I was on a bus today. I was sitting on this bus, between the staff car park and the terminal, and I had a very strange thought. My brain spoke to me, and it said "how did I get here?" This was quite unexpected, and for a moment I didn't know what to reply. In fact, I paused for so long that my brain added extra questions. "Why am I here?" it demanded. "Who sent me? Who made me come? What on earth was I thinking?" and then it tacked a few extra question marks on the end, like this: ????????????
This stumped me, rather. I think it's about four months since I decided to come out here, and funny (funny weird, not funny haha) to think about why I actually did it. In fact, I don't really have a reason except that it seemed to be a pretty cool thing to do. So I sat on the bus, and the eucalyptus trees passed me by, and I watched a random captain opposite me talking loudly on the phone in an extremely Australian accent, and given my state of mind, I found that particularly weird, (it's a bit like being detached from your body, seeing yourself sitting there and not being involved with the actual sitting part at all) and I thought about the questions that my brain had asked me. Then the terminal, and I never actually got a chance to answer the questions as I met my particular trainer, and from then on it was down to business.
I suppose you think that I am going to answer those questions, here and now, on this blog. You are wrong - I'm not, and neither do I intend to.
The last two days have been pretty intense. Yesterday was my first day flying, and it was all incredibly new, remarkably different, altogether fairly overwhelming and pretty similar to what I imagine the Spanish Inquisition to have been like - without so much of the physical torture, that is. Okay, scratch that, without any of the physical torture. Suffice it to say, I have never ever been asked so many questions in such a short period of time!
The flying part of things has been really good, and I've really enjoyed being back in the aircraft, although it hasn't seemed as natural as I thought it would be, due to all the new procedures and having to actually think before actioning things. When my mind goes away all on its lonesome it tends to go right back to what it is used to do, so if I'm doing a take-off brief and get distracted perhaps by our taxi route, I realise that I am chanting the previous company's spiel with absolutely no regard to what I am actually saying. That takes a little bit of getting used to! It's like forcing myself to write with my left hand when I'm used to writing with my right - and yes I know some people do that all the time, but I don't!
Once I was inside the terminal today, and got down to business, my brain stopped asking me stupid questions and I was able to focus on what I needed to do. That was good. Another thing that is good is that tomorrow is a day off, and it will give me a little bit of a head-start on the study front - it is quite hard to stay ahead of the game if you are flying every day and can only study while preparing for the actual duty. Yeah, yeah I know, smallest violin and all that.
I think this particular blog post has gone on long enough! Yes, I am happy that I am here. Yes, there is an awful lot more work than I thought there would be - but am I willing to do it? yes. Also, I recognise that it is their ball game so they make the rules! However, bring on the day off tomorrow, that's what I say!
TTFN!!!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
We Make Fly
Today is the day that I officially become airborne! I spent all of yesterday allegedly studying, but more realistically running around like a headless chicken trying to organise myself, fill my flight bag with everything under the sun that I might possibly need sometime in my future life, and iron my uniform multiple times. This morning I am writing this blog to try to delay some of the headless chicken antics that I know are going to begin the sooner I get to departure time.
Over here, they take things very seriously. A part of me says it would be extremely nice to wake up in my cozy little apartment in Swords, throw on my uniform, decide not to iron my shirt because it can just about be classified as cold enough to wear the potato sack sweater. Look at my watch, panic because I have to report in 15 minutes, send a txt to say I'm running late, fall into the crew room, press "print", and there you have it.
Not so much, any more. Things have changed. The shirt feels like wearing a piece of cardboard, and every time you move, it reminds you that you are indeed wearing a piece of cardboard. On the plus side, it is fitted, and no longer looks like I'm borrowing Dad's shirt. I have to wear a name-tag and wings! Mind you, I always used to have to wear a name-tag and wings, they just sort of got mislaid...
Australia seems to be about 20 years behind the rest of the world, where technology is concerned (and multiple other things). You can no longer press "print" when you arrive in the crew room. Well, you can, but it won't really get you very far. Everything is manual like it used to be once upon a time back home. How much fuel do you want to fly from A to B? Who knows, let's add it up... 30+60+300+80+35+...blah blah blah. Can't we just like, blag a bit?
Right, now that I've wasted 15 minutes of my valuable getting-ready-to-work allowance, which I shall call 80kg of fuel, I must see can I perfect my headless chicken routine... to go fly an airplane that I've been flying for the last 4 years. What's the big deal ???
TTFN !!!
Over here, they take things very seriously. A part of me says it would be extremely nice to wake up in my cozy little apartment in Swords, throw on my uniform, decide not to iron my shirt because it can just about be classified as cold enough to wear the potato sack sweater. Look at my watch, panic because I have to report in 15 minutes, send a txt to say I'm running late, fall into the crew room, press "print", and there you have it.
Not so much, any more. Things have changed. The shirt feels like wearing a piece of cardboard, and every time you move, it reminds you that you are indeed wearing a piece of cardboard. On the plus side, it is fitted, and no longer looks like I'm borrowing Dad's shirt. I have to wear a name-tag and wings! Mind you, I always used to have to wear a name-tag and wings, they just sort of got mislaid...
Australia seems to be about 20 years behind the rest of the world, where technology is concerned (and multiple other things). You can no longer press "print" when you arrive in the crew room. Well, you can, but it won't really get you very far. Everything is manual like it used to be once upon a time back home. How much fuel do you want to fly from A to B? Who knows, let's add it up... 30+60+300+80+35+...blah blah blah. Can't we just like, blag a bit?
Right, now that I've wasted 15 minutes of my valuable getting-ready-to-work allowance, which I shall call 80kg of fuel, I must see can I perfect my headless chicken routine... to go fly an airplane that I've been flying for the last 4 years. What's the big deal ???
TTFN !!!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Auckland Pictures
A picture says a thousand words - hence I will now shut up.
I shall now open my mouth long enough to comment that these are teency weency baby mussels - I included my finger in the photograph to portray how tiny they were. Below, there is a random house near the beach that I thought was pretty awesome.
The above two photos are maps - in concrete and metal - of what you can see out in the bay - of which the only two photos I am posting are above the photos of the maps.
ML walking around a massive gun emplacement from WWII. Below, the red and white mushrooms are actually air vents from the bunker underneath - the gun emplacement is to the right of this photo.
This is actually the same beach as previously, however from further along. Below is a volcanic island out in the bay - don't ask me which volcano, though.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Picture Installment 1
The Flights:
The starter and salad pictures are actually of the flight home - the pics I took on the way there weren't great, although there was a lot more salmon on the first starter!
Below is the fillet steak served on the first flight...
See??? International Date Line !! WOOHOO
and.... as you can see, I was absolutely ruined by the time we flew home :) ML sneakily took this picture while I wasn't looking (obviously)
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
BBQ
It's been a couple of days since I've had my computer out. Actually, this is the first time since before Auckland, so over a week! My poor, lonely computer - I'm sure it's glad to see me back. This means that you might luck out with a few photos one of these days!
Yesterday we flew home from NZ via business class again which once again was awesome although the food wasn't as good as on the way out. It was a very early start which didn't work out all that comfortably after being used to going to bed at breakfast time and getting up at lunch time! It was like a simulator jet lag!
Over the weekend, I sent an email out to all of the internationals, inviting everyone to a BBQ at our house on Tuesday 3rd. As we only actually got home from Auckland then, and no preparation had been done in our absence, it was a bit of a mad rush trying to get everything organised for people to turn up. RMcN and myself went out and bought all of the food etc. and then came home and cleaned the house, while everyone else went AWOL.
RMcN's burgers are undoubtedly the most awesome burgers I have ever had. I dunno what he put in them - a combination of spices, mustard, tomatoes, onions, you name it - they were incredibly incredible. On top of that we had piles of sausages, loads of corn on the cob, chicken, and of course all the accoutrements.
A large number of people turned up for the event, and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this - it got dark before the BBQ even started, so taking photos wouldn't have been very easy! The first Australian BBQ was a rip-roaring success, and I think we can call this house officially "warmed" !
Photos of Auckland will of course follow, once I muster up the energy to edit them.
TTFN!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
AWOL
Apparently I have forgotten that I have a blog. Not only that, but also appear, from my point of view, to have forgotten how to have a life. The last four or five days have involved waking, food, manic studying, hours and hours of torture, getting home later and later, sleeping... then the whole cycle over again, and blogging hasnt exactly been pretty high on the agenda!
The food here is really good. There's a little cafeteria around the corner from the hotel and it has very reasonably priced unhealthy breakfasts etc. My favourite is the pancake breakfast, involving two large buttery pancakes, sandwiching a large maple flavoured piece of bacon. On the side, a bowl of thick syrup is supplied, and the inevitable banana smothered in whipped cream. This appears to be a New Zealand thing, everything either contains fruit or has fruit on the side. Mr C ordered a cajun chicken salad one day and this had a massive banana smack in the middle. I ordered a beed salad and it had large chunks of orange, apple and pineapple littered through it and was drenched in a sweet citrusy dressing. It seems impossible to get salad without this dressing.
Another amazing food item
over here is the coffee. I say food item, and I stick to this. If you order a capuccino or a latte you are brought a perfectly frothy swimming pool of the liquid. By the time you finish this, you don't actually want the breakfast that you ordered, or rather, I don't, so ML eats his own breakfast and half of mine.
The studying hasn't been all that bad, it's all fairly straightforward but very full on. The requirement is to be pretty much word perfect, and heaven forbid you regress to previous procedures and say 'select' instead of 'set'! However, if you show that you are making the effort, know 99% of your calls and procedures, you don't get as much flack for a wrong item as you do if you've only learnt 5%. Don't ask me why, but I know!
They are mowing the lawns outside my bedroom window. I think this is disgraceful at 10.00! Do they not realise what time I went to bed?
Tonight, we're meeting up with some of the others who fly over today, and then going for dinner. Yes, at this stage my life does revolve around food. There's nothing else for me to do at this hotel except study - and that's not happening today!
Right, I'm bored of this writing about nothing, I'll update with more when I get home to 'Brizzy' tomorrow!
TTFN!
The food here is really good. There's a little cafeteria around the corner from the hotel and it has very reasonably priced unhealthy breakfasts etc. My favourite is the pancake breakfast, involving two large buttery pancakes, sandwiching a large maple flavoured piece of bacon. On the side, a bowl of thick syrup is supplied, and the inevitable banana smothered in whipped cream. This appears to be a New Zealand thing, everything either contains fruit or has fruit on the side. Mr C ordered a cajun chicken salad one day and this had a massive banana smack in the middle. I ordered a beed salad and it had large chunks of orange, apple and pineapple littered through it and was drenched in a sweet citrusy dressing. It seems impossible to get salad without this dressing.
Another amazing food item
over here is the coffee. I say food item, and I stick to this. If you order a capuccino or a latte you are brought a perfectly frothy swimming pool of the liquid. By the time you finish this, you don't actually want the breakfast that you ordered, or rather, I don't, so ML eats his own breakfast and half of mine.
The studying hasn't been all that bad, it's all fairly straightforward but very full on. The requirement is to be pretty much word perfect, and heaven forbid you regress to previous procedures and say 'select' instead of 'set'! However, if you show that you are making the effort, know 99% of your calls and procedures, you don't get as much flack for a wrong item as you do if you've only learnt 5%. Don't ask me why, but I know!
They are mowing the lawns outside my bedroom window. I think this is disgraceful at 10.00! Do they not realise what time I went to bed?
Tonight, we're meeting up with some of the others who fly over today, and then going for dinner. Yes, at this stage my life does revolve around food. There's nothing else for me to do at this hotel except study - and that's not happening today!
Right, I'm bored of this writing about nothing, I'll update with more when I get home to 'Brizzy' tomorrow!
TTFN!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)