Job Discussion Forums

[sherrie.teacher]

Hi everyone...

I'll be arriving in Ibri in a couple of weeks. First time in Oman (and the Middle East!) and I'm pretty excited/nervous... Just wondering if anyone is in the area and would like to meet for a cup of coffee or a shawarma? 😀

[nomad soul]

Once you arrive in Ibri, you'll meet plenty of teachers --- returnees and the newly-arrived (and also anxious) --- to have coffee with.

[Tazz]

Teacher drinking coffee in Ibri??!!! Most are on the hard liquor by 9 am....

[madrileno]

[sherrie.teacher]

Thanks for the sentiments everyone...

I'd heard it was pretty desolate, but maybe my childhood in rural North Dakota and my love of liquor will see me through. 😕

[veiledsentiments]

Actually growing up in ND is quite good training for life in Oman. It is the mirror image... trade 6 months of winter when it is too cold to go outside for 6 months when it is too hot to go outside. Instead of running from the heated car to the heated house or heated work... substitute "air-conditioned." Your glasses don't fog up as you enter the house... they fog up as you go outside.

And there is likely about as much to do in Ibri as rural ND... you will relate to the activities of the bored young men. LOL

VS

[pooroldedgar]

It always irks me when interested newbies get catty answers on this forum. I don't want to be one of these people who respond to legitatimate questions with dismissive responses like "do your research" or "you aren't up for it" or "OP just wants to hear to what he wants to hear." So please know that I want to encourage you to come. But with Ibri, that's a bit hard.

Only go to Ibri if you are socially self-sufficient. If you're a big reader or a film buff or something like that, you'll be ok. If you're a "people person" it might not be such a good idea.

You're almost certainly coming to one of two colleges: Higher Technology or Applied Sciences, right? I never met anyone from Applied Sciences, which is kind of the point. Word on the street was that that was a dramatic place with lots of animosity. One of those places where nobody likes each other. I heard that from a guy who heard it from a guy, so take it with a big grain of salt, but I certainly never heard of any social gatherings of any sort.

The co-workers at the MoM school are quite lovely, though only about four or five of them are westerners. Not that that's bad or anything, but you might not make the close bonds with Filipinos and Indians that you would at jobs strictly for native speakers. The staff room is a friendly place, but almost all teachers are middle-aged with children, so they likely won't be up for wadi bashing or R&R trips to Muscat.

Meeting people you don't work with is hard, as there are no public places of any sort save a big grocery store. Not sure how much of a bonding experience that is. (I certainly never felt friendly there paying 4 bucks for my wife's tofu that back home would have cost her 15 cents.) There's no parks or "downtown" or anything like that. There's no place where people mingle or sit over lattes working on their screenplays. There's lots of places to eat, but they make McDonalds look loaded with ambiance by comparison. There is a grand total of one place to drink, and that place is quite depressing. There can be found one or two westerners on occasion who are good blokes and up for a laugh, but if they are there you're drinking on your own. Which is fun, but be careful: Since it's your only place to go, you don't wanna start heading there after work more often than home. It has happened. Ibri can do that to you.

I really don't want to sound pessimistic. I don't really regret going as I read a lot, wrote a lot, and did a chunk of my masters. It's a great place for hobbies like that. Plus it will give you that oh-so-important foothold in the middle east. And I do look back fondly to walking 20 minutes out into the desert and how peaceful it was. It's like being out at sea, the only lights see you on the distant horizon. It's crazy how many shooting stars there are once you're out of civilization.

So, what I'm trying to say is, you really should think of making friends in Ibri as a nice bonus, rather than anything that can be expected as it would be elsewhere. If that sounds ok, go.

[EFL Educator]

Excited about going to IBRI?...Oh Man....lots of spirits around....and DO not check into an apartment building built above an old burial ground aka cemetery!!!!!!!!!!

[balqis]

For all my love of the provinces of Oman, the deeper the better, but mind you, in the deep provinces of Oman, and all of Oman save Muscat is deep provinces, it will be hard to find anything not built over the Makbara.
Many towns in Oman look like fleeting and transitory houses and souqs attached to the dominant large perennial burial areas, where Qadr is the King and a fragile cluster of houses a mere servant...
This Oman is a jewel of a sort.

balqis

[EFL Educator]

Making friends in Ibri is possible.....I met many EFL teachers there who became my friends....including spirits!!!

[Tazz]

Well there's a new interest-ghost hunting in Ibri.....swap one kind of spirits for another. Place scares the shit out of me already...when the wind howls and the doors bang at night-oh man!!!

[EFL Educator]

If anyone is lonely in Ibri and is seeking friends you won't be much longer....the SPIRITS CLUB welcomes you to Oh Man!!!

[EFL Educator]

Lots of haunting EFL spirits hanging out at the Ibri Hotel water hole lately....not far from the College of Technology.....and near to the gas/petrol station...be forewarned!

[scot47]

My students in Saudi assured me that Oman is full of necromancers, wizards, magicians and those obsessed with the Dark Arts. It could be quite interesting.

[grahamb]

One of my Omani colleagues was attacked by a jinn as he slept; thereafter he left a light on in the house to deter unwanted visitors.