A sad demise - ANOTHER teacher down

Sunday 3rd January 2010
OK OK maybe I should've been more coordinated and done a blog on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. But I'm sure you can live with that.

Got a fair bit to write about today too – mostly I have MORE about how this college and its English department is sliding faster and faster into a very wide, open and fiery-looking abyss that is not very far below.

Remember I said last time about the sacked teacher? Well, he is long gone now. HOWEVER, now we have YET ANOTHER problem. And THIS one involves an existing teacher colleague. But THIS guy is acting completely out of character, or, at least, out of character to what we know of him up until now.

The man concerned is the one who arrived about the same time as me – a week later in fact. Now, up until now he has seemed like a really good bloke, a good teacher and seemed to be the obvious choice to become the Acting Head of Department when our exiting HoD leaves at end January.

But something has happened to him. Nobody really knows what. Since arriving back from his Christmas weekend in Bahrain, his behaviour is as if somebody took his place on the journey back.

A bit of background maybe. After the summer and, also, after the November Hajj holiday he came back late to the college. The reason given was that he was ill both times and apparently it was some kind of stomach problem on each occasion. So in the first week, in both cases, his classes did not start on the Saturday as they should have. His students were informed and they had no lessons for about half a week or a week both times.

To return here late because of illness once might be unfortunate. But for the SAME THING to happen TWICE with apparently IDENTICAL reasons of illness has to raise eyebrows. Now, however, it is really NOT third time unlucky. It is, to use the old saying, true that “Trouble Always Comes In Threes”.

The other teacher he went to Bahrain with said that he was basically OK on Friday evening when they got back. He asked him, and was given a positive answer. The weekend was, apparently a good one with good food had and copious quantities of nice red wine drunk. Just what they went for!

The other teacher was there as usual on Saturday with his class. This guy was NOT.

Every day last week was the same – his class turned up as normal only to be told that they were having no lesson today. It seems that our ill colleague phoned one of us in the early morning before lessons and told us to tell the class that he would not be in today. My turn in the “telephone line” came on Tuesday. It went like this – I was in the bathroom cleaning my teeth, the phone rang, he was on the other end. He told me to “dismiss his class” for the day. I asked him what the problem was and he said it was a stomach bug and that he HAD taken Immodium but it was still not good. I asked him then if he wanted anything from the shop – he had done this for me when I was ill and obviously I wanted to return the favour. No, he said, he needed nothing and he had enough water. OK, I thought, for sure he doesn't want to eat much if his stomach is problematic. Food is the last thing a bad stomach needs.

So, the phone call was over. My impression was that he actually SOUNDED OK though he coughed a bit. Well, having a bad stomach doesn't mean you can't speak, but even so, on reflection, he didn't actually SOUND like an ill man. Well, I say this with hindsight knowing what I know now.

Anyway, I duly went in and wrote a message on the whiteboard for his class and returned to my class for my day.

He did that same thing every day last week phoning different people and getting us to go and send his class home. Now, in my case, I assumed he had already informed the HoD and the English department. I also assumed that he was going to or had already go to the doctor here. Other teachers too assumed this.

In fact, he never informed anyone in the English department the whole week.

We are into a new week. Rumours are flying, and news of him and his apparent physical and mental health are going round. I don't have all the facts to hand. But what I have heard is this: he won't let anyone in his room. Those who HAVE been to see him in his room said that it was in a real mess with non-washed up items here and there, and they said it was dirty everywhere. This is NOT the man that we know – he normally is a house-proud man who likes to enjoy where he lives.

As far as his mental health goes, he HAS been to hospital though I don't know what it was for – maybe for his stomach problem. But yesterday mid-morning he was seen COMING OUT of the ambulance outside our accommodation block. He had discharged himself from hospital. But he really looked like he didn't know WHERE he was or WHAT was going on and was “wandering around” before going back in his room. He smelt really bad too, it was said.

One thing he has said when people have asked him is that it is because his best friend died. Indeed that WOULD enough to “crack” someone in a place like this. However, his best friend died THREE MONTHS AGO! So it seems less likely that this is the CURRENT cause of his problem, though the effects of stress through such an event are unpredictable.

As I see it, his odd behaviour now and his lack of caring about his own appearance and that of his room is a sure sign of depression which may or may not be drink-related. I DO know that he had been making some kind of wine before Christmas in his room. Was it badly made? Did drinking it start him on some kind of alcoholic 'trip'? Or has something more seriously medical happened to “flip” him and make him this way?

Nobody knows. But one thing is sure as of today. He AGAIN did not come in for classes, and as far as the HoD and the Dean of the college go, that is going to be it. His state of mind is all gone, and it looks very much like he will be going home for whatever medical treatment he needs.

And then? Well, we will be YET ONE MORE teacher down! What will THAT mean? Well, until the exams are over it will mean that his class will be divided up and redistributed as happened with the previous sent-home teacher. That will push my class to around 30 students in number. They are getting hard to handle NOW – god knows how I will manage with FIVE MORE BODIES in that room. Fortunately it is a large classroom. However, other teachers have much smaller classrooms so they will have a bigger problem in terms of space.

Less than six weeks to go. And if you wanted a more eventful place to work, you wouldn't have to look further than RIGHT HERE!


UPDATE 16th January 2010
Well this is a two-part update actually.

Firstly, a few weeks after the above happened, I went to see this man with another colleague of mine from the English department. He was in the hospital but I am not sure for how long since once before he had discharged himself from it. Well, it seemed that he had been there about a week or so – perhaps our HoD insisted that he went back in soon after he had let himself out.

So how was he? Well, in the hospital room he seemed OK. I hadn't seen him in his worst state but he seemed to be fairly “with it” to me. So the three of us chatted about various things, about his treatment at the hospital and about what he was going to do in future on arrival back in his home country. And what we both noticed was this – just how 'blasé' he was about the whole thing and how he played down what had happened and the impact it had had and the serious nature of it all. Regarding BEING in hospital and the tests done on him and the condition of his health, he said that they had told him that he has the “heart of a lion”. A good sign of course. His temperature, he said, had been between 36 and 38 celsius. Not sure what to make of THAT but it sounds like quite a variation to me though he didn't say EXACTLY what it had been. He also said he had been in for heart tests, blood pressure tests and no doubt some blood tests too.

On the subject of blood tests, there is one thing he has to be aware of. If they find (as they surely WILL) that he has alcohol in his blood, then he could be in serious bother. Not only the obvious “alcohol in Muslim country” thing, but also the fact that he has this inside a military base. If they wanted, the army people could REALLY throw the book at him for THIS infraction. But probably they won't.

As far as the future went, first he said that he'd be going back to his home country and would try to get a job there. Again, blasé blasé blasé with this. He also hoped to be back in this area working. No, not in Saudi Arabia but in Oman, he hoped. And he would be back to pick up the rest of his stuff. This I did not quite get since WHERE is he going to leave all his stuff while away? I wouldn't want to leave my things in a place like this with a maybe-or-not return to collect them.

And what about his things? I seem to remember him saying (though maybe I misheard) that he was GIVING his BIG widescreen TV to the department secretary. Giving?? Maybe just for safekeeping. But those things are SERIOUSLY expensive so it's a helluva big “give” if you ask me. BUT of course there is no way he could take such a thing with him – I mean, you can't exactly pack it up and ship it out easily due to its delicate nature And its weight. And regarding his other things, he said (blasé blasé again) that he knew a place down town which dealt with freight and shipping and it was just a case of getting some boxes together and loading them up and getting them sent. OMG!! They are simply NEVER going to ARRIVE! Who on EARTH would risk sending their treasured possessions home in that way except the brave or the foolhardy?

Generally though he seemed in good spirits (NOT the drinking kind!) and was rather glad he was to be free of the place. And this brings us to what he said were his reasons for all this. The first thing he said was that he was just so SICK of the place. Well, OK, that's understood. He had been growing more and more restless and moany about things here as indeed I have. However, the difference between he and I is that I have NOT kept my troubles inside me and he HAS. In addition, he so often maintains that all is well and that nothing is a big problem. And yet WHO is the one in hospital now??

Well the three of us sat and talked about various stuff for a few hours. He kept wanting to go out for a smoke and when we were about to go he wanted to come with us to “see us off” (which actually meant going outside for a sly puff on his hidden cigs!), but we did not let him. One thing he does NOT need to do is smoke himself to death any further. And finally the end came abruptly when nurses, a trolley and a rather long syringe came in for attention his way. A good time to go!

Coming out, I asked my colleague what he made of all that. He said that it was good to see the guy with better colour in his cheeks, which I agreed with. However, I had some concerns. What had annoyed me was this – OK, I accepted that he did not like working here as he had said. But there are ways to do things and ways NOT to do things if you want to get out. And the way NOT to do things is to dump a whole lot of extra and unnecessary work on people you call your colleagues and friends. I mean, we are on enough hours as it is without the extra that would be coming our way – not to mention the extra students from his class that would now appear in all our classes making numbers up to 30 or so per class. NOT a good thing. However, one thing that puzzled me was this. WHAT was it that triggered all this off? WHY start the apparent binge drinking and non-caring thing and not-coming-to-classes-any-more thing NOW? Was it simply that he had been to Bahrain with the other colleague and had SUCH a good time that he thought, “Ach, FUCK IT ALL!”, and lost it and decided that it was enough?

So on seeing him, yes it WAS good he was alright and reasonably “compus mentus”. But I WAS left with this feeling that he had done something rather selfish. However, this feeling was a mixed one because it WAS this SAME guy who had helped ME out with going to the shops for me when I was down with flu that time. He had gone out of his way for me so surely I could take a little extra for HIM!

The difference between he and I was perhaps that I WAS back at work in about three days and he was very likely finished here for good.


UPDATE (2) also 16th January 2010
A week or so after the hospital visit I was due to take the second of the makeup classes for one of his classes. That was a big mess in itself due to the information given to me being wrong in terms of days and times (pretty fundamental things!). But anyway, on the second of the days of makeup classes, there I was waiting for his class to come. I had had them the previous day, and a cheeky bunch they were too. They had me doing the same pages as he had already done, and the aim was just to check out if I would give the same answers as they'd already had. On THAT score I failed miserably, and doubly so when I tried, on the spot, to rattle off a bunch of rules about which prefixes to use with which adjectives from a choice of un- in- im- ir- ab- dis- and others. Obviously I don't carry such rules in my head but I suppose I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing. BAD IDEA!

So anyway, thee I was waiting for the second appearance of this class and I went up to the end of the corridor to see if they were coming as they were late. And THERE he was – our hospitalised friend coming in to the English department (for some reason). Shook hands and told him I was waiting for his class and told him about the previous day's lesson and what they had done. Well, with a wry smile on his face, he acknowledged that they had really wound me up something rotten and I had been stitched up like a kipper! Yeah, well I figured that! He pointed out in the book what I could be doing and then also said that they never come on this lesson day anyway.

OK so we both went down to the English department again. He sat down and wanted a pen to write on a piece of paper with so I gave it him. So we got talking. “Oh,” he said, “now what did I want to do?”, and he looked around for the piece of paper which WAS in his hand. A bit odd. Anyway we were talking about how he was and what had happened. Turns out that he has had some condition which he called a, “chemical imbalance in the brain”, for the last twenty years or so. “Does it have a name?”, I discretely enquired, and the name he gave was, quite simply, AGORAPHOBIA.

Well …. of ALL the people and ALL the things, I did NOT expect HIM of all people to have THAT sort of thing. I mean, WHAT an environment to be in with a condition like THAT! He said he had been alright generally speaking until Bahrain when he felt it coming on again. Seems he is somehow able to suppress it or it just comes and goes or something like that. So he said it had started again at and after Bahrain and, it seems, THAT had been that.

I have not experienced many people with agoraphobia, but one thing is for sure. If you get it, it is VERY difficult to leave your home. And the way he described the fear, the putting off of going out that he had done in the past, the pacing up and down the corridor trying to ready himself to go out in his times in Warsaw, Poland.

So if you have a combination of agoraphobia and a nice Christmas holiday weekend in Bahrain AND a nice stock of home-made booze to quaff, then YOU GOT TROUBLE!

NOW I understood better what he was all about and why this had happened.

It was not anything malicious or pre-meditated or selfish as I insinuated previously. I take that back completely. Just a man who has hidden himself from view for years, a man who has tried to beat a phobia which very many people DO have, and LASTLY a man who finally had come unstuck.

A lesson we can ALL learn from this I think!


UPDATE (3) 29th January 2010
Well THIS is the most incredible thing for me, but the fact is that HE IS STAYING! No no, not at THIS college but he is hoping to get another job in ANOTHER insitution of some kind in this town.

I mean, can you WORK OUT this guy? What he says is that he has "no problem with Saudi Arabia", but that it is the COLLEGE that WAS the problem!

I don't understand it! Was it not Saudi Arabia that put him in hospital? And HOW can he separate the country from the workplace?

Surely he will still have the need for "a drink", and WHAT THEN?

I'm not even sure I buy what he said on his so-called agoraphobia now. Surely THAT still remains in this vast open desert kingdom.

The last I heard was last week when he said he was going for "an interview" with another college or something in the town of Khobar which is the closest one to where we are now. Oh, and he also has some crazy "dream" about his new accommodation which is in the centre. He pointed out the "block" he is to be in if things go well. Says he knows someone who rents in there and the price is low. I reckon it is an unfurnished place, and WHAT WILL HE DO THEN? Will he take things so "light" when he has to buy furniture too? And the block itself looks like a tall, blue, glass-faced margarine-tub shape! Maybe it's better inside though.

He also said a couple of other things which were quite revealing and are surely closer to the main reason(s) why he is choosing to stay here. Firstly, he is nearly 58 years old. Let's face it, at such an age the number of places that will take you on for a teaching job (or ANY job) now is pretty limited, and that is especially so in Europe. Better stick it out here in that case. And secondly, he has been talking more recently about what he calls his "social life" here. OK, you can read what you want into that, but he is also a man who is very much "in the closet" if you know what I mean, and one also who is slowly but surely "coming out".

Such things are rather frowned on here. In fact, they are more than just "frowned on" but they are illegal. I don't know exactly what it is he has "found" here, but last week when he, I and another colleague went into town together in the taxi, only the two of us returned .... WITHOUT him! So draw your own conclusions about what this "social life" is. I just hope he is careful.