All of the Omanis that I have met to this point have been wonderful, generous and genuinely nice people, bless them all. However, since applying for work with them I have discovered one previously unknown side to their character. When it comes to work, contracts, etc, they are much more casual than your average westerner. This I have come to learn over the last six months without ever setting foot in the country.
I was first tipped off to this rather carefree attitude when I was asked to go to the interview in Melbourne, Australia. The lovely woman who arranged the interview couldn't tell me anything about the job, but told me that I would be reimbursed for travel costs and her instructions for getting from the airport to the embassy were, literally, "the address of the embassy is at the bottom of this email. Go there". Hmmm.
Now for the last five months I have been assured by my polite and friendly contact in Oman that everything is being organised to fly me to Oman to begin work there. I have not seen a contract as yet. People who know Arab culture better than me assure me that this is to be expected, since they expect to be taken at their word and the contract will be sorted when I arrive in Oman. Great. I have also been waiting for tickets from New Zealand to Oman. The same pleasant man in Oman has been making similar promises for roughly three months. I am now about three weeks from the date of departure. But, insha'allah, they will be sent to me tomorrow by email.
I am honestly expecting to enjoy myself while I am in Oman, when I get there (insha'allah, hehehe). I also think that their way of getting things done is going to be the biggest difficulty for me. From what I can tell so far, their casual approach to work beats even the French (whom I had previously thought unbeatable). The biggest difference is that the Omanis are so much more pleasant when they are telling you to try again tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Leaving Christchurch
After years of thinking about moving to the middle east, I am finally on my way. Having left my safe, secure, cantabrian version of groundhog day I now head off to Oman with only the promise of a job - no contract, not even the airline tickets that they are promising to send. But the time has arrived to just cross my fingers and go.
Things I have done to prepare myself for the trip:
- learnt some Arabic (at least enough to read roadsigns and ask where the market is).
- read the LonelyPlanet guidebook to Oman roughly 1000 times. All I really got was: the people are very nice and airconditioning is very important.
- kept the emails of most of the Omanis I have taught over the last 6 years. I wish I had managed not to lose the rest - every Omani I have met so far has been wonderful.
- bought a copy of the Qur'an - ha ha, no really. I read about three pages and stopped - From what I could tell its pretty much like the bible only the main character is different.
- learnt about Arab customs. Using the word Allah a lot is good - it means you are pious even if you are cussing someone out. Unlike saying God a lot in English, which means you are a blasphemer, unless you are saying grace or in a church. Also learnt that you shouldn't use your left hand for doing many things, except washing your bum - hence the reason for not using it for much else.
Things that I will miss about living in Christchurch:
- seeing the changing of all four seasons. Actually I'm tired of Winter already, but Spring, Summer and Autumn here are awesome.
- New Zealand scenery. Kiwis never get sick of reminding everyone that "Lord of the Rings was filmed there" but honestly, it is pretty spectacular.
- golf probably. Last weekend I played with three guys my age. One was a painter, another worked in a tannery and the last one was, I think, a teacher like me. We spent the whole round (about 5 hours) in the cold wind trying to put each other off their game. We all played terrible golf, and we all had a great time.
Things that I will not miss about living in Christchurch:
- winter. Cold in general. Being 1m83 and about 70kg, I am designed to lose heat, not retain it (46 degrees might test me though).
- teaching students who are in the country because their families don't know what else to do with them. Realising that the ones on scholarships probably get paid more to fake being sick, stay in bed and play Xbox than I do to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and cycle through the dark in subzero temperatures to teach the students who managed to show up that day.
To my ex-colleagues and ex-students: all the best for your future, whatever it may hold. I really did enjoy my time there. Take care, and be nice to each other.
Overall not a bad start to the blog I thought. Feel free to leave comments / questions / ideas / random abuse, and I'll try to keep up with them. If I haven't written anything for a while, please send an email, because I'm sure I will forget sometimes.
Things I have done to prepare myself for the trip:
- learnt some Arabic (at least enough to read roadsigns and ask where the market is).
- read the LonelyPlanet guidebook to Oman roughly 1000 times. All I really got was: the people are very nice and airconditioning is very important.
- kept the emails of most of the Omanis I have taught over the last 6 years. I wish I had managed not to lose the rest - every Omani I have met so far has been wonderful.
- bought a copy of the Qur'an - ha ha, no really. I read about three pages and stopped - From what I could tell its pretty much like the bible only the main character is different.
- learnt about Arab customs. Using the word Allah a lot is good - it means you are pious even if you are cussing someone out. Unlike saying God a lot in English, which means you are a blasphemer, unless you are saying grace or in a church. Also learnt that you shouldn't use your left hand for doing many things, except washing your bum - hence the reason for not using it for much else.
Things that I will miss about living in Christchurch:
- seeing the changing of all four seasons. Actually I'm tired of Winter already, but Spring, Summer and Autumn here are awesome.
- New Zealand scenery. Kiwis never get sick of reminding everyone that "Lord of the Rings was filmed there" but honestly, it is pretty spectacular.
- golf probably. Last weekend I played with three guys my age. One was a painter, another worked in a tannery and the last one was, I think, a teacher like me. We spent the whole round (about 5 hours) in the cold wind trying to put each other off their game. We all played terrible golf, and we all had a great time.
Things that I will not miss about living in Christchurch:
- winter. Cold in general. Being 1m83 and about 70kg, I am designed to lose heat, not retain it (46 degrees might test me though).
- teaching students who are in the country because their families don't know what else to do with them. Realising that the ones on scholarships probably get paid more to fake being sick, stay in bed and play Xbox than I do to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and cycle through the dark in subzero temperatures to teach the students who managed to show up that day.
To my ex-colleagues and ex-students: all the best for your future, whatever it may hold. I really did enjoy my time there. Take care, and be nice to each other.
Overall not a bad start to the blog I thought. Feel free to leave comments / questions / ideas / random abuse, and I'll try to keep up with them. If I haven't written anything for a while, please send an email, because I'm sure I will forget sometimes.
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