A berth for birth.

Hamming it up.
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We finished the Safety part of our training. The final exam was hard but we all past. It was good to get is over with and now I am qualified to operate on Boeing 777-200 & 300 as well as Air Bus 330, 340-300, 340-500. We have also had a day of safety training which included, among other things, Dealing with Terrorist, Bombs, Hijackings, Gun recognitions, and how to take down “unruly passengers.” All very interesting, and empowering if not propaganda laden.

The next day we started on EFR or Emergency First Response, aka first aid. A topic I have a great deal of knowledge in, but one they still managed to keep both interesting and fun. It was an intensive week, thus the reason for the long period between letters, but our two Philippine Instructors were very informative. The big difference is in my training and the new form was basically that we are possibly hours away from any help but there is plenty of medication… which we can’t touch until we get permission from Medlink, a Phoenix based “dial a doctor.” But it is really quite cool that they teach us to deal with a wide berth or topics. We have learned how to deliver babies, and deal with deceased passengers. All in very tight quarters. Which should come in handy seeing that Emirates has the highest level of births and deaths of any airline… go figure. Ok, I will elaborate because I am sure some one is going to ask why?

Emirates has the highest level of births and deaths of any airline… go figure.

Pedro and Antonio hamming it up.
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Well as for the births; Emirates will let expectant mothers fly into their 36 week of pregnancy! If you do the math that works out to the ninth month of maternity! Where as most others will only let expectant moms up to, but not into the third trimester… or six months.

As for the deaths I can only hazard a guess. Health. Ya, I know a no-brainer. I will explain. The average Emiratii is rich and lazy… well our guests tend to be. It is an expensive airline. The rich fly Emirates, the rich drive cars rather then walking, the rich have a host of labourers that do all the manual labour around there villas, and the rich eat rich foods, very fatty. Then they get on our plain and sit in an hypoxic environment for up to 16 hours and suffer Angina, Cardiac Arrest, and Deep Vein Thrombosis, among other things. As anyone that has flown lately will recall, the whole process is stressful on the mind body and soul. Even us, the crew are expect to gain 10 kg (22Lbs.) in our first year. All the uniforms they issue are a size or so large in expectation. Not me though I have been running and cooking rather health meals at home.

The "air nurses" hard at work on "David the dummy," named after me (david being my middle name and what all the instructors called me. I guess Lionel is a little complicated for some accents.
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Well as for what is next? We start Service Sunday. This is how to serve drinks food, etc. The “meat and potatoes” of the course. Then on the 22, if that the Thursday, we will graduate. Then I am told we need to wait 2 weeks for the certification to be processed. I will keep you posted.