"Against boredom even the gods struggle in vain"

This quote is taken from FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 19th century German philosopher.

Monday 6th April 2009
I seem to repeating myself a lot on these pages lately.

Sorry. I know it's getting a bit boring for you out there reading this that I write (yes, that means YOU!). But I can't help it. There is nothing else to write about. And what's a diary or blog for if not to vent my spleen and look back on later to have a laugh at. Well it might become funny later, but the only laughter now is coming from Fate which has placed me here in Saudi Arabia.

I remember one thing well about my job in Krakow. At the end of October, I was told that I was “the unluckiest teacher in the school” as my timetable had been hit hardest due to the late starting or non-starting classes at Fortis bank. Well, that kind of “bad luck” (if that's what it is) is still hanging over me and seems to have followed me here. But this time I didn't have any classes to BEGIN WITH. But Bad Luck is, it seems, what I still have.

You know what annoys me a lot? Well, I talked about this on a previous blog entry. Anyway, it is still the fact that the other new teachers both DO have classes and I still have nothing. Maybe that is what they were planned to have even before I arrived. Maybe I'm taking the thing too damned personally. But these things are following me around a lot lately. And when I say “lately”, I mean over the last two years in very many ways. Sparks of Good inside a big, old fire of Badness that just won't go out.

I guess the problems with my ear have made my mood a little more extreme this week – again as I said before. That may be true. It does show signs of clearing, but then it did THAT last week before Friday morning in the shower. So strange that I have had this for so long. I don't believe in coincidence. Some change in my environment must be the thing that is causing it. Could it be the water from the shower? It does have a rather salty taste. No, obviously I don't drink the stuff, but I do get some of it in my mouth during my morning shower and the taste is there. Also, at times I notice that if I have cuts or some raw areas of skin, there is some stinging for a while. Maybe that water is getting in my ear and causing a reaction of some kind. I think I will have to take steps to prevent water getting into my ears in general in future. Some kind of shower earplugs are called for or cotton wool. Vaseline has also been suggested. Also, although I never use cotton buds to clean out my ears, maybe such things are more necessary here. Yes, yes, don't worry, I DO clean my ears properly every day as a matter of course. But maybe a little more care is needed here.

Ears is one thing, but BOREDOM is totally ANOTHER!!

Now, think back to any occasion where you were so bored you didn't know what to do and could only wait till it was all over and done. Now imagine that is happening five days a week. Now, in addition, imagine that your boredom is compounded week after week so that the thing you did LAST week to beat the boredom is now ITSELF getting a bit boring.

Every week this is the situation for me.

Now, I have to tell you this. It is really NOT easy to get me bored. I have a very high tolerance level of boredom. In fact, often I like my own company and don't always need others around me to get by each day. But I am talking, of course, about leisure time in evenings and weekends. Certainly NOT talking about the NORMAL WORKING DAY!!

Another thing to say. In my short time in Krakow last year I was satisfied in how I managed my time and got myself better trained to manage my day better. I could organise myself better, and this was specially important when I needed to get to and from lessons in different locations in different parts of the town. Not easy to do without a car. But I did it and I was very pleased with how I got it all together.

“Managing my time” here in Saudi Arabia is taking on a whole new meaning. I'm talking about the management of boredom and how the HELL to fill the empty day. For GOODNESS SAKE! This is WORKING TIME! I shouldn't HAVE this problem. I should be able to get up when I need to, go out and do what I need to do, get to where I need to and return home when I need to. Keeping my mind active and keeping myself in reasonable physical shape and enjoying the time with colleagues and friends.

Yes, i knew I'd have to cope with a lot of drudgery here. But I assumed that would be OUTSIDE the working day. I was prepared for THAT with all my books and with my laptop and (hopefully) the internet that I will have. But I cannot deal well with boredom during the working day. Yeah Yeah I could prepare my lessons .... for my one class-to-be. But how long will THAT take? And in any case I don't believe in being over-prepared because you need to take a class as it comes and go with the flow and do what THEY need to do. When the time comes, I will enjoy that normal part of the teaching process. But now??

OK, OK, nuff said. Let's write about something else now.

Hmm sorry but I can't think of anything positive or humorous to write about. Cos the next topic on my mind is the internet connection and what I've heard about it here. Basically the company who provides the internet DSL connection for everyone here in the compound is utterly hopeless. Downtime is part of life, and they have no service people to speak of. If there is a problem, if you get disconnected, there is no telling when you might get reconnected. A week, two weeks, a month or even more. THAT'S what many teachers here have had to put up with.

Weighing up things, it seemed to me that I had no option, initially, than to sign up with them since there was little else I could do as a new teacher. So I decided to sign up just for three months, and with that they have given me an extra month for free. Not bad! But it is NOT cheap, they are slow, and as to WHEN they will bother to get us all connected is anyone's guess. And even when we DO get online, we might be off again soon with no info as to what is going on.

Now, I checked online yesterday and I did find many other companies in Saudi Arabia and, indeed, in the local area who also do DSL packages. Why, I thought, did we have to put up with this kind of bad service when there are so many others around? The answer, unfortunately, is that because this is a compound, any company who provides a service like this needs to be approved by those who run the place. And the DSL line internet provider here IS the ONLY DSL company who have been approved to operate here. So no other companies, however good they are, will be permitted to come in here. And get this – not only are these people the ONLY DSL internet connection allowed here, they are also (according to what I have seen) one of the most EXPENSIVE!!

So we get hit in two ways.

I have paid my money now, and I'm not even going to bother going to ask for a refund since THAT word will not register in their vocabulary I'm sure. All I can do is hope they get it set up quick and that there really ISN'T any more trouble. But like everything here, I'm not too optimistic that this will be the case.

I'm so tired of fighting. WHY CAN'T IT BE EASIER FOR ME HERE?? Why is EVERYTHING just so IMPOSSIBLE? Yes, it IS a foreign country and yes, of COURSE I realise things ain 't the same everywhere. But please, PLEASE just give me a bit of peace!! I'm not travelling, I am living and working. It's not like I can laugh it off and move on and write about it later for the sake of “Traveller's tales” round the campfire. The travelling thing? Been there and done that. I'm here to work and to TRY to live as “normal” a life as I can.

Stress, Stress, Stress!! And when I get stressed, things which shouldn't bother me are WORSE than they SHOULD BE! There is one of the teachers who is obviously quite an intellect and who always has some opinion and informative set of anecdotes on .... well, for me, topics which are often rather obscure and uninteresting. Now, I'm sure others find him fascinating, but right now under these conditions I'm in I just wish he'd SHUT UP!! Oh, and the newest teacher. What's HIS problem then? And he annoys me with his lack of knowledge about this country. No, I'm not an expert, but you would think that before coming to a country like this you should at LEAST acquaint yourself with basics of the culture – Do's and Dont's and the like. He seems not to know things he should. And the other new teacher – the one who joined a week after me. Well, he's alright, but he takes things way too easy for my liking and thinks I should do the same and just enjoy the time now and generally chill out and watch the world go by. Might be a good idea, but I'm sorry but I can't for reasons explained many times before. I'm NOT about to waste my time here having wasted three months of my life back in London waiting to GET HERE!

This year, 2009, is shaping up to be the most BORING in my entire history ..... but, err, .... yes, OK, it will be the most financially profitable. So, yes, I got to keep my eyes on the prize.

And don't you know that ..... “Things .... Can Only Get Better ... Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get BETTER!!”.

Thank you Tony Blair and thank you D-Ream for this annoyingly optimistic song.

Sorry, but I don't do optimistic. Please close the door when you leave. Thank you.

Tomorrow's task? Well, I think I have to progress things to a higher level. So .... mobile phone games then .... I've got the Fish Photos game and the Crazy Golf games. Better not play the Tennis cos it will mess up my Sony Ericsson joystick. But anything else is considered.

Oh, almost forgot. I DID do something different today, and I'll do it tomorrow too. Exam invigilation. Yes, right now is the mid-term exam season at the college and one of the teachers had me in two of his classes today so sit and watch his class for any signs of cheating. Oh, and one more of those tomorrow!

Now, HOW EXCITING IS THAT!! Roll on the morning!!