Friday 30th October 2009
Now, this is the third or fourth time I have sat down to write this entry about my lessons this past three weeks.
Is that a good sign? Well, yes, perhaps it is. It means, I think, that I haven't had much to write about. Mind you, also it is true that my teaching schedule is very heavy and so maybe it is that I have not retained enough in my over-stretched mind and maybe I am too tired to get to the keyboard for writing purposes.
Nah, that's an exaggeration. Yes I DO have a heavy teaching timetable of 27 teaching hours these days. It means that most days I start at 7.30am and finish just after 2pm with only the 15-minute breaktime and hour and quarter lunchbreak for relief. The lunchtimes are now all here at home, but every day except Saturday I start right after lunch at 12.30pm which means that I have only about 45 minutes eating and chillout time here. No lunchtime internet session then (except Saturdays as I said). And so all I do is put on the Indian “Neo Cricket” channel and watch whatever they are showing. Just this week has been the India-Australia ODI series which has been good to watch (in the 45-minutes I'm sat here!). Oh, and last week was the first of the so-called “Champions League Trophy (CLT)” twenty20 series involving, presumably, the champion counties of England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies. Oh, and the two best India Premier League (IPL) teams, who not surprisingly did very badly since many of their star players were back in their “proper teams”. Well, I DID enjoy the CLT games I watched. Not normally a fan of the “slash and bash” twenty20 format but THIS CLT series did have something proper to watch in it as the teams were REAL ones as opposed to IPL paid-for ones.
So the lunchtimes are shorter. But to compensate for this I do not go into the college unless I REALLY must …. which is, in fact, only when there are meetings and on Wednesday afternoons when I take in my used-up week's class registers. Oh yeah, and of course on Saturday afternoon and Monday afternoon for the 2nd year Clinical class lessons.
Well, why SHOULD I go in? I have spent MORE than enough wasted time in that building and sitting in that chair and for WHAT? Nothing – that's what! To have half a year of my life WASTED by that place and their total disregard for and contempt of what my colleague and I tried to do with those soldier boy moron so-called “students”. Hah, every time I use that word with them it makes me seethe. Just to see them now every day, as I have to do, in the 'new' section of the building I have to go to teach is enough. Thankfully they are now somebody else's problem and headache (though THAT was mentioned last time). Well, I say Hello to a few of them – the rare few who ARE worthy of wearing those green medical students 'uniforms', but the rest of them can f***k off! Anyway, going back to my staying away, I don't even bother to sign out now, and nothing happens. Because I am over at this other building, I am not required to sign in. The way I see it, I finish after 2pm and I'm certainly NOT going to go all the way in to college just to bloody SIGN OUT. What a waste of time! Nobody checks it or cares about it.
And anyway, for now the gate-hole in the wall is open again! Remember that? Yes, and remember how it got closed again with no warning? Well, we'll see how long THAT lasts this time. For now, it IS open during the day till about 4pm which is time enough for me to conveniently use it to and from my classroom and that building. I sincerely hope it DOES stay open, but this place being what it is you can never rely on that (or, indeed, on ANYTHING!).
OK so here we are just after the completion of Week 3 of teaching this new timetable here at the college.
And I must say that things are going quite well on the teaching side now.
Wait a momento, buddy boy! Did you just say something NICE about teaching here? Hang on, let's check back a mo …. YES, it seems I DID!
Must be the sun. It's still very hot out here in the afternoons, and it must be getting to me. Am I getting …. “comfortable” here?
No, no, NOOOO!! Nothing of the sort! But I DO, at last, have a class now which I DO enjoy teaching.
What a relief! Why couldn't I have had them from the beginning? Things might have worked out for me a whole lot different instead of having idiot-brain soldier boys making my life a hell. Ah well – that's the way it has worked out. But NO – before you ask – I will NOT be changing my mind about leaving after my year is up.
A very nice class they are! I mean the 21-hour a week 'Pre-Clinical' class as they are called by the college. This just means that it is a kind of “foundation level” course before they join the college properly. The aim is to get them a grounding in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and in the English language of science lectures and texts which they are likely to see in the course of their studies.
The way they do things here is NOT to divide the students up by English language level. So the class you get is a mix from the good, the middling and the very basic abilities of English. But as an average, you can say that the class is at 'Elementary Level'.
I don't have a problem with this. Even in a language school where students ARE more divided by language level, there are always students who are in the “wrong class” either because they have come too far, too fast or because they messed up the Language Level Test or some other reason. As a teacher, you simply have to deal with it. And usually what happens is that the students help each other. Some days you have to over-explain things to individuals who have not quite grasped what your instructions were (for example). But that's OK and is just part of the job of Language Teacher. All you can do is go for the “Safe Middle Ground”. Yes, it is true that those at the lower end might get frustrated at not understanding and yes, those at the higher end might want things to go faster. But you simply CAN'T please everyone ALL the time. Some teachers would say you should do more to cater for such mixed level classes by giving them different work to do, but that is NOT feasibly possible and you only end up with extra work. And HOW do you judge who is Stream 'A', Stream 'B' and Stream 'C' anyway? A pointless waste of a teacher's time and energy, and let's face it guys we spend WAY too much time on preparation as it is! Don't break your back!
So nothing much to say about the class. The coursebooks are OK. A couple of funny moments such as when I was doing a lesson-part on Plants. I asked, first of all, what we humans have as our Basic Needs. The obvious answers came from them like Air, Water, Food etc …. then one student shouted out “Women!”. Funny! Remember that Saudi classes are all male. Made me smile anyway. Ahh, and how right he is too! Oh, and another time went like this. In the grammar book we use (Betty Azar) there is a section on Present Simple, and on one page there is a picture of the solar system and some statements about it that you have to fill in the Present Simple of the verbs for. I had done the pages before it but then turned back to the Science book to the section on Plants. As always I started off with a brainstorm on what words they associate with the word “plants”. OK, they gave me words like 'earth' and 'sun' and yes, these ARE plant-related. But then I heard one shout out something which ended in “... eenus” except I couldn't hear it. Then I heard “mercury” and “stars”. Didn't understand this, but then I realised what was going on. The students thought I had asked them for words associated with PLANETS! YES, the next page in the grammar book! Well, think about the two words PLANTS and PLANETS and how similar they might sound to a student of English, and especially since they thought I was going on to the 'planets' page of the grammar book! Again, a funny misunderstanding!
Back in time a little now. In Week 1 was the first week of the new timetable and new classes. As ever in this place it was like crawling backwards through a prickly bush to ever get as far as having such an organised thing as a teaching schedule. When we DID get it, as I said before, it was still a thing liable to change and we had no idea for sure WHAT would happen on the first Saturday. So we had to come in at 7.30am on the first Saturday morning and expect …. well, the UNEXPECTED!
As you should know now, if you are a regular reader of all this blog stuff of mine, the Unexpected is Expected and the Unpredictable is Predictable as well as the Illogical being totally Logical. Ahh, but now I'm getting too cynical for my own good because, rather boringly, when I came in reliably just around 7.00am to sign in, I was told that we WERE all to start today but not until Period 3 (at 9.30am). Not much of a delay really!
My teaching timetable has changed a little since Week 1 but I have only had classes shifted about here and there. The 21-hour a week class started with eleven names on the register, boomed up to 23 NAMES and now has settled at the twenty-student mark. That is more than I'm used to but fortunately I have a nice big classroom which I can happily roam around in and not be tripping over bags and feet. Memories of my year of horror where I ALSO had all classes of fifteen in each and with tiny classrooms. Students were doubled up on each side of desks and absolutely NO CHANCE of moving around except up and down from my chair.
So the room and class size is OK for me considering classroom size. Yes it means I have many people to try to get round but that's alright with me. I have to mentally allocate “ticket numbers” to make sure I see everybody in the order they call for help. This can mean I cover a lot of ground in class but that's OK – I need the exercise!
So that's about all on classes. Now I'm going to do another unusual thing in this blog entry – I'm going to FINISH with some GOOD NEWS!
Surely not! I always end on a low! Ah but not today!
So what is it? Well, do you remember what I said some time ago about not being allowed out at Christmas and New Year? That, unfortunately DOES still remain the case. HOWEVER, let us now look forward to that Date Which Is Cherished which is, of course, my DEPARTURE DATE from Saudi Arabia.
My contract ends, I think, on 13th March 2010. This is about two weeks into Semester Two of the college year. Before that there is a two-week holiday which runs from 10th to 27th February, and this is a college holiday where all is closed.
As I knew it, I have sixteen (16) holiday days left of my Annual Holiday Entitlement which is, as you remember, 49 days in total. Are you getting a hint already? Ah, but there's more, and I had a surprise with my most recent payslip on which was the message “Leave Without Pay 7 days” and a deduction from my salary to reflect this.
When I saw this Leave Without Pay deduction, I was horrified. I thought, naturally, that the Powers That Be had deducted me for all those time when I did not sign out. But I asked about this and was told that this pay slip was for September.
Now, I hope I can explain this properly. Everyone who joins the college as a teacher has 49 days of holiday entitlement. However, until you have completed a full year on the job, you can not take them all at once. Well, there is also the rule that you cannot take a holiday in the first five months of contract, but I am past that now. It works out like this: until your full year is up, you have an “Accrued” number of holiday days. If you decide to take your holiday in month 6 then this means you have 'accrued' 49 x (6/12) holiday days which means about 25 days is possible. If you want more than 25 days then you need to EITHER have the remainder as “Leave Without Pay” or you can “Borrow From Future Holiday”. In the first case, you lose money but not holiday days and in the second case it is the opposite.
So with my summer holiday, I had 'accrued' 26 holiday days and had to decide which option to take. Well, in FACT, I decided to Borrow From Future and I wrote this on the memo which went with my Holiday Request form. However, like all things here, the incompetent fools upstairs either didn't see this or forgot it. So THAT is why I had the seven Leave Without Pay days on my pay slip.
At first I was quite obviously OUTRAGED at YET ANOTHER screw-up by those people. But then something VERY GOOD was pointed out to me. And that is that I STILL have now TWENTY-THREE (23) Holiday Days left to go and not sixteen as previously thought!
Yes, I lost money through the seven LWOP days. But DO YOU SEE what this means now?? YES!! It means I can leave EVEN EARLIER than I first thought. And that most likely means that on 10th February when Semester 2 ends, I will be FREE!
THE END IS IN SIGHT!
Of course NONE of this is going to be confirmed until much later and many stupid things can STILL get in the way. So don't jump around for me just yet and save your party candles until I know for SURE! This is only the THEORETICAL End Date, and is still to be confirmed.
But OH what a Nice Thought to end today's blog on!
Friday, 30 October 2009
Sunday, 25 October 2009
The New Guy - Terminator Mark 2 is BACK!!
Sunday 25th October 2009
Well, the good thing today is that my lessons are actually for ONCE going pretty well. More of that later. Now for the “antics” of our newest colleague.
His premeditated task, it seems, is to do whatever he can get away with and annoy as many people as he can possible manage. And THAT includes teacher colleagues, Head of Department AND the management upstairs if rumours are true.
Yeah, this guy is a truly a Mark II Version of the guy who took his “early leave” last semester and never returned. In case I haven't mentioned already then YES that guy did not, as expected, return here and the last heard of HIM was an email saying his doctor had recommended he DIDN'T do so because the heat would affect his high blood pressure more.
It's a bit like the Terminator trilogy of films (although now, of course, that is a quadrilogy). The first guy was mean and bad-looking and took some stopping. This second guy we have now is the “mercury man” version of the Terminator and will be a lot harder to shift as he can morph himself out of most situations. And the third? Ah well – THAT Terminator, as you may know, was a female Terminator …. We shall see!
Ahh …. as always I digress HUGELY and should be getting back to what I started which was the “new kid on the block”. Well, he's hardly a kid as he's another one in his sixties (so he fits in quite nicely!). The story is that his CV was filled with impressive-sounding things that he had done in his life. For that you can read, “CV fillers supreme”, because that is what it all sounds like without going into details. Anyway, it got him past the scrutiny of the management upstairs who decided he was worth taking on with a view to him becoming the new Head of Department when our current one goes at end January.
When I came back after the summer holiday, I expected to have to vacate my desk because this new guy was due to be sitting there. Not so – was told by the HoD that I could stay there since this new guy had been a complete PAIN all summer long. I think I mentioned that before. So that was fine by me. Well, I don't want my name on an office door and staying anonymous is JUST FINE by me!
Anyway I've just read back and I see his early days I have done already. So let's bring you more up to date with him.
He is being a complete pain in the ass ….. STILL! No, not to me personally. I hardly ever talk to him or see him. He is rarely around in the office at college and, apparently comes in extra early to get his things before our Hod comes in. This is so he can avoid him. So no chance of the training which he is supposed to receive for the eventual takeover. The HoD is not going to chase after him either. And why should he? And anyway, he doesn't really care since he is going from here soon himself.
So he is here now as a teacher like all the rest of us. Ahh, now THIS is where the fun starts. Remember what I said before about us all having to about 27 hours a week teaching? Well, that DOES include him as he IS a teacher after all.
But he has said that he WILL NOT DO more than 21 hours a week!
Yes, you ARE right. There is no basis in the contract for saying this. The contract for ALL teachers says that we do something like 24 hours a week teaching. Also, as many teaching contracts say, there may be more than this which we might have to take on and we cannot refuse such extra hours so long as they are not “unreasonable”. Lawyers: interpret THAT! Well, it means of course that so long as they don't overdo it, an employer can give us more than the 24 hours if it is required.
Says so on ALL teachers contracts. HE is here as a teacher as I understand it. Therefore he has the same written in HIS contract as do ALL of us. So WHY THE HELL does HE think he is better or different to the REST of us?? What RIGHT does HE have to DEMAND to be given no more than 21 hours?
Nobody knows. OK, but this is not the end of it. He has also, on MORE than one occasion, let his class go early OR has simply NOT TURNED UP to teach them on some post-lunch lesson occasions. Yes!! Actually had the damn CHEEK to literally NOT TURN UP for class leaving his students without a teacher.
Now, I don't know about you, but I reckon THAT is “sailing close” to the Gross Misconduct “wind” which, as anyone knows, can lead to instant dismissal and an early exit. If I or ANY OTHER teacher did such a thing then the FULL WEIGHT of employment contract law would come down HARD on a guy who is taking the piss.
The question is WHY is he being allowed to get away with this?
Yesterday, apparently, he was telephoned by the secretary to the Dean of the College that they wanted to see him to talk about this. When she phoned him, he wanted to know why the Dean himself had not phoned him. Well, the secretary (female) told him, it is normal procedure that she should do this. Well, he got very stroppy about this and said that IF the Dean wanted to summon him there then he should telephone him PERSONALLY. He then put the phone down rudely! About ten minutes later he phoned again to ask what it was they wanted to see him for and was told that was a matter for him to discuss with the Dean. Phone down again. Apparently he DID then come in some time later for this discussion. The result of that talk is not yet known. But what IS known is that, once inside the office there was a lot of angry SHOUTING and raised voices from …. well, guess who!!
Yup, from the man himself!
There are many theories being bandied around about what this guy is up to. He HAS been in the Middle East before and claims to know people out here. He has, apparently, been some kind of tutor to some Saudi Royal Family members which may well have brought him some useful contacts. And also may his previous teaching and course management experience out here.
One wild theory is that if or when he gets into the HoD position, everyone here will NOT want to work for him and many will leave. Well, he will know nothing about the job or the procedures here since he is never around. So he might just have all his own cronies which he will then install in the vacant teachers' jobs and he will have got his way.
One thing's for sure: this story will run and run …. WATCH THIS SPACE!
Well, the good thing today is that my lessons are actually for ONCE going pretty well. More of that later. Now for the “antics” of our newest colleague.
His premeditated task, it seems, is to do whatever he can get away with and annoy as many people as he can possible manage. And THAT includes teacher colleagues, Head of Department AND the management upstairs if rumours are true.
Yeah, this guy is a truly a Mark II Version of the guy who took his “early leave” last semester and never returned. In case I haven't mentioned already then YES that guy did not, as expected, return here and the last heard of HIM was an email saying his doctor had recommended he DIDN'T do so because the heat would affect his high blood pressure more.
It's a bit like the Terminator trilogy of films (although now, of course, that is a quadrilogy). The first guy was mean and bad-looking and took some stopping. This second guy we have now is the “mercury man” version of the Terminator and will be a lot harder to shift as he can morph himself out of most situations. And the third? Ah well – THAT Terminator, as you may know, was a female Terminator …. We shall see!
Ahh …. as always I digress HUGELY and should be getting back to what I started which was the “new kid on the block”. Well, he's hardly a kid as he's another one in his sixties (so he fits in quite nicely!). The story is that his CV was filled with impressive-sounding things that he had done in his life. For that you can read, “CV fillers supreme”, because that is what it all sounds like without going into details. Anyway, it got him past the scrutiny of the management upstairs who decided he was worth taking on with a view to him becoming the new Head of Department when our current one goes at end January.
When I came back after the summer holiday, I expected to have to vacate my desk because this new guy was due to be sitting there. Not so – was told by the HoD that I could stay there since this new guy had been a complete PAIN all summer long. I think I mentioned that before. So that was fine by me. Well, I don't want my name on an office door and staying anonymous is JUST FINE by me!
Anyway I've just read back and I see his early days I have done already. So let's bring you more up to date with him.
He is being a complete pain in the ass ….. STILL! No, not to me personally. I hardly ever talk to him or see him. He is rarely around in the office at college and, apparently comes in extra early to get his things before our Hod comes in. This is so he can avoid him. So no chance of the training which he is supposed to receive for the eventual takeover. The HoD is not going to chase after him either. And why should he? And anyway, he doesn't really care since he is going from here soon himself.
So he is here now as a teacher like all the rest of us. Ahh, now THIS is where the fun starts. Remember what I said before about us all having to about 27 hours a week teaching? Well, that DOES include him as he IS a teacher after all.
But he has said that he WILL NOT DO more than 21 hours a week!
Yes, you ARE right. There is no basis in the contract for saying this. The contract for ALL teachers says that we do something like 24 hours a week teaching. Also, as many teaching contracts say, there may be more than this which we might have to take on and we cannot refuse such extra hours so long as they are not “unreasonable”. Lawyers: interpret THAT! Well, it means of course that so long as they don't overdo it, an employer can give us more than the 24 hours if it is required.
Says so on ALL teachers contracts. HE is here as a teacher as I understand it. Therefore he has the same written in HIS contract as do ALL of us. So WHY THE HELL does HE think he is better or different to the REST of us?? What RIGHT does HE have to DEMAND to be given no more than 21 hours?
Nobody knows. OK, but this is not the end of it. He has also, on MORE than one occasion, let his class go early OR has simply NOT TURNED UP to teach them on some post-lunch lesson occasions. Yes!! Actually had the damn CHEEK to literally NOT TURN UP for class leaving his students without a teacher.
Now, I don't know about you, but I reckon THAT is “sailing close” to the Gross Misconduct “wind” which, as anyone knows, can lead to instant dismissal and an early exit. If I or ANY OTHER teacher did such a thing then the FULL WEIGHT of employment contract law would come down HARD on a guy who is taking the piss.
The question is WHY is he being allowed to get away with this?
Yesterday, apparently, he was telephoned by the secretary to the Dean of the College that they wanted to see him to talk about this. When she phoned him, he wanted to know why the Dean himself had not phoned him. Well, the secretary (female) told him, it is normal procedure that she should do this. Well, he got very stroppy about this and said that IF the Dean wanted to summon him there then he should telephone him PERSONALLY. He then put the phone down rudely! About ten minutes later he phoned again to ask what it was they wanted to see him for and was told that was a matter for him to discuss with the Dean. Phone down again. Apparently he DID then come in some time later for this discussion. The result of that talk is not yet known. But what IS known is that, once inside the office there was a lot of angry SHOUTING and raised voices from …. well, guess who!!
Yup, from the man himself!
There are many theories being bandied around about what this guy is up to. He HAS been in the Middle East before and claims to know people out here. He has, apparently, been some kind of tutor to some Saudi Royal Family members which may well have brought him some useful contacts. And also may his previous teaching and course management experience out here.
One wild theory is that if or when he gets into the HoD position, everyone here will NOT want to work for him and many will leave. Well, he will know nothing about the job or the procedures here since he is never around. So he might just have all his own cronies which he will then install in the vacant teachers' jobs and he will have got his way.
One thing's for sure: this story will run and run …. WATCH THIS SPACE!
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Midweek Migraine Headache - thanks for NOTHING!!
Sunday 18th October 2009
Well I'm writing this nearly a week after it actually happened. But it doesn't mean that it wasn't important or, in this case, rather worrying. I hope it never happens again.
A couple of years ago, as I remember, I had a similar thing but NOTHING anywhere near as bad as THIS one was. And the thing is that it came apparently from nowhere as I thought at the time (although later I decided there WAS a lot of reason WHY I'd had it.
So I was halfway through the teaching timetable I had been given which, by now, was a very heavy 27 teaching hours a week. And what makes it all the heavier is the fact that 21 out of those 27 hours is with ONE CLASS. Saturday starts off fairly quietly with that class being finished with at lunchtime (4 lessons). But Sundays and Tuesdays start early and go on right up until 2.15pm in the afternoon (six back-to-back lessons Sunday, five back-to-backs on Tuesday). On Mondays and Wednesdays I finish with the 21-hour class at lunchtime but then have two or three lessons AFTER lunch with different groups. So every day except Saturday goes right on up to after 2pm or even 3pm.
A punishing schedule with some very long days.
Well, within reason I don't mind a heavy schedule of work so long as there is a clear idea of what I am supposed to be doing. And we have the coursebooks and the syllabus so it should be OK. So it was not this heavy workload which was a cause of my migraine. At least, not one of the top reasons.
So Saturday was a reasonable day. Without books for the students and, anyway, a new class I just used some of my own material for that day. And anyway it started late in what we call Period 3 which means 9.30am so I did that. And like last week the afternoon class didn't turn up at all so that day was done without fuss. Sunday too was completed and although it was a long day it seemed OK and I did not feel under stress though a fair amount of quick thinking and usual in-class improvisation WAS needed.
So Monday came. Did the first two lessons with the 3-hour class and was able to give them out the new coursebooks and get on with that. Lesson 1 was sparsely attended with moans that it was a bad time of day. Yeah right – can't come early, can't come in the afternoon, so when CAN you guys come then?? Had the 21-hour class between break and lunchtime which was only a 2-hour stretch like the day before. Back home for lunch still with no ill-effects.
After lunch I suppose I must have been in a hurry because I went back to the college forgetting my umbrella. This is my “sun hat” remember! Well, it didn't SEEM that hot – not compared to August heat anyway. Got into college and felt a little hot. And a headache was coming on ….
It kept coming and coming. Sitting at my desk I really couldn't get anything done. It wasn't SO bad at THAT stage but I definitely felt unwell. It reminded me of that time some months earlier when I had gone home early because I was feeling ill and the feeling had been similar to this (though it was worse the previous time).
OK, I did what I could but in the end I felt I had to go home. Was feeling rather tensed and DEFINITELY headachey. So I signed out and went. STILL of course I had no umbrella as I had forgotten it earlier. And THAT it seems was a very big mistake.
Got home. You know, when you HAVE a headache the worst thing you can do is to go out in the hot afternoon sun in a country like this. But what was I doing here? Yup, Out In Sun, No Protection, Big Headache Getting Worse.
Sat down, as I often do, with the computer to do skype and email and stuff like that. Now, as much as I like my nice new laptop, one thing I do NOT like is its VERY BRIGHT screen. Yes, are you getting it now? Bright White Screen, Man With Bad Headache, …. what do you get? Man With HUUUUGE HEADACHE.
BOY, did THAT headache build! Well, pretty soon it was no longer just a regular headache. The pain was SO intense, SOOOOO bad that I thought it a good idea to lie down.
Just for an hour or two I thought. Sometimes when I feel rough or tired it does help to lie down for a while. When I am over-tired it really IS needed and I thought this is what it was – just another tired-head lie down.
Well, the longer I lay down, the MORE the pain grew. It was centred in the top and frontal parts of my head and covered a very large area. It would not go away – just kept intensifying. I had put the laptop off of course. But soon it was SO BAD that I had to put the light off. I went in the bathroom too – maybe my head was just too hot I thought.
Put some cold water on my head and that was OK for a while. But by now I was REALLY feeling SICK. Back to bed I went in the dark and just lay there in absolute AGONY. There was NOTHING I could do to make it go away. I pressed my head and tried some kind of scalp massage – no good. WHAT IS THIS, I thought??!!
A little later with pain STILL horrific I really did feel sick. What had I eaten? Well, maybe this was food poisoning. No, it couldn't be – there was only that slightly soft and over-ripe mango I had eaten that could have caused this. And anyway, no fruit could cause food poisoning like THIS. So I went to the bathroom hoping that I could be sick which would relieve this thing a bit. But NO – even crouched over the toilet nothing would come up or felt like it was going to. So back to bed again STILL with pain.
I should take something for this, I thought. Well, I only had 'Panadol' but it was something. But I just COULDN'T get up to get it. And in any case there was NO WAY, I felt, that anything I took down would STAY down. And also, I just couldn't get myself up again – the thought of moving myself to get a glass, get water in it and take a pill, ….. well, the thought of doing ANYTHING was abandoned fast.
Would I be OK for work tomorrow? Should I phone someone now to warn them about tomorrow? WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME? WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING TODAY??
There were no answers of course. All I could do was lie there with lights out and eyes closed and not move and hope that it would pass or at least weaken. The only time it did that was earlier with the cold water on face.
Now, if I'd been able, I would have got myself a cold flannel to put on my face which probably WOULD have helped. But although my brain told me so, my body was unable to comply.
I don't know how long I was in this state. I also don't know how or when I fell asleep, but I obviously DID get to sleep. Next morning when I woke …. NO PAIN! How relieved was I!! But I really felt, on that Tuesday morning, that I had been through one HELL of an ordeal that night of Monday 12th October.
Tuesday is, as you will recall, my heaviest day of lessons. Yep, and I had to get through it feeling the after-effects of my migraine.
THAT is what I am certain it was. I have never had one before, and BOY OH BOY I NEVER EVER want to experience pain like I felt that night EVER AGAIN in my life.
So to the causes. I had NO IDEA at the time WHAT could have caused such a thing to happen. It seemed to come from nowhere.
But then I was reminded. Without going into too many details, I HAVE been under a tremendous amount of stress just lately. First of all, the difficulties of coming back here and once again being in isolation after five good weeks of holiday with people and places I wanted to be with. Secondly, again without going into any details here, I have had and STILL have family problems which seem to go on without any resolution coming quickly and with obstacles to much progress. Thirdly, the new stress of being told that there is NO CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY time allowed and the thought of staying HERE during THAT time of year and being with THESE people and in THIS country during this holiday time back in England. And lastly (though there may well be more) the stress of this new timetable of mine and the fact that I have to go over to that SAME BUILDING that I was teaching in before and see THOSE IDIOT FACES again of those moron students when I had been hoping that my lessons would be all back in the COLLEGE building.
Etc. Etc. and then it dawned on me WHY this had come to me.
You know, when we are having difficulties in life and are in stressful periods the time of suffering never comes when you think it should. Oh, it comes alright sooner or later, but at the time it hits you, it seems less appropriate and you are not sure why.
My colleague told me a story about his tooth filling. He had been to the dentist a while back for a standard filling which was OK and then had gone through some days or weeks of stress during which nothing much happened. Then, while on holiday some time later, he'd suddenly got a BIG PAIN in that filled tooth. On seeing another dentist (assuming it was the filling causing him the pain problem), he was told that there WAS no problem. But, as it turned out, it had been the STRESS that had brought on that pain …. AFTER the event! So, as I was just saying, stress can have its effects on you any time, any way, and when you might not expect it.
SO …. there you have it. My first ever migraine headache, and it comes to me here in Saudi Arabia. Yeah so THANK YOU guys for bringing THAT on!! Just ANOTHER bullet point to add to the List Of Reasons Not To Stay Here. You can KEEP your migraine!!
Now I am worried it could easily happen again. People who get such things as migraine just go on having it. Does it come with age too?
I'm not a religious man, but I pray it NEVER happens again!
Well I'm writing this nearly a week after it actually happened. But it doesn't mean that it wasn't important or, in this case, rather worrying. I hope it never happens again.
A couple of years ago, as I remember, I had a similar thing but NOTHING anywhere near as bad as THIS one was. And the thing is that it came apparently from nowhere as I thought at the time (although later I decided there WAS a lot of reason WHY I'd had it.
So I was halfway through the teaching timetable I had been given which, by now, was a very heavy 27 teaching hours a week. And what makes it all the heavier is the fact that 21 out of those 27 hours is with ONE CLASS. Saturday starts off fairly quietly with that class being finished with at lunchtime (4 lessons). But Sundays and Tuesdays start early and go on right up until 2.15pm in the afternoon (six back-to-back lessons Sunday, five back-to-backs on Tuesday). On Mondays and Wednesdays I finish with the 21-hour class at lunchtime but then have two or three lessons AFTER lunch with different groups. So every day except Saturday goes right on up to after 2pm or even 3pm.
A punishing schedule with some very long days.
Well, within reason I don't mind a heavy schedule of work so long as there is a clear idea of what I am supposed to be doing. And we have the coursebooks and the syllabus so it should be OK. So it was not this heavy workload which was a cause of my migraine. At least, not one of the top reasons.
So Saturday was a reasonable day. Without books for the students and, anyway, a new class I just used some of my own material for that day. And anyway it started late in what we call Period 3 which means 9.30am so I did that. And like last week the afternoon class didn't turn up at all so that day was done without fuss. Sunday too was completed and although it was a long day it seemed OK and I did not feel under stress though a fair amount of quick thinking and usual in-class improvisation WAS needed.
So Monday came. Did the first two lessons with the 3-hour class and was able to give them out the new coursebooks and get on with that. Lesson 1 was sparsely attended with moans that it was a bad time of day. Yeah right – can't come early, can't come in the afternoon, so when CAN you guys come then?? Had the 21-hour class between break and lunchtime which was only a 2-hour stretch like the day before. Back home for lunch still with no ill-effects.
After lunch I suppose I must have been in a hurry because I went back to the college forgetting my umbrella. This is my “sun hat” remember! Well, it didn't SEEM that hot – not compared to August heat anyway. Got into college and felt a little hot. And a headache was coming on ….
It kept coming and coming. Sitting at my desk I really couldn't get anything done. It wasn't SO bad at THAT stage but I definitely felt unwell. It reminded me of that time some months earlier when I had gone home early because I was feeling ill and the feeling had been similar to this (though it was worse the previous time).
OK, I did what I could but in the end I felt I had to go home. Was feeling rather tensed and DEFINITELY headachey. So I signed out and went. STILL of course I had no umbrella as I had forgotten it earlier. And THAT it seems was a very big mistake.
Got home. You know, when you HAVE a headache the worst thing you can do is to go out in the hot afternoon sun in a country like this. But what was I doing here? Yup, Out In Sun, No Protection, Big Headache Getting Worse.
Sat down, as I often do, with the computer to do skype and email and stuff like that. Now, as much as I like my nice new laptop, one thing I do NOT like is its VERY BRIGHT screen. Yes, are you getting it now? Bright White Screen, Man With Bad Headache, …. what do you get? Man With HUUUUGE HEADACHE.
BOY, did THAT headache build! Well, pretty soon it was no longer just a regular headache. The pain was SO intense, SOOOOO bad that I thought it a good idea to lie down.
Just for an hour or two I thought. Sometimes when I feel rough or tired it does help to lie down for a while. When I am over-tired it really IS needed and I thought this is what it was – just another tired-head lie down.
Well, the longer I lay down, the MORE the pain grew. It was centred in the top and frontal parts of my head and covered a very large area. It would not go away – just kept intensifying. I had put the laptop off of course. But soon it was SO BAD that I had to put the light off. I went in the bathroom too – maybe my head was just too hot I thought.
Put some cold water on my head and that was OK for a while. But by now I was REALLY feeling SICK. Back to bed I went in the dark and just lay there in absolute AGONY. There was NOTHING I could do to make it go away. I pressed my head and tried some kind of scalp massage – no good. WHAT IS THIS, I thought??!!
A little later with pain STILL horrific I really did feel sick. What had I eaten? Well, maybe this was food poisoning. No, it couldn't be – there was only that slightly soft and over-ripe mango I had eaten that could have caused this. And anyway, no fruit could cause food poisoning like THIS. So I went to the bathroom hoping that I could be sick which would relieve this thing a bit. But NO – even crouched over the toilet nothing would come up or felt like it was going to. So back to bed again STILL with pain.
I should take something for this, I thought. Well, I only had 'Panadol' but it was something. But I just COULDN'T get up to get it. And in any case there was NO WAY, I felt, that anything I took down would STAY down. And also, I just couldn't get myself up again – the thought of moving myself to get a glass, get water in it and take a pill, ….. well, the thought of doing ANYTHING was abandoned fast.
Would I be OK for work tomorrow? Should I phone someone now to warn them about tomorrow? WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME? WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING TODAY??
There were no answers of course. All I could do was lie there with lights out and eyes closed and not move and hope that it would pass or at least weaken. The only time it did that was earlier with the cold water on face.
Now, if I'd been able, I would have got myself a cold flannel to put on my face which probably WOULD have helped. But although my brain told me so, my body was unable to comply.
I don't know how long I was in this state. I also don't know how or when I fell asleep, but I obviously DID get to sleep. Next morning when I woke …. NO PAIN! How relieved was I!! But I really felt, on that Tuesday morning, that I had been through one HELL of an ordeal that night of Monday 12th October.
Tuesday is, as you will recall, my heaviest day of lessons. Yep, and I had to get through it feeling the after-effects of my migraine.
THAT is what I am certain it was. I have never had one before, and BOY OH BOY I NEVER EVER want to experience pain like I felt that night EVER AGAIN in my life.
So to the causes. I had NO IDEA at the time WHAT could have caused such a thing to happen. It seemed to come from nowhere.
But then I was reminded. Without going into too many details, I HAVE been under a tremendous amount of stress just lately. First of all, the difficulties of coming back here and once again being in isolation after five good weeks of holiday with people and places I wanted to be with. Secondly, again without going into any details here, I have had and STILL have family problems which seem to go on without any resolution coming quickly and with obstacles to much progress. Thirdly, the new stress of being told that there is NO CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY time allowed and the thought of staying HERE during THAT time of year and being with THESE people and in THIS country during this holiday time back in England. And lastly (though there may well be more) the stress of this new timetable of mine and the fact that I have to go over to that SAME BUILDING that I was teaching in before and see THOSE IDIOT FACES again of those moron students when I had been hoping that my lessons would be all back in the COLLEGE building.
Etc. Etc. and then it dawned on me WHY this had come to me.
You know, when we are having difficulties in life and are in stressful periods the time of suffering never comes when you think it should. Oh, it comes alright sooner or later, but at the time it hits you, it seems less appropriate and you are not sure why.
My colleague told me a story about his tooth filling. He had been to the dentist a while back for a standard filling which was OK and then had gone through some days or weeks of stress during which nothing much happened. Then, while on holiday some time later, he'd suddenly got a BIG PAIN in that filled tooth. On seeing another dentist (assuming it was the filling causing him the pain problem), he was told that there WAS no problem. But, as it turned out, it had been the STRESS that had brought on that pain …. AFTER the event! So, as I was just saying, stress can have its effects on you any time, any way, and when you might not expect it.
SO …. there you have it. My first ever migraine headache, and it comes to me here in Saudi Arabia. Yeah so THANK YOU guys for bringing THAT on!! Just ANOTHER bullet point to add to the List Of Reasons Not To Stay Here. You can KEEP your migraine!!
Now I am worried it could easily happen again. People who get such things as migraine just go on having it. Does it come with age too?
I'm not a religious man, but I pray it NEVER happens again!
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Getting a bit Crabby by the Sea(Food)
Sunday 11th October 2009
Well, I'm here again. Actually I'm not sure what I'm going to write about tonight so bear with me if I drone on a bit while I'm thinking.
Ah yes! I forgot, last time, to tell you about one more good thing that happened last weekend. What was it? A very nice restaurant meal, that's what! And a SEAFOOD menu no less. Well, I'm not really one for seafood but I thought I'd give it a try when my teacher colleague suggested it. This is now a different teacher colleague to ones I have spent time in the past, but no matter there. Anyway, Thursday afternoons and evenings are, as I'm sure you know well by now, my food shopping and coffee drinking and sometimes meal-out eating times of the week. Well, here in Saudi Arabia I'm not so adventurous as I would be if I was back on familiar European soil so my choice of eateries and/or drinkeries is very limited to what I know only.
But that day was to be different. It was a seafood restaurant quite near the Tamimi's supermarket downtown in Khobar. Not NEARLY as hot as back in August so now is a good time to be venturing out and exploring such places more without getting dry-baked in the process.
In we went. A small restaurant with fish tank and I wondered straight away if these fish were for display or for dinner. Over came the menu and my colleague went over to check out the fish he wanted ….. NOT from the tank! Hmm yeah – on a second look the fish in THAT tank were goldfish and the like – NOT so edible. There seemed to be a freezer cabinet which people came to to choose their “fresh fish” selection. Not so fresh if it is frozen! But maybe close enough. He chose what he said was a sea bass. I did not go over being rather daunted by all the fish and seafood choices on the menu to begin with. Well OK OK there weren't pages and pages but was enough for me to pick through.
I really didn't know what to go for. First I thought of a chicken dish but then NO – this is a SEAFOOD restaurant so WHY am I being such a pleb and going for the easy option? SO FISH it was to be!
Seafood soup seemed to be the way to go. Quite what was in it I did not know but what the heck! First they brought over some nice crunchy bread-cracker type things. Not popodoms (spelling??) but similar. Very nice. Then the soup came.
Yeah …. hmm ….. when they said SEA FOOD soup they were not kidding. A large crab claw was hanging out the soup dish. Maybe it's just for appearance or for flavouring, I thought naively. Ohhhh noooo!! It was a REAL piece of crab – shell and all! But no crab eyes.
WHAT the hell do I do with THIS, I thought. Maybe it's not meant to be eaten. OH YES IT WAS! My eating colleague was tucking into his and was pulling the shell apart and getting the crab meat out from inside. Well, when I say crab shell I'm not talking about a big hard thing but a rather thin and breakable shell no doubt softened by cooking. Did they put that crab in that soup LIVE?? Doesn't bear thinking about, though I know certain dishes require it.
OK, maybe I could get away with just eating the soup liquid. Well, it was VERY hot, and I mean SPICEY! So I couldn't eat much of THAT. Back to the crab then. Well I struggled to get the shell off and yes, there WAS some crab meat inside though a very small amount and not with much taste. The plate under the bowl became the place to put bits of crab shell and crab claws on it which meant round the outside. All rather messy! Soon I decided that the “fight” was not worth it.
Well, this is why I don't eat much fish and seafood. I want to EAT my food, not FIGHT with it. Eating is meant to be a pleasure, not a BATTLEGROUND!
I had ordered seafood biryani and I feared another round in the ring with what was to come. Gloves on. But NO! Over it came. And what a JOY it was!
It was prawns (no shells) in an orange-red sauce. Rather a shallow dish but never mind. I took each prawn with care in case of shells or other hard bits. There was only one rogue one. But OHHHH – what a DELICIOUS dish it was! The taste was JUST as a good mild-to-medium curry should be – that blend of coconut with other spices that I have no idea what they are. A curry that doesn't burn your mouth off but invites you to the next mouthful with even more enthusiasm than the previous one. They also gave me a kind of naan bread (spelling again?) to go with it – not exactly naan bread as it wasn't quite as thick as that is, but really it was just a delicious flatbread or pitta bread kind of thing. Absolutely and totally freshly made and oh-so good that I was disappointed there was only one of them.
Just SOOOOO NICE! Wished that dish could've gone on for much longer. But, as ever, Prayer Time was approaching so we had to pay up and get into Tamimi's while we could.
Actually, another interesting thing here. Although this Tamimi's DOES close for Prayer Time, it actually DOESN'T close at all. All they do is take people off the cashiers' desks. So you can go in, you can do your shopping, you can walk around the supermarket. But what you CANNOT do is check out or get your fruit and veg weighed and priced AND you can't get any bread because the bread man is gone too. Oh, and no cheese either. Ahh, but the bread and cheese man and the man who weighs your fruit and veg are back before too long. So it is normal service with only a short inconvenience while Prayer Time begins. And by the time you're finished getting everything, checkouts are all open again.
I really like that supermarket. Not as overwhelmingly huge like Carrefour across the other end of town. And the cheese and bread is the best around. Well, hmmm …. Carrefour bread is pretty darn good too so I'll let 'em off there. But ONLY Tamimi's has Cheshire cheese and EVEN Wensleydale on a REALLY good day. A big fat WINNER in my book every time.
What else about them? Ah yes – water bottles. Now, Saudi Arabia has no idea what the word “recycling” means. However, in here you can buy these great big water bottles which hold, I think, 10 or 20 litres of water. This is MUCH MORE than anyone can use in one week – well maybe for people who cook a lot it might be a one-week supply but for me it's plenty. I'm into Week 2 with my bottle and still less than half empty. And the REALLY good thing is that once your bottle is empty, you just take it back for a refill. Well, when I say “refill”, I mean you get yourself a new, full bottle BUT they charge you LESS for it BECAUSE it IS a refill. So the FIRST time you buy this, you pay 17 Saudi riyals because it is a New Bottle. Every time you bring it back for a refill you only pay SEVEN RIYALS! And then, I suppose, right at the end when you've finished with the bottle for good, you simply return the bottle to the store. No throwing away is done on your part. Does the supermarket re-use these big empty bottles when you bring them back? HA!! THIS is the unknown bit, and for all I know they just chuck them in the trash can! But from MY point of view as consumer, it is DEFINITELY a deal worth having. And no – the full bottles are NOT so heavy. Just get em and then get them into the taxi and then at the other end get them into the lift and up you go to your room.
Some people might say, “Ohh NO! SUCH an inconvenience!”. I totally disagree. MUCH more inconvenient to continually buy the smaller 2-litre bottles or 5-litre bottles which you just use and throw away creating more rubbish. And now I have a little pump which I use which works better than trying to pick up such a huge bottle and try to pour it into a very small hole of, for example, the kettle or coffee maker.
Well well …. time is going on my friends and blogsters.
I haven't said anything about my teaching week or timetable. Well, not much too say other than what I've said before. I have a HUGE number of teaching hours per week – twenty-seven in all. The worst days are Sunday and Tuesday when I have six 50-minute lessons in a row with the same class. Oh, and do you remember that gate in the wall that was so rudely closed all those months ago? Well, now it's back open and for now this means I can go home for lunch even when I am teaching over there before AND after the lunchtime period.
But as you well know, such a “luxury” is sure not to last and I'm bound to be back cursing and swearing before too long.
What else before I close? Oh, I haven't yet started back at the gym. But I do take “fast walks” twice around the compound a few days a week. And from tomorrow I have vowed to do the twice-around walks every night. As before, I feel I HAVE TO do SOMETHING or else the weight will come in and STAY IN! No good! Oh, yes I will go to the gym too sometimes. But whatever I do, I want to feel that it IS going to have the desired effect to get the blood pumping and get me off my behind at least SOME of the day. Well, yes, teaching isn't a sit-down thing, but that's not exercise, is it?
Nothing yet to say about the classes or workload. This 21-hour a week class seem a passive bunch and, of course, no uniforms to contend with. But STILL those army idiots insist on coming in to give their little messages for everyone. Some things never change.
Ah yes. Yes, I HAVE seen the soldier boy morons that I had before. There's no avoiding them now – they are “legitimate students” now and are out of army uniform and into the green medical students gear that seems to be standard here.
And with that oxymoron (legitimate students) I feel it is time to go now. More on classes next time.
Well, I'm here again. Actually I'm not sure what I'm going to write about tonight so bear with me if I drone on a bit while I'm thinking.
Ah yes! I forgot, last time, to tell you about one more good thing that happened last weekend. What was it? A very nice restaurant meal, that's what! And a SEAFOOD menu no less. Well, I'm not really one for seafood but I thought I'd give it a try when my teacher colleague suggested it. This is now a different teacher colleague to ones I have spent time in the past, but no matter there. Anyway, Thursday afternoons and evenings are, as I'm sure you know well by now, my food shopping and coffee drinking and sometimes meal-out eating times of the week. Well, here in Saudi Arabia I'm not so adventurous as I would be if I was back on familiar European soil so my choice of eateries and/or drinkeries is very limited to what I know only.
But that day was to be different. It was a seafood restaurant quite near the Tamimi's supermarket downtown in Khobar. Not NEARLY as hot as back in August so now is a good time to be venturing out and exploring such places more without getting dry-baked in the process.
In we went. A small restaurant with fish tank and I wondered straight away if these fish were for display or for dinner. Over came the menu and my colleague went over to check out the fish he wanted ….. NOT from the tank! Hmm yeah – on a second look the fish in THAT tank were goldfish and the like – NOT so edible. There seemed to be a freezer cabinet which people came to to choose their “fresh fish” selection. Not so fresh if it is frozen! But maybe close enough. He chose what he said was a sea bass. I did not go over being rather daunted by all the fish and seafood choices on the menu to begin with. Well OK OK there weren't pages and pages but was enough for me to pick through.
I really didn't know what to go for. First I thought of a chicken dish but then NO – this is a SEAFOOD restaurant so WHY am I being such a pleb and going for the easy option? SO FISH it was to be!
Seafood soup seemed to be the way to go. Quite what was in it I did not know but what the heck! First they brought over some nice crunchy bread-cracker type things. Not popodoms (spelling??) but similar. Very nice. Then the soup came.
Yeah …. hmm ….. when they said SEA FOOD soup they were not kidding. A large crab claw was hanging out the soup dish. Maybe it's just for appearance or for flavouring, I thought naively. Ohhhh noooo!! It was a REAL piece of crab – shell and all! But no crab eyes.
WHAT the hell do I do with THIS, I thought. Maybe it's not meant to be eaten. OH YES IT WAS! My eating colleague was tucking into his and was pulling the shell apart and getting the crab meat out from inside. Well, when I say crab shell I'm not talking about a big hard thing but a rather thin and breakable shell no doubt softened by cooking. Did they put that crab in that soup LIVE?? Doesn't bear thinking about, though I know certain dishes require it.
OK, maybe I could get away with just eating the soup liquid. Well, it was VERY hot, and I mean SPICEY! So I couldn't eat much of THAT. Back to the crab then. Well I struggled to get the shell off and yes, there WAS some crab meat inside though a very small amount and not with much taste. The plate under the bowl became the place to put bits of crab shell and crab claws on it which meant round the outside. All rather messy! Soon I decided that the “fight” was not worth it.
Well, this is why I don't eat much fish and seafood. I want to EAT my food, not FIGHT with it. Eating is meant to be a pleasure, not a BATTLEGROUND!
I had ordered seafood biryani and I feared another round in the ring with what was to come. Gloves on. But NO! Over it came. And what a JOY it was!
It was prawns (no shells) in an orange-red sauce. Rather a shallow dish but never mind. I took each prawn with care in case of shells or other hard bits. There was only one rogue one. But OHHHH – what a DELICIOUS dish it was! The taste was JUST as a good mild-to-medium curry should be – that blend of coconut with other spices that I have no idea what they are. A curry that doesn't burn your mouth off but invites you to the next mouthful with even more enthusiasm than the previous one. They also gave me a kind of naan bread (spelling again?) to go with it – not exactly naan bread as it wasn't quite as thick as that is, but really it was just a delicious flatbread or pitta bread kind of thing. Absolutely and totally freshly made and oh-so good that I was disappointed there was only one of them.
Just SOOOOO NICE! Wished that dish could've gone on for much longer. But, as ever, Prayer Time was approaching so we had to pay up and get into Tamimi's while we could.
Actually, another interesting thing here. Although this Tamimi's DOES close for Prayer Time, it actually DOESN'T close at all. All they do is take people off the cashiers' desks. So you can go in, you can do your shopping, you can walk around the supermarket. But what you CANNOT do is check out or get your fruit and veg weighed and priced AND you can't get any bread because the bread man is gone too. Oh, and no cheese either. Ahh, but the bread and cheese man and the man who weighs your fruit and veg are back before too long. So it is normal service with only a short inconvenience while Prayer Time begins. And by the time you're finished getting everything, checkouts are all open again.
I really like that supermarket. Not as overwhelmingly huge like Carrefour across the other end of town. And the cheese and bread is the best around. Well, hmmm …. Carrefour bread is pretty darn good too so I'll let 'em off there. But ONLY Tamimi's has Cheshire cheese and EVEN Wensleydale on a REALLY good day. A big fat WINNER in my book every time.
What else about them? Ah yes – water bottles. Now, Saudi Arabia has no idea what the word “recycling” means. However, in here you can buy these great big water bottles which hold, I think, 10 or 20 litres of water. This is MUCH MORE than anyone can use in one week – well maybe for people who cook a lot it might be a one-week supply but for me it's plenty. I'm into Week 2 with my bottle and still less than half empty. And the REALLY good thing is that once your bottle is empty, you just take it back for a refill. Well, when I say “refill”, I mean you get yourself a new, full bottle BUT they charge you LESS for it BECAUSE it IS a refill. So the FIRST time you buy this, you pay 17 Saudi riyals because it is a New Bottle. Every time you bring it back for a refill you only pay SEVEN RIYALS! And then, I suppose, right at the end when you've finished with the bottle for good, you simply return the bottle to the store. No throwing away is done on your part. Does the supermarket re-use these big empty bottles when you bring them back? HA!! THIS is the unknown bit, and for all I know they just chuck them in the trash can! But from MY point of view as consumer, it is DEFINITELY a deal worth having. And no – the full bottles are NOT so heavy. Just get em and then get them into the taxi and then at the other end get them into the lift and up you go to your room.
Some people might say, “Ohh NO! SUCH an inconvenience!”. I totally disagree. MUCH more inconvenient to continually buy the smaller 2-litre bottles or 5-litre bottles which you just use and throw away creating more rubbish. And now I have a little pump which I use which works better than trying to pick up such a huge bottle and try to pour it into a very small hole of, for example, the kettle or coffee maker.
Well well …. time is going on my friends and blogsters.
I haven't said anything about my teaching week or timetable. Well, not much too say other than what I've said before. I have a HUGE number of teaching hours per week – twenty-seven in all. The worst days are Sunday and Tuesday when I have six 50-minute lessons in a row with the same class. Oh, and do you remember that gate in the wall that was so rudely closed all those months ago? Well, now it's back open and for now this means I can go home for lunch even when I am teaching over there before AND after the lunchtime period.
But as you well know, such a “luxury” is sure not to last and I'm bound to be back cursing and swearing before too long.
What else before I close? Oh, I haven't yet started back at the gym. But I do take “fast walks” twice around the compound a few days a week. And from tomorrow I have vowed to do the twice-around walks every night. As before, I feel I HAVE TO do SOMETHING or else the weight will come in and STAY IN! No good! Oh, yes I will go to the gym too sometimes. But whatever I do, I want to feel that it IS going to have the desired effect to get the blood pumping and get me off my behind at least SOME of the day. Well, yes, teaching isn't a sit-down thing, but that's not exercise, is it?
Nothing yet to say about the classes or workload. This 21-hour a week class seem a passive bunch and, of course, no uniforms to contend with. But STILL those army idiots insist on coming in to give their little messages for everyone. Some things never change.
Ah yes. Yes, I HAVE seen the soldier boy morons that I had before. There's no avoiding them now – they are “legitimate students” now and are out of army uniform and into the green medical students gear that seems to be standard here.
And with that oxymoron (legitimate students) I feel it is time to go now. More on classes next time.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Oh dear! More of the Same on the way ....
Friday 2nd October 2009
I'm sitting here right now, and it has returned. Yes, that feeling of bored frustration which comes of …. well, of sitting HERE not quite knowing what to do to fill my day. However, that said, I don't WANT this day to be gone because it only leads to Saturday and the REAL return to work and to the classroom.
Yes, I was back to the college last week but there were no classes (but that was expected). The first week is still full of registration and timetable-making activity for the Head of Department. Always it is a system “in flux” quite simply because people are coming in to register all the time and that plays with class sizes and the number of classes there are as a whole. Same thing everywhere I've worked.
I don't mind not knowing my timetable till late. However, it would be unnerving to a less experienced teacher who is about to begin teaching that he/she does not know WHAT or WHO he/she is going to have. I do not worry so much about this for as couple of reasons. Firstly, I can easily fill in the first few days with some other activities before things settle down and before the coursebooks come in to everyone's hands. I've had plenty of THAT these last 14 years of teaching and it is not the worst that can happen. Secondly, I do not worry about it because this side of organising things is not done by me. So any problems are not ones to worry about because they are not CAUSED by me. I hold the view that we, as teachers, do what we can with what we have and it is not worth worrying about things you do not have control over as a teacher. You do your job, they do theirs. Yes, sometimes it can be a little stressful if the delays in getting coursebooks are longer than you'd like. Yes, sometimes you have to do that extra bit of preparation while waiting for the books. But this is part of the job and thee are far greater things that you COULD worry about more.
So all I will do is turn up sometime before 7.30am tomorrow morning and see what I have. In any case, I am ready as I already photocopied a nice medical-related lesson which I used previously. Job done, and lessons are only 50 minutes which is no time at all. Oh, and let's not forget about intros, name learning, brief chats etc. etc. which will happen the first lesson or so.
Anyway, that's all to come. Now for what was. So what, if anything, of interest happened last week. Well, there were one or two moments to write about involving the new teacher and there was also a brief encounter with my old class of soldier boys.
OK OK let's get THAT ONE out the way first of all. As you can guess, the LAST set of people I want to lay eyes on this semester is ANY of those morons that I had to endure the classroom company of during this last six months. But I know that I can't avoid them as they WILL be around some days of the week. Well, Encounter #1 did indeed happen last week but in a rather unexpected way. It was about Sunday or Monday lunchtime and I was heading out a little early to go home for lunch. As I came through the reception area of the college there was a group of people hanging around at the reception desk. I didn't take much notice of them until I saw one of them looking over at me. They were not dressed in military uniform – well not the ones I saw. Then I heard a voice say, “Oh! Teacher David!”, and I noticed ..... the one I LEAST wanted to see of all - “Leg Man” as I nicknamed him looking over with that stupid grin on his face. He was in the traditional Saudi 'thobe' (white “cloak”) and I also noticed a guy in the Saudi “gutra” (red-checked head 'scarf') and realised it was “Monitor Man”! I carried on walking but faster. I DID acknowledge them with a quiet, “Oh hello”, and I did raise my hand but that was it. I sped up through the doors and in the direction of lunch. Heard a voice behind me, “Teacher David! Teacher David!”, but NO WAY on earth I was going to turn around or stop. On and on I went turning the corners which would take me out of sight of those toe-rags. When I was sure I was safe, I looked behind and nobody was there. PHEW! Got out of THAT!
Now every time I pass through reception I take a better look to see if I need to escape quicker.
OK, so on to the new guy. And what a self-important, jumped up little man he does seem to be! Word is that he's been recruited as a teacher but that HE is the “favoured one” to take over at end of January when our current HoD is leaving. NOT a prospect I can say I look forward to much judging on first appearances. SO what brings me to my judgement above after only one week? Well there are a number of things.
He HAS been in the Middle East before. Normally that should count in his favour as he knows the way they do things out here. So things that a new arrival teacher has to do should be well-known to him. As you may remember from my early writings, he has to go through the procedures of the Admin department with forms to fill in and sign, he has to sign his contract, he needs to visit Security to get his Temporary ID badge and he needs to have his Medical over at the Employee Health centre and hospital. All that is two or three days worth of stuff which DOES need to be done though it is a lot for anyone to get through. Oh, and also he needs to give up his passport to get the temporary Iqama. And then there are procedures which need explaining like the 3-month probation, like the process of getting his Iqama, like the 5-month no-holiday rule, like the signing in and out procedure, and more besides. It IS a lot to take in when you've just come off the plane a few days before, but like every workplace thee are procedures for every new employee which ARE necessary.
He is rarely at the college! Where is he and where does he go? Nobody really knows but he seems to be going round upstairs talking to the ones in command up there about this, that and the other. By doing this, he IS sometimes breaking the “chain of command” which is something that you must not do here and can get you into trouble and also bring trouble for your boss.
Early on in the week he was discussing this with our HoD. Now, I am sitting in the same desk as before because basically the HoD would rather have ME there than THIS NEW GUY. Anyway, BECAUSE I am there I hear these little meetings and THIS one was for sure a good'un. They were discussing a few things and then he said about how he had been going round and discussing stuff with those upstairs. The HoD then said to him about how this was breaking the “chain of command” and how that would bring problems for the BOTH of them. “Oh, I don't worry about such things! It's not your problem!”, the guy said. Well he was reminded that it WAS a problem and is NOT the way to do things round here. “It's not your problem and don't worry about this! I don't CARE about it!”, he said again. “Well, what about being part of a TEAM?”, the HoD demanded to know. Well, they went on for a bit then the HoD said how difficult he had been and how much of a “prickly pear” he had been since he came here. At THAT point this guy said how he really “didn't have to listen to this”, and walked out.
Now, you may like it or not this “chain of command” thing, but it is the way here and needs to be respected. Laughed at, yes. Ridiculed, yes. But stuck to ALSO yes. And in any case, we are all in this together yes and we DO need to work together. I did not see anything wrong in what the HoD was saying but this guy's approach was just self-centred and arrogant.
He has “that” kind of tone of voice too that is irritating. He sounds like he does not really want to listen to you when you're talking to him and sounds like what you say isn't really of interest.
Well, after THAT encounter this new guy wasn't seen again almost the whole week in the college. I did see him one post-lunchtime occasion as I was going back to the college and there he was walking back in the direction of the accommodation blocks. Cup and saucer in hand he was! OK OK – it was a mug, not a cup. And OK, there was nothing actually IN the mug but the image of this man walking around carrying his cup and saucer will amuse me for many a time to come yet.
I don't have much more to write about him as I hardly saw him. But whenever his name is mentioned around the college there is rarely a good word that follows. All through the procedure of actually getting him here he acted like a rather pompous git and TWICE refused the job offer he had been given. Well, to be fair he was FIRST offered the job of Head Of Department and then, after that, he was offered a Teacher's job. So THAT isn't something that is going to fill ANYONE with any confidence or joy at the prospect of coming here. But now that he IS here so he needs to try to fit in. yes, it's a nonsense place to live and work but there ARE admin things that everyone needs to get done and as far as I know he has completed few, if any of them. He will only make trouble for himself in the end and then THIS will bounce back on the rest of us.
But on a lighter note …. Hehe!! Just another eccentric character to join us out here and wouldn't life be so much MORE dull if we recruited boring people to come here. So from THAT point of view I a GLAD he is here as it will provide PLENTY of good material to write and talk about. Hats off to ya mate!
The English department is still three teachers short of what they need so our timetables are going to be rather heavy for a while. Well, not that this bothers me for reasons similar to the above. Again, I do what I can with what I have available to me and I'm not going to break MY back when my employer is at fault. I guess that by Christmas we might have what we need but who knows! And for sure very little will happen to get them here as two job offers that SHOULD have gone out were simply left unprocessed.
The teacher colleague I arrived with at the same time is still not back yet. Well, probably he IS now as I missed a call from him this morning so he IS most likely here somewhere. Word is that he got sick down in Morocco and had to get treatment by some doctor or hospital somewhere. I suppose he will be there tomorrow.
Hmm what else? Well, it was a nice easy week and although I did “loyally” come in for 7.30am every day I also sneaked off at 11am for lunch and returned well after 1pm and then sneaked/went off home again soon after 3pm. What did I do all day? Well, I was armed with my books of puzzles, I had my phone to go skype-ing, drank lots of tea, talked to colleagues and …. well, not much more. What is ONE week to kill when I had FIVE WEEKS when I FIRST arrived??!!
After many good morning espresso coffees during the summer, I had got quite a taste for it and that “morning kick” was something I thought would be nice to continue. So at the first opportunity I was down at the Carrefour supermarket and THERE IT WAS! An espresso and cappuccino coffee maker for the princely sum of …. 95 riyals!! Well, JUST the thing I wanted and I took it without much hesitation. It is a 110V model of course and is rather weighty so I am not sure if it will be worth taking it back with me when the Final Exit comes in March 2010. But that is a decision for then, not for now. BUT as I DO have a 240V to 110V transformer back home, there IS a case for taking it with me TOGETHER with my juicer and, indeed, any other electrical items which I may yet buy here. Don't know really – maybe it's just as easy to sell them when I go as there WILL be some items I won't be taking with me like my Mobily USB modem.
Ah yes, my internet connection. No, it is certainly NOT any better than when I left it! In fact last week I had almost NOTHING at nights and the only time I had anything was for the short time I was here at lunchtimes. Well, I DID go down and pay for the usual 5GB package. But now I am wondering WHY I have that one. With access so poor and connections dropping and with speed going up and down apparently at random, I am not sure it is worth paying all that money. Maybe from next month I will go down to having just the 1GB package which is half the price of what I have now. WHY waste my money on such rubbish? What I have now is, basically, the best of a bad bunch and that's not saying much!
So here I am. Week 1 Day 1 of semester 2 is approaching fast. The hardest thing has been once again getting used to the isolation of living here especially when most of this last 5 weeks has been much more free with people to see and places to go and the freedom to “roam”. Yes, this may well be the only place right now that I don't live in without a suitcase. And yes, it may well be something familiar, and yes, perhaps my diet is better here. Oh, and yes the pay packet is nice too. But life is not just a pay packet and life is not just about my bank balance and THAT is something important.
There is a small list of things I do like about being here, but I have to think HARD about it. I mentioned those above. But, in contrast, there is also a larger list of things that would HAVE TO change for me to stay on here and they are “biggies” and things which I cannot really change. The heat of the summer, the feeling of isolation, the lack of any kind of “community spirit” amongst us expats or even any kind of community at all, the fact that we are so far from the nearest town (18km by taxi), the fact that we need a taxi if we want to go anywhere, the lack of any kind of “green nature” to see and enjoy up here (though there is more down south of the country). Oh, AND the fact that I feel my time here as a teacher is wasted and indeed WAS wasted this last six months.
I have spoken to other colleagues. One guy in particular said that what he does is ALWAYS think about his next holiday, about when it will be and about how good it is to be away. That is his way to survive out here, and he has been here more than five years now. Although I agree that this IS a good way to survive your time in a place like this, it means that your ACTUAL time is in some kind of “void” or black hole. Fancy working and living in a place where your only joy is when you can next be OUT OF IT!! Living for your next “escape”! A survival plan it is, but for me it is no way to live your life.
Well, one good thing about being here is that I have plenty to write about. So stay tuned!
Friday 9th October 2009
Well they say a week is a long time in politics. So I wonder what they might say about a week here! I've only been back two weeks and already I feel I'm wanting to bang the exit door to get out of here!
No no no. I'm going to try to start positively. Got to think though. Well, yes, the temperature outside is definitely not as severe now as back in end August. Though pretty hot and humid especially at midday to early afternoon time. And I DO still need my umbrella to keep the sun off.
What else? Oh, well there is something though it may seem trivial and even childish. Are any of you out there fans or players of the computer game Football Manager 2009 (or earlier versions)? I am for SURE and I've just finished the season with Czech Republic team Brno in 5th place in the Czech First Division and as WINNER of the Czech FA Cup! YEEEEAHHH C'mon Brno boyzzzzz!!! Ach who needs to play as Real Madrid to have fun!!
OK I can't think of anything else positive. Sorry to say it was yet another dark week full of all the usual organisational chaos, uncompromising uncertainty and laughable farce that is the norm here. Yes, folks it's the start of a new academic year here at the college. Usually this is the most enthusiastic, the most optimistic time of year when students are excited to be here and when us teachers are full of good new ideas and raring to go.
But …. remember where I am. Yes, in this illogical land where assumption is dangerous and planning is foreign there is little to be happy about in this first week.
First of all let's get into the most serious item of the week. Now, as an employee here I have a certain number of holiday days allowance. They are, you would think, days that I myself can choose when and where to use them …. as in a “normal” workplace. I've had my five weeks over the summer which was great. Just over two weeks of my allowance is left and my plan was to use them over the Christmas and New Year period. Logical and sensible.
Yes of course I know this is a Muslim country and they don't have Xmas. But anyway surely, I thought, I can use my holiday days as I wish and THAT 2-week period is the time when I want to be away. Time for myself and family back in England. They are depending on me to be there and I look forward to it. It is NOT the religious aspect that interests me – just the family one and a rare opportunity these days to spend quality time with my son.
Not gonna happen!
I was chatting to a colleague during the first week back and the subject of holidays came up. “Which are you going to take – the two weeks at end November or the two weeks in mid February?”, he asked me. Replied that NEITHER of those since my two weeks were reserved for the Christmas and New Year period. “How are you going to do that? It's not possible! We're teaching, we have classes, your Holiday Request form will not even get past the Head of Department's desk and will go straight in the bin!”, he said. “How so?”, I enquired, “These are holiday days and THAT is the time I want as holiday!”. But there was no chance, he said.
I remember a similar conversation some months ago. Then we were talking about the summer just gone and the uncertainty of when that stupid soldier boy course would end. That would have affected holiday starts. Then there was the situation with that teacher who demanded (and got) a “holiday” soon after he had started his contract (and he, as predicted, did NOT come back! HAHA to THEM!). Because of what they gave HIM, it weakened their position on what they could or could not say NO to. Or so I thought.
Anyway, later on the subject of holidays came up when the HoD was around. So I asked him about this, and he did confirm that awful truth. He would HAVE TO, he said, deny any holiday request made during term time. Right now the college is a few teachers short and he would have to arrange for cover and anyway they ONLY let teachers have holidays during teaching time in EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. “So what would happen if I DID submit a Holiday Request form for that 2-week period?”, I asked just to finally clarify things. “I would HAVE TO deny it!”, he said. “But what on EARTH do people Do around here at Christmas and New Year? It must be the most boring, depressing time EVER!!”, I needed to know. Yes, he agreed, it was but in his 40 years in the Middle East he had only ever had ONE Christmas off and that was during the first Gulf War when there were a lot of American troops in the country he was working in. Also, he said, the bigger employers in this area DID arrange something for that time of year. But then THEY have a much larger and much more integrated and better expat community which is much closer then what there is HERE at this place I work in. Well, THAT is for sure but it is not the slightest bit reassuring. With the greatest respect to everyone here I cannot imagine a place I LEAST want to be or people I LEAST want to be with over Xmas and New Year than where I am NOW!!
You think my mood is bad now? Just see how it gets the closer December approaches and the closer the end of this year, 2009, comes.
Actually on THAT score I will be glad to see the back of this year, 2009. It has truly been the most BORING, the most FRUSTRATING and the most POINTLESS year I have ever HAD!!
And most of it has been captured right here in this blog! Some consolation THAT is!!
So that leaves me with the question of what I SHOULD do with my remaining two weeks of Holiday Entitlement. I think I have two or three choices. Choice 1 – end November. Choice 2 – mid February. Choice 3 (if it is possible) – leave the two weeks to the end of my contract and take them then giving me an early exit. Choice 4 – don't take them at all and get paid for them at the end.
Choices 3 and 4 I don't know if they are possible. Taking holiday days during term time might well rule (3) out straight away. And Choice 4 I don't know if it is possible or not. I just heard yesterday from another colleague that one other teacher who left recently DID leave some holiday days to the end and apparently got paid for them. Whether that is true or whether the thing he got paid for was the End Contract Bonus I do not know. But both (3) and (4) need to be checked out.
If all four of these ARE possible then my current favourite is Choice 3. Shortening my time here has to be a good thing. The two weeks in November is neither here nor there and if I went to England it would only be an uncomfortable time knowing that Christmas and New Year are not possible.
I'm sure that story will run and run so stay tuned!
OK, what else? Ah yes – my timetable for the semester to come. Well when I got in last Saturday there was a memo telling me and everyone when the various courses were due to start. Nice and clear. Also I had my timetable and I knew which two classes I was to have and what days and times. Well, it was a large number of hours and rather a lot of time to consecutively spend with the one class in particular, but that is not much of a worry. BUT the news about WHERE these classes would take place WASN'T good. The class which only takes up three hours a week is in the main college building. The class which occupies 21 hours a week is in ….. the same building where I have suffered with the soldier boy morons the last six months.
DAMN AND BLAST!! Do I REALLY have to go over there again? Ohh YES I DO!! And worse than that. For TWO days in the week I won't even be able to come back here for lunch because the classes continue into the afternoon past lunchtime! So not only do I have to ENDURE going over there again, I have to suffer an EXTRA-LONG time there. And I will have to take my own lunch over there two days a week!!
Still …. I guess it means I will be able to go over to the other staffroom and sit on those NICE comfortable chairs in that NICE air conditioned office to eat my lunch.
HA!! You SEE! I have to resort to rubbish positives like THAT to try to make things seem OK!!
I suppose though that the number of class hours is the least of my worries. After all, and THIS IS a positive, all coursebooks are provided, the class CD is provided and SO IS the SYLLABUS of the course!
Yes, you DID see right! A SYLLABUS! A week-to-week breakdown of WHAT to do from WHICH BOOK and WHEN to do it!
There are four main course books covering different aspects of the course. Basically they are general English, Health Science English, Reading and Listening. There is also a Writing course which is very important to Arab students of course. And a large grammar book. ALL the students have to buy ALL these books. Is it a lot of books? Well, yes, but who cares about THEM! If this is what we use then that is what they need. But I wonder how long it will take the students of Saudi Arabia to get down to the bookshop to buy these books. They will claim things like No Time, No Money, Too Busy and more. But these are, I feel, student code-words for laziness. After all, it is these SAME people who constantly come without basics like pens and notebooks. Really the college should take this into account and get the books here, open a bookshop and sell the books from here. That way they can make SURE there are no excuses for bookshops which are too far away or out of stock or whatever.
But THAT, of course, requires ORGANISATION and PLANNING and even THINKING.
Do you see where it breaks down? Yup. Sad But True!!
Whooaahhh!! Hang on there – did you think that was the END of that topic? Not one bit.
OK, so it worked out like this for me as I thought. The 21 hours class would be starting next week but the 3 hour a week class would be starting on Saturday when they'd have one lesson and on Monday when they were due two lesson periods. So I got something ready to give the students for later on that day (Saturday) – just some kind of Intro Week stuff as they wouldn't have their new books yet.
The lesson was in the afternoon. So when the time came, I went upstairs to the classroom and sat and waited.
And waited ….. and waited …. and ….. and ….
Yes you've guessed! FIRST lesson of a brand new exciting academic year and …. a NO SHOW!
While I was standing outside the classroom waiting, one of the science teachers walked by. Seeing me standing there he asked me and yes, I said I was waiting. Won't be anyone today, he commented.
So having waited 15 minutes for NOBODY I took my things and went back downstairs.
Told the HoD there was nobody there and he wasn't surprised either.
What IS THIS HERE?? Week 1 Lesson 1 and NO STUDENTS SHOW UP?? What does THAT say about them and about what is to come? Where I come from, the start of the new teaching year is the best time of all. Yes, students are a bit rusty and need a refresher after a summer break without English. Yes, the classes are not yet full. But they start anyway and fill up as time goes on. Sometimes people move classes, sometimes people come once or twice and then never again, sometimes people never come at ALL. But THINGS HAPPEN and the school corridors are full of new students.
And what's more is this – get THIS! The students are allowed three weeks absence at the start! Yup, that's what I heard. THREE WEEKS where if they don't come at all then that's OK by the college Dean. And in Week 1 NOBODY is expected to come.
Excuse ME?? Well pardon me for my job! Didn't realise that I encroached so MUCH on the student's precious “free time”!! How AUDACIOUS of me to presume that I, a humble foreigner English teacher, could be the one to draw them away from their pool playing, hubbly-bubbly pipe smoking, driving lives!! Ohh and I thought I actually had a PURPOSE here other than “dispersal” of my humble mother tongue into their minds and hearts.
It is LAUGHABLE and COMICAL and FARCICAL!
Ahh but don't switch off YET my friends because there is MORE! I haven't said anything about the remaining 21 hours of my week. Oh, and before I forget, there was a “3-hours phantom class” too!
The 21 hours a week class is a class of students who are on a kind of Foundation course. They are not quite full “medical students” but need some kind of grounding on academic study skills, on reading, writing and listening skills and need to have some kind of medical vocabulary in English before they start their college years properly. It is a normal thing, and not only here. Generally a good idea because students may come here after many years out of the educational system and need such skills before they begin.
But there are, or SHOULD BE a lot of them. Ah, but HERE is the problem you see because there are NOT a lot. The college has set their sights on a figure of one hundred students in this Foundation year. All very well but right now the count is less than 50 and the academic year has begun.
Given this is not the only higher education college in this region, this is a problem. And there is also the reputation of this college. Students talk. This is the same everywhere, but they share knowledge on websites, by email, in chatrooms, by instant messenger etc. etc. so when the reputation of a place isn't good, then the word spreads. And the word seems to be that this is NOT a good college. As a teacher I know this, but when STUDENTS say this too THEN there are problems and new students are hard to come by.
Less than 50 students at THIS point in the academic year and little sign, apparently, that many more are on the way. They might get, optimistically, twenty more but this will take a good few weeks till this happens.
There are five teachers assigned to these Foundation year classes. But a class is supposed to be around twenty students in size.
Do you get the idea?
Either not all classes will start at all. Or they will start all five classes half full. Or some classes will start next week and then some teachers will be sitting doing nothing for some weeks. Then maybe the remaining classes will start in a few weeks time. Or maybe never.
I don't know what has been decided. Even down to last thing (4 o'clock) on Wednesday night (last day of the week) there was no information on what the situation was.
Last thing we were told is that we, the five teachers, should all come in at normal time, 7.30am, on Saturday morning (tomorrow) and see what the situation was.
But I bet they STILL don't know tomorrow. Then they'll tell us, “Go over on the bus anyway and see what's going on!”.
In other words, get up at the normal stupid time, get on that dumb bus and go over there for NOTHING all day and then sit there all day ALSO doing nothing. And then repeat same process all week and …. ohh as long as it takes probably!!
Sitting around. Doing nothing. Haven't I done enough of that ALREADY? Oh, THAT and trying to ”teach” brainless morons who don't know ass from elbow (Ha Ha! Medical student joke there!!).
This whole Saudi experience …. well an “experience” it sure IS. But a good one? And one likely to help my teaching career?
I think you already know the answers there!
According to my countdown timer here on my PC there are a little over twenty-two weeks to go till my Official Exit from here in mid March next year. And THAT can't come soon enough!
Nice syllabus though! And at least I won't have to use much of my own brain when (if at all) I DO eventually get in the classroom for my 21-hour boys. GREAT!!
I'm sitting here right now, and it has returned. Yes, that feeling of bored frustration which comes of …. well, of sitting HERE not quite knowing what to do to fill my day. However, that said, I don't WANT this day to be gone because it only leads to Saturday and the REAL return to work and to the classroom.
Yes, I was back to the college last week but there were no classes (but that was expected). The first week is still full of registration and timetable-making activity for the Head of Department. Always it is a system “in flux” quite simply because people are coming in to register all the time and that plays with class sizes and the number of classes there are as a whole. Same thing everywhere I've worked.
I don't mind not knowing my timetable till late. However, it would be unnerving to a less experienced teacher who is about to begin teaching that he/she does not know WHAT or WHO he/she is going to have. I do not worry so much about this for as couple of reasons. Firstly, I can easily fill in the first few days with some other activities before things settle down and before the coursebooks come in to everyone's hands. I've had plenty of THAT these last 14 years of teaching and it is not the worst that can happen. Secondly, I do not worry about it because this side of organising things is not done by me. So any problems are not ones to worry about because they are not CAUSED by me. I hold the view that we, as teachers, do what we can with what we have and it is not worth worrying about things you do not have control over as a teacher. You do your job, they do theirs. Yes, sometimes it can be a little stressful if the delays in getting coursebooks are longer than you'd like. Yes, sometimes you have to do that extra bit of preparation while waiting for the books. But this is part of the job and thee are far greater things that you COULD worry about more.
So all I will do is turn up sometime before 7.30am tomorrow morning and see what I have. In any case, I am ready as I already photocopied a nice medical-related lesson which I used previously. Job done, and lessons are only 50 minutes which is no time at all. Oh, and let's not forget about intros, name learning, brief chats etc. etc. which will happen the first lesson or so.
Anyway, that's all to come. Now for what was. So what, if anything, of interest happened last week. Well, there were one or two moments to write about involving the new teacher and there was also a brief encounter with my old class of soldier boys.
OK OK let's get THAT ONE out the way first of all. As you can guess, the LAST set of people I want to lay eyes on this semester is ANY of those morons that I had to endure the classroom company of during this last six months. But I know that I can't avoid them as they WILL be around some days of the week. Well, Encounter #1 did indeed happen last week but in a rather unexpected way. It was about Sunday or Monday lunchtime and I was heading out a little early to go home for lunch. As I came through the reception area of the college there was a group of people hanging around at the reception desk. I didn't take much notice of them until I saw one of them looking over at me. They were not dressed in military uniform – well not the ones I saw. Then I heard a voice say, “Oh! Teacher David!”, and I noticed ..... the one I LEAST wanted to see of all - “Leg Man” as I nicknamed him looking over with that stupid grin on his face. He was in the traditional Saudi 'thobe' (white “cloak”) and I also noticed a guy in the Saudi “gutra” (red-checked head 'scarf') and realised it was “Monitor Man”! I carried on walking but faster. I DID acknowledge them with a quiet, “Oh hello”, and I did raise my hand but that was it. I sped up through the doors and in the direction of lunch. Heard a voice behind me, “Teacher David! Teacher David!”, but NO WAY on earth I was going to turn around or stop. On and on I went turning the corners which would take me out of sight of those toe-rags. When I was sure I was safe, I looked behind and nobody was there. PHEW! Got out of THAT!
Now every time I pass through reception I take a better look to see if I need to escape quicker.
OK, so on to the new guy. And what a self-important, jumped up little man he does seem to be! Word is that he's been recruited as a teacher but that HE is the “favoured one” to take over at end of January when our current HoD is leaving. NOT a prospect I can say I look forward to much judging on first appearances. SO what brings me to my judgement above after only one week? Well there are a number of things.
He HAS been in the Middle East before. Normally that should count in his favour as he knows the way they do things out here. So things that a new arrival teacher has to do should be well-known to him. As you may remember from my early writings, he has to go through the procedures of the Admin department with forms to fill in and sign, he has to sign his contract, he needs to visit Security to get his Temporary ID badge and he needs to have his Medical over at the Employee Health centre and hospital. All that is two or three days worth of stuff which DOES need to be done though it is a lot for anyone to get through. Oh, and also he needs to give up his passport to get the temporary Iqama. And then there are procedures which need explaining like the 3-month probation, like the process of getting his Iqama, like the 5-month no-holiday rule, like the signing in and out procedure, and more besides. It IS a lot to take in when you've just come off the plane a few days before, but like every workplace thee are procedures for every new employee which ARE necessary.
He is rarely at the college! Where is he and where does he go? Nobody really knows but he seems to be going round upstairs talking to the ones in command up there about this, that and the other. By doing this, he IS sometimes breaking the “chain of command” which is something that you must not do here and can get you into trouble and also bring trouble for your boss.
Early on in the week he was discussing this with our HoD. Now, I am sitting in the same desk as before because basically the HoD would rather have ME there than THIS NEW GUY. Anyway, BECAUSE I am there I hear these little meetings and THIS one was for sure a good'un. They were discussing a few things and then he said about how he had been going round and discussing stuff with those upstairs. The HoD then said to him about how this was breaking the “chain of command” and how that would bring problems for the BOTH of them. “Oh, I don't worry about such things! It's not your problem!”, the guy said. Well he was reminded that it WAS a problem and is NOT the way to do things round here. “It's not your problem and don't worry about this! I don't CARE about it!”, he said again. “Well, what about being part of a TEAM?”, the HoD demanded to know. Well, they went on for a bit then the HoD said how difficult he had been and how much of a “prickly pear” he had been since he came here. At THAT point this guy said how he really “didn't have to listen to this”, and walked out.
Now, you may like it or not this “chain of command” thing, but it is the way here and needs to be respected. Laughed at, yes. Ridiculed, yes. But stuck to ALSO yes. And in any case, we are all in this together yes and we DO need to work together. I did not see anything wrong in what the HoD was saying but this guy's approach was just self-centred and arrogant.
He has “that” kind of tone of voice too that is irritating. He sounds like he does not really want to listen to you when you're talking to him and sounds like what you say isn't really of interest.
Well, after THAT encounter this new guy wasn't seen again almost the whole week in the college. I did see him one post-lunchtime occasion as I was going back to the college and there he was walking back in the direction of the accommodation blocks. Cup and saucer in hand he was! OK OK – it was a mug, not a cup. And OK, there was nothing actually IN the mug but the image of this man walking around carrying his cup and saucer will amuse me for many a time to come yet.
I don't have much more to write about him as I hardly saw him. But whenever his name is mentioned around the college there is rarely a good word that follows. All through the procedure of actually getting him here he acted like a rather pompous git and TWICE refused the job offer he had been given. Well, to be fair he was FIRST offered the job of Head Of Department and then, after that, he was offered a Teacher's job. So THAT isn't something that is going to fill ANYONE with any confidence or joy at the prospect of coming here. But now that he IS here so he needs to try to fit in. yes, it's a nonsense place to live and work but there ARE admin things that everyone needs to get done and as far as I know he has completed few, if any of them. He will only make trouble for himself in the end and then THIS will bounce back on the rest of us.
But on a lighter note …. Hehe!! Just another eccentric character to join us out here and wouldn't life be so much MORE dull if we recruited boring people to come here. So from THAT point of view I a GLAD he is here as it will provide PLENTY of good material to write and talk about. Hats off to ya mate!
The English department is still three teachers short of what they need so our timetables are going to be rather heavy for a while. Well, not that this bothers me for reasons similar to the above. Again, I do what I can with what I have available to me and I'm not going to break MY back when my employer is at fault. I guess that by Christmas we might have what we need but who knows! And for sure very little will happen to get them here as two job offers that SHOULD have gone out were simply left unprocessed.
The teacher colleague I arrived with at the same time is still not back yet. Well, probably he IS now as I missed a call from him this morning so he IS most likely here somewhere. Word is that he got sick down in Morocco and had to get treatment by some doctor or hospital somewhere. I suppose he will be there tomorrow.
Hmm what else? Well, it was a nice easy week and although I did “loyally” come in for 7.30am every day I also sneaked off at 11am for lunch and returned well after 1pm and then sneaked/went off home again soon after 3pm. What did I do all day? Well, I was armed with my books of puzzles, I had my phone to go skype-ing, drank lots of tea, talked to colleagues and …. well, not much more. What is ONE week to kill when I had FIVE WEEKS when I FIRST arrived??!!
After many good morning espresso coffees during the summer, I had got quite a taste for it and that “morning kick” was something I thought would be nice to continue. So at the first opportunity I was down at the Carrefour supermarket and THERE IT WAS! An espresso and cappuccino coffee maker for the princely sum of …. 95 riyals!! Well, JUST the thing I wanted and I took it without much hesitation. It is a 110V model of course and is rather weighty so I am not sure if it will be worth taking it back with me when the Final Exit comes in March 2010. But that is a decision for then, not for now. BUT as I DO have a 240V to 110V transformer back home, there IS a case for taking it with me TOGETHER with my juicer and, indeed, any other electrical items which I may yet buy here. Don't know really – maybe it's just as easy to sell them when I go as there WILL be some items I won't be taking with me like my Mobily USB modem.
Ah yes, my internet connection. No, it is certainly NOT any better than when I left it! In fact last week I had almost NOTHING at nights and the only time I had anything was for the short time I was here at lunchtimes. Well, I DID go down and pay for the usual 5GB package. But now I am wondering WHY I have that one. With access so poor and connections dropping and with speed going up and down apparently at random, I am not sure it is worth paying all that money. Maybe from next month I will go down to having just the 1GB package which is half the price of what I have now. WHY waste my money on such rubbish? What I have now is, basically, the best of a bad bunch and that's not saying much!
So here I am. Week 1 Day 1 of semester 2 is approaching fast. The hardest thing has been once again getting used to the isolation of living here especially when most of this last 5 weeks has been much more free with people to see and places to go and the freedom to “roam”. Yes, this may well be the only place right now that I don't live in without a suitcase. And yes, it may well be something familiar, and yes, perhaps my diet is better here. Oh, and yes the pay packet is nice too. But life is not just a pay packet and life is not just about my bank balance and THAT is something important.
There is a small list of things I do like about being here, but I have to think HARD about it. I mentioned those above. But, in contrast, there is also a larger list of things that would HAVE TO change for me to stay on here and they are “biggies” and things which I cannot really change. The heat of the summer, the feeling of isolation, the lack of any kind of “community spirit” amongst us expats or even any kind of community at all, the fact that we are so far from the nearest town (18km by taxi), the fact that we need a taxi if we want to go anywhere, the lack of any kind of “green nature” to see and enjoy up here (though there is more down south of the country). Oh, AND the fact that I feel my time here as a teacher is wasted and indeed WAS wasted this last six months.
I have spoken to other colleagues. One guy in particular said that what he does is ALWAYS think about his next holiday, about when it will be and about how good it is to be away. That is his way to survive out here, and he has been here more than five years now. Although I agree that this IS a good way to survive your time in a place like this, it means that your ACTUAL time is in some kind of “void” or black hole. Fancy working and living in a place where your only joy is when you can next be OUT OF IT!! Living for your next “escape”! A survival plan it is, but for me it is no way to live your life.
Well, one good thing about being here is that I have plenty to write about. So stay tuned!
Friday 9th October 2009
Well they say a week is a long time in politics. So I wonder what they might say about a week here! I've only been back two weeks and already I feel I'm wanting to bang the exit door to get out of here!
No no no. I'm going to try to start positively. Got to think though. Well, yes, the temperature outside is definitely not as severe now as back in end August. Though pretty hot and humid especially at midday to early afternoon time. And I DO still need my umbrella to keep the sun off.
What else? Oh, well there is something though it may seem trivial and even childish. Are any of you out there fans or players of the computer game Football Manager 2009 (or earlier versions)? I am for SURE and I've just finished the season with Czech Republic team Brno in 5th place in the Czech First Division and as WINNER of the Czech FA Cup! YEEEEAHHH C'mon Brno boyzzzzz!!! Ach who needs to play as Real Madrid to have fun!!
OK I can't think of anything else positive. Sorry to say it was yet another dark week full of all the usual organisational chaos, uncompromising uncertainty and laughable farce that is the norm here. Yes, folks it's the start of a new academic year here at the college. Usually this is the most enthusiastic, the most optimistic time of year when students are excited to be here and when us teachers are full of good new ideas and raring to go.
But …. remember where I am. Yes, in this illogical land where assumption is dangerous and planning is foreign there is little to be happy about in this first week.
First of all let's get into the most serious item of the week. Now, as an employee here I have a certain number of holiday days allowance. They are, you would think, days that I myself can choose when and where to use them …. as in a “normal” workplace. I've had my five weeks over the summer which was great. Just over two weeks of my allowance is left and my plan was to use them over the Christmas and New Year period. Logical and sensible.
Yes of course I know this is a Muslim country and they don't have Xmas. But anyway surely, I thought, I can use my holiday days as I wish and THAT 2-week period is the time when I want to be away. Time for myself and family back in England. They are depending on me to be there and I look forward to it. It is NOT the religious aspect that interests me – just the family one and a rare opportunity these days to spend quality time with my son.
Not gonna happen!
I was chatting to a colleague during the first week back and the subject of holidays came up. “Which are you going to take – the two weeks at end November or the two weeks in mid February?”, he asked me. Replied that NEITHER of those since my two weeks were reserved for the Christmas and New Year period. “How are you going to do that? It's not possible! We're teaching, we have classes, your Holiday Request form will not even get past the Head of Department's desk and will go straight in the bin!”, he said. “How so?”, I enquired, “These are holiday days and THAT is the time I want as holiday!”. But there was no chance, he said.
I remember a similar conversation some months ago. Then we were talking about the summer just gone and the uncertainty of when that stupid soldier boy course would end. That would have affected holiday starts. Then there was the situation with that teacher who demanded (and got) a “holiday” soon after he had started his contract (and he, as predicted, did NOT come back! HAHA to THEM!). Because of what they gave HIM, it weakened their position on what they could or could not say NO to. Or so I thought.
Anyway, later on the subject of holidays came up when the HoD was around. So I asked him about this, and he did confirm that awful truth. He would HAVE TO, he said, deny any holiday request made during term time. Right now the college is a few teachers short and he would have to arrange for cover and anyway they ONLY let teachers have holidays during teaching time in EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. “So what would happen if I DID submit a Holiday Request form for that 2-week period?”, I asked just to finally clarify things. “I would HAVE TO deny it!”, he said. “But what on EARTH do people Do around here at Christmas and New Year? It must be the most boring, depressing time EVER!!”, I needed to know. Yes, he agreed, it was but in his 40 years in the Middle East he had only ever had ONE Christmas off and that was during the first Gulf War when there were a lot of American troops in the country he was working in. Also, he said, the bigger employers in this area DID arrange something for that time of year. But then THEY have a much larger and much more integrated and better expat community which is much closer then what there is HERE at this place I work in. Well, THAT is for sure but it is not the slightest bit reassuring. With the greatest respect to everyone here I cannot imagine a place I LEAST want to be or people I LEAST want to be with over Xmas and New Year than where I am NOW!!
You think my mood is bad now? Just see how it gets the closer December approaches and the closer the end of this year, 2009, comes.
Actually on THAT score I will be glad to see the back of this year, 2009. It has truly been the most BORING, the most FRUSTRATING and the most POINTLESS year I have ever HAD!!
And most of it has been captured right here in this blog! Some consolation THAT is!!
So that leaves me with the question of what I SHOULD do with my remaining two weeks of Holiday Entitlement. I think I have two or three choices. Choice 1 – end November. Choice 2 – mid February. Choice 3 (if it is possible) – leave the two weeks to the end of my contract and take them then giving me an early exit. Choice 4 – don't take them at all and get paid for them at the end.
Choices 3 and 4 I don't know if they are possible. Taking holiday days during term time might well rule (3) out straight away. And Choice 4 I don't know if it is possible or not. I just heard yesterday from another colleague that one other teacher who left recently DID leave some holiday days to the end and apparently got paid for them. Whether that is true or whether the thing he got paid for was the End Contract Bonus I do not know. But both (3) and (4) need to be checked out.
If all four of these ARE possible then my current favourite is Choice 3. Shortening my time here has to be a good thing. The two weeks in November is neither here nor there and if I went to England it would only be an uncomfortable time knowing that Christmas and New Year are not possible.
I'm sure that story will run and run so stay tuned!
OK, what else? Ah yes – my timetable for the semester to come. Well when I got in last Saturday there was a memo telling me and everyone when the various courses were due to start. Nice and clear. Also I had my timetable and I knew which two classes I was to have and what days and times. Well, it was a large number of hours and rather a lot of time to consecutively spend with the one class in particular, but that is not much of a worry. BUT the news about WHERE these classes would take place WASN'T good. The class which only takes up three hours a week is in the main college building. The class which occupies 21 hours a week is in ….. the same building where I have suffered with the soldier boy morons the last six months.
DAMN AND BLAST!! Do I REALLY have to go over there again? Ohh YES I DO!! And worse than that. For TWO days in the week I won't even be able to come back here for lunch because the classes continue into the afternoon past lunchtime! So not only do I have to ENDURE going over there again, I have to suffer an EXTRA-LONG time there. And I will have to take my own lunch over there two days a week!!
Still …. I guess it means I will be able to go over to the other staffroom and sit on those NICE comfortable chairs in that NICE air conditioned office to eat my lunch.
HA!! You SEE! I have to resort to rubbish positives like THAT to try to make things seem OK!!
I suppose though that the number of class hours is the least of my worries. After all, and THIS IS a positive, all coursebooks are provided, the class CD is provided and SO IS the SYLLABUS of the course!
Yes, you DID see right! A SYLLABUS! A week-to-week breakdown of WHAT to do from WHICH BOOK and WHEN to do it!
There are four main course books covering different aspects of the course. Basically they are general English, Health Science English, Reading and Listening. There is also a Writing course which is very important to Arab students of course. And a large grammar book. ALL the students have to buy ALL these books. Is it a lot of books? Well, yes, but who cares about THEM! If this is what we use then that is what they need. But I wonder how long it will take the students of Saudi Arabia to get down to the bookshop to buy these books. They will claim things like No Time, No Money, Too Busy and more. But these are, I feel, student code-words for laziness. After all, it is these SAME people who constantly come without basics like pens and notebooks. Really the college should take this into account and get the books here, open a bookshop and sell the books from here. That way they can make SURE there are no excuses for bookshops which are too far away or out of stock or whatever.
But THAT, of course, requires ORGANISATION and PLANNING and even THINKING.
Do you see where it breaks down? Yup. Sad But True!!
Whooaahhh!! Hang on there – did you think that was the END of that topic? Not one bit.
OK, so it worked out like this for me as I thought. The 21 hours class would be starting next week but the 3 hour a week class would be starting on Saturday when they'd have one lesson and on Monday when they were due two lesson periods. So I got something ready to give the students for later on that day (Saturday) – just some kind of Intro Week stuff as they wouldn't have their new books yet.
The lesson was in the afternoon. So when the time came, I went upstairs to the classroom and sat and waited.
And waited ….. and waited …. and ….. and ….
Yes you've guessed! FIRST lesson of a brand new exciting academic year and …. a NO SHOW!
While I was standing outside the classroom waiting, one of the science teachers walked by. Seeing me standing there he asked me and yes, I said I was waiting. Won't be anyone today, he commented.
So having waited 15 minutes for NOBODY I took my things and went back downstairs.
Told the HoD there was nobody there and he wasn't surprised either.
What IS THIS HERE?? Week 1 Lesson 1 and NO STUDENTS SHOW UP?? What does THAT say about them and about what is to come? Where I come from, the start of the new teaching year is the best time of all. Yes, students are a bit rusty and need a refresher after a summer break without English. Yes, the classes are not yet full. But they start anyway and fill up as time goes on. Sometimes people move classes, sometimes people come once or twice and then never again, sometimes people never come at ALL. But THINGS HAPPEN and the school corridors are full of new students.
And what's more is this – get THIS! The students are allowed three weeks absence at the start! Yup, that's what I heard. THREE WEEKS where if they don't come at all then that's OK by the college Dean. And in Week 1 NOBODY is expected to come.
Excuse ME?? Well pardon me for my job! Didn't realise that I encroached so MUCH on the student's precious “free time”!! How AUDACIOUS of me to presume that I, a humble foreigner English teacher, could be the one to draw them away from their pool playing, hubbly-bubbly pipe smoking, driving lives!! Ohh and I thought I actually had a PURPOSE here other than “dispersal” of my humble mother tongue into their minds and hearts.
It is LAUGHABLE and COMICAL and FARCICAL!
Ahh but don't switch off YET my friends because there is MORE! I haven't said anything about the remaining 21 hours of my week. Oh, and before I forget, there was a “3-hours phantom class” too!
The 21 hours a week class is a class of students who are on a kind of Foundation course. They are not quite full “medical students” but need some kind of grounding on academic study skills, on reading, writing and listening skills and need to have some kind of medical vocabulary in English before they start their college years properly. It is a normal thing, and not only here. Generally a good idea because students may come here after many years out of the educational system and need such skills before they begin.
But there are, or SHOULD BE a lot of them. Ah, but HERE is the problem you see because there are NOT a lot. The college has set their sights on a figure of one hundred students in this Foundation year. All very well but right now the count is less than 50 and the academic year has begun.
Given this is not the only higher education college in this region, this is a problem. And there is also the reputation of this college. Students talk. This is the same everywhere, but they share knowledge on websites, by email, in chatrooms, by instant messenger etc. etc. so when the reputation of a place isn't good, then the word spreads. And the word seems to be that this is NOT a good college. As a teacher I know this, but when STUDENTS say this too THEN there are problems and new students are hard to come by.
Less than 50 students at THIS point in the academic year and little sign, apparently, that many more are on the way. They might get, optimistically, twenty more but this will take a good few weeks till this happens.
There are five teachers assigned to these Foundation year classes. But a class is supposed to be around twenty students in size.
Do you get the idea?
Either not all classes will start at all. Or they will start all five classes half full. Or some classes will start next week and then some teachers will be sitting doing nothing for some weeks. Then maybe the remaining classes will start in a few weeks time. Or maybe never.
I don't know what has been decided. Even down to last thing (4 o'clock) on Wednesday night (last day of the week) there was no information on what the situation was.
Last thing we were told is that we, the five teachers, should all come in at normal time, 7.30am, on Saturday morning (tomorrow) and see what the situation was.
But I bet they STILL don't know tomorrow. Then they'll tell us, “Go over on the bus anyway and see what's going on!”.
In other words, get up at the normal stupid time, get on that dumb bus and go over there for NOTHING all day and then sit there all day ALSO doing nothing. And then repeat same process all week and …. ohh as long as it takes probably!!
Sitting around. Doing nothing. Haven't I done enough of that ALREADY? Oh, THAT and trying to ”teach” brainless morons who don't know ass from elbow (Ha Ha! Medical student joke there!!).
This whole Saudi experience …. well an “experience” it sure IS. But a good one? And one likely to help my teaching career?
I think you already know the answers there!
According to my countdown timer here on my PC there are a little over twenty-two weeks to go till my Official Exit from here in mid March next year. And THAT can't come soon enough!
Nice syllabus though! And at least I won't have to use much of my own brain when (if at all) I DO eventually get in the classroom for my 21-hour boys. GREAT!!
Friday, 2 October 2009
It's been One Week and .... well not much so far!
Friday 2nd October 2009
I'm sitting here right now, and it has returned. Yes, that feeling of bored frustration which comes of …. well, of sitting HERE not quite knowing what to do to fill my day. However, that said, I don't WANT this day to be gone because it only leads to Saturday and the REAL return to work and to the classroom.
Yes, I was back to the college last week but there were no classes (but that was expected). The first week is still full of registration and timetable-making activity for the Head of Department. Always it is a system “in flux” quite simply because people are coming in to register all the time and that plays with class sizes and the number of classes there are as a whole. Same thing everywhere I've worked.
I don't mind not knowing my timetable till late. However, it would be unnerving to a less experienced teacher who is about to begin teaching that he/she does not know WHAT or WHO he/she is going to have. I do not worry so much about this for as couple of reasons. Firstly, I can easily fill in the first few days with some other activities before things settle down and before the coursebooks come in to everyone's hands. I've had plenty of THAT these last 14 years of teaching and it is not the worst that can happen. Secondly, I do not worry about it because this side of organising things is not done by me. So any problems are not ones to worry about because they are not CAUSED by me. I hold the view that we, as teachers, do what we can with what we have and it is not worth worrying about things you do not have control over as a teacher. You do your job, they do theirs. Yes, sometimes it can be a little stressful if the delays in getting coursebooks are longer than you'd like. Yes, sometimes you have to do that extra bit of preparation while waiting for the books. But this is part of the job and thee are far greater things that you COULD worry about more.
So all I will do is turn up sometime before 7.30am tomorrow morning and see what I have. In any case, I am ready as I already photocopied a nice medical-related lesson which I used previously. Job done, and lessons are only 50 minutes which is no time at all. Oh, and let's not forget about intros, name learning, brief chats etc. etc. which will happen the first lesson or so.
Anyway, that's all to come. Now for what was. So what, if anything, of interest happened last week. Well, there were one or two moments to write about involving the new teacher and there was also a brief encounter with my old class of soldier boys.
OK OK let's get THAT ONE out the way first of all. As you can guess, the LAST set of people I want to lay eyes on this semester is ANY of those morons that I had to endure the classroom company of during this last six months. But I know that I can't avoid them as they WILL be around some days of the week. Well, Encounter #1 did indeed happen last week but in a rather unexpected way. It was about Sunday or Monday lunchtime and I was heading out a little early to go home for lunch. As I came through the reception area of the college there was a group of people hanging around at the reception desk. I didn't take much notice of them until I saw one of them looking over at me. They were not dressed in military uniform – well not the ones I saw. Then I heard a voice say, “Oh! Teacher David!”, and I noticed ..... the one I LEAST wanted to see of all - “Leg Man” as I nicknamed him looking over with that stupid grin on his face. He was in the traditional Saudi 'thobe' (white “cloak”) and I also noticed a guy in the Saudi “gutra” (red-checked head 'scarf') and realised it was “Monitor Man”! I carried on walking but faster. I DID acknowledge them with a quiet, “Oh hello”, and I did raise my hand but that was it. I sped up through the doors and in the direction of lunch. Heard a voice behind me, “Teacher David! Teacher David!”, but NO WAY on earth I was going to turn around or stop. On and on I went turning the corners which would take me out of sight of those toe-rags. When I was sure I was safe, I looked behind and nobody was there. PHEW! Got out of THAT!
Now every time I pass through reception I take a better look to see if I need to escape quicker.
OK, so on to the new guy. And what a self-important, jumped up little man he does seem to be! Word is that he's been recruited as a teacher but that HE is the “favoured one” to take over at end of January when our current HoD is leaving. NOT a prospect I can say I look forward to much judging on first appearances. SO what brings me to my judgement above after only one week? Well there are a number of things.
He HAS been in the Middle East before. Normally that should count in his favour as he knows the way they do things out here. So things that a new arrival teacher has to do should be well-known to him. As you may remember from my early writings, he has to go through the procedures of the Admin department with forms to fill in and sign, he has to sign his contract, he needs to visit Security to get his Temporary ID badge and he needs to have his Medical over at the Employee Health centre and hospital. All that is two or three days worth of stuff which DOES need to be done though it is a lot for anyone to get through. Oh, and also he needs to give up his passport to get the temporary Iqama. And then there are procedures which need explaining like the 3-month probation, like the process of getting his Iqama, like the 5-month no-holiday rule, like the signing in and out procedure, and more besides. It IS a lot to take in when you've just come off the plane a few days before, but like every workplace thee are procedures for every new employee which ARE necessary.
He is rarely at the college! Where is he and where does he go? Nobody really knows but he seems to be going round upstairs talking to the ones in command up there about this, that and the other. By doing this, he IS sometimes breaking the “chain of command” which is something that you must not do here and can get you into trouble and also bring trouble for your boss.
Early on in the week he was discussing this with our HoD. Now, I am sitting in the same desk as before because basically the HoD would rather have ME there than THIS NEW GUY. Anyway, BECAUSE I am there I hear these little meetings and THIS one was for sure a good'un. They were discussing a few things and then he said about how he had been going round and discussing stuff with those upstairs. The HoD then said to him about how this was breaking the “chain of command” and how that would bring problems for the BOTH of them. “Oh, I don't worry about such things! It's not your problem!”, the guy said. Well he was reminded that it WAS a problem and is NOT the way to do things round here. “It's not your problem and don't worry about this! I don't CARE about it!”, he said again. “Well, what about being part of a TEAM?”, the HoD demanded to know. Well, they went on for a bit then the HoD said how difficult he had been and how much of a “prickly pear” he had been since he came here. At THAT point this guy said how he really “didn't have to listen to this”, and walked out.
Now, you may like it or not this “chain of command” thing, but it is the way here and needs to be respected. Laughed at, yes. Ridiculed, yes. But stuck to ALSO yes. And in any case, we are all in this together yes and we DO need to work together. I did not see anything wrong in what the HoD was saying but this guy's approach was just self-centred and arrogant.
He has “that” kind of tone of voice too that is irritating. He sounds like he does not really want to listen to you when you're talking to him and sounds like what you say isn't really of interest.
Well, after THAT encounter this new guy wasn't seen again almost the whole week in the college. I did see him one post-lunchtime occasion as I was going back to the college and there he was walking back in the direction of the accommodation blocks. Cup and saucer in hand he was! OK OK – it was a mug, not a cup. And OK, there was nothing actually IN the mug but the image of this man walking around carrying his cup and saucer will amuse me for many a time to come yet.
I don't have much more to write about him as I hardly saw him. But whenever his name is mentioned around the college there is rarely a good word that follows. All through the procedure of actually getting him here he acted like a rather pompous git and TWICE refused the job offer he had been given. Well, to be fair he was FIRST offered the job of Head Of Department and then, after that, he was offered a Teacher's job. So THAT isn't something that is going to fill ANYONE with any confidence or joy at the prospect of coming here. But now that he IS here so he needs to try to fit in. yes, it's a nonsense place to live and work but there ARE admin things that everyone needs to get done and as far as I know he has completed few, if any of them. He will only make trouble for himself in the end and then THIS will bounce back on the rest of us.
But on a lighter note …. Hehe!! Just another eccentric character to join us out here and wouldn't life be so much MORE dull if we recruited boring people to come here. So from THAT point of view I a GLAD he is here as it will provide PLENTY of good material to write and talk about. Hats off to ya mate!
The English department is still three teachers short of what they need so our timetables are going to be rather heavy for a while. Well, not that this bothers me for reasons similar to the above. Again, I do what I can with what I have available to me and I'm not going to break MY back when my employer is at fault. I guess that by Christmas we might have what we need but who knows! And for sure very little will happen to get them here as two job offers that SHOULD have gone out were simply left unprocessed.
The teacher colleague I arrived with at the same time is still not back yet. Well, probably he IS now as I missed a call from him this morning so he IS most likely here somewhere. Word is that he got sick down in Morocco and had to get treatment by some doctor or hospital somewhere. I suppose he will be there tomorrow.
Hmm what else? Well, it was a nice easy week and although I did “loyally” come in for 7.30am every day I also sneaked off at 11am for lunch and returned well after 1pm and then sneaked/went off home again soon after 3pm. What did I do all day? Well, I was armed with my books of puzzles, I had my phone to go skype-ing, drank lots of tea, talked to colleagues and …. well, not much more. What is ONE week to kill when I had FIVE WEEKS when I FIRST arrived??!!
After many good morning espresso coffees during the summer, I had got quite a taste for it and that “morning kick” was something I thought would be nice to continue. So at the first opportunity I was down at the Carrefour supermarket and THERE IT WAS! An espresso and cappuccino coffee maker for the princely sum of …. 95 riyals!! Well, JUST the thing I wanted and I took it without much hesitation. It is a 110V model of course and is rather weighty so I am not sure if it will be worth taking it back with me when the Final Exit comes in March 2010. But that is a decision for then, not for now. BUT as I DO have a 240V to 110V transformer back home, there IS a case for taking it with me TOGETHER with my juicer and, indeed, any other electrical items which I may yet buy here. Don't know really – maybe it's just as easy to sell them when I go as there WILL be some items I won't be taking with me like my Mobily USB modem.
Ah yes, my internet connection. No, it is certainly NOT any better than when I left it! In fact last week I had almost NOTHING at nights and the only time I had anything was for the short time I was here at lunchtimes. Well, I DID go down and pay for the usual 5GB package. But now I am wondering WHY I have that one. With access so poor and connections dropping and with speed going up and down apparently at random, I am not sure it is worth paying all that money. Maybe from next month I will go down to having just the 1GB package which is half the price of what I have now. WHY waste my money on such rubbish? What I have now is, basically, the best of a bad bunch and that's not saying much!
So here I am. Week 1 Day 1 of semester 2 is approaching fast. The hardest thing has been once again getting used to the isolation of living here especially when most of this last 5 weeks has been much more free with people to see and places to go and the freedom to “roam”. Yes, this may well be the only place right now that I don't live in without a suitcase. And yes, it may well be something familiar, and yes, perhaps my diet is better here. Oh, and yes the pay packet is nice too. But life is not just a pay packet and life is not just about my bank balance and THAT is something important.
There is a small list of things I do like about being here, but I have to think HARD about it. I mentioned those above. But, in contrast, there is also a larger list of things that would HAVE TO change for me to stay on here and they are “biggies” and things which I cannot really change. The heat of the summer, the feeling of isolation, the lack of any kind of “community spirit” amongst us expats or even any kind of community at all, the fact that we are so far from the nearest town (18km by taxi), the fact that we need a taxi if we want to go anywhere, the lack of any kind of “green nature” to see and enjoy up here (though there is more down south of the country). Oh, AND the fact that I feel my time here as a teacher is wasted and indeed WAS wasted this last six months.
I have spoken to other colleagues. One guy in particular said that what he does is ALWAYS think about his next holiday, about when it will be and about how good it is to be away. That is his way to survive out here, and he has been here more than five years now. Although I agree that this IS a good way to survive your time in a place like this, it means that your ACTUAL time is in some kind of “void” or black hole. Fancy working and living in a place where your only joy is when you can next be OUT OF IT!! Living for your next “escape”! A survival plan it is, but for me it is no way to live your life.
Well, one good thing about being here is that I have plenty to write about. So stay tuned!
I'm sitting here right now, and it has returned. Yes, that feeling of bored frustration which comes of …. well, of sitting HERE not quite knowing what to do to fill my day. However, that said, I don't WANT this day to be gone because it only leads to Saturday and the REAL return to work and to the classroom.
Yes, I was back to the college last week but there were no classes (but that was expected). The first week is still full of registration and timetable-making activity for the Head of Department. Always it is a system “in flux” quite simply because people are coming in to register all the time and that plays with class sizes and the number of classes there are as a whole. Same thing everywhere I've worked.
I don't mind not knowing my timetable till late. However, it would be unnerving to a less experienced teacher who is about to begin teaching that he/she does not know WHAT or WHO he/she is going to have. I do not worry so much about this for as couple of reasons. Firstly, I can easily fill in the first few days with some other activities before things settle down and before the coursebooks come in to everyone's hands. I've had plenty of THAT these last 14 years of teaching and it is not the worst that can happen. Secondly, I do not worry about it because this side of organising things is not done by me. So any problems are not ones to worry about because they are not CAUSED by me. I hold the view that we, as teachers, do what we can with what we have and it is not worth worrying about things you do not have control over as a teacher. You do your job, they do theirs. Yes, sometimes it can be a little stressful if the delays in getting coursebooks are longer than you'd like. Yes, sometimes you have to do that extra bit of preparation while waiting for the books. But this is part of the job and thee are far greater things that you COULD worry about more.
So all I will do is turn up sometime before 7.30am tomorrow morning and see what I have. In any case, I am ready as I already photocopied a nice medical-related lesson which I used previously. Job done, and lessons are only 50 minutes which is no time at all. Oh, and let's not forget about intros, name learning, brief chats etc. etc. which will happen the first lesson or so.
Anyway, that's all to come. Now for what was. So what, if anything, of interest happened last week. Well, there were one or two moments to write about involving the new teacher and there was also a brief encounter with my old class of soldier boys.
OK OK let's get THAT ONE out the way first of all. As you can guess, the LAST set of people I want to lay eyes on this semester is ANY of those morons that I had to endure the classroom company of during this last six months. But I know that I can't avoid them as they WILL be around some days of the week. Well, Encounter #1 did indeed happen last week but in a rather unexpected way. It was about Sunday or Monday lunchtime and I was heading out a little early to go home for lunch. As I came through the reception area of the college there was a group of people hanging around at the reception desk. I didn't take much notice of them until I saw one of them looking over at me. They were not dressed in military uniform – well not the ones I saw. Then I heard a voice say, “Oh! Teacher David!”, and I noticed ..... the one I LEAST wanted to see of all - “Leg Man” as I nicknamed him looking over with that stupid grin on his face. He was in the traditional Saudi 'thobe' (white “cloak”) and I also noticed a guy in the Saudi “gutra” (red-checked head 'scarf') and realised it was “Monitor Man”! I carried on walking but faster. I DID acknowledge them with a quiet, “Oh hello”, and I did raise my hand but that was it. I sped up through the doors and in the direction of lunch. Heard a voice behind me, “Teacher David! Teacher David!”, but NO WAY on earth I was going to turn around or stop. On and on I went turning the corners which would take me out of sight of those toe-rags. When I was sure I was safe, I looked behind and nobody was there. PHEW! Got out of THAT!
Now every time I pass through reception I take a better look to see if I need to escape quicker.
OK, so on to the new guy. And what a self-important, jumped up little man he does seem to be! Word is that he's been recruited as a teacher but that HE is the “favoured one” to take over at end of January when our current HoD is leaving. NOT a prospect I can say I look forward to much judging on first appearances. SO what brings me to my judgement above after only one week? Well there are a number of things.
He HAS been in the Middle East before. Normally that should count in his favour as he knows the way they do things out here. So things that a new arrival teacher has to do should be well-known to him. As you may remember from my early writings, he has to go through the procedures of the Admin department with forms to fill in and sign, he has to sign his contract, he needs to visit Security to get his Temporary ID badge and he needs to have his Medical over at the Employee Health centre and hospital. All that is two or three days worth of stuff which DOES need to be done though it is a lot for anyone to get through. Oh, and also he needs to give up his passport to get the temporary Iqama. And then there are procedures which need explaining like the 3-month probation, like the process of getting his Iqama, like the 5-month no-holiday rule, like the signing in and out procedure, and more besides. It IS a lot to take in when you've just come off the plane a few days before, but like every workplace thee are procedures for every new employee which ARE necessary.
He is rarely at the college! Where is he and where does he go? Nobody really knows but he seems to be going round upstairs talking to the ones in command up there about this, that and the other. By doing this, he IS sometimes breaking the “chain of command” which is something that you must not do here and can get you into trouble and also bring trouble for your boss.
Early on in the week he was discussing this with our HoD. Now, I am sitting in the same desk as before because basically the HoD would rather have ME there than THIS NEW GUY. Anyway, BECAUSE I am there I hear these little meetings and THIS one was for sure a good'un. They were discussing a few things and then he said about how he had been going round and discussing stuff with those upstairs. The HoD then said to him about how this was breaking the “chain of command” and how that would bring problems for the BOTH of them. “Oh, I don't worry about such things! It's not your problem!”, the guy said. Well he was reminded that it WAS a problem and is NOT the way to do things round here. “It's not your problem and don't worry about this! I don't CARE about it!”, he said again. “Well, what about being part of a TEAM?”, the HoD demanded to know. Well, they went on for a bit then the HoD said how difficult he had been and how much of a “prickly pear” he had been since he came here. At THAT point this guy said how he really “didn't have to listen to this”, and walked out.
Now, you may like it or not this “chain of command” thing, but it is the way here and needs to be respected. Laughed at, yes. Ridiculed, yes. But stuck to ALSO yes. And in any case, we are all in this together yes and we DO need to work together. I did not see anything wrong in what the HoD was saying but this guy's approach was just self-centred and arrogant.
He has “that” kind of tone of voice too that is irritating. He sounds like he does not really want to listen to you when you're talking to him and sounds like what you say isn't really of interest.
Well, after THAT encounter this new guy wasn't seen again almost the whole week in the college. I did see him one post-lunchtime occasion as I was going back to the college and there he was walking back in the direction of the accommodation blocks. Cup and saucer in hand he was! OK OK – it was a mug, not a cup. And OK, there was nothing actually IN the mug but the image of this man walking around carrying his cup and saucer will amuse me for many a time to come yet.
I don't have much more to write about him as I hardly saw him. But whenever his name is mentioned around the college there is rarely a good word that follows. All through the procedure of actually getting him here he acted like a rather pompous git and TWICE refused the job offer he had been given. Well, to be fair he was FIRST offered the job of Head Of Department and then, after that, he was offered a Teacher's job. So THAT isn't something that is going to fill ANYONE with any confidence or joy at the prospect of coming here. But now that he IS here so he needs to try to fit in. yes, it's a nonsense place to live and work but there ARE admin things that everyone needs to get done and as far as I know he has completed few, if any of them. He will only make trouble for himself in the end and then THIS will bounce back on the rest of us.
But on a lighter note …. Hehe!! Just another eccentric character to join us out here and wouldn't life be so much MORE dull if we recruited boring people to come here. So from THAT point of view I a GLAD he is here as it will provide PLENTY of good material to write and talk about. Hats off to ya mate!
The English department is still three teachers short of what they need so our timetables are going to be rather heavy for a while. Well, not that this bothers me for reasons similar to the above. Again, I do what I can with what I have available to me and I'm not going to break MY back when my employer is at fault. I guess that by Christmas we might have what we need but who knows! And for sure very little will happen to get them here as two job offers that SHOULD have gone out were simply left unprocessed.
The teacher colleague I arrived with at the same time is still not back yet. Well, probably he IS now as I missed a call from him this morning so he IS most likely here somewhere. Word is that he got sick down in Morocco and had to get treatment by some doctor or hospital somewhere. I suppose he will be there tomorrow.
Hmm what else? Well, it was a nice easy week and although I did “loyally” come in for 7.30am every day I also sneaked off at 11am for lunch and returned well after 1pm and then sneaked/went off home again soon after 3pm. What did I do all day? Well, I was armed with my books of puzzles, I had my phone to go skype-ing, drank lots of tea, talked to colleagues and …. well, not much more. What is ONE week to kill when I had FIVE WEEKS when I FIRST arrived??!!
After many good morning espresso coffees during the summer, I had got quite a taste for it and that “morning kick” was something I thought would be nice to continue. So at the first opportunity I was down at the Carrefour supermarket and THERE IT WAS! An espresso and cappuccino coffee maker for the princely sum of …. 95 riyals!! Well, JUST the thing I wanted and I took it without much hesitation. It is a 110V model of course and is rather weighty so I am not sure if it will be worth taking it back with me when the Final Exit comes in March 2010. But that is a decision for then, not for now. BUT as I DO have a 240V to 110V transformer back home, there IS a case for taking it with me TOGETHER with my juicer and, indeed, any other electrical items which I may yet buy here. Don't know really – maybe it's just as easy to sell them when I go as there WILL be some items I won't be taking with me like my Mobily USB modem.
Ah yes, my internet connection. No, it is certainly NOT any better than when I left it! In fact last week I had almost NOTHING at nights and the only time I had anything was for the short time I was here at lunchtimes. Well, I DID go down and pay for the usual 5GB package. But now I am wondering WHY I have that one. With access so poor and connections dropping and with speed going up and down apparently at random, I am not sure it is worth paying all that money. Maybe from next month I will go down to having just the 1GB package which is half the price of what I have now. WHY waste my money on such rubbish? What I have now is, basically, the best of a bad bunch and that's not saying much!
So here I am. Week 1 Day 1 of semester 2 is approaching fast. The hardest thing has been once again getting used to the isolation of living here especially when most of this last 5 weeks has been much more free with people to see and places to go and the freedom to “roam”. Yes, this may well be the only place right now that I don't live in without a suitcase. And yes, it may well be something familiar, and yes, perhaps my diet is better here. Oh, and yes the pay packet is nice too. But life is not just a pay packet and life is not just about my bank balance and THAT is something important.
There is a small list of things I do like about being here, but I have to think HARD about it. I mentioned those above. But, in contrast, there is also a larger list of things that would HAVE TO change for me to stay on here and they are “biggies” and things which I cannot really change. The heat of the summer, the feeling of isolation, the lack of any kind of “community spirit” amongst us expats or even any kind of community at all, the fact that we are so far from the nearest town (18km by taxi), the fact that we need a taxi if we want to go anywhere, the lack of any kind of “green nature” to see and enjoy up here (though there is more down south of the country). Oh, AND the fact that I feel my time here as a teacher is wasted and indeed WAS wasted this last six months.
I have spoken to other colleagues. One guy in particular said that what he does is ALWAYS think about his next holiday, about when it will be and about how good it is to be away. That is his way to survive out here, and he has been here more than five years now. Although I agree that this IS a good way to survive your time in a place like this, it means that your ACTUAL time is in some kind of “void” or black hole. Fancy working and living in a place where your only joy is when you can next be OUT OF IT!! Living for your next “escape”! A survival plan it is, but for me it is no way to live your life.
Well, one good thing about being here is that I have plenty to write about. So stay tuned!
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