March 14, 2012

TGIW, That’s what you say when your weekend starts on Wednesday. Well made it through the week and beginning to get a handle on things. But…although it is the weekend we have to go in and help with entrance testing for an hour and a half  in the morning. This afternoon after school we went for a walk on the beach, the water is so warm, can’t wait till I have a car and can go as I please.  As we walked on the beach we met a large group of Omani girls, they were so excited to meet us, we felt like rare birds. They had to stop and talk and ask us questions and have lots of pictures taken. They were so cute. The mosquitoes have discovered us and are coming in every hole in the building, no screens at all and as one fellow said, “It felt like Pearl Harbor last night”. My laundry room has a cement ‘screen’ with holes  large enough to let in a small bird.

Had to get my picture taken for my residency card and for a lot of other things where it is needed. I’ll need a medical on Monday. I signed my contract today. No AC on yet but they say that is unusual but I love the heat. My feet haven’t been cold since I left Canada.

Must be a crab, digs a hole and makes a hill of the sand

 Onani girls on the beach

 So cute and friendly

March 13, 2012

Last night I went out for a movie and dinner at a beachside cafe that made that made a salad with lettuce, fried bread and other things and kofta, BBQ chicken and meat on a stick. What a nice evening, so warm and calm. The expat staff is exceptionally friendly and the Omni staff is equally friendly.  There must be 60 teachers here. I’m finally getting my bearings around school and becoming more familiar with the route to school. The school is a sprawling group of buildings, mirror imaged for the boys and girl’s sides.  My boys are realizing their limits and settling down. Today was a good day, and they really enjoyed the math games we played. A good incentive to behave, no game at end of day if they don’t. This evening we went in to the mall, and I bought essentials at Carrefour. The city is booming, lots of expensive cars, and lots of East Asian nannies coming to pick up the kids. As soon as they meet them the little nannies take the school bag of the child, of all ages and carry it. The kids don’t even notice it is being done for them. The all wear uniform, the boys the long white dish dasha with the kuma hat on their head. The girls have a navy blue uniform with a white or blue head scarf.

I’m going to read them a Roand Dahl book, I was going to read Charlotte’s Web but all books with any mention of pigs are banned. Weather is getting warmer, visitors will need to come before it gets too hot, so if you have a hankering to see Oman, this is the time. Just as inexpensive as some trips to the Caribbean.  I have a week spring break April 5-13. Will have to plan something. No propane yet, Inshallah, maybe I will get it before June.

March 11, 2012

Finally a good night’s sleep, saved by melatonin. To get everything together to be ready to leave for school I need to be up by 5:00. Today was a busy day but not so tough compared to many other schools. Our day consists of 6 periods of 55 minutes each. We teach 3 of those periods, yes Canadian teachers, just three! Hard to believe! Things will get a lot better when I know the boys by name, right now they are still a scramble of dark hair, dark eyes,  white dish dashasa (robe) and an embroidered kuma (hat). At home its so much easier,  we can distinguish by different colored clothing and hair color.

Staff meeting after school, they take twice as long because everything has to be translated into Arabic. No gas cylinder yet, guess I’ll manage with the microwave and kettle. Haven’t been at a restaurant yet. Am interested to see what they will be like.

Went for a walk on the beach again,  a beautiful place. We saw a little turtle just walking up the beach and some trigger fish washed up.

 Part of the school

 School again

 My classroom is the far right.

 View from our classroom

 our class

 Beach

 Turtle friend

March 10, 2012

Having experienced no sleep to speak of since the last two nights I am very sympathetic to friends who can’t sleep. This is a new type of jet lag, I haven’t experienced before. Pretty sure I’ll be snoozing to night for I was napping during an assembly at school today. Plus I was able to buy a bottle of melatonin.

Spent all day at school with the children and the principal. The boys appear to be very well behaved and polite. The biggest problem is space, it has to be the smallest classroom I have ever taught in. Not much room for anything else but their desks. Looking at my timetable I see there are six periods each day of 55 minutes each.  I’ll be teaching three of those periods each day, very good free time.  

I’ll need a sweater from now on for the AC is freezing, although it is so nice and hot outside. The staff is most definite a melting pot, so many countries represented. Quite a few South Africans, new Zealanders and Australians. The administration is very supportive and right after school they sent over a good king size duvet for my bed and called the propane man. He was supposed to be here at least an hour ago, but that is the way it is here ‘Inshallah’, meaning God willing it will happen, in their own good time.

Beginning to look like I will have to rent a car so I won’t be bumming rides all the time. The traffic is manageable, nothing like Cairo, and roads are well maintained. I can be more independent and I will be able to show visitors the town…. if they come. Seems to be a shame to have so many places to explore and no way to do it. Today they were talking about the camel races which are just out of town and quite an event. So if you have a yearning to see an ancient country, beautiful weather, lovely beaches, with so much to do, book a flight and come for a visit. This huge apartment, 26 feet by 51 feet can hold a lot.

No scent free zones here, they spray the school with ‘air freshener’ and some people are soaked in it. Yuck!

 My apartment on the left, at end of path going down hill. Big mosque being built to the South.

March 9, 2012

No jet lag yet but instead I feel supercharged especially all last night, I was on Canada time and couldn’t sleep till dawn. Got a few more apartment issues resolved. The place smells like sewer because of the floor drains in the bathrooms and kitchen. Remembered from being in Egypt, what to do. Cut a piece of plastic a little bigger than the drain hole and put it on the drain cover. Pop the drain cover back in and …sealed! No more smell but if we have a leak I’ll be floating.

Spent a lot of the day reading my new book, ‘Oman-Live-Work-Explore’. Excellent book, tells everything you ever wanted to know about Oman.  Tells where the souks (markets) are. From experience I know what to buy…nothing heavy or bulky. Jewellery and scarves fit that criteria. Was looking at the pashmina scarves at the mall, these are Egyptian type but much, much softer…and a bit more expensive, they may be made of silk.
Getting picked up at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Sound like my Egypt routine, get up 5:30 get ready and check email, about 9:30 or 10:00 at home and Linda is 12 hours away.

 Standing at entrance looking South, through living dining area, into the guest bedroom. Kitchen, powder room and laundry room to the right.

 Living, dining area, looking north.

 Above is guest bedroom, no sheets and my bedroom with the twin sheets the school gave me. Have to get the correct size,

 Humble kitchen.

March 8, 2012

 

 My apartment above. I am on the 4th floor left hand side.
This morning started off very well, a warm water shower and my hairdryer problems were solved by turning the button to 250 volt. I gathered all my electronic problems and went next door where a teacher from South Africa called me a taxi, a fellow recommended by a teacher from Arizona. He came promptly and let me off at the mall where I was able to solve all my electronic communication problems. My iPhone is now back to Bell settings and accepting the Bell SIM card, my computer will go online and will go fairly fast if I position myself by the window and my old Egyptian phone is working with the Omani SIM card, I had bought for my iPhone. I had time to go to Carrefour (a big French chain store that has groceries and food) to pick up things I needed for the apartment and food. I picked up a Live-Work-Explore Oman book as well as a map of Muscat. Nassaur Taxi drove me home and then I went for a hike up the large sand dune/hill behind our apartment. Lots of tracks of little animals, but I didn’t see any. In the evening one of the teachers came down and asked me up for supper, that’s two invites in two evenings. The teachers are certainly very supportive, now if class goes as well I’m set. The teachers are from all over the world, Scotland, England, India, Peru, Australia, South Africa Canada, US, Mexico and that’s just a few. The students are mostly Omani.

 Above is the view on from the hill I climbed today facing East.
Below is facing North.

March 7 ,2012 Arrival in Muscat, Oman

I just don’t like cold weather so when this position came up in Oman (land of sunny skies and smiling people) I took a chance and in a week I was on the way to the airport in Halifax. But nothing ever goes perfectly… when we were past New Glasgow, I realized, my passport was home. Wheel around, (Archie never even grumbled) and went back home for it. Flew out of Halifax at 3:40 Monday afternoon a bit late but still caught the Flight to Frankfurt from Montreal. Had a 3 hour stop over there and then it was on to Saudi and then on to Oman.  Arrived at Muscat about 9:30PM after 22 hours and was met by a school employee who drove me to my apartment. It is very large and furnished, with 2 huge bedrooms with their own bathrooms plus one more bathroom. I was unpacked and ready for bed by 12:00 and with the alarm set for 6:30. It was a long trip so I was looking forward to a nice shower this morning, it certainly was refreshing and very cold…. no hot water. After I finally warmed up I pushed a few buttons on the panel in the hallway and found the water heater on switch….a nice warm shower tomorrow. Had a bad hair day since the current here makes my hairdryer so hot it smelled like burning plastic and getting ready to melt down.

The weather here is like our July-August weather, very nice to feel that sun.  When we were stopped in Saudi it was very overcast due to sandstorms. This morning my drive to school was here at 8:00. The school is quite large but very clean and appears well organized. The teachers are all very friendly and especially glad to see me ….since they had been covering my classes since the first of the term. The school provides everyone with ‘breakfast’ (really brunch) every morning about 10:00. It’s a good meal so if you make it your breakfast you don’t need much lunch, if any, and eat again when you get home with a small snack in between. I was able to go in and see my boys today, stayed about a half hour. Very nice fellows, can’t see any big problems. They are beautiful children, big brown eyes and they look very healthy. They are all dressed in clean white dis dashas (my spelling) which are long shirts without a collar or buttons. They wear an embroidered hat, which I would say it is sort of like a pillbox hat. The male Omani staff, wear the same, as well as most Omani men you see around the city. What I can’t understand is how they keep their clothing so clean. I saw a group of the boys walking across the school yard in the sun. They all had beautiful white dis dashas but they were all many different shades of white.

Someone took me to the phone store to get me set up but nothing is working. I will have to take a cab there tomorrow to get things straightened out. This evening I went for a walk on the beach with one of the teachers in my building, who has a car. The beach sand is so fine, something like the Sahara. When it is wet it packs something like Daytona beach and there are many people walking or playing soccer. There were waves today so not suitable for swimming but I guess it is usually very calm.

Mostly all the teachers have rented/leased cars. I’m beginning to think I may have to get one if I am going to see anything besides my immediate area.   The transit system here isn’t very good, not many busses, didn’t see any yet. I came here expecting traffic to be similar to the chaos I saw in Egypt. Not true, the roads are modern, speed limits are posted and obeyed, traffic lights are heeded and there isn’t the continuous honking of Cairo. 

No jet lag yet. Since our weekend began this afternoon, I’ll have a chance to get caught up on sleep Thursday and Friday. Back to school Saturday.