Job Discussion Forums

[cappie]

I have just applied to teach in one of the Higher Educational Colleges in Oman. I was sent an email by TATI, with a list of 7 colleges to list in form of preference. There are areas which I'm not sure about - Ibri, Ibra, Shinas or Al Musana. I am a woman who will be travelling alone in the first instance, I don't have any young children to worry about. What would you advise. They have also Muscat and Salalah on the list. Can anyone help? Which place would you advice? Do they actually provide accommodation at all?

[EFL Educator]

I would advise Muscat for a single woman although the pay would be less due to competition for jobs...seems everyone wants to live there. Salalah would be my second choice. If you really wish to experience Oh Man stay away from IBRI...the town has plenty of ghastly ghosts, haunting spirits and apartment buildings built on graveyards dating back hundreds of centuries. However if you want to save money IBRI is the place to be as there is practically nothing to do there.....or spend money on!!

[Whatever will be]

Cappie, your situation depends on a number of factors:

1.) Transportation
Are you willing/ able to drive in an Arab country, where traffic accidents are much more frequent and 'white skin' people (especially women) are always at fault. If the answer is no, don't go into the hinterlands, where self-driving will be a necessity.

2.) Duration of stay
Are you intending to stay for a short-time (2 years) or more long term (3-5 years)? For a longer time, a more lively place with a variety of activities may fight the boredom, which will set in faster in the hinterlands.

3.) Goals for personal time
What are you intending to do with your free time? If spending it on studying on a higher degree (Masters/PhD), an assignment in the hinterlands may provide the necessary lack of distractions. If you are a "social butterfly" or have the "travel bug" you will find Muscat or Salalah more suitable due to the airport's proximity.

4.) Savings
If you're hell bent on penny pinching, Muscat is not the place as everything (accommodation, entertainment, transportation...) is expensive.

Accommodation is generally not provided. Find your own (12 months rent in advance) and furnish yourself.

Good luck!

[balqis]

From my experience with recruiters for the Colleges in Oman, Muscat is always mentioned in their list of options, but there are never real vacancies there. So it is a fictitious option, to coax the applicants.

Al Musanah is not really a town in any sense of what a town is, just a college by the road, and an easy - though still you will need a car or taxi to get there -access to a pretty beach, built for the American Military many years ago and now quite abandoned, and an easy drive to Muscat, say less than an hour, some would call it a commutable location, I mean daily.
Nothing to do there, really nothing at all if you are not a beach type. Not even a properly paved street for shopping, or a walk.

My numero uno would be Nizwa, a pretty desert orphan, and a very sweet child indeed. Nizwa is a town for sure, nothing ghastly about it, very safe, with a mall proper, restaurants and hotels, and an old picturesque souq. Hard to find a location of such beauty and peace in the, many a time ghastly indeed, interior of Oman. Ideal for a lady too. And it has housing choices, nice choices indeed, a thing you may not find, or simply will NOT find, in other remote areas of Oman. It also has the city sewage system and city water system, dear comforts which certain remoter college areas in Oman may not have or will NOT have for sure. Safe start in the Middle East for a female for sure, I mean Nazwa. Has great mountain views all around and in the middle of the souq too. Last, there are three tertiary places in Nazwa, so a lot of foreigners there, another factor impossible to find in some remoter locations.

Ibra, they say, a 100% characterless location. But has a large uni, so again there will be a lot of expats and their expat, whatever it means, life.


Of Shinas I heard only, that it is quite nice, a sea town, small but fine. Yet as far from all else as Salalah, and not so grand as Salalah. Photos of Shinas on the net look all right.


Salalah is great to start off in Oman.

All in all, I would, being a female, choose location very cautiously. What you see of Oman in the public domain, is a glitzy spin of the Ministry of Tourism, which is not so easy to find, and the rest of the country is the Arabian culture for a very acquired taste, not quite for a female beginner.

balqis

[Tazz]

If you're headed into the Omani hinterlands, and are female, go for Nizwa for sure, it's a proper town....and females I've talked to have expressed a preference on the grounds that at least they are free from harassment there. I would absolutely recommend staying well clear of Ibri.

[On2TheNext1]

[cappie]

Thanks for the information and the advice. Being in the back and the beyond scared can be hard going but has its benefits that it is less stressful than city life.

[cappie]

I fully agree with you Tazz. I would like to ask about Nizwa though. I had heard that there were problems in the university? Is this still the case or have things improved.

[cappie]

Thanks Baliqs for all the brilliant information. It seems from what you are all saying that only 3 place would be really suitable for me - Muscat, Salalah or nizwa. I would be really interested for more information about Nizwa? I've heard plenty of negative thing about the university, thus I'm not putting it in the top 3. Please advices me if this is true?

[balqis]

Dear Female,

Yes, I would say so, for a safe start for sure the three places are habitable. As I said, Muscat is usually thrown in as bait, doubtful they have vacancies there, so it leaves out Salalah and Nizwa. Both are fine, but if given a choice between the two, my suggestion would be to start off with Nizwa, as it is more central, close to Muscat, more of a city than Salalah and less Bedu in character for sure; not that I mind the Bedu character, on the contrary, but for a female beginner this may not be the most fortunate encounter a number of ferocious-bright Bedouin boys from Salalah. Nizwa hosts three academic institutions, which is two colleges and one university, so there are very many expats with whom you may mix and merge ad nauseam, then there are shoals of rich middle-class European tourists and pleasant hotels. The town is a real pearl of Oman, throngs of French and Germans wealthy tourists prove it. Truly it is not easy to find anything similar to Nizwa, a town which is so small but contains so much and this so much is so condensed. Even Muscat may be a bit of disappointment, compared to Nizwa.

Now on to your question.
TATI is not recruiting you for the University of Nizwa, but for the Nizwa College of Technology, Do not worry about the college, no harm will meet you there.
As to the university, I would not touch it with a barge pole, but we are not discussing it here, since you are not applying, as much as I understand your initial post, for a position at the university. All the nasty things you read about Nizwa pertain to Nizwa university, and not INSHA your-to-be college. So if you join the college there, you will be all right, nothing to worry about.
SO DEFINITELY PUT Nizwa in your top-three choices!

All in all, dream that you are eventually offered a position with the Nizwa college and if so, then start getting ready for an interesting experience of the Gulf culture.

balqis

[Tazz]

Just to add....if you express an interest-or maybe insist on Nizwa, don't allow anybody from TATI to try to smooth talk you or tell you any BS to get you into the Ibri college. It might be up the road as it were from Nizwa, about 90 minutes drive, but the same it ain't!

[On2TheNext1]

[No Place Like Home]

I had no problems during my year in Al Musannah, in fact I am hoping to go back there this autumn after a 2 year break. There's a great resort there and most of the shops you will need, and you defo want to get a car if you're there, but if you prefer more places to see and do things when you're not working I'd agree with the comments here about Nizwa!