Sicky Sicky

Here are some of the pictures I haven't put up yet!

GR Ford Int. Airport to say goodbye! And a big HELLO from the security guard who frisked me for about 20 minutes!


My school, TAISM! Pretty, isn't it?


The dark entrance on the left is the entrance to the souk. Fun times!


The Bucks! That's Jeff, Sara and I sipping a bit of cool coffee for the hot day! (they don't open until 10ish) Bernie and Laura, it felt odd to go there without you!




A quick update:



These past few days, I've had a bit of a head cold. Everyone has been diagnosing it as a "temperature change" cold, because my body isn't used to going from 34 C to 24 C so many times in a day, so I've been trying to just stay inside a little bit more lately. I am almost over it.





We played Ultimate with some of the TAISM people on Monday night! That was a lot of fun, but the grass is a bit itchier than in the states! After Ultimate we went to Automatic; which is a great restaurant! Yesterday was more work and meetings, and last night we went shopping again, the trips are getting shorter and I am buying much less which is nice. After shopping there, Jeff, Sara and I went down to "Car row" to look at some cars. I am liking the Kia Sportage! but I am still looking around, Ramadan deals are coming up! We also found this tiny restaurant and had a spicy feast, 4 drinks, and some little candies for 3 rials! (only about 7.50 for all three of us!)





Oh, also, this will make you guys a little jealous: I filled up my rental car the other day with about 10 gallons. It cost me about 4.5 rials, which is about 12 dollars!! 1.20 bucks a gallon isn't too bad. And, I think the government owns all the gas stations, or they control the prices; but anyway, all the gas stations have the same price of gas, so you don't have to search for the best price in town!

Ciao,

Zach

Work at last!

Yes, I am finally going to write about work since I have actually been doing a lot lately. However, I have still tried to make time for dinners and some shopping to continue making my house a home.

So, Saturday was our first day of work, we had meetings all day and some time to work in our rooms and with our departments. I am still trying to sift through all the info for moving in as well

what was left for me to teach with. After school

Jeff, Lydia, and I raced to Lulu's to get some groceries. We did it so fast, we felt like we were actually getting to know the place. Lulu's by the way is a large supermarket. If it is ever introduced to the states I know it would overtake Wal-mart with its magical magnetic "people movers" to hold the shopping carts from floor to floor and for the always exciting "vegetable run". Basically once you find the vegetables you want, you have to elbow your way to get them; then figure out which line is the least chaotic or the smallest to have the weighing women price your bag. If it sounds complicated, don't worry it gets easier, but it doesn't lose its novelty; at least, not yet. I am not sure what they do if you arrive at the cashier without the price tag, but my guess is JAIL TIME! And why not? When you can get a ticket for having a dirty car or go to jail for flipping someone off!

Saturday night I had Jeff, Lydia, and Sara over for tortilla Espanola! Yes, we even listened to the "dinner music" playlist. Everytime I turned around I expected to see Bernie IV or the Lauras, but alas, they were not to be found. We had a beautiful dinner out on my patio, and if I can figure out how to put photos on here, I will show you what that looks like.

Sunday was filled with more meetings and more time in the classroom and preparing. In the meetings we learned how to put out different fires, and of course, since we learn by doing, they started a fire out back which we put out! A little different than the states! We also learned what would happen in case of evacuation. You will all be happy to hear that the school actually gets us out faster than the Embassy. Actually, maybe you won't be happy to hear that. But, go TAISM! Another exciting tidbit is our insurance is amazing! I can be anywhere in the world and as long as I can call help and tell them where I am, my insurance will pay for a helicopter, plane, or whatever to come get me! And to take care of me! Watch out Iraq, here I come! Haha, just kidding.

Last night a veteran teacher had us over for tacos, then took us to a plant souk (market). Everyone here seems to love to show us around and make sure we are comfortable. So, that's nice.

Today, a lot more work. Not as many meetings, but still trying to set up my room. Classes start this Saturday! I better work faster!

Aight y'all. Hope everyone is well!

I do actually work sometimes, it's just not fun to write about

8-15-2008 4:27 pm

Today is Friday, but for work purposes it is our Sunday. The weekend here is actually Thursday and Friday. We have all already decided that we would do our best with switching the days in our heads, but it is actually pretty difficult, maybe when school starts, it will be easier. I just don't know if I can bring my self to say, "Looks like somebody has a case of the Saturdays".

On our first full weekend here, we did a lot! Wednesday, Sara, Jeff and I ditched the last hour of our prep work (with my principal's encouragement) and went to the beach by my house! There weren't a lot of people, but a lot of seashells and coral was on the beach. We even saw a puffer fish! Very scary! Wednesday night we had a new staff dinner at one of the best Indian restaurants in town! Afterward, My co-workers Sara, Miguel, Sarah, Jeff, Lydia and I went to Jeff's to continue the party. Since they are so strict on drinking and driving here, and I didn't want to go to an Omani jail and be deported within the first two weeks, I just slept at Jeff's.

Thursday we all went to a private beach so the ladies didn't feel uncomfortable with curious stares while they only had on swimming suits. The water was so refreshing and was only about 5.5 feet deep for 100 meters or so. Sara and I swam to a little beach in a cove and trekked back on a ledge overlooking the bay. Just as I mentioned how fun it would be to jump off the cliff, a stingray came flying out from under the ledge! We also saw a lot of spotted and stripped fish as well as crabs. After lunch and hiking up the side of the beach to an impressive view of another bay with islands, we left to go to the souq (market) in old Muscat near the port. I started off buying things without properly bargaining, but as time went on, I learned and we got some pretty cool Omani stuff.

After the Souq, we had a vegetarian dinner at Lydia's house and then I returned home, exhausted.

Today Sara and I went shopping (hopefully I got everything to make my apartment a home by now!) then had lunch with Jeff and now it is time for another pool party!

Aug. 11:04 am.

I have taken a few more pics, but it will be a while until I can get them on here. We have all been very busy around here with shopping, tasks, and getting used to everything. I can't write much right now, as I have a room now and need to start doing some work on it!

Yesterday was a huge day; 12 hours of running around Muscat on a bus with all the new teachers (about 10 of us)! We were able to accomplish a lot, we started the morning getting our fingerprints at a place that was just as comfortable and looked about as official as a barn, then went to get our resident card (I am now an Omani resident!) at a very nice building, and set up our bank accounts, and finally to get our driving licence (I am now an Omani driver!)at an nearly official looking building with very governmental waiting times . We also had to return to every building as we were leaving it because of small errors such as wrong employers, wrong pictures, and wrong date of births on improtant documents. After all that, we had a little part at Joel's to celebrate the near end of getting ourselves registered with the man - in this case, the Sultan Qaboos.

This morning was our last chore outside of school, which was one of the easiest as well as funnest, our liquor licence (I am now an Omani drinker - very rare!). How do you acquire a liquor licence you may ask? Well, they set up a can of beer and a shot of vodka on the counter, if you can drink them both within 20 seconds (you can shotgun the beer if you want, but you have to supply your own key), your golden! Ha ha, jay kay. Seriously, you just have to fill out paper work and prove that you aren't muslim (they just ask). After that, of course, we went to the liquor store! Since Ramadan is coming up, I bought close to $100 worth of booze.

Well, off to do school work now, hope all is well with everyone!

Arrival in Oman

I am officially on my third day in Oman. I arrived Thursday night and got settled in. The trip was great, BA rocks my shirt off (they made me put it back on)and now you can actually start and stop movies whenever you want! Mind it! But, they did leave one bag in Heathrow, but I got it back last night.

First impressions: Hot. Oman is hot, I knew that would be the case coming here, but to give you a description, its like your sitting in a car on a summer day in Michigan with the hot air blowing full blast into your sweaty and dusty face! However, they say it is pretty cool for this time of the year!

Muscat is a long city which stretches East - West along the coast which is to the North and the mountains to the South (however, because of Denver, I always think of the mountains to the west). Because of this geography, there is an interesting climate in Muscat itself; it humid from the ocean, but the dry sands of the desert whip over the tops of the mountains, so there is always a haze on the city due to pollution and the trapped dust in the air.
As far as the land is concerned, it is rock and desert, all the green has been put there by man. But is has its own beauty.
The sea is waveless, but no worries, there are beaches South of here that are good for surfing and the Spring is the best time anyway, so I will still get to learn, hopefully.

My apartment is great! It reminds me of a Spanish apartment, long and condensed. All rooms are seperate and shoot off from the only one corridor. I have a large guest bedroom with a desk to double as my office, a large masterbedroom, kitchen, living room, and two full bathrooms along with a tiny private balcony and a large public balcony (which is basically mine, but I have to leave my apartment and walk to steps across the hall to get to it)

My school is even better, but so far all we've done is used the computers, threw the disc on our perfect soccer field (I can't wait to play!), and swam in our warm pool which actually has coolers and heaters (the coolers are on now and it is still a bit warm). It is so humid here, we often sweat quite a bit just walking around; when we ran around a little on the field, within 10 minutes, my shirt was drenched with sweat, Bernie IV BEWARE! (you may lose 10 pounds of water weight in the first hour of your visit).

Everybody on staff is incredibly nice. There are 4 of us who have been hanging out a lot already and had a nice dinner together last night. I am sure I will have many of adventures with them in the years to come. It turns out, I have the least amount of travel experience, and am probably one of the youngest on the staff at this school. There are families with kids who were born in Thailand, Zimbabwe, Taiwan, etc. I guess when you start this lifestyle, it gets addicting!

Well, I will get pictures posted soon! Miss everyone and Ciao!