Job Discussion Forums

Ageecee · Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 27

Hi ,I'm a mature(53) NZ male with a Bachelors degree and tefl Cert along with a couple of years teaching experience.What sort of salary ( with airfares and accommodation) is usual? I've been offered a position in Sohar. Food costs for single male?( milk,bread,rice,meat,cereals) Easy to get connected to broadband?(isp costs) I'd appreciate any info offered. Many thanks.

stoth1972 · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:32 am Post subject:

I would imagine the salary offers are between 800-1000 riyals based on your experience and that would be teaching w/ some of the newer universities like those found in Sohar, Sur, and Nizwa. I think that's also the range for Bayan University in Muscat (i think it's bayan). Some of them will provide you w/ their own accommodation while others might simply give you an allowance of around 200-250 OMR and tell you to find your own. I think the latter is a more common practice, but in the smaller towns, some of the unis seem to be buying or leasing flats long term and simply placing their teachers into available ones.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I'd think that it would be at the lower end of the scale with your limited credentials and experience... unless you have been teaching Arabic speakers during your couple years of teaching.

VS

Tarka_littleotter · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 69 Location: Oman

Up to a thousand is optimistic. I don't know anywhere in Oman that pays more than 950 (with great negotiation) for teachers with a bachelors.

I get under that and I've been here 2 years and have just signed my new contract.
Depending on who you work for you'll get between 150-250 for housing. Try to get as much as possible because housing rates have gone up a lot in the past 3 years in Sohar. People on here will tell you you can't get anything for less than 250 which is not true. I've just moved to a 4 bedroom house with a small garden for 200. You can find good deals, you just need to have the time to look and the right person to look with.

I don't know who you're working for in Sohar but both the college and university give housing allowances rather than a flat/house. Everything here is unfurnished and both places give a furniture loan. They're not like most places in the Gulf which give you a furniture allowance. We do trips to Ikea though where we pick up most of our furniture. There are places around and about that sell Omani furniture but you run the risk of taking up all your floor space with boat sized beds and furniture that would not be out of place in a Disney film such as Beauty and the Beast. If that's your thing great. If not, I'll save you a seat in my car!

As far as food costs go it really depends on your standard of living. I have single male friends who eat out every night at local Indian coffee shops and pay no more than 500baisa. You can go to the upper end of things (which is still not great) and pay about 5 rial per person. We only have about 2 of these eateries! Lulu and Safeer hyper/supermarkets are where most people shop. 4 litres of milk is about 1 rial 200 baisa. Bread is about 200 baisa a loaf. Rice is dirt cheap and you can buy it in human sized bags if you choose - but watch out for the wievils! Meat is not THAT expensive even if you choose the NZ imports - which I would advise given that the local cows are fed on fish. (Yes, I know this to be true as I keep my horses on a local farm and witness it everyday.) Cereal is cereal. If you go for brand names a regular sized box will cost you about 1 rial 200. If you go for own brand labels you'll pay about 900 baisa.

I'm a single girl and tend to eat pretty much whatever I like and I wouldn't think I pay anymore than 100 rials a month on food for myself, including eating out, and my cats and dog, and they eat better than me. Friends of mine allow a budget of 50 a month.

Hope this is of some use!

kirez · Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 29 Location: Iraq

Tarka, what exactly is the risk of eating cows that are fed fish? Is there potential toxicity?

And... should the fish be avoided in Oman? What about the crab? Is there lobster?

I'm hoping to maintain a diet of mostly beef and vegetables, but omega-3 acids from fish sure would be nice.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I would think that it would mainly affect the taste of the meat. But most meat purchased in the supermarkets (in Muscat anyway) was from Australia. I didn't like the taste of it, but to be honest, the taste of beef has deteriorated greatly in the last 20 years... mainly due to what they are fed.

Plenty of good fresh fish available at the fish markets. I think good lobster and crab requires cold water, doesn't it? I never saw any - not that I looked as I am not a fan of either.

VS

lall · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 358

Cows are designed by the Almighty to be purely vegetarian. Adding ground fish meal to their diet is most despicable. (I suspect it is ground fish meal mixed with bran cakes, etc., because the cows would never eat raw or cooked fish directly - Tarka would know better)

Though I'm no microbiologist, I bet that their bodies metabolise the fish protein into something that's definitely not healthy and store the same in their cells. Or maybe the fish protein kick-starts some unhealthy body process in the poor cows.

It would be at our own peril to consume such stuff.

Thanks for the "heads up", Tarka.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

lall... we posted at exactly the same time.

Feeding protein to cattle makes them fatter faster. That is how we ended up with mad cow spreading... by feeding them animal proteins... in fact turning cows into cannibals. (though it originally mutated from a related sheep disease)

I don't see a similar situation here as I doubt disease would pass from fish to mammal. But I can see it giving their meat a bad flavor.

VS