The things going on

First the big news

Yesterday, I had a cyst the size of my pinky removed from my lower leg. I have had it for years but recently it has been hurting me so I decided to have it removed. It was a major-minor surgery and what do you think they gave for Pain Medication??? Tylenol no NOT Tylenol 3 just plain old Tylenol. What kind of sadistic country does that!!! I have to say that is all I got when I had the skin cancer (Basil Cell Carcinoma) removed from my face.

Kitty has been very sympatric to my pain.  It is strange but I think he can sense it. Usually we go through this routine where he meows and I have to chase him to pet him. I know he is very coy that way, running when you try to give him what he wants. But now with my leg he is very close to my side and does no run away from me. This morning while I was using the internet he came up and checked in on me to make sure I was ok. I guess we won’t sell him after all.

Back to my ramblings…

Well it has been a while since I have written any news. Mostly that was due to my work load last semester – I was working 12 hours most days and on two campuses so going a bit crazy. You have to consider that full time here is considered 6 hours a day and trust me it is just 6y hours of contact as a teacher there is plenty more work to be done outside of the classroom – grading making lesson plans etc. But I needed the money to pay for the kids school fees.

 And Tita still does not have a job she got an offer for about 15% of what I make working at a school where the administration warned her about the kids behavior!!! Needles to say she turned it down. On to the good news I have found a university that will train and hire us both to be IELTS examiners- it is an English test out of Britain- and that would pay for only 2 days a month more than the job offer she had! Also it will help her get a real job as it is a good qualification to have so who knows we might stay in Al Ain for a long time.  Funny note is Andrew is kid of itching to move again, keeps asking where we will live next.


Back to Life in Al Ain

Life has been good here and it is really a great town to live in if we want to do anything really cool we just drive 1 ½ hours down to Dubai and see the sights then drive home. I have to say that I did not get out into the desert much and that for me is a real pity because I do love the desert and the desert driving is a lot of fun for the whole family. Even when someone gets stuck it really puts you to task on your driving skills.

Unlike most of the people I work with I am stuck in Al Ain during breaks. I say stuck because I used to feel that way but more and more I feel Al Ain becoming a type of home for me and my family. I mean most of the people at the University take off on the first flight out of town during break and go to amazing places like Britain, Paris, Italy, Malaysia, etc. and I have to admit I am envious of their travels, but at the same time by having to stay in Al Ain I have found that it is a wonderful city that has a lot to offer. For example on Wednesday night we found an (Indian- I think) B-B-Q restaurant that had no menu!! You think no menu no way- but they only served one think BBQ Chicken! So I go to order Nan bread and they say it all comes with the meal. Also they say we have to sit upstairs in the family section, which was very nice and cleaner than below. And within 10 minutes we had or 4 course meal sitting in front of us right off the grill. First off the chicken was hot off the grill so hot you needed to use the Nan bread to tear it off. We had 3 types of sauces to dip into (non-BBQ sauce like in the USA) all them a variation on a curry theme; all very tasty. We had salad, and neat type of brown rice, Nan bread, and water. We ate till we thought we would explode. And the total bill came to 47 AED which is less than $15!!! I though the guy had made a mistake, but he checked with our waiter again and said he was correct. A family of 4 for a great night out to dinner under $15! Can you not love this place, and the craziest thing was that they all spoke English so well. I am used to a lot of broken English, at the other restraint that is in the Indian part of town they serve up that broken English well, but at his place it was like listening to American TV all the guys spoke perfectly accented English!

The other Indian restaurant, Super, is great as well and you get awesome food. Also they do have a menu and you can order lots of cool dishes. We like to go to this place and hang out. Granted both of these restaurants are in a more industrial part of town. Not dirty but not clean by any measure it is kind of like I think India would be. Anyway at Super you can get a great selection of food and it all taste great and you will eat until you are stuffed, feeding a family of 4 for 150AEDor $40.

As I have said there are some really cool things about this town. I like living here very much but if Tita cannot find a job next year might be our last year here. I have heard that Sulton Qaboos University in Muscat Oman is more liberal in hiring and they would hire Tita give her Master’s degree and teaching experience. Also Oman is a much more outsider friendly place and Muscat is much more cosmopolitan than Al Ain. Also Muscat has a great beach and the mountains make a nice back drop. I have talked to many people and they have said they would move there if it weren’t for the money. But if Tita and I were both working at the University then we would make more money than I do working here alone, and they would pay for all the kids schooling. Also the inflation is not as bad in Oman as it is here so things would be a lot more affordable.

We will wait and see if we do move. I would like to settle down a bit I feel my kids should be used to being on one place for a while and also my resume could stand to be at a job for more than 3 years. But who knows…