Tomorrow begins a nine day break. The second Eid, Eid-AlAdha, is upon us, and I'll have so much free time we'll be climbing the pockmarked and scruffy walls. I look forward to coming in to the office, it's the start of eight and a half hours of doing something that doesn't include watching television. What's wrong with writing lesson plans, surfing the internet with poor visuals, going to lunch in the college restaurant at noon, all meals 1RO, (about $2.60) and then returning to the empty flat by 4:30pm? Should I be in despair? Should I be depressed? No internet for nine days?
On this last day of my first full week teachers have nowhere to make copies for their lessons. I have nowhere to go to make copies for my study skills lessons. If the OHPs' work in the seven classrooms I should survive, but if they don't and I haven't been able to make copies to give to 215 students well, should I be in despair? Should I be depressed? Should I buy a lap top?
A laptop may take priority over a car. At least then I can continue thinking about the jobs that face us at this new, very new university. In our meeting yesterday I learned there is no testing committee and no curriculum committee. We'll be putting together quizzes and mid-terms in piecemeal and hoping they look and deliver in a professional way. It's hard to gauge who if any will give a hoot, except the students.
I am trying to get motivated to make a border crossing during the nine day ceasefire, though it will take some effort. I must hire a taxi have him drive me to the Jizi checkpoint, 20km east of Buraimi, along the Sohar road, to get an exit stamp and then return to the border, where I live three kms away from. When I return to Buraimi I will have to return to the Jizi checkpoint to get another stamp. Why are they doing this? Who the blank knows, it's lazy politics, is what it is. For whatever reasons they have they're not legitimate and soon change for the better or worse because of someone's penchant for the absurd.
If I don't go I will simply stay put. Every day will be the same, would you like me to tell you of such an itinerary? I will wake up around six am, eat breakfast, read and watch tv until it is time to eat lunch and then I will continue reading, going outside for any length of time in the afternoon isn't too cool right now, maybe I'll take a nap, and then around 7pm I'll go out for dinner. During school I eat my lunch on campus and dinner is at home, for two weeks ramen noodles and a couple of pitas filled with cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers drenched with hot sauce, suffices. So a different place to eat will be something to do. Maybe I'll write about it here.
Tonight the plan is walk one km to the oldest hotel in the city for a beer, if that is, they still have a bar to serve it. I'll be bummed if they don't. Imagine taking a 4 hour bus to Muscat for a beer, or the four hour bus and an hour flight to Dubai, for a beer. Such absurdities aren't that absurd if you consider you have all the time in the world at your fingers.
In the mornings I read a Padre Pio prayer and it's all about asking for something, by the grace of God, I need this and that. I don't know what to ask for, except for the grace to be a good teacher. Asking for companionship, for love, for riches, we're so fraught with guilt, expecting anything that could make me happy is selfish, all I can ask is to be a better teacher. How can I survive here for five years? Getting old like this isn't too fulfilling when all I have to speak to is God and God remains silent. Aren't those of us who talk like this really in the end too crazy for this world? By what means do you go on? I'd like to know.
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