W Weasel,
I take my hats off to you for making the effort to give all these information about AA. I did my best too in the past to encourage others to come and work for this great company. Everything you said is really spot on, and I admire you for your honesty and unselfish devotion to give out as much information about Air Arabia and help others get in.
To those reading W Weasels posts, I can personally attest to the veracity and truthfulness of everything he said. He brought me to his huge villa once and offered me bacon and egg for breakfast while waiting for the fog to clear up before our flight. W Weasel is one of the best guys I have flown with in AA and all you new joiners should look forward to fly with him and hope for a thick fog in the early morning so you can have breakfast in his house too!
Before I go on, I just want to say that I am not writing this post in response to W Weasel's previous post about AA and to make any comparisons between AA and my present company. Both are actually good, and any inference that may be derived from reading this would actually depend on how each one of us view life in general.
To be honest, I miss AA and I miss all the nice people there. It was really good while it lasted. But while I admit that I had a really great time when I was there, nevertheless I must also say that I am happier where I am now. I am living in a villa too, not too huge, but nice. It's 4 BR (incl maid's rm) with 4 toilet and bath, 2 car garage, a front yard, a porch and a barbecue area at the back. I have my own space as office too where I put all my medals, certificates/placques/commendations, old pics and all my other war booties (haha). My wife has a small garden with some plants and flowers where my two kids, 9 yo boy and 6 yo girl take turns in watering them. Im living in a compound of six villas and I have very nice neighbors. All the kids in the neighborhood play with each other while the parents enjoy a bottle or two of beer and wine. My kids' school is just 12 min drive from where I live and the airport (where I go to work!) is just as close to home. I fly an average of 85 hrs/mo, 3 times to europe/mo, and the rest up and down the gulf area and India. On my days off (which is a minimum of 9 days/mo) and while the kids are in school, me and the missus go to a family country club close to home - either to work out, play tennis or just laze around in the jacuzzi. The kids, on their free time, get to enjoy the big pool as well. But most importantly, in my new company and with unlimited ID90 tickets, now we have the opportunity to go back to our home country anytime we want.
I must say that I had a good life when I was with AA. Money was good, and I have nothing but only the deepest gratitude to the company for giving me the chance to work with such magnificent people. From the CEO down to the smallest mammal in the company, everybody treated everybody with respect. But a year onwards I found out that there was something missing in my life. Most of the pilots working in AA are expats, and I didn't have any problems working with them. But most of them too come from neighboring middle east countries and India so it's like they never left home at all and other than the hard work they all seemed to be happy. My case, however, was different. I came from an island country (small but beautiful) which is almost 9 hrs flight away in SE Asia. My kids are still young and when we came to the UAE we lived in a place where they didn't have anybody to play with. After school they go straight home and do nothing but watch TV (if there was anything worth watching), play computer, wait for dinner and then sleep. It's like they were living in a huge box with no windows. While most of the time I was home after each flight, I hardly had time to play with my kids as I was just too tired. After a gruelling night shift I would sleep the whole day and wake up just to do another flight again in the evening. Of course this didn't happen everyday. But more or less this somewhat became an almost daily routine and the missus started to complain about boredom and homesickness. I tried to make some diversions, bring the kids to the mall as often as I could, watch movies and let the missus do some shopping. Somehow this proved to be a welcome respite and a temporary avenue to escape away from the humdrums of everyday life. And yet the longing and yearning of going back home and reconnecting to our grassroots and the desire to regain the simple, but happy life that we left behind was just irreplaceable. When I decided to leave my home country to work as an expat it was because I wanted nothing but the best for my family. But I came to the realization that money cannot buy all the happiness in this world. I was, above all things, concerned about the happiness and welfare of my children. And for the first time of their young lives, my kids celebrated their birthdays away from home with nobody but just me and my wife. It's very easy to please children, just buy them toys and cake and they will be happy, well, at least for the moment no matter how fleeting it may seem. The next day you bring them to the mall again for some kiddie rides, and the next, and the next... But where is real happiness in that? No other kid to sing them happy birthday, no other kid to chase around with, no other kid to tell those silly secrets little boys and girls tell to each other. In silence I started to weep. I tried to search deeper, but found - emptiness. The agonizing pain of seeing my kids grow up this way was completely unbearable. And so after a careful thought I decided to make a move. Some people thought that I was moving to the other side of the fence because of bigger pay or bigger airplane and better career prospects. And so they said go for it. And perhaps some may have even thought that I made a mistake for leaving the company since things started to get better after I left. But surprisingly, nobody actually thought that my real motivation for leaving was my family. People can say this or that, but would they actually care if my family is unhappy? Well I didn't think so. Money may provide us with all the comfort and things that we desire but it cannot buy real happiness. Having a good career and the best job in the world does not make you a whole person either. But relationships, friendships - both new and old ones, and family definitely can give you a profound sense of contentment and an incomparable feeling of joy and happiness.
Do I have any regrets coming to work for AA? No I don't have. I left AA only because I care so much about my family. My whole point is it didn’t make sense to me anymore if I made good money and yet I could see that my kids were slowly being deprived of a normal childhood. Maybe it just didn’t work out well with me, and maybe it would just work out fine with others. And so to those wanting to work abroad and leave your comfort zones behind, think hard about it and just decide what is best for you - and your family. Like what W Weasel said - WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT? WHAT DO YOU NEED? We all make our choices. But remember that when we make these choices, we also have to make some sacrifices. I did mine.
To those who have sent me PMs but never got the chance to reply right away, please accept my apologies. But just the same, I wish you all the best of luck.
In ending, I am most certain that many of my ex comrades in AA reading this (my last post) probably know who I really am now. As a true fighter jock coming home from his last flight, all I can say is THANK YOU for the wonderful times. THANK YOU for the good flights, but most of all THANK YOU for all the memories.
P.S.
Just a few days ago, my son came home with some small knee bruises after playing football with the other boys in the hood. Her mother of course was bit concerned and gave my little boy some bit of scolding, but I just pretended to ignore her. Later at bedtime I told my wife that this is how boys grow up to become real men. Let them feel pain so they will grow strong, let them fall down so they will learn how to get up.
And my little girl? Well, I have no other way of telling how happy she is playing with the bunch of other girls in the neighborhood. The desert sands are a-plenty for them to make sand castles and play make believe stories of dungeons and dragons. They play hide and seek, running from one house to another. They come to watch in our living room endless movies of Bratz and Barbie and Barney. Their giggles and shrieks are music to my ears. Black hair or blonde hair, white skin or brown skin, for these young and innocent children friendship knows no colors, love knows no boundaries, and happiness, a universal thing.
Since my children came into this world, it has become some kind of a ritual for me to kiss and touch their faces before I go for flight. And no matter which time of the day I come home I always do the same. I derive strength and inspiration from them. While they sleep I watch over them. Do I feel their happiness now? I most certainly do. Is this life worth all the sacrifices I’ve done for them? I believe it is. After all, my life is my FAMILY, and my family is my LIFE...
Goodbye and blue skies to you all! 
Last edited by cameltoe2006; 20th Oct 2007 at 01:13.