It is unfortunate but the only quality of life in this town is having the means to get out of it. And two days in the capital was good, a bit pricy but I don't know how to get around that one. The five hour bus is ten bucks each way. I could hitchhike. The room was 31 OMR a night after taxes. That's about $78. I could sleep on the beach. I'm embarrassed to say I visited Starbucks five times. And I walked an hour for a McDonalds breakfast. Meals added up. Beer added up. I'm such a lightweight these days. Four pints and I'm headed for room 521. Sigh.
Mid term exams continue here at the not so jolly ranch. All the teachers have left. That's one of the few things they got right here. Keeping teachers for eight, nine hours when they can do their work at home isn't good. So why are you here? Because I don't have a computer. And all I'd do at this time of day is sleep and putz around.
I finished Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior" a little too fast. Rednecks and Climate change. Sometimes I get this feeling I am supposed to be reading something at any given time. I do not think about climate change and anything significant happening this month or the next month ad nauseum.
Nevertheless if I don't spend money my quality of life will depress to no end. I can drive. I can get out. Al-Ain. Dubai. Even walking around with something to look at is better than straggling along in this oversized truck stop. Yesterday the students did their speaking exams and they sure are a candid bunch, those who can speak that is. I pressed a few of them on the country's lack of investment in this border town, and really, how can one not compare it with the greener than grass space on the other side. Some say it's money. I don't buy it anymore. The latest stats show Oman has 4 million people, 44% of them are now expats, and the average salary of the Omani has risen in the last four years to 1,170 OMR, more than three clammers a month. The place is just a forgotten and disputed stain on the country. Why they didn't sell it to the Saudis makes me think that's the problem right now. They did sell it to the Saudis and they ain't doing a damn thing with it.
Well it's certainly not a place to remember. Like a desert wind it will blow the land clean.
Mid term exams continue here at the not so jolly ranch. All the teachers have left. That's one of the few things they got right here. Keeping teachers for eight, nine hours when they can do their work at home isn't good. So why are you here? Because I don't have a computer. And all I'd do at this time of day is sleep and putz around.
I finished Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior" a little too fast. Rednecks and Climate change. Sometimes I get this feeling I am supposed to be reading something at any given time. I do not think about climate change and anything significant happening this month or the next month ad nauseum.
Nevertheless if I don't spend money my quality of life will depress to no end. I can drive. I can get out. Al-Ain. Dubai. Even walking around with something to look at is better than straggling along in this oversized truck stop. Yesterday the students did their speaking exams and they sure are a candid bunch, those who can speak that is. I pressed a few of them on the country's lack of investment in this border town, and really, how can one not compare it with the greener than grass space on the other side. Some say it's money. I don't buy it anymore. The latest stats show Oman has 4 million people, 44% of them are now expats, and the average salary of the Omani has risen in the last four years to 1,170 OMR, more than three clammers a month. The place is just a forgotten and disputed stain on the country. Why they didn't sell it to the Saudis makes me think that's the problem right now. They did sell it to the Saudis and they ain't doing a damn thing with it.
Well it's certainly not a place to remember. Like a desert wind it will blow the land clean.
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