Interviewing and the first day in Al Ain

After getting a few hours of sleep, I woke up at 9 AM local time, just in time for breakfast. The interviewing company, Horizon International Flight Academy, put me up in hotel, flew me out to visit, paid for my meals, and arranged transportation to and from the airport. After breakfast, we walked around the Hilton...where we were staying. The weather was very nice for January, about 70 degrees. I was surprised how green and lush it was, and was curious if it stayed that green in the summer when it gets upwards of 130. The mountain range close to town made it more scenic than I was expecting. The red, jagged rocks extended upwards against the cloudless sky. The hotel staff was very friendly and willing to do just about anything for you.

At 12:30, the driver met me at the hotel to drive me to the local airport, where the flight school and my potential future job awaited. Again, after countless roundabouts, and me having no idea which direction we were going, we finally starting going out of town...I knew we were almost there. Red colored sand dunes became more numerous, and so did the 4x4 vehicles driving around on them having a good time. We finally arrived at the flight school...a pale orange building that was set out by itself. I later found out that the school has two buildings. One for the helicopter training, and the other for airplane training. I sat in the lobby area for no more than a few minutes when I was met by one of the gentlemen who would later interview me. He got me a coffee...again, strong, and in a smaller cup, and we bagan the interview. I was under the assumption that since the school was in the middle east, that the locals would be running it. I was wrong. I was interviewed by two gentlemen. One of which was from Austria, and the other was American. They just asked me basic questions about my flight experience, but mostly was designed to be a formal face to face talk. I was the one who had most of the questions. They made it feel as if I was a shoe in for the position. I was invited back the next morning for a flight at 8 AM and that I would be picked up at 7.

The next day started at 5:45. Before my alarm went off, the call to prayer echoed through the town. I knew I would hear it eventually as it continued for about 5 minutes. After breakfast and the taxi ride to the airport, we weren't able to fly since the haze limited the visibility a little too much. I spoke with some of the other instructors, who were all pretty cool, and mostly from the UK. They told me that the town was very laid back and it is a good place to make some money since the rest of the global economy was in the toilet. They didn't appear to work too hard...just my style! They were very well respected both by the other staff and the students. The haze finally lifted and we were able to get up in the air. The fleet was prestine. The airplanes were almost brand new, all had glass cockpits, and were very clean. They looked as if they were washed and waxed every other day. Probably the best fleet of planes I've ever seen. We taxied down to the other end of the 13,000 foot runway, which seemed to have taken forever, and finally got off of the ground. We flew out north east of town near the mountain range. There wasn't much to see except bare, red mountains, some streets, and guess what, some roundabouts! After completing basic flight maneuvers, maneuvers a private pilot could complete with ease, we headed back to the airport. On the way back, I glanced down to the ground and saw some camels. I wasn't sure if they were wild or if they were accompanied by locals.

Upon landing, and waiting for a while, I was given a job offer and contract. It appears that we're moving to someplace that's a 9 hour time difference from the east coast of the US.