Job Discussion Forums

[sticky dates]

Well, I'm glad you're gone too. I've been here for eight months now and am extremely happy living and working here in Oman. To others I would say this is a wonderful country. It is scenic and has a safe and laid-back feeling. Yes, things don't get done on schedule and getting anything accomplished is full of surprises. Sure the males drive like madmen and, as a woman, I feel sometimes I am not entirely as respected as I'd like to be, but overall I love it here and feel blessed. I love the climate (now that the summer heat has abated), I love my job and my students (even the "lively" ones), I adore the mountains and the wadis and spend as much time as possible in them, I love my wonderful apartment with it's space and views, I love the low, low prices on food items (thank you Sultan Qaboos), I love the desert sunsets and the music (even the bagpipes), I love the friendly and helpful people here (and I ignore the others), I love the shopping in Muscat (bring it on!), I love the falafels, I love the spicy, fragrant air, I love the low, low gas prices (and the full-service gas stations), I love the Omani culture and how much this country has accomplished in 30 years, I love the interesting expat community I am slowly meeting, and as for all the crazy people that the Gulf seems to attract, I find them entertaining in all their extremes. Oman is certainly a big improvement on the last country in which I lived.....I hope to be here for at least a couple of years... inshallah

[yaramaz]

Where are you living and working, may I ask? Did you go through a recruiter?

[sticky dates]

You may, I live and work in Nizwa. It is a smallish town with serveral "universities". There is ongoing development so it will just continue to grow I suppose.....a KFC is imminent It is easy to get around in by car and the public transport is doable, taxis of course and some "baisa buses". It is possible to buy a decent car for a decent price...for second-hand, best to buy from a leaving expat (Toyotas and Nissans popular so best resale value but Kias are cheap and seem to go the distance).
It is smallish and some complain of nothing to do but I'm not one of them. There is always something to explore and the mountains are stunning. Camping very doable. I stay quiet busy socially which is nice. It's provincial as compared to Muscat of course but it's definitely on the beaten track, as a crossroads to Muscat, Dubai and Salalah.

[sticky dates]

I forgot...I was hired directly. Thank goodness it would seem.

[SUZUKI]

Please tell us where you shop.

[sticky dates]

I buy all the basics in Nizwa, at Khimjis and the Sultan Discount Center. For some fresh vegies I sometimes go to the souk on Thurs. (morning or evening). The New Firq Coldstore also has decent fruit and veg if I don't want to go far. There is a frozen wholesale fish place on the Izki road going towards the new stadium. Very ocaisionally I buy fish at the fish souk (it's smelly).
I go to Muscat every other weekend for beef, cheese and good bread, Mexican food items and special sauces or imported things I like here. I go to Carrefour if it's early or I feel energetic. I go to Al Fair for good bread. I sometimes go all the way to Sultan Center. Lulus is good too if I feel up to it. That's most of my food shop. I'm having fun exploring more of the Sabco Center area now for odd bits and pieces. I take Muscat in chunks...

[steppy-boy]

Sticky dates, you sound very naive and gullible. Tell us how much you love it there after another 8 months. If you love being in the middle of nowhere so much, why stay only "a couple of years". Why not stay there for 10 or at least 5?
Look, you are obviously still quite young and inexperienced and so youth can be excused. I once knew a female teacher who, like you, was quite enamoured with the place until one day, as she was jogging, she was stoned by some Omani brats. She soon changed her mind about "how lovely" it is all.

Anyway, I will say no more because I know exactly what you are in for. But there is one thing I just don't get, your last statement: I love the interesting expat community I am slowly meeting, and as for all the crazy people that the Gulf seems to attract, I find them entertaining in all their extremes. You find TEFL teachers interesting?? Oh please?? Yes, their antics are amusing at first, but after a while, they will simply bore you to death if you have an once of intelligence. You are right though about how the Gulf does attract them - like flies to - oh I better not say it.

[sticky dates]

Ah, here it is.... The attack I've been waiting for. And from Steppy-boy, how unexpected. What I want to know is, what took you so long?
Oh, yes, I'm extremely young and naive and gullible. Let's not forget inexperienced, youthful (thanks for that) and enamoured. You've captured me precisely.
As for your example of the woman out jogging...what a silly thing to be doing here in Oman. Did she have no other options? We actually have a choice of gyms here, out in "the middle of nowhere".
I'm sure you do know exactly what I'm in for as you have a very impressive background here on Dave's. As usual, I can almost see the lifted lip in sneer and smell the bile coming off the computer.....you know so much about my situation bu t, sadly, the one thing you don't know is me. My perceptions and my ability to act instead of react. I make my own decisions how to respond to the "interesting" things which go on here in Oman and elsewhere.
I'll tell you a little secret...I've been through much worse. And that includes tefl teachers. But as you say, I haven't got "an once" of intelligence (I didn't know we were measuring intelligence in onces now) so you have my permission to feel superior.
I do hope that I will be here for the next two years, or more, if god willing I don't drop dead from happiness. Don't laugh, it can happen. Just not to you.

[Neil McBeath]

Streppy Boy,

Or should that be Stroppy-boy?

I worked in Oman for 24 and a half years.

Then I went to Saudi Arabia on a two year contract.

Now I'm back and I'm hoping to see out my career here.

So does that make me "naive and gullible." ? Or does it make me a little more balanced than your own bilious self? And since when has Nizwa been "the middle of nowhere"? I worked for four and a half years at the Armoured Brigade Camp at Sha'afa. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[steppy-boy]

What sneer, what bile? I'm just highly amused at your naivety. Yes, that female jogger really deserved to be stoned like that, didn't she? I mean, it was really her fault in the first place. And yes, I actually do know who you are as I have a friend working there in Nizwa.

To McBeath, 24 years in Oman - how sad!!

[Stephen Jones]

[lodzubelieveit]

I worked in Nizwa for three months last year. Certainly, it was an interesting experience in terms of physically being in a very different place than Europe, seeing the landscape, hearing the language, and being part of it all. But by God, was it not worth the hassle. An insanely messed up 'college' with precisely zero application to any kind of academic standards, students who wouldn't be mature enough to go to primary school in the UK, and an absolutely pathological aversion to anything approaching work from the native population (you've got to ask an Indian to get anything done) made it unbearable. The teachers there were a mixed bag. Unless you are a massive fan of driving 4x4s up rocky river beds, you'd have to be off your trolley to consider Oman from any kind of educational or pedagogical perspective. And a few hundred euro a month extra doesn't make up for it.

[Neil McBeath]

Stroppy boy,

How "SAD" !!!!!!!

How old are you? 14?

Can't you come up with a better retort than that?

[steppy-boy]

What more can one say Ally McBeal? 24 and a half years in Oman and 2 years in Saudi Arabia says it all. In other words, a quarter of a century spent in the Gulf; about a third of your life expentancy. You either deserve a medal for tenacity or foolishness, I don't know which.

[Geronimo]

Well, now that you've mentioned the matter of medals being awarded to him, Steppy-boy,... I feel obliged to point out that Neil McBeath is the only British education officer to have received the Distinguished Service Medal from His Majesty the Sultan.
And in 2006 McBeath was awarded the Professional Services Award from TESOL Arabia.

My Materials Writing tutor distributed one of Neil McBeath's articles, (as published in"folio" Dec. 2007), around her class the other day. There was a brief "Biography" at the end of it, bearing details of its author's service record.