Taking a break during pre-opening...

Sounds like we're not getting Eid off since the hotel is opening in a few days, so we have to find other ways to amuse ourselves... Toyota jumping in the office..almost as good as going to bangkok!

Crazy americans....

playing in the sand...

Pictures, in order: the Sri Lankans teaching me some cricket chants; post Iftar (when you break fast at sundown during ramadan) playstation @ Ali's; Ollie (an awesome British guy who works in HR) and me watching the game; my hat blowing away; and our hotel team playing the Shangri-La in a desert cricket match! All in all a fun day off. back to work tomorrow.

Hope you're all doing well! xoxo C

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

This weekend I was traveling again but for fun not for work! Istanbul is a great city- totally not what I expected at all. The weather was perfect about 30C the whole time. We saw lots of the sights and had some great food too. Definitely worth a visit if you have the time- I'll definitely go back!

The pics, in order, are: me and the bosphorous; inside the blue mosque; Hagia Sofia; me and the bosphorous again; and finally....milky dessserts (check out the ingredients of the first one...mmmm chicken..)

Hope you're all doing well. xoxo C

Safari!

I think the pictures speak for themselves- arguably the most amazing 24 hours of my life! You HAVE to go! Video to follow. xoxo C

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