This blog will be an account of my time living and working in Oman over the next 2 and a half months. I interviewed for a gap year scheme in Oman in order to improve my Arabic, the scheme is basically a chance for gap year students to experience living in the Middle East and also working at a school.
So.... Week 1
Day 1 4th October 2011
Arr. Muscat International 9am local time, bit of confusion with queing as we had 3 month visas and so we didnt think the tourist queue was the corect one. This meant we hopped in the queue with the locals, and all the women had mysteriously dissapeared. We were attracting A LOT of stares, we wern't sure if it was because we were Westerners queueing with locals or whether it was because 'shock horror' a woman was in the wrong queue! either way soon this dude took us out and waved us to the front of another queue and then we met Sean Griffen, our surrogate parent for the trip. He drove us back to the school and showed us our homes for the next 3 months. After hearing rumours of my room being an old science classroom I was bracing myself for lighting bunsen burners instead of candles at night; but my apartment was double the size of the boy's and I have a double bed!!!
As soon as I unpacked my stuff and put up the pictures that Alice gave me on the fridge, I felt instantly at home, and I have to say, I havn't really missed home since, which is odd for the girl who used to drive 2 hrs back from Sheffield to spend 1 night in her home town!!
Here are a couple of pictures of the school - but I keep forgetting to take one of the pool- I will put one up soon, it is amazing!
Surprise of the day : attending a booze filled party on our first night and meeting a few of the teachers a bit merry- we had all expected to be remaining sober for the duration- it soon became clear that this was not an option! The way it works is that the teachers have to apply for a license to buy booze, and they are allowed to spend a certain amount of their income a month on it after filling lots of forms and showing their paycheck to the police.
Day 2 -
Sean took us on a trip to see some of the local sights.
Surprise of the day: that Sean filled up the tank in his 4x4 for 6OR which is about a tenner for 55 litres- absolute madness! Also, they still have petrol attendants here who fill up your car for you to save you getting out in the blistering heat.
After this amazement we went to the Grand Mosque, which is absolutely massive, but yet so intricately designed. I had to be covered up (picture below for amusement) so I was sweating like a mad thing (praise the lord for Mitchum!)
Tom, Freddie and Wil enjoy the sights
haha!
After eating some shwarma (basically a chicken wrap) which was around 25p each, Sean then drove us to a completely secluded beach where we all got into our swimmies and enjoyed the bath temperature water and tried to catch crabs. I think it became clear at this point that we were all going to get on pretty well, and we have (so far anyway!) Here are some pics of the beach at Sifah and the boys playing in the sea!
Excited much?!
Tom and Wil after a disappointing crab catching session!
Rest of the week -After our exhausting weekend and trying to get our body clocks working on Omani time- we settled into the routine here and sorted out the lessons we would be helping out in. Timetable is below. My favourite lesson of the week was Kindergarten PE because I was allowed to 'teach' (basically muck about) by myself- the lesson plan was to teach them to bounce a tennis ball with one hand and catch it with two- the kids are adorable and so well behaved so it can be a lot of fun! I also enjoy sitting in on the yr 4 and 5 arabic classes where I am basically a pupil, My teacher Reema gets me up in front of the class to write on the board and I got a 'mumtaz' - excellent- sticker for my work!
Still finding it odd to adjust to the fact the the weekend here is Thursday and Friday, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it! Anyway- thats enough blathering on....
Next week- 8 yr olds driving 4x4's and wadi snakes!
So.... Week 1
Day 1 4th October 2011
Dep. London Heathrow 22.35pm, I spent most of the journey to the airport trying not to weep at the feeling of loneliness I might soon be experiencing, and the nerves that I may not get on with the other people on the trip. I actually managed it quite well, until I got in the check-in queue at the airport Jack and Sophie surprised me which was really touching and had me desparately trying to hold it together! Anyway, had a lovely last meal with Mum, Jack and Soph and then ran through to departures to meet up with Hugh, Tom, Will and Freddie in the bar. I had already met Hugh at my interview so I knew he was a nice guy, and the other guys are really easy to get on with, and pretty funny. I won't bore you with the details of the plane journey other than the child next to me was screaming very loudly - but the geek in me was chuffed I could understand what he was yelling about in Arabic! On another note- Transformers 3 is awful.
Arr. Muscat International 9am local time, bit of confusion with queing as we had 3 month visas and so we didnt think the tourist queue was the corect one. This meant we hopped in the queue with the locals, and all the women had mysteriously dissapeared. We were attracting A LOT of stares, we wern't sure if it was because we were Westerners queueing with locals or whether it was because 'shock horror' a woman was in the wrong queue! either way soon this dude took us out and waved us to the front of another queue and then we met Sean Griffen, our surrogate parent for the trip. He drove us back to the school and showed us our homes for the next 3 months. After hearing rumours of my room being an old science classroom I was bracing myself for lighting bunsen burners instead of candles at night; but my apartment was double the size of the boy's and I have a double bed!!!
Here are a couple of pictures of the school - but I keep forgetting to take one of the pool- I will put one up soon, it is amazing!
Surprise of the day : attending a booze filled party on our first night and meeting a few of the teachers a bit merry- we had all expected to be remaining sober for the duration- it soon became clear that this was not an option! The way it works is that the teachers have to apply for a license to buy booze, and they are allowed to spend a certain amount of their income a month on it after filling lots of forms and showing their paycheck to the police.
Day 2 -
Sean took us on a trip to see some of the local sights.
Surprise of the day: that Sean filled up the tank in his 4x4 for 6OR which is about a tenner for 55 litres- absolute madness! Also, they still have petrol attendants here who fill up your car for you to save you getting out in the blistering heat.
After this amazement we went to the Grand Mosque, which is absolutely massive, but yet so intricately designed. I had to be covered up (picture below for amusement) so I was sweating like a mad thing (praise the lord for Mitchum!)
Tom, Freddie and Wil enjoy the sights
haha!
After eating some shwarma (basically a chicken wrap) which was around 25p each, Sean then drove us to a completely secluded beach where we all got into our swimmies and enjoyed the bath temperature water and tried to catch crabs. I think it became clear at this point that we were all going to get on pretty well, and we have (so far anyway!) Here are some pics of the beach at Sifah and the boys playing in the sea!
Excited much?!
Tom and Wil after a disappointing crab catching session!Rest of the week -After our exhausting weekend and trying to get our body clocks working on Omani time- we settled into the routine here and sorted out the lessons we would be helping out in. Timetable is below. My favourite lesson of the week was Kindergarten PE because I was allowed to 'teach' (basically muck about) by myself- the lesson plan was to teach them to bounce a tennis ball with one hand and catch it with two- the kids are adorable and so well behaved so it can be a lot of fun! I also enjoy sitting in on the yr 4 and 5 arabic classes where I am basically a pupil, My teacher Reema gets me up in front of the class to write on the board and I got a 'mumtaz' - excellent- sticker for my work!
Next week- 8 yr olds driving 4x4's and wadi snakes!
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