Team Member of the Month » January 2007

Name : Olga Yakimenko
Born : 1981
Team member since : 2003
Prior Club Mistral Destinations : Dahab, Alacati

Olga has been with Club Mistral for 4 years now. Originally she worked at the Dahab Hilton, where she was a member of the entertainment team. It was here that Olga saw her first windsurfers. Right from the start, she was absolutely fascinated by this sport and, through the Hilton, got to know the Centre Manager at that time, Simon, with whom she hit it off from the very beginning. He provided her with windsurfing equipment and from that moment on, Olga spent every spare minute on the water and at the Club Mistral centre. Her learning curve, talent and ambition were enormous when it came to her new sport, windsurfing. After a while, Simon persuaded Olga to leave the hotel and work for Club Mistral in Dahab. Olga quit the entertainment team without further ado and joined Club Mistral, where she has been a highly committed and motivated team member ever since. Initially, Olga took over the job of guest care/tour assistant, but soon realized that her favourite occupation was giving instruction.

Olga has an extremely friendly, modest but also humorous manner and is popular with everybody. She is Russian by birth but speaks fluent English, too. Over the last few years, she has built up a regular Moscow-Dahab community. Guests from Moscow and the surrounding area come to the Club Mistral centre in Dahab up to 3 times a year. Olga keeps in touch with them throughout the year and even meets up with them when on holiday in Russia. Every second guest from Russia now inquires after Olga immediately upon arrival. She is also very popular with the team, above all with the locals. And that has been so right from the start! She enjoys their complete respect – not always a matter of course for women in Egypt.

Olga is self-motivated and meticulous in her work and her windsurfing skills have improved in leaps and bounds; she takes great pleasure in giving windsurfing instruction. She has been a certified VDWS instructor since spring 2006 and has an extremely professional approach to her work. She is especially popular with children, but even the really big Russian guys are always very satisfied when they leave the water. As we have said before, Olga speaks fluent English but she can also give tuition in French and her Arabic is pretty good, too!

Dahab was also the place where Olga met her partner, Tobi, with whom she spent the 2006 summer season at the Club Mistral centre in Alacati. There, too, she performed excellent work  characterized by a high degree of commitment. The Alacati team, Centre Manager Chris and partner Sonja, would love to have Olga back on the Alacati team next summer.
Quote from Chris:
"The first thing that come to mind when you think of Olga is her laugh. She is one of the few people who have a truly infectious laugh. It's absolutely impossible not to have a grin all over your face - at the very least - when Olga has one of her fits of laughter."

For our Russian guests, in particular, checking in at the desk after their long journey, with the prospect of stressful communication problems ahead of them, only to find themselves being welcomed in Russian by a charming Olga, she is an absolute bright spot and a great source of relief. In every respect, Olga is indeed a huge enrichment to the centre, not only because of her competence as a windsurfing instructor but also, and above all, because of her easy-going, humorous manner - a boon to any team.
 
Olga is always ready for a party and loves going dancing in particular, although she also tends to lead a quiet private life and enjoys spending an evening at home, when she displays considerable culinary skills. She is a great reader and has also been putting a lot of effort into learning German for some time now. During the past 3 years, she completed a distance study course for students aiming to become teachers of English. Olga is always striving ahead.

Olga, please accept our warmest thanks for your fabulous work at Club Mistral; we would like to wish you all the best for 2007 and hope that you will stay with us for a long time to come!

View more team members of the month