More Nairobi

Interviews have been going well here- I think we'll be able to bring back lots of fantastic colleagues for the hotel. Too bad we didn't just come here first and skip stupid Syria!

One funny thing-- we always ask the candidates why they want to join the company and why they want to go to the UAE and I've had about 10 of them so far, tell me "because I want to expose myself". I think they mean expose themselves to other cultures or to working in a 5* hotel or something but it is all I can do to keep a straight face!

Although we're enjoying the interviews, it's hard not to hope today goes quickly because tomorrow we fly to the Masai Mara for our SAFARI!!!!!!!

Kelly and I have been cracking up every morning at breakfast because we see whole groups of people in matching safari suits heading off- the suits look so silly and they are really expensive in the gift shop too! I've been trying to google what the purpose of these outfits is to see if we need to get one, and it seems that colours other than beige, khaki and brown make you "conspicuous" to the wildlife. I'm not sure if that means they will be scared ad run away, or that we will be dinner... In any case, if necessary I'm sure we can rent the appropriate gear.

Okay gotta get ready for our last day of interviews. Here are a few pics from dinner a couple of nights ago... just like last year, it feels like all we do is eat! I love life on the road but will also be happy to get back to my usual dinners of cereal soon. Okay, hope you're all doing well. xoxo C

We're from Nairobi and we're on the best team...

We do the Watusi, we're seven feet tall! The cannibals may eat us but they'll never beat us, cause we're from Nairobi and we're on the ball!

Does anyone else know that song? We used to sing it over and over and over at camp and it's all I think of when someone mentions the name of the city.

So, even though we had sort of a nasty introduction to Kenya (rough landing where even a flight attendant puked!) it has bee a great experience so far. We are staying at one of our own hotels so have been loving all the amenities- especially the gym- I went twice today!! That's the problem with these trips, all the recruiters expect you to go out with them every night- and eat eat eat! Tonight we went to an all you can eat meat restaurant called CARNIVORE! They have all sorts of meat on swords and they come round and carve it onto your plate. I tried ostrich and crocodile for the first time- the ostrich was great, but I can't say I'm a fan of croc- sort of fishy and chewy all at the same time- not a good combination.

All the people we interviewed today were fabulous- kenyans have such amazing smiles and such great attitudes. I tried to ask around to see if there were any long distance runners I could get some tips from but apparently those ones don't need to work in hotels since they are all kajillionaires from winning races all over the world.. Oh well.

Okay I should get to bed, but hope you're all doing well! xoxo C

Ramadan Kareem

Hi! Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting- apparently in Syria macs are some sort of alien technology and nobody could get me online. We flew in from Damascus last night at 5pm and are already on the road again- thanks to the Doha airport for the free wifi! I must say, Damascus really isn't my favourite place-- actually, if I never go there again, I really won't be upset. It is dirty and busy in the same way as cairo but (and I can't believe I'm saying this) it lacks cairo's charm- I think because of its inhabitants-- Damascenes in general were sort of boring and unhelpful. (Sorry, hope I'm not offending anyone but that was the impression I got, you're welcome to try to change my mind if you like!)

So yesterday marked the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan in the Muslim world- it's sort of annoying for us as it means we can't eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public- obviously smoking isn't an issue for me, but the other 3 are things I like to do from time to time!

Kelly and I are on our way to Kenya now- we're both really excited about this trip as it's somewhere neither of us have been- also we're staying at one of our own hotels which will undoubtedly be an improvement on the last place AND we're going on safari at the end of the trip.

Here are a few pics from Damascus. Hope you're all well and Ramadan Kareem!!

xoxo C

SL con't

We've been in SL since Friday and this is the only picture I've taken. From the balcony on the interview room. It's been blowing up a storm all day and is raining a lot and we have been interviewing billions of (smelly) people. The train that goes on the track you can see went by every 30 min and the whole place shook like crazy- that wasn't annoying AT ALL!!

We fly back to the UAE tomorrow night for about 15 hours and then are off to damascus the following day (Tuesday I think). It's all go!

Hope you are all well!

C

Colombo

Those of you who've known me for any length of time know about my love/obsession with Dachshunds... well the night be fore we flew out I stayed with Marta and her fiance and they happen to have an adorable little dachshund called Edgar. I tried to get him to pose with me for a picture but he was having none of it (even after I gave him some cheese, his favorite snack). Here are a couple of my better attempts.

After a completely sold out flight where we were both wedged between smelly, drunken, coughing (did I say smelly!!!??) men , Kelly and I arrived in Colobmo this morning at about 5am. It was an old plane and the seats didn't even recline. My ipod died about 30 min into the flight but I kept it on and pretended I was asleep to keep the drunk smelly guy from talking to me more than he was already doing. He didn't seem to care that I didn't speak his language and wasn't responding at all. He also kept pretending to fall asleep and leaning on my shoulder- it took repeated elbowing to get him to stop. I can't remember a recent flight where I was so happy to land!

After all the necessary H1N1 checks, the recruiter met us at the airport and took us to the hotel- the same one we were at last year. We slept till lunchtime and then has some food and tried to find something to do in the rain...the only thing nearby was a mall. We didn't buy anything but spend a while in a bookstore-a good activivity on a rainy day. Tomorrow is the first of 2.5 interview days. Should be fun! Although some of its inhabitants are sort of gross, Sri Lanka has delicious bananas- look how tiny and cute they are! mmmm I just ate 3.

Okay, we're off to the gym now. Hope you're all doing well.

xoxo C

Almost Famous

Click on this link an go all the way to the bottom right of the page - cool eh!!?? It's an article I wrote on my experiences training in Egypt- you can't read it online (obviously they want you to buy the mag) I can't buy the magazine here so and have no idea if they printed what I wrote word for word or if they edited it like crazy but it's pretty cool to see my name there... Can someone buy a copy for me? thx!

C

Abu Dhabi

Sorry for the huge delay in posting- I've been in Abu Dhabi since last weekend and haven't had access to this site or to hotmail so I apologize if you wrote me and I didn't respond (Nicky-- thanks so much for the symphony splash pics!).

I am loving the UAE-- it's so clean and organized, the traffic is normal and the people here don't smell quite as much. I've been helping in the HR office of our new property for the last week and either tomorrow or Friday will fly out to Sri Lanka for the start of a recruitment trip- after that we head to Syria and Kenya where I am going on a SAFARI at one of our hotels there!!!!!!! It's only for 24 hours and it's pretty expensive but I have no idea when I might be back there so I jumped at the chance when it was offered! I can't wait- it's not till the end of the month but I wish it was sooner! I am getting the chance to reconnect with some old friends here, Marianna and Marta I worked with in Victoria and there are countless others who I've crossed paths with along the way...

For the last week I've been living in what is affectionately known as the 'frathouse' it's the staff housing for ass't managers- it's a series of five 7 room villas all attached together- we have males and females mixed, which is actually illegal.... so don't tell. Being Ass't Managers, they are all mostly in their early-mid twenties so it's been funny hanging out with them and watching the soap operas ensue! It reminds me of our co-op days in whistler!!

It's funny, although it's over 40C every day here, and realllllly humid, I have actually become quite accustomed to the heat and actually can't imagine surviving in temps lower than 30C now, it sounds positively frosty! Apparently it'll be winter in Kenya and can get as low as 10C at night... I wonder if there's anywhere to buy a parka in the UAE in August....

My camera has remained in my suitcase the last few days so I have no pics to post but I should take some pics of the hotel- its not finished yet, but it's going to be pretty cool looking when it's done. (which should be soon, inshallah)

Okay well I should get to bed but I hope you're all doing well. xoxo C