Hey!

I have just noticed that when I was doing my diary entry for week 9 and 10 of London I also combined it together. It must be a point where it all gets a bit too much for me. 

Well, actually at the moment of writing I am feeling rather good, maybe a little hungry as I didn’t eat much today. For some magical reason we have moved out of the desert, but we took our desert catering with us and it is just more of the same, so monotonous that I would rather just not eat at work anymore. 

We are entering our last days here in Morocco and here on this job, it is starting to feel real. I have asked my sister to research my isolation requirements for when I fly back to Lithuania and it really hit home. No matter the hurdles, when the job is over, especially like this, it becomes emotional. Also I tend to always remember the good things, so even though you have probably read me complain here in the end I do love the experience and the people and maybe I would have added few more days off in the mix, but other than that it has been a very rewarding life adventure. 

Alright this post is going to be really long so I’ll keep the intro short. 

Stay healthy and safe!

P.S

Those who had both covid jabs haven’t tested positive even though they had close contact with us who had it. Just saying.

***

Monday. Still at the Covid hotel. Today I feel so much better. Our test results from yesterday came back negative and shifted everything in my head. All of the sudden this prison hotel started to look all pretty and welcoming. The dunes and the pool outside seem magical and warm. Weird how your mind plays with you ey. So yes I am way more pleased today than I was yesterday. Rollercoster of emotions. I started thinking about what I will do after this job is over and I have more free time to do something. Would like to go diving again and ah I wish I had someone helping me to plan all this. Also there is that wedding in Italy I really want to attend. Life once again seems to be bright. Let’s see how long that stays. But yes for now my mission is to find where to go diving for a week or maybe 10 days. Recommendations?

Tuesday. It was a good day today. We could see our base camp from the pool area of our hotel. We spent the day sunbathing, watched few shows and had few drinks by the pool waving at our colleagues going back from set home. Everyone pretty much honked or waved from their passing cars it was very very sweet. In the evening I had tea with one of the actors and talked about life. It was really nice. I told him that one thing about my 20s I regret not doing is dyeing my hair pink. That is true actually, I really do wish I would have done it and just by talking about it, it made me think that I need a makeover, I want a makeover. 

Wednesday. Tomorrow is the day of freedom and the day that we are leaving the desert. I was originally planed to be on set to shoot a little scene with one of the actors who was here in isolation with me, but it all got changed. Not sure why, maybe perhaps the production didn’t secure the flights for us and we are ending up taking cars to Casablanca and being driven aka no time for filming in the morning? To be fair it might be quite a nice road trip. 10 hours through the Atlas Mountains, what’s not to like.

Thursday. All day in the car. Stopped by police on the way. Casablanca and a sky bar party/gathering at the hotel. Felt like having a birthday seeing everyone. 

Friday. Day off. Mall, trying to fix my Apple Watch. McDonalds breakfast and Oysters with wine for lunch. Balance.

Saturday. First day back on set. Shooting in Casablanca reminded me of being in Bangkok. Humid! We did some big crowd scenes. Hospital and a lot of wounded. I was feeling pretty tired actually. Now that we are back in the city we are also required to wear masks and it is exhausting. Humidity in Casablanca is pretty high so imagine breathing with a mask on in these conditions.. 

Sunday. Another day on set. This time it was a cafe in Cairo. Lovely being outside and back on set with everyone. Something I have noticed though was that the general mood of the crew who have been shooting in a hot hot desert while I was battling covid is rather sombre. I feel like mentally I am not strong enough yet, so I decided to have a solo evening in our sky bar at the hotel. England was playing Italy today by the way. Dramatic loss it was as you might know. For my evening alone I ended up not being alone in the end, but still it was really lovely. Our health and safety advisor decided to quit this job, as he felt that no one was taking his advice. He is leaving tomorrow. Earlier in a week our unit nurse also quit and flew back home. Same reasons. Says a lot about the job doesn’t it?

Week 10:

***

Monday. We did so called split day on the rooftops of the city for the start of the day. My iPad keyboard decided to die on me, so for the rest of the night I was struggling to keep up with the notes. In a way that made the night go that much faster. Also we went into another hour of overtime till 4 am. Exciting.. 

Tuesday. So today we were meant to do a full night of shoot and before that my goal was to find a new keyboard. I was running around town on the mission, just to fail miserably, however as I was about to board my car to work it was called off for few hours. Our stunt coordinator tested positive for covid and they were trying to figure out if we can shoot today or not. In the end we did not and it was a day off of sorts. One of the actors who I get on very well has asked me out for dinner back when we were in the desert and we ended up going for it today. It was lovely, such a nice change to actually have non Moroccan food for change.

Wednesday. The day started rather anxiously. We call the days when covid results come in a raffle. Who is going to win today. Well actually today wasn’t that day, but the mood was edgy as no one really knew who exactly tested positive yesterday and who is isolating just as precaution. I literally spent most of the day wondering about the hotel before packing up and moving to El Jadida for the night shoot. As I came to set for the night shoot everyone started saying that the Ibis hotel we were put up at is extremely dated and basically a ‘dive’ as the director put it. I had a chat with the producer in a sort of jokey way, saying that I won’t complain about it as long as he stays in the same hotel. 

Thursday. When the morning came and we were checking into our shitty hotel it was so so sad. The morale was already low, but seeing this it just dropped. I mean, there were dead cockroaches on the floor, my shower didn’t have a drain, just a hole and it was just full of mold. I was so tired however that after checking my bed for the bed bugs I fell asleep anyway. Luckily when I woke up pretty soon after we got an email saying that we are being moved somewhere else. That somewhere else turned out to be a beautiful probably 6 star spa and golf resort. Best one in the area. Everyone pretty much who endured the night/morning at the cockroach hotel got upgraded. Such a blessing. I had a nap at the new place and went straight to work for another night shoot. Ah yes our camera operator has left today. He was also a friend. The job really feels like it is nearing the end as people now disappearing not just because they are isolating, but also due to the extended schedule not matching their previous commitments. Sad actually.

Friday. Rest day after the night shoot and it was glorious. We made a little leaving party for another colleague who is leaving on Tuesday, had cocktails in one of the beach bars at this fancy hotel. Had a dance and I wore some real clothes for change. Temperature here is so much colder than it was in the desert, I got to wear my leather jacket and dr martins. Was pleased about that. Yea the end is near..

Saturday. I woke up pretty early today, had a super nice breakfast and went for a sports massage. It felt like I was on a spa holiday. Later on we had a little horse riding lesson planned with few of the colleagues. I have never been on a horse before, but it went pretty well. Never thought it was such a work out, kinda wanna do it more now. Also our horses manes matched our hair colours. I had a blond one and she was beautiful, apparently a jumping horse. After that we went for some go karting… (Yea this place has it all!) Then we did a bit of shopping and after a quick shower and dressing up, yes I even put make up on. (What is this change??) we went for a dinner at a seafood restaurant on site. The food was just something else. I don’t know if I ever had meal this exquisite. To be honest I would come back to this spa on holiday in a heart beat. I was telling my mom and sister that I just wish I could share those moments with them. Life is treating me well at the moment and I am so so grateful.

Sunday. Back at work for the daytime stuff. Interesting to see all those locations we shot at night in a day time. The rest of the evening I spent catching up on this. It has been rather full on ever since I came out of my isolation. People are leaving, being taken away, days go by and the end is inevitably coming. To be honest now I am reaching the point where I am afraid for it to end. I have a few job options floating about, but nothing confirmed. Not having work doesn’t actually worry me at the moment as I need to take some time off, but the end of this show makes me a little sad. Overall this is my life, this is what I want to be doing, travelling, filming, meeting new people. I have so much love for everyone here that even the hard times do not feel so hard anymore, even covid does not feel so terrible anymore. I know that I will miss it when this is all over.

Highlights:

  • Being on a road.
  • Recovering from covid.
  • Seeing everyone again and working!!
  • A colleague of mine who went above and beyond to get me a new iPad keyboard. Saved my work life!
  • Mazagan spa resort!

Cheers with a glass full of complete elephant!