My first few days in Qatar

Well here I am in Doha, Qatar. My first 6 days here have been amazing and challenging. I was met at the airport and taken to my accommodation the day I arrived. I’m considered one of they lucky crew members because I’ve been placed in a brand new apartment building. The apartment is very nice and comes fully furnished. It has two bathrooms, a dining room that is connected to the lounge room, a kitchen complete with washing machine and my very own large bedroom! It’s huge! The 9th floor of the building has a gym which I’ve been using daily and loving! The view from the gym is amazing, you can see the city, all the surrounding areas and the airport. We have the best view of planes taking off!
We have 2 security guards downstairs at all times, 4 of them in total that rotate every 12 hours! Poor guys. They’re very nice guys and are taking very good care of me because I make the effort to go downstairs and chat to them.
I spent the first few days unpacking and shopping at the local supermarket. On arrival we received a welcome bonus of 2000 Riyals which is around $850. I bought some food and necessities for the apartment such as toiletries and kitchen products. The airline was kind enough to give us all our own set of cutlery, mugs, plates, iron with board, cooking utensils, pots and pans etc. They also gave us a welcome hamper with food to get us through the first few days. That was very helpful!
I’m sharing the apartment with a Serbian named Jelena (pronounced Ya-lay-nar). She’s so lovely and we get on well. She used to work for Emirates so she’s been really helpful in giving me tips and preparing me for the 7 weeks of training I have ahead of me. She can speak 4 different languages (like most of the girls here) which just amazes me. She’s teaching me Spanish which is great because I was interested in learning that before coming here. Actually I’m learning bits and pieces of lots of languages because of all the friends I’ve made. In my training group we have so many different nationalities. We have 4 people from South Africa, Spain, Bulgaria, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. Most of the girls hang out in my apartment which is nice, it’s become somewhat of a cabin crew hangout or meet up place. I’ve never felt so popular!
We began our training on Monday, although the first few days were orientation. It’s been quite challenging for me as I’m used to getting up for work with an hour to spare, having a 2 minute shower, tying my hair in a pony tail and rushing out the door to catch the train…skipping breakfast and all! Here I have to look immaculate. Presentation is everything and they’re extremely strict. Day 1 involved a grooming induction. We were shown appropriate hairstyles, our makeup was examined and we were given tips and pointers. We were then taken into a makeup room which was so glamorous and looked like something supermodels would use! It had 10 mirrors along a wall with lots of globes around each mirror that would light up and make it look like a celebrity dressing room! They had makeup everywhere and we were allowed to use whatever we liked (and could come in and use it anytime…so some girls go in there before each flight).
Today I had to go for my government medicals. To be given visas here the government requires you to pass a medical test. Unfortunately for me it involved waking up at 4:30am as the bus picked us up at 5:45. And yes…we had to look immaculate even at that unruly hour of the morning! After the medicals we had to spend a full day in class which was tough.
I’m learning all about airports and their codes, each countries capital city and lots about Qatari life. Did you know that the black dress-like outfits they wear are called an abiya, whereas the white ones are called a dish dash? I also discovered that the word bin in male names means “son of” whereas female names have the word bent which means ‘daughter of”. So if I were Qatari my name would be Amber bent Kelvin Matthews. How bizarre!
I wake up every morning to the sound of humming which happens at the local mosque. They pray 5 times a day. Before sunrise, midafternoon, evening, sunset and at night. So I wake up and go to bed listening to them. It freaked me out a little the first night but I’m now used to it.
It’s quite dusty here and everything looks the same! All the buildings are painted the same colour, which is the colour of the dust! Driving 10 minutes out of the city really confirmed for me that I’m in the desert! Sand everywhere and you look out at……nothing! There is seriously nothing here! The sky is not blue so if you google photos of Doha don’t be deceived! The dust covers the sky and you can’t even see the sun! Despite the fact that it gets really hot the sun just can’t seem to break through all the dust, so the sky is a constant sand colour.
With all that said I’m having an enjoyable time thus far learning about aircrafts and making friends. I’ll update you all once I have some time so keep sending me questions etc and I’ll respond when I can.
My mobile number here is +974 660 2178 and if you want to write to me you can do so at:
Amber Matthews
Pigeonhole No: 265
Cabin Crew Department
Qatar Airways, PO Box 23946
Doha, State of Qatar

I love you all!

Amber xoxo

Ps. I forgot to mention that Qatar start flying to Melbourne in October, so start praying I get put on one of the first flights out!

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