE), we are ready to go out there once again!

See u laters alligators!

The music room

A strong cold wind blows your face when you enter. Don't dream to much, it's just an AC :) Then you step in a luxury small hall where 2 smiley faces welcome you. After that you are in.
Welcome to The Music Room.
A semi dark atmosphere with strategic lights around the room, a small stage, good live music, metallic tall chairs, a long bar with all your little heart might want, one billiard corner and one DJ in the other corner. You go in, choose a perfect spot to have a view over the entire place and your night begins.

The cute African waitress is there to make sure you have all you need, will treat you with peanuts from the house and keep you company if you are alone.
And here they are, the ones who entertain the atmosphere every single night. Urban.
The band I've heard only the 3rd time when I went to that place. During Ramadan they weren't singing. And one late night, after the holy month was over, going to Music Room was a big surprise. One beautiful girl was in the middle of the stage, singing Alicia Keys "If I ain't got you". Since that day, the song kept singing in my mind.
Then I went again and again, and there they were all the times, filling the place with an amazing sound, the sound of music. It was quite impossible not to notice the cute guy in the back playing the drums and singing "sos for love", or the amazing guitar player whose voice simply melts your senses.
Last time in Music Room I decided: I'm gonna find out who these people are. And so I did. A little bit nervous and with one bear on board, I went to their table, took a seat, and with a big smile asked if I can stick with them a few minutes. They looked at my a little bit curious but after I explained the reason everyone gave me the OK.
Karen was a little bit nervous when I started asking about her life, I could see her hand slowly trembling and her muscle faces going bananas :P She is the lovely singer, the only girl in the band, originally from the Philippines. All her life she didn't do anything else except music, nothing professional like studies or music school, simple passion, and for 2 whole years she used to sing in South Korea, besides other places in the world. And her voice...man...
Steve, the cute drummer is from Australia and use to sing there for 11 years, time when he meet Peter, the talented guitarist, and since then they kind of stayed together. His eyes are as blue as the ocean so you can simply get lost in them.
Now Peter, he is something. Started playing the guitar when he was 15 years old, having now 17 years of professional music background, he's the one who started Urban in March this year. He was actually more social and fun than appeared on the stage. Every time I saw him sing, he had the serious face, till the moment he started talking about his life. Originally from New Zealand, Auckland to be more precise, he is in Dubai since 2007, so quite some time now. He played in Australia a lot of time, when he became best friend with Steve and then about 4 years in the Middle East. I was quite surprised to hear about Middle East, I am not really imagining people in these countries going and enjoying an evening with live music. But apparently there is a music industry in this part of the globe as well, and as Peter said, a quite social and good one, especially in Dubai, thing that again left me "open jaw".
Robert is in charge of the keyboards. He came all the way from Malta to Dubai, and his family business is music. He is not very excited about the city and lifestyle, well just like most of the Europeans here, but it's fine for some time. My kind of guy :D
And last but not least, Hernan, the guitar bass guy. It took me some time to get his name, and guess what...he is from... Colombia. I so wanted to talk to him in Spanish, but it would have been rude for the other guys around. His life is music of course, and he so reminded me of the rock concerts from my home.
So officially they and Music Room became part of my Dubai life, and I am so happy for that. I would stay and listen to them hours and hours, which I will actually do from now on, whenever I get the time.

Things to do, places to see

4 months of my life in the desert :))) But it's worth it, I'm telling you.
And what really keeps me hanging is mostly the idea that soon, very soon, the world will be "at my feet". Why is that? Well surely you can imagine that working in a airline you have good discounts for airfares, even on other airlines not only Emirates :D
And while selling tickets every day to different destinations around the world, it's quite impossible not to imagine where would I like to fly in the future.
Here are some of the destinations which got stuck in my mind for the next year or maybe at the end of this one if my leave days will allow that :))
Manila (MNL) the bright capital of the magical island of the Philippines. With Spanish influences and many Spanish names on the streets, Manila is the most cosmopolitan city in the islands, the second as number of population and main religion roman catholic. Definitely one trip in the Phillippines should not end in Manila, but when you don't have to many days in your pocket, you can settle with the city as well :)

One dream of mine since I came here is to visit Seychelles. The island pertains to Africa, being in north of Madagascar, situated in the Indian ocean, having as neighbors the lovely island of Mauritius, Reunion, Zanzibar, Maldives and others about which I don't know about :P With official languages French, English and Seychellois creol, I imagine I should not have any problem in finding a spot there for a few days or relaxation. Anyone else in for Seychelles (SEZ)?

My last year plan after coming back from India was to work or at least visit Brazil. To work there surely can not do right now, but what do you know, we fly to Sao Paolo (SAO) and Rio de Janeiro (RIO)... Just my luck! Since I was little I dream of seeing the statue of Jesus on the top of Corcovado mountain, so my dream is about to come true some time soon :D I won't go into carnival stuff and Copacabana, I don't wanna stretch it to much :)) Will stick to some city tour, a cool swim in the ocean and a visit on the top of Corcovado mountain. Of course Sao Paolo would not hurt either, but I would prefer Rio instead.

And of course should not leave aside the eastern part of Asia. Could not decide yet to a destination but Emirates flies to all corners of the world, so some options would be Osaka, or maybe Shanghai or even Seoul. Would prefer Osaka by now, but none of these places would hurt me to get there...
I would love to tell you more, but I fear this can be painful for some of my friends especially, so I will stick to these places for now :)))
Now 2 slaps over the face, a glass of cold water, a cold shower (well actually a warm shower cause we don't have cold water in this country) and off to work. Let's send some people in the world, till I'll have my chance to get there.

Fun n fly

Emirates Airline, a service excellence airline company, making its way in the top companies in the industry with every single day passing by. Which is good definitely, but sometimes a little bit of imperfection makes a flight good as well, if you know how to put it of course.
Since more than 2 weeks I have this article and I keep reading it and laughing and imagining how can I get to fly with such an airline. Cause I would really love to try it someday.
People always think of these things like jokes,not really knowing that somewhere in the world, other people put the jokes in practice, even when it comes to business. Now this is Kulula Airline, a South African low fare airline. Their flights are more than fun, or so everyone "says" on the online pages. Even wikipedia caracterizes them as a fun way to fly, explaining most of its history.
Here are some of the "flight entertainments" from Kulula airline, the original article from where I actually got them and where you can find much more is here.

~~~On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, “People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!~~~~

~~~There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane~~~

~~~In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, pick your favorite.~~~~

~~~~As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses..~~~

~~~Another flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing: “We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.~~~~

~~~Heard on a Kulula flight: “Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing. If you can light ‘em, you can smoke ‘em.~~~

...and imagine they are in the industry since 10 years, 'n still "hopping"....
Good for you guys, good for you!!!!

Tourist or local

I feel like this city is getting me more and more, and I really don't want to start enjoying Dubai that much :))) So what should I do?
Anyways the idea is that in India I felt like a local since the first month, here I am still not in the "local mood"
One benefit of being a resident was clear last week, when our group went to spend a day off all together in the amazing Aquaventure Atlantis park. Being a UAE resident the month of Ramadan brought us a discount of 50% in that aqua park. And then I felt like a local. Afterwards the situation changed immediately, when spending a whole day in those pools and in that entertainment I truly felt like a tourist, being just in vacation in Dubai, having no worries, no stress, no work the next day...
One think is clear doe, the country could not live without the tourists. One major source of money here is definitely tourism, so imagine all these people not coming and spending luxury vacations in Dubai, where would we be? Hundred of hotels, with different entertainment and different attractions, making you feel like a king and taking a hell lot of your money. Well if you want to feel like a king, clearly you should pay, right?
Now some other sources of "living" here are the fines. As I mentioned before, the highways within the city allow quite a high speed comparing with other cities in the world. On Emirates road that is crossing Dubai from one end to another, the speed limit is 120km/h, but people from around here know that the radar will not catch you even if you drive with 140. But how can you drive only with 140 when you have an amazing road in front, all clear, with 7 lanes and one hell of a car that can go up to 220? So here comes the problem, speeding=>radar=>fine=>money in local budget.
The metro stations are absolutely divine here, all air conditioned, all clean and organized, metros come in time and a lot of rules. Did you know that you are not allowed to drink or eat in the metro? Most probably in all countries it's like that. Well here you actually get a fine if you do that but more than this, you get a fine if...you chew gum inside the metro. And just to clear that out, 2 work mates that were going in the city one hot summer day, found themselves having to pay a 100 Dhs (aprox 20 euros) fine because they were chewing gum inside the metro. The crazy part is that the fine went up to 110 Dhs...the extra 10 Dhs amount was...what do you think..knowledge fee. For the simple reason that they were shown the manual where it is written that chewing gum inside the metro is prohibited, they were charged 10 Dhs (aprox 2 euros) Therefore being a local is quite hard as well...
So I'm just thinking, better to be a tourist or better to be a local? Any ways you get to spend a whole lot of money on God knows what.
I could stay and write little stories from Dubai all day but time is running out and I gotta go. So stay tuned y'all.
~Cheers~

Ramadan kareem

Finally the Holy month of Ramadan is here, this year being celebrated between 1-30 August. Just to imagine how this is happening in Muslim countries, this month is like the December month for Christian, especially Christmas days, with lights and decorations and fasting and others as such.
And because living in an Islamic country, of course we have to adjust to the conditions. One rule here, Ramadan or no Ramadan, Muslims are called for prayer 5 times a day, meaning that in the city you can hear the readings from Coran in the speakers of every mosque...and believe me there are a lot of mosques. The Muslim prayers are happening at specifid timings, the first prayer being in early morning at 04:26, Fajer, at 05:46 Sunrise, at 12:30 Dohor, Aser at 15:56, Magreb at 19:06 and Isha at 20:36. But especially in this month, because of fasting from morning till dawn, eating and drinking is not allowed in public...

As a sign of respect for the locals, all non Muslims should not eat any kind of food or drink, not even water in front of the Muslim people who are not eating and drinking all day.
So how to live in this crazy heat without at least drinking water. Our luck is that, being such various in nationalities, our dear company permits us, the "guests", to drink water during working hours no matter if Muslims are around or not, and to eat in public, but only in specific areas :) So we are saved.
Definitely I will need to pay lots of attention with this drinking or eating, cause today I just found myself with the bottle of water at my mouth in the middle of the bus...without realizing that I am surrounded by locals...who are fasting. I closed my bottle immediately and put it back in my bag, just like nothing happened. Luckily no one said anything, probably they were to sleepy to notice me :P
More about Ramadam here.

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!

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

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"

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?