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.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
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!
Monday, 28 September 2009
Back from holiday to the Desert Kingdom
Saturday 26th September 2009
So here it is ….
My holiday of five nice long weeks is over and back I am at work in my compound home in the north-eastern desert.
Well I say “back at work” but of course I haven't started yet. The current word is that it all begins next week. Sounds far too organised and planned to me and something is sure to turn up. Items that might “upset the apple cart” are :-
- Closing of the college due to “unplanned” swine flu outbreak”. I have heard that the King has decreed that all pre-teenage schools are to be closed for two weeks due to some H1N1 scare or other. So why would that not extend to us grown-ups? Yes, something is likely there.
- Not enough teachers to actually TEACH. Currently we are three teachers short. There is the guy who came and was allowed his 'early leave' a while back plus two more that most likely have gone elsewhere due to job offers not having been got to them by the college
- Some other military balls-up not yet known but very likely!
Yes, that third one is, OK, a bit flippant but I have covered my bases there and applied my art of cynicism to what is, after all, normal life here. Do not expect it for it will never happen but turn your back and BOOM there it goes!
Anyway, as you see nothing much to write about college life. So now you are wondering how I feel now and what it was like to be back after so long ….
I had spent a lot of time dreading my return mainly due to what had happened just before I left at the army boys classes. Ohh I just KNOW I'm going to HAVE TO see some or all of those faces again, and it's sure to be sooner than later. I mean, WHAT would YOU say? “Congratulations you SOB. you slipped through the f***in net and got here to the college even though you failed your exams and messed around for 16 weeks doing NOTHING and making Teacher David's life HELL!”. If ever a bunch of people deserved a medieval stoning to death then I have more than a FEW candidates in mind AND I know in which order I'd present them to the arena. Hmm ooh that sounds a bit …. maybe …. not sure but …. possibly on the side of …. VINDICTIVE??!! Well …. err …. YEAH OF COURSE it is and how would YOU feel to see such people again that YOU had wasted half a year of your life over for nothing?? Exactly!
My holidays? Well, that were good and varied but they are not the topic of this or any blog of mine so DON'T be so NOSY! Time passed very pleasantly but soon the day of Thursday 24th September had to come and it was time for departure from the shores of Europe back here to the desert kingdom of KSA once again.
Rather an early start it was that Thursday morning but I managed to haul myself out of bed rather well and get through all the morning routine with no fuss or inertia. Sometimes I wonder how I am able to do this when the body is crying out to stay in bed but the mind disciplines me first. Strong minded guy I guess I am! So anyway, after packing up my nice new-ish suitcase with all my things ( just how DO those wheelie suitcases not dump all your things down in one heap at the bottom? A MARVEL of design really!), I got it and my shoulder bag into my mother's dying Astra Estate car and off we went to the tube station which is the easiest way to London Heathrow. Maybe not the quickest but when you have 20-plus kilos of luggage the LAST thing you want to do is haul it through the London Underground train system! Oh, some day surely they WILL realise that, in fact, many people DO need to take large bags and cases through the tube train system and will make their lives just a LITTLE bit easier. Just small things will do such as non-tropical heat trains and doing away with stairs-only exits. Not much to ask, is it? But I avoided all that by getting on at one end of the Piccadilly line and off right at the very end at Heathrow Terminal 3. Nice and oh-so easy!
Now I feel a sense of deja-vu coming on. I am wondering if I am going to duplicate myself here and write similar things to when I FIRST made this epic journey. But I doubt it, so on I plod.
HAH! Here's the first thing! Already had my suitcase zip padlocks so no stop there as I did last time. And on the way in I noticed an American Express currency exchange kiosk and did my pounds-riyals swap there assisted, as you would expect, by the inevitable Polish female assistant. No, not all Poles are female and not all of them work at AE exchange kiosks, but their presence is everywhere in London now. And very welcome they are too – they do the early starts that Londoners won't do and the jobs that Londoners hate to do! Good for them!
HAH NUMBER TWO! No trolley needed and so no searching necessary. Just follow the long path sometimes down the moving walkways and sometimes on foot. HSBC bank seems to have a monopoly on moving walkway advertising at Heathrow and it is supposed to appeal to international travelling types (like me?) where it compares various costly aspects of lifestyle between cities and countries where, of course, HSBC have a presence. But HSBC themselves lost my attention some years ago when they decided that all their non-mainland UK accounts would magically be subject to a 20 pound charge every month AND that they were now going to be the first bank to open “HSBC Premier” branches in selected towns on selected streets where you may not pass through the doors unless your wallet is fat enough. Hmm but hold on …. who am I banking with out here in Saudi? Err …. OK OK it's not HSBC as SUCH but the “renamed” Saudi equivalent. Yeah yeah but there's no CHOICE out here. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! So there!
OK, after passing through the rabbit warren of walkways I finally ascend the last escalator and there is Terminal 3. Having located my entrance door it's in I go and – well even though I'm early for check-in I go look for the Gulf Air desk. Yes, there it is right at the front! Not tucked/hidden away at the back like Saudi Arabia Airlines are but upfront for all to see! And no security guy wanting to know why I was sniffing around there. Joined the queue. Seemed to be a general check-in set of desks for all Gulf Air flights as no particular timed flight was shown on the board. Got to the front and to my check-in girl. Actually she was a rather grumpy middle-aged woman that “really needed to know now” if I only wanted to check-in to Bahrain or right the way through to Dammam (via the bus ride).
Well, I just did the Bahrain bit as I had confirmed with the taxi guys over here the time and date I was arriving. They are a reliable lot and you know where you stand. And besides, the last thing I wanted to do when arriving in Bahrain is get on a bus, be hassled at customs/passport control, then get off at the hotel stop in Saudi Arabia only to have to phone for a taxi from THERE at what would be 10pm. NO TAXIS likely, and who wants to wait at THAT hour. Ah, AND the likely problem of getting into the compound when, of course, I had no ID card (it had been taken off me before my holiday of course).
So there it was! Not even 7.45am and I had checked in! Had some hours to kill yet, or so I thought until I realised she had said Boarding Time was 8.30am. IS THAT RIGHT?? WHY so early? That would mean sitting in the departure lounge (pffff they make it sound so luxurious!) for more than an hour! AND I might not get to see Dad who was coming to see me off! DEFINITELY not good since he would have had to get up at a similar time to ME! And last time we had a nice meal together before my departure.
Well, I had to wait for him of course. Saw him, and it was 8.10am by that time. Showed him this early boarding time, but anyway we decided to go and sit and have something before I went through. After all, this was not a budget airline and they would not be quite as strict on latecomers. But best keep an eye on the info board anyway.
So there we were eating and chatting. First my flight went to status “BOARDING” for a while, but although I knew I had to get going soon, there was no urgency. Only when it changed to “GATE CLOSING” did it seem like time to go. I hurried through security and through to find the gate which was NOT closing of course and quite a few people were still there. So WHY were they hurrying people up like that to get on? Maybe they like to do that so they can get flight-organised and ready for take-off or maybe it was a big plane.
Well, a Boeing 777 IS a big aircraft for sure. I found myself sitting for the first time in ages in the aisle seats in the middle. Another man was there too but he soon disappeared. Maybe it was the smell of my nice-but-travel-weary jacket (the one that I bought for this travel purpose because it makes me look respectable which always helps, I feel, at tricky customs/arrivals desks in foreign countries). He was replaced by a big bag full of standard issue Gulf Air night blankets which were, actually, just DUMPED on the chair two away from me. OK, so nobody else was sitting in that row with me but dammit what did they think I looked like? “Ah, this guy smells a bit sweaty! He won't mind keeping our blankets company and nobody will want to sit with him anyway!”. Hmm yeah – maybe they had a point there, but I didn't care.
In FACT it worked very much to my advantage! One nice thing about Gulf Air is that you get a little cushion for your head. Well, check THIS out! I was one person in a row of three chairs and …. TWO SPARE CUSHIONS!!
One for my head. One for my lower back. One under my bottom.
AHHHHH!!!!!! Got a good feeling about this flight!
The next 'handout' was the headphones for the in-flight entertainment. Yes, even in Economy Class we all get our own Headrest TV as I had before. Films, short features, games, music and more with it! Just plug headphones in to armrest, wait for take-off and AWAY YOU GO into your multimedia flying experience.
Extravagant? NO! Six hours is a long time to kill and with no “mountain view” and only cloud cover to gaze at (if you're by the window) it can get a bit much after a while and even the most imaginative person can only see so many amusing shapes in the cloud formations below! So such things are essential. However, on a night flight they can become a pain when, if you're like me, you can't sleep but you're too tired to watch another film and too slow to play another game. Ah, but this time I was armed with my Secret Weapon of EARPLUGS. There is NO amount of night time aeroplane torture that can get through THAT!
Well this was an afternoon/early evening flight so in fact I didn't need those earplugs at all. I happily watched “Terminator Salvation”, played many games of pool (winning most of them!) and even taxed my mind at “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” winning a cool $32,000 in the process (sadly the money was only for fun). A little music too, and those hours just slipped away accompanied by a nice airline-sized lamb meal with a little red wine.
Couldn't ask for more really! The last flight of a busy summer and the best of the lot! Oh, and no censored bits and no amusing blur-outs in the films too!
One more thing I noticed compared to Saudi Arabian airlines. There was no rush to 'veil up' and 'cover up' or 'fade to black' by the women on the flight. Yes, many around me had heads covered and a very small number had mouths and noses covered but not in the “Hide Me Hide Me!” style of Saudi Arabia. It was nice to see and they must have felt much more relaxed about it too.
Although I doubt that I'll see any more than the airport, Bahrain looks and feels like a nice, modern and pretty exciting place to live. It is becoming a bit more conservative with rumours of an alcohol ban on the way, but compared to Saudi Arabia it is an OASIS of tolerance.
So here it came, and in we came to the runway in Bahrain. It was night time! I was rather amazed to see this as it was only about 6.30pm local time and it was getting dark at about 7pm last time I was in KSA. Still, that was 5 weeks ago so no surprise I guess. Began to feel a little apprehensive of the fact I was here and, looking at my watch, hoped the taxi driver WOULD be there waiting but feared he might not be (despite my reminder the night before via SMS). Landed, jacket on, neck wallet back on and shuffled off looking back at the “triumph” of the THREE cushions left on MY SEAT and what a difference they had made (despite the fact that my TV had packed up about an hour before landing!). Were quite a few expats aboard and I wondered where they were going, and noted a family with a young girl of about 7 or 8 years old getting off. Reminded me of seeing a similar family getting off at Dammam Airport in KSA where I wondered WHY ON EARTH anyone would bring their family to a place like that. Bahrain, unlike Saudi Arabia, allows us Brits to arrive and no visa is required for, I think, a two-week stay. You see! Just a bit of positive thinking can make all the difference in a welcome! It was a place I could see being a holiday destination for those in the know in the region. A small island but manageable and would be a nice experience I think.
Down I went on the rather wobbly steps from plane to the ground. Was it me? No – I noticed them wobbling as others went down before me. The air temperature was immediately up, though not to the insane levels as I'd been in last time in KSA. But it WAS very humid, though being an island surrounded by warm sea you might expect that in summer times. On to the transfer bus and on to the terminal building and up to the arrivals queue. Nervously looking at my watch again I noted the time was getting on for 6.45pm – nearly a whole half-hour after I'd said I would be there. Not much prospect of getting out of here till 7pm then since I had to get through passports AND get my luggage.
Passport check was OK. Yes, I WAS going on to Saudi Arabia tonight and that would be 2 dinars please. Well, 20 Saudi riyals was good enough and I was on my way again to Baggage Reclaim.
When I got there, there were various piles and collections of suitcases around the place near the baggage carousel that mine would be coming onto. Had mine already been fetched off as in Dammam Airport? Was there a skivvy in green to “assist me” when I didn't want it again and would he want money for that “privilege”? I hoped not. Looked around for my case realising that I didn't know it so well as I'd only bought it two days previously in London. Yes, I could identify it by the padlock and the dented corner. Looked around the piles of cases. Mine not there. Had it been taken somewhere? Well it seemed the other people were waiting for theirs the same and many of them looked like they'd just come from my plan though I hadn't noted any of their faces back then. Baggage carousel turned around emptily, a few came out, ….. and then THERE it was! Ahh, relief!!
While I was waiting for my case, 7 o'clock arrived and the sounds of Prayer Time filled the baggage reclaim area. Ahh yes, I thought, I am surely back now …. though Prayer Time is something I have surely NOT missed.
Hmm it felt a bit lighter than when I had put it on the scales in London. But all was OK and again no trolley needed and off towards the green channel and the hopeful sight of Mr Cab Driver.
The arrivals lounge was one of those places where people line the exit barrier with their various signs containing the names of whoever they are here to pick up. Was my name out there? Or would the taxi guy have given up and gone by now? Well, THAT was unlikely since he would not wish to drive all the way to Bahrain for nothing. So he had to be here …. and indeed THERE almost at the end of the line was my name on a signboard. I recognised the face of one of that taxi firm's drivers, went over to shake his hand and he took my case and we both went out to the car park.
Was still rather overly humid and sticky out in the open air. And a LOT of cars there! WOW what a LOT of cars really! The taxi driver noted that today there were so many expats coming back after their holidays that this was bound to be the case. He had had to park quite a way back. Well, I wasn't really looking at the cars but just wanted to be IN the car and on my way to the end of the journey. I wasn't particularly tired but this was the last bit of long travelling of my holiday and I simply wanted to get it over and done with.
So there I was pulling out of Bahrain car park and I was on my way back to the sands of Saudi. And the strangest thing happened ….. I felt HAPPY!
WHAT?? WHY?? Well yeah it was strange. More than strange in fact. But it was the feeling of returning to something familiar AND, after all, it is the only place where I don't live out of a suitcase. My laptop is there, my room-space too and good or bad my daily non-work routine is there too. My improved diet also lies inside this country.
And almost as long as it took me to type those two paragraphs the good feeling was gone. Replaced very quickly by a feeling of sadness, of depression. A feeling that here I was back to this strange old land and was ONCE AGAIN far too far away from everywhere and everyone I wanted to be with and who would now be equally distant from me. All the old problems came back to me, the feelings of being on this “desert” island. I passed billboards which advertised various different mobile phone packages available in Bahrain and it only reminded me of how rubbish such things are here in Saudi Arabia where my internet connection is as temperamental as the camels that roam the sands here.
WHAT on earth WAS I coming back to? And why? Well, of course I know the “WHY” part and it lasts another six months yet to my final release.
Yes, that last word is key here – RELEASE. THAT is what I felt like most of all – a prisoner who had been on parole this last five weeks and who was NOW coming back to the establishment and eventually back to his prison cell having to give up his “passport of freedom” in the process. Is this what being a criminal feels like? Because I did NOTHING wrong to get HERE!
The lights of the highly impressive Bahrain city of Manama lit the way to the Causeway. What a very impressive city and country this is! So well thought out and designed and, as cities go, very attractive to look at and pass through. Well, I can only compare it to Khobar city but, in fact, there IS no comparison. Everything there is so much more spaced out and there is so much sandy space between one part and the next. If only my year of Middle East teaching was on THIS side of the Causeway!
Nothing much else to say about the journey for the most part. The border crossing was simple if a little slow (as such things often are). Customs checking only involved the taxi parking, the car boot being opened and a guy in Saudi “thobe” and “gutra” taking a glance at what was inside and all of that was five or ten minutes max. I noted too the black-clothed women who, of course, had to get out of the cars and go round to the “Women's Customs House” only then to return a few yards on to their cars again. Yes, here we are back in segregation land!
On we went and then, much sooner than I expected the familiar entrance to the compound appeared some way up the road. NOW the feeling was one of “OOOOOHHHHH NOOOOO!!!”, as I braced myself for the final and inevitable entry to this place I jointly call Home and Work.
The closer I saw the gates of the compound up ahead, the more I wanted them to go further away. But they didn't. NOW the problem was going to be the fact that I had no ID card on me as it was in the Security building.
No problem there! The soldier security guy was almost asleep inside his little cabin and did not react at all as the taxi drove slowly through. OK, so maybe the next one would require me to get out and prove who I was and stuff …. Nope! No need to get out or show anything, no need to verify who I was and why I was there.
Nice and easy. So the thing that had been at the back of my mind nagging me all summer was negotiated without any drama whatsoever.
FINALLY here I was back at my accommodation block. And let's just pause for a moment to remember what condition I was in LAST time I made this airport journey and what time it finally was.
What a difference!
OK, so was I going to find my room soaked to the floor from the dripping aircon? Nope! Was everything going to be overheated cos the aircon I left on had gone wrong? Nope again! Would my bed be full of bedbugs and my fridge full of cockroaches? Well, there was one small bedbug on the pillow but one flick and he was gone. I looked at the contents of my glass-fronted book case/cabinet. WOW! I was SO FAR AWAY from all my things for FIVE WEEKS NOW! Well, it seemed an amazing thought at the time.
Nothing to eat. Ah, but there was a little water in the water bottle for some tea so I made that. Oh, and I DID have some tins of tuna fish so I opened one of those. My two lots of Cadbury's chocolate were in need of urgent refrigeration so in they went. There was no bread in the freezer, there were various packets of cheese spread, my boxes of teabags and a little coffee. Well, I wasn't that hungry so no problem there. A little food, a little TV then off to bed after a quick bedbug search.
So here I was back in town. Next day I had to remain inside the compound as I had no ID card and couldn't very well go out into town. Needed some internet so went to buy some Mobily prepaid phone cards and did a little that way. Bought some food at the shop too and noted how EMPTY it was. Maybe I was one of the few who had returned today and the masses would be back later this day.
Was nothing much else I could do that Friday. Kind of regretted the fact that I had not come back ON this Friday. I felt pretty good after a nice plane journey and didn't actually need this day as a Recovery Day after all. So next time I'll remember that.
Seemed odd that the next day, Saturday, I'd be back into ….. WORK!!?? But that was indeed the reality.
However ….. THAT will be another blog entry on another day!
So here it is ….
My holiday of five nice long weeks is over and back I am at work in my compound home in the north-eastern desert.
Well I say “back at work” but of course I haven't started yet. The current word is that it all begins next week. Sounds far too organised and planned to me and something is sure to turn up. Items that might “upset the apple cart” are :-
- Closing of the college due to “unplanned” swine flu outbreak”. I have heard that the King has decreed that all pre-teenage schools are to be closed for two weeks due to some H1N1 scare or other. So why would that not extend to us grown-ups? Yes, something is likely there.
- Not enough teachers to actually TEACH. Currently we are three teachers short. There is the guy who came and was allowed his 'early leave' a while back plus two more that most likely have gone elsewhere due to job offers not having been got to them by the college
- Some other military balls-up not yet known but very likely!
Yes, that third one is, OK, a bit flippant but I have covered my bases there and applied my art of cynicism to what is, after all, normal life here. Do not expect it for it will never happen but turn your back and BOOM there it goes!
Anyway, as you see nothing much to write about college life. So now you are wondering how I feel now and what it was like to be back after so long ….
I had spent a lot of time dreading my return mainly due to what had happened just before I left at the army boys classes. Ohh I just KNOW I'm going to HAVE TO see some or all of those faces again, and it's sure to be sooner than later. I mean, WHAT would YOU say? “Congratulations you SOB. you slipped through the f***in net and got here to the college even though you failed your exams and messed around for 16 weeks doing NOTHING and making Teacher David's life HELL!”. If ever a bunch of people deserved a medieval stoning to death then I have more than a FEW candidates in mind AND I know in which order I'd present them to the arena. Hmm ooh that sounds a bit …. maybe …. not sure but …. possibly on the side of …. VINDICTIVE??!! Well …. err …. YEAH OF COURSE it is and how would YOU feel to see such people again that YOU had wasted half a year of your life over for nothing?? Exactly!
My holidays? Well, that were good and varied but they are not the topic of this or any blog of mine so DON'T be so NOSY! Time passed very pleasantly but soon the day of Thursday 24th September had to come and it was time for departure from the shores of Europe back here to the desert kingdom of KSA once again.
Rather an early start it was that Thursday morning but I managed to haul myself out of bed rather well and get through all the morning routine with no fuss or inertia. Sometimes I wonder how I am able to do this when the body is crying out to stay in bed but the mind disciplines me first. Strong minded guy I guess I am! So anyway, after packing up my nice new-ish suitcase with all my things ( just how DO those wheelie suitcases not dump all your things down in one heap at the bottom? A MARVEL of design really!), I got it and my shoulder bag into my mother's dying Astra Estate car and off we went to the tube station which is the easiest way to London Heathrow. Maybe not the quickest but when you have 20-plus kilos of luggage the LAST thing you want to do is haul it through the London Underground train system! Oh, some day surely they WILL realise that, in fact, many people DO need to take large bags and cases through the tube train system and will make their lives just a LITTLE bit easier. Just small things will do such as non-tropical heat trains and doing away with stairs-only exits. Not much to ask, is it? But I avoided all that by getting on at one end of the Piccadilly line and off right at the very end at Heathrow Terminal 3. Nice and oh-so easy!
Now I feel a sense of deja-vu coming on. I am wondering if I am going to duplicate myself here and write similar things to when I FIRST made this epic journey. But I doubt it, so on I plod.
HAH! Here's the first thing! Already had my suitcase zip padlocks so no stop there as I did last time. And on the way in I noticed an American Express currency exchange kiosk and did my pounds-riyals swap there assisted, as you would expect, by the inevitable Polish female assistant. No, not all Poles are female and not all of them work at AE exchange kiosks, but their presence is everywhere in London now. And very welcome they are too – they do the early starts that Londoners won't do and the jobs that Londoners hate to do! Good for them!
HAH NUMBER TWO! No trolley needed and so no searching necessary. Just follow the long path sometimes down the moving walkways and sometimes on foot. HSBC bank seems to have a monopoly on moving walkway advertising at Heathrow and it is supposed to appeal to international travelling types (like me?) where it compares various costly aspects of lifestyle between cities and countries where, of course, HSBC have a presence. But HSBC themselves lost my attention some years ago when they decided that all their non-mainland UK accounts would magically be subject to a 20 pound charge every month AND that they were now going to be the first bank to open “HSBC Premier” branches in selected towns on selected streets where you may not pass through the doors unless your wallet is fat enough. Hmm but hold on …. who am I banking with out here in Saudi? Err …. OK OK it's not HSBC as SUCH but the “renamed” Saudi equivalent. Yeah yeah but there's no CHOICE out here. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! So there!
OK, after passing through the rabbit warren of walkways I finally ascend the last escalator and there is Terminal 3. Having located my entrance door it's in I go and – well even though I'm early for check-in I go look for the Gulf Air desk. Yes, there it is right at the front! Not tucked/hidden away at the back like Saudi Arabia Airlines are but upfront for all to see! And no security guy wanting to know why I was sniffing around there. Joined the queue. Seemed to be a general check-in set of desks for all Gulf Air flights as no particular timed flight was shown on the board. Got to the front and to my check-in girl. Actually she was a rather grumpy middle-aged woman that “really needed to know now” if I only wanted to check-in to Bahrain or right the way through to Dammam (via the bus ride).
Well, I just did the Bahrain bit as I had confirmed with the taxi guys over here the time and date I was arriving. They are a reliable lot and you know where you stand. And besides, the last thing I wanted to do when arriving in Bahrain is get on a bus, be hassled at customs/passport control, then get off at the hotel stop in Saudi Arabia only to have to phone for a taxi from THERE at what would be 10pm. NO TAXIS likely, and who wants to wait at THAT hour. Ah, AND the likely problem of getting into the compound when, of course, I had no ID card (it had been taken off me before my holiday of course).
So there it was! Not even 7.45am and I had checked in! Had some hours to kill yet, or so I thought until I realised she had said Boarding Time was 8.30am. IS THAT RIGHT?? WHY so early? That would mean sitting in the departure lounge (pffff they make it sound so luxurious!) for more than an hour! AND I might not get to see Dad who was coming to see me off! DEFINITELY not good since he would have had to get up at a similar time to ME! And last time we had a nice meal together before my departure.
Well, I had to wait for him of course. Saw him, and it was 8.10am by that time. Showed him this early boarding time, but anyway we decided to go and sit and have something before I went through. After all, this was not a budget airline and they would not be quite as strict on latecomers. But best keep an eye on the info board anyway.
So there we were eating and chatting. First my flight went to status “BOARDING” for a while, but although I knew I had to get going soon, there was no urgency. Only when it changed to “GATE CLOSING” did it seem like time to go. I hurried through security and through to find the gate which was NOT closing of course and quite a few people were still there. So WHY were they hurrying people up like that to get on? Maybe they like to do that so they can get flight-organised and ready for take-off or maybe it was a big plane.
Well, a Boeing 777 IS a big aircraft for sure. I found myself sitting for the first time in ages in the aisle seats in the middle. Another man was there too but he soon disappeared. Maybe it was the smell of my nice-but-travel-weary jacket (the one that I bought for this travel purpose because it makes me look respectable which always helps, I feel, at tricky customs/arrivals desks in foreign countries). He was replaced by a big bag full of standard issue Gulf Air night blankets which were, actually, just DUMPED on the chair two away from me. OK, so nobody else was sitting in that row with me but dammit what did they think I looked like? “Ah, this guy smells a bit sweaty! He won't mind keeping our blankets company and nobody will want to sit with him anyway!”. Hmm yeah – maybe they had a point there, but I didn't care.
In FACT it worked very much to my advantage! One nice thing about Gulf Air is that you get a little cushion for your head. Well, check THIS out! I was one person in a row of three chairs and …. TWO SPARE CUSHIONS!!
One for my head. One for my lower back. One under my bottom.
AHHHHH!!!!!! Got a good feeling about this flight!
The next 'handout' was the headphones for the in-flight entertainment. Yes, even in Economy Class we all get our own Headrest TV as I had before. Films, short features, games, music and more with it! Just plug headphones in to armrest, wait for take-off and AWAY YOU GO into your multimedia flying experience.
Extravagant? NO! Six hours is a long time to kill and with no “mountain view” and only cloud cover to gaze at (if you're by the window) it can get a bit much after a while and even the most imaginative person can only see so many amusing shapes in the cloud formations below! So such things are essential. However, on a night flight they can become a pain when, if you're like me, you can't sleep but you're too tired to watch another film and too slow to play another game. Ah, but this time I was armed with my Secret Weapon of EARPLUGS. There is NO amount of night time aeroplane torture that can get through THAT!
Well this was an afternoon/early evening flight so in fact I didn't need those earplugs at all. I happily watched “Terminator Salvation”, played many games of pool (winning most of them!) and even taxed my mind at “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” winning a cool $32,000 in the process (sadly the money was only for fun). A little music too, and those hours just slipped away accompanied by a nice airline-sized lamb meal with a little red wine.
Couldn't ask for more really! The last flight of a busy summer and the best of the lot! Oh, and no censored bits and no amusing blur-outs in the films too!
One more thing I noticed compared to Saudi Arabian airlines. There was no rush to 'veil up' and 'cover up' or 'fade to black' by the women on the flight. Yes, many around me had heads covered and a very small number had mouths and noses covered but not in the “Hide Me Hide Me!” style of Saudi Arabia. It was nice to see and they must have felt much more relaxed about it too.
Although I doubt that I'll see any more than the airport, Bahrain looks and feels like a nice, modern and pretty exciting place to live. It is becoming a bit more conservative with rumours of an alcohol ban on the way, but compared to Saudi Arabia it is an OASIS of tolerance.
So here it came, and in we came to the runway in Bahrain. It was night time! I was rather amazed to see this as it was only about 6.30pm local time and it was getting dark at about 7pm last time I was in KSA. Still, that was 5 weeks ago so no surprise I guess. Began to feel a little apprehensive of the fact I was here and, looking at my watch, hoped the taxi driver WOULD be there waiting but feared he might not be (despite my reminder the night before via SMS). Landed, jacket on, neck wallet back on and shuffled off looking back at the “triumph” of the THREE cushions left on MY SEAT and what a difference they had made (despite the fact that my TV had packed up about an hour before landing!). Were quite a few expats aboard and I wondered where they were going, and noted a family with a young girl of about 7 or 8 years old getting off. Reminded me of seeing a similar family getting off at Dammam Airport in KSA where I wondered WHY ON EARTH anyone would bring their family to a place like that. Bahrain, unlike Saudi Arabia, allows us Brits to arrive and no visa is required for, I think, a two-week stay. You see! Just a bit of positive thinking can make all the difference in a welcome! It was a place I could see being a holiday destination for those in the know in the region. A small island but manageable and would be a nice experience I think.
Down I went on the rather wobbly steps from plane to the ground. Was it me? No – I noticed them wobbling as others went down before me. The air temperature was immediately up, though not to the insane levels as I'd been in last time in KSA. But it WAS very humid, though being an island surrounded by warm sea you might expect that in summer times. On to the transfer bus and on to the terminal building and up to the arrivals queue. Nervously looking at my watch again I noted the time was getting on for 6.45pm – nearly a whole half-hour after I'd said I would be there. Not much prospect of getting out of here till 7pm then since I had to get through passports AND get my luggage.
Passport check was OK. Yes, I WAS going on to Saudi Arabia tonight and that would be 2 dinars please. Well, 20 Saudi riyals was good enough and I was on my way again to Baggage Reclaim.
When I got there, there were various piles and collections of suitcases around the place near the baggage carousel that mine would be coming onto. Had mine already been fetched off as in Dammam Airport? Was there a skivvy in green to “assist me” when I didn't want it again and would he want money for that “privilege”? I hoped not. Looked around for my case realising that I didn't know it so well as I'd only bought it two days previously in London. Yes, I could identify it by the padlock and the dented corner. Looked around the piles of cases. Mine not there. Had it been taken somewhere? Well it seemed the other people were waiting for theirs the same and many of them looked like they'd just come from my plan though I hadn't noted any of their faces back then. Baggage carousel turned around emptily, a few came out, ….. and then THERE it was! Ahh, relief!!
While I was waiting for my case, 7 o'clock arrived and the sounds of Prayer Time filled the baggage reclaim area. Ahh yes, I thought, I am surely back now …. though Prayer Time is something I have surely NOT missed.
Hmm it felt a bit lighter than when I had put it on the scales in London. But all was OK and again no trolley needed and off towards the green channel and the hopeful sight of Mr Cab Driver.
The arrivals lounge was one of those places where people line the exit barrier with their various signs containing the names of whoever they are here to pick up. Was my name out there? Or would the taxi guy have given up and gone by now? Well, THAT was unlikely since he would not wish to drive all the way to Bahrain for nothing. So he had to be here …. and indeed THERE almost at the end of the line was my name on a signboard. I recognised the face of one of that taxi firm's drivers, went over to shake his hand and he took my case and we both went out to the car park.
Was still rather overly humid and sticky out in the open air. And a LOT of cars there! WOW what a LOT of cars really! The taxi driver noted that today there were so many expats coming back after their holidays that this was bound to be the case. He had had to park quite a way back. Well, I wasn't really looking at the cars but just wanted to be IN the car and on my way to the end of the journey. I wasn't particularly tired but this was the last bit of long travelling of my holiday and I simply wanted to get it over and done with.
So there I was pulling out of Bahrain car park and I was on my way back to the sands of Saudi. And the strangest thing happened ….. I felt HAPPY!
WHAT?? WHY?? Well yeah it was strange. More than strange in fact. But it was the feeling of returning to something familiar AND, after all, it is the only place where I don't live out of a suitcase. My laptop is there, my room-space too and good or bad my daily non-work routine is there too. My improved diet also lies inside this country.
And almost as long as it took me to type those two paragraphs the good feeling was gone. Replaced very quickly by a feeling of sadness, of depression. A feeling that here I was back to this strange old land and was ONCE AGAIN far too far away from everywhere and everyone I wanted to be with and who would now be equally distant from me. All the old problems came back to me, the feelings of being on this “desert” island. I passed billboards which advertised various different mobile phone packages available in Bahrain and it only reminded me of how rubbish such things are here in Saudi Arabia where my internet connection is as temperamental as the camels that roam the sands here.
WHAT on earth WAS I coming back to? And why? Well, of course I know the “WHY” part and it lasts another six months yet to my final release.
Yes, that last word is key here – RELEASE. THAT is what I felt like most of all – a prisoner who had been on parole this last five weeks and who was NOW coming back to the establishment and eventually back to his prison cell having to give up his “passport of freedom” in the process. Is this what being a criminal feels like? Because I did NOTHING wrong to get HERE!
The lights of the highly impressive Bahrain city of Manama lit the way to the Causeway. What a very impressive city and country this is! So well thought out and designed and, as cities go, very attractive to look at and pass through. Well, I can only compare it to Khobar city but, in fact, there IS no comparison. Everything there is so much more spaced out and there is so much sandy space between one part and the next. If only my year of Middle East teaching was on THIS side of the Causeway!
Nothing much else to say about the journey for the most part. The border crossing was simple if a little slow (as such things often are). Customs checking only involved the taxi parking, the car boot being opened and a guy in Saudi “thobe” and “gutra” taking a glance at what was inside and all of that was five or ten minutes max. I noted too the black-clothed women who, of course, had to get out of the cars and go round to the “Women's Customs House” only then to return a few yards on to their cars again. Yes, here we are back in segregation land!
On we went and then, much sooner than I expected the familiar entrance to the compound appeared some way up the road. NOW the feeling was one of “OOOOOHHHHH NOOOOO!!!”, as I braced myself for the final and inevitable entry to this place I jointly call Home and Work.
The closer I saw the gates of the compound up ahead, the more I wanted them to go further away. But they didn't. NOW the problem was going to be the fact that I had no ID card on me as it was in the Security building.
No problem there! The soldier security guy was almost asleep inside his little cabin and did not react at all as the taxi drove slowly through. OK, so maybe the next one would require me to get out and prove who I was and stuff …. Nope! No need to get out or show anything, no need to verify who I was and why I was there.
Nice and easy. So the thing that had been at the back of my mind nagging me all summer was negotiated without any drama whatsoever.
FINALLY here I was back at my accommodation block. And let's just pause for a moment to remember what condition I was in LAST time I made this airport journey and what time it finally was.
What a difference!
OK, so was I going to find my room soaked to the floor from the dripping aircon? Nope! Was everything going to be overheated cos the aircon I left on had gone wrong? Nope again! Would my bed be full of bedbugs and my fridge full of cockroaches? Well, there was one small bedbug on the pillow but one flick and he was gone. I looked at the contents of my glass-fronted book case/cabinet. WOW! I was SO FAR AWAY from all my things for FIVE WEEKS NOW! Well, it seemed an amazing thought at the time.
Nothing to eat. Ah, but there was a little water in the water bottle for some tea so I made that. Oh, and I DID have some tins of tuna fish so I opened one of those. My two lots of Cadbury's chocolate were in need of urgent refrigeration so in they went. There was no bread in the freezer, there were various packets of cheese spread, my boxes of teabags and a little coffee. Well, I wasn't that hungry so no problem there. A little food, a little TV then off to bed after a quick bedbug search.
So here I was back in town. Next day I had to remain inside the compound as I had no ID card and couldn't very well go out into town. Needed some internet so went to buy some Mobily prepaid phone cards and did a little that way. Bought some food at the shop too and noted how EMPTY it was. Maybe I was one of the few who had returned today and the masses would be back later this day.
Was nothing much else I could do that Friday. Kind of regretted the fact that I had not come back ON this Friday. I felt pretty good after a nice plane journey and didn't actually need this day as a Recovery Day after all. So next time I'll remember that.
Seemed odd that the next day, Saturday, I'd be back into ….. WORK!!?? But that was indeed the reality.
However ….. THAT will be another blog entry on another day!
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