Or..You know What?

Quarter Past 5 ~ by Debasis

I thought about quitting teaching over and over but then decided to get it over with since I agreed to start. As from today, I'd be heading to Al-Seeb at 6 AM and coming back at 6 PM when the older group's lesson finishes.

This way, I won't be feeling homesick and the pressure of work somehow decreases after seeing my family and getting to spend some quality time by watching the World Cup games. When I reached school today morning, I remembered how frustrated and angry I was last Wednesday.

My parents talked me into it and after thinking about it, I realized I had to stick to my word and to never hold any responsibilities that I'm not capable of handling, straight from the beginning itself.

Another thing that kind of pushed me forward is that my cousin will be helping me. She'll be taking if not all, some responsibilities off my shoulders. Being with the kids again enlightened me as to why I really wanted this job.

Note: This is my 100th blog post.

Not Going Back

I've been counting down the days till the weekend so I could come back home. Tuesday and Wednesday were the toughest days I've gone through ever since I started teaching. I don't know why have I chosen to do this in the first place. Sure it seemed nice and wow at first, but now, it's just the opposite of all this.


Being with kids and teaching them is enjoyable, of course. But as fun as it may sound..it's also tiring. Very tiring, to the extent that I want to quit. No one seems to grasp this idea as they think I wouldn't dare to do it. Well, stay back and watch me.

What's worse is that my boss is no one other than my favourite aunt. She started this summer school at her own house and staying there on weekdays were part of my commitment. I wholly agreed on teaching the 14 to 17 years old students at the afternoon and the morning lessons of 4-13 years old weren't part of the deal at the beginning.

I agreed because the job was thrown on me and I couldn't do anything about it. I thought I could handle myself but I cannot anymore. 4-9 years old kids were packed up in one class and I had to put up with their noise and the older students complaints..

While the lesson of 10-13 years old were a mixture of different levels of understanding and having to prepare various activities each day was a drag I had to go through for 10 days and that was that.

Coming back home this weekend with the intention of not going back to that hell-hole ever again. Although it's not that easy given the fact that I already started. Praying to get out of this trouble in no time and resume enjoying my summer in the real sense of the word.

Goodbye IGCSE, Hello Summer

I can officially and finally say that I'm done with IGCSE, finals and most importantly, school! As usual, I had already preplanned how to spend summer break and I'll be sharing any updates with you soon.

Going through IGCSE used to be something that I've feared and anticipated for the past 2 years seeing as how this is an important part of my academic studies. And, it gives me great pleasure to say that there won't be any international examinations to go through again now that I finished IGCSE. Of course, as for the other private schools, there's the IB and AS level to take after IG but our school, fortunately for me, doesn't provide this. Instead, we'll be taking the Government's Bilingual system next year, which is based on Edxcell's syllabus (they haven't gone too far, have they?)

I hope I can accomplish, if not all, most of my plans on the to-do list. Both teaching and writing for Oman Observer at the same time are one of them...but I'm still struggling on multi-tasking. Funny how we assume that summer starts when school finishes only, when in fact, summer in Oman have started since March around here.

*Some of you, fellow readers, have been asking me to update this place regularly, but that just clashes with my summer plans... so I can't make any promises.

Leaving you with a brilliant piece of It's Your Day by Yiruma, because today is MY day! ;)

Cyclone Phet Damages

I just came back home and had to cross a wadi to do so. Our house, which had been badly damaged during Gonu seems alright now and water haven't entered this time. Such a relief. Fortunately for us, the storm's category reduced to 1 and changed its course again, leaving the Omani coasts with heavy winds and rains.

Masirah, Sur, Jalan and Ras Alhad are flooded literally. Thankfully, the residents have been informed earlier and have gone to safer places.


So, all in all, the storm headed to Pakistani coasts yesterday evening and some parts of Oman are flooded and wadis are still flowing. 8 death cases have been registered so far. May they all rest in peace.

Muscat is very bright and sunny today which makes it all the more harder to believe that it had been hit by Phet cyclone yesterday (except of the wadis)

Hoping Beyond Hope...

By now, we're all aware of what's coming. Surprisingly enough, Oman TV paid attention to this at the last minutes and if it did earlier, during the day, it didn't exactly make a huge fuss out of it. It's sad to see this given that that was what happened when Cyclone Gonu struck Oman nearly 3 years ago.

Cyclone Phet (Meaning; A diamond in Thai) have changed its course and id expected to hit the coastal areas of Oman, probably Sur, Ras Al Had and Masirah (which have been evacuated earlier). Let's just hope it's not going to be as bad as Gonu, because we've been through literal hell during and after it. Allah yester.

A Small Gesture

"Day 3
June, 2nd"

Today was the third day; we kicked off with revising the letter A & B and how to write the letter C. As a fun activity, I scattered around letters’ cards and asked them to find a specific letter. They all took it as a challenge and competed with each other to impress me.

Another thing I have to get used to along with being called Ms. is to always keep a smile on my face even if I loses the hope. As I said, I didn’t sign up for teaching kids originally and when I did, I didn’t exactly realize how hard it is going to be. But, I know that the outcome is far important than the process it self. Being positive is a bonus in this job.

By time, I’ll keep up and they’ll do too. I’m utterly happy that they’re having a great time in class which is why their parents look around for this new English teacher to tell her how much their kids mention her. They keep repeating the word ‘7abooba’ (lovable) When in fact, it’s fortunate that they’re only kids.

I was checking the student’s notebooks and that's when this cute girl comes to me and hands me a stuffed bunny carrying a tiny heart. She said, almost soundlessly, ‘hathi elhadiyah 7alish Ms.’ This little gesture brought tears to my eyes and I held her in a warm hug.

It is when I realized that being who you are matters more than what you teach.

First Teaching Experience

Day 1
May, 30th.

One of my many summer plans is teaching English for the first time at a summer school. I was originally assigned to teach an older age group (from 12-16) but yesterday's class changed my agenda.

Ahmed: Will we have English tomorrow as well?
Me: No, it's just for today.
Ahmed: Why, did we annoy you Ms..?

How could I have said no to that? I agreed and so I'd be working twice a day, morning and noon. Turned out, I have more than 0.00% patience... I've always said that teaching kids is a sacrifice, one that I choose to take this time. At the beginning, I was afraid of losing it, especially if we're talking about 4-6 years old kids..but things are going pretty smoothly.

Kids, at this stage, are so smart and attentive and molding their skills from now on is a huge responsibility. I never imagined that teaching can be so hard but as long as you're having fun and the kids are too then that's what really matters.

As for tomorrow, I'd be meeting the older students and might start out with a small language level test. Stay tuned for later updates!

Note: This series of posts are dedicated to @toxic_honey and @developar

[Movie] Shrek Forever After (2010)

This being my first experience in watching films in 3D, I was pretty impressed. I've loved the ugly green ogre's story and have watched the 3 previous parts and it saddens me that the tale came to an end with Shrek Forever After. I can't deny that I had great expectations for this one as it's the ending chapter.

It was, one way or the other, a fantastic journey where Shrek realizes the value of Fiona and his new life after rescuing her from the tower in the first movie. At the beginning of the movie, he did not like how predictable his life became and the fact that no one fears him anymore.


Rumpelstiltskin, on the other hand, fantasizes the non-existence of Shrek and getting the keys to Far Far Away kingdom that he gets the right chance to wow Shrek into signing a life-changing deal….

After this, things go back to how it would be like if he didn’t save Fiona and when people are afraid of him…but that joy stops to an end when he couldn’t have Fiona’s love or his children and friends.

He then sets off to help Fiona, the leader of a group of ogres, and wins her heart back.

The movie’s animation was pretty awesome but had a somewhat weak storyline. It gets a 7/10 from me. You can catch it at Cinema AlShatti or book your tickets online from here.

Also, on one of the scences, a character (Donkey or Puss, I can't exactly remember) sang One Love by Jason Mraz (originally by Bob Marley). I absolutely adore this song so I'll leave you with it..

American Idol Results Are In

I've been rooting for Lee DeWyze ever since the auditions. And just last night, he was crowned as America's Idol by getting more votes than Crystal Bowersox. Besides, Lee's deep voice reminds me of Chad Kroeger's and I'm a huge fan of both of them now.

I've never watched this show before...but I was hooked on it since the beginning of this season for two reasons; Simon's attitude and Lee DeWyze.

Waiting for his own upcoming albums and songs!

The finale's results;

Lee singing Hallelujah;

This years best performances were,

Katie Stevens singing Let It Be by the Beatles;


Didi Benami singing Playing With Fire by Rolling Stones;

New Hope For Tourette Syndrome Patients

The Doctors episode on Life-Changing Procedures featured Tyler Boshae with Tourette's Syndrome. Read more about him here.

This video contains some disturbing footage of Tyler suffering from his uncontrollable tics..

After the Deep Brain Stimulation surgery, he now has a better quality of life and as he put it, "I want to emphasize that this procedure, it's groundbreaking, it's life-changing, but it's not a cure. It didn't take my condition away completely. It gave me a much higher quality of life, almost a complete flip, but I still have bad days, I still have hard times. My tics still kick up a lot, but this procedure has made it so much more manageable, enjoyable, and I'm able to enjoy being with my family now, and can be with my friends and do activities. It's great."

Watch this video to know how life-changing this was for him.

During the procedure, an electrode was implanted in the thalamus part of the brain (where the electrical impulses and sensory information are interpreted). After surgery, electricity was used to stimulate certain parts of the thalamus and control the cells that cause these painful and unmanageable tics.

If you want to help the foundation Tyler created, click here.

This story reminded me of a non-fiction I read (Torn Apart by James Patterson and Hal Friedman) based on Corey's rough childhood. When reading it, I couldn't imagine how hard this must be. But pictures speak a thousand words..

Allah gave us many gifts and the most important of all is health. We complain a lot but our sadness doesn't stand a chance near the miseries other disabled people suffer from.

The least we can do is thank God for what he's given us...and see the large picture..

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قال تعالى :
"لَئن شكَرتم لأزِيدنكم"
- سورة إبراهيم، اية رقم: 7


"And remember! your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): "If ye are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you; But if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment is terrible indeed."
- Surat Ibrahim, verse no. 7

Too Honest

‘Keep things to yourself. If you don’t like something then don’t say it’.

Yesterday’s drama with my friends struck me like a lightening. They all ganged up on me about how straight-forward I am. Why? When did honesty became a crime? Am I not supposed to speak up my mind? Should I hold it in? Do you want me to talk behind your back as it easier for you?

Well, no. I say what I think of you in front of your face. I do not care if you think I am a cold-hearted girl if I did so.

The whole fiasco was about online love. I simply stated the obvious, or rather my thought about the matter. You can’t call a relation with a total stranger ‘love’. What’s up with that? They accused me of generalizing. Excuse me if that’s the truth. Why, is it so hard to accept the fact that this is just a teenage crush…that most of us, teenagers, went through someday?

Again, they also said that just because I haven’t been in love doesn’t mean hers isn’t real. Being in love or not, it’s a no brainer that this doesn’t work in the real world. Especially if he’s a Japanese dude whom you’re planning to marry.

Then, the table turned on my persona and how I use ‘difficult’ English to communicate with them, thinking that they’re all as nerdy as I am. When in fact, there’s no simpler English than mine.

That out my mind, I am counting the days till summer …

Note: Blogging is a good venting machine.

Complex Creatures

Humans are complex creatures; the most curious of all. We have different reactions and thoughts. Various shapes, sizes, heights and body and we are not the same on the inside.

(1) What if our thoughts could be heard by everyone? Would it be easier to get around or?

(2) ‘Knowledge will get you everywhere’ they keep saying. What if, from your personal experience, it doesn’t? What if you had no money? Will you be able to live happily ever after? Of course not. Both of them balance each other.

(3) We wish to own all the money in the world to do this or that…you name it. But will we be able to do all of that if the power took us down?

(4) They say ‘work hard to reach your goals’. What if you didn’t? What do you do then? Work less and expect more? We don’t know… unless we try.

(5) ‘Learn from others’ mistakes’ they also say. And there’s a contradicting saying as well ‘failure is the key to success’…What’s that all about? Which is the perfect way of learning?

(6) When we were brought into this world, we came out crying. As babies, we already knew life will be difficult. Whenever we wanted to get attention for food or something else we would cry. Ever wondered why we cry too when we are beaten up? It’s the pain. And when we didn’t even make sense of things back then, we were in pain. It’s all the same, at the end of the day.

When you grow old, you realize this pain. But as kids, we couldn’t spell the word pain, let alone understand what it stands for.

Realization of the pain increases it. This is why our mothers pierce our ears straight from the first few months it self. We do not know that it causes pain; we only know when it does.

Once you are all grown up, you become a different person. And when you look back to your family’s pictures albums you realize that the baby with an adorable smile full of innocence was you though aren’t anymore.

(7) We make promises then break them. Make more promises and break some more. When will we ever stick to our word? We expect others to, don’t we? Why don’t we apply it to ourselves first? Is it too much to ask?

(8) Humans think about their own self. We’re selfish creatures that put our business as a priority and no one should deny that. We deny other lots of things, like the fact that we cannot control our thoughts. We say ‘this thing won’t come out of my mind’. You don’t want it to. It all comes, one way or the other, to you.

(9) ‘I’ve been in this situation before’, we often say to ease other individuals sadness. We do it to help them, or do we, really? No. You haven’t been in the situation. Why? You haven’t exactly been in this particular one, have you now? No and never will. Each one of us goes through different stages, phases or whatever you want to call it, and even if they look and sound similar, they are actually not.

(10) The phrase ‘I’d die for you’ is an exaggeration, a lie. You can’t die for someone. No one can. You only die when you…actually die.

Written by me; a complex creature.

My [Birth]day

Some years back, on this particular day, I was born.

Back when things were all HUGE, I used to think very little of things and had shallow, stupid observations.

(1) I'd turn off the TV if I had to go outside, thinking that when I return, I'd continue watching my cartoon from where I paused it. Switching off the TV meant pausing the movie to me.

(2) Remote controls were fascinating devices to me. I had the idea of the presence of an invisible wire, linking the remote control to the TV or whatever.

(3) I thought I only grew older at my birthdays. When in fact, I grow older by the passage of a second.

(4) Grown-ups using calculators in a Math exam meant cheating. What's the purpose of a maths exam if you have all the answers? At the time, I didn't (and still haven't) learned the multiplication table. Sue me.

To stop your curiousity or spare you from asking me to enjoy my BIG day, this is how I usually spend my birthday:

• Getting all anxious on April.
• Not quiet getting that it's actually May.
• Waiting till the clock strike 12:01 PM.
• Hugging my sister.
• Start noting down what changed in the course of the previous 16th of May.
• I'd fret over the fact that it IS my birthday today and expect others to be as pimped up as I am.
• Sleep it off.
• Dream of performing the same rituals at the up-coming 16th of May.

Fun, isn't it?

On a serious note, I consider my birthday as the new year. It's where you get older by a year and where you know that on this same day you were born, except, you're not the same anymore. You're the same child that was brought into this world crying. No. You're a completely different person than who you were and you will always be one.

Disclaimer: Nope, I did not actually stay up to 12 PM to post this. This was one of those 'scheduled' posts that I love typing before.

[Movie] Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

(Yep, those are meatballs falling right from the sky!)

The movie starts out nicely, very typically, I should say: Flint, a geek guy wants to become a famous inventor. He dreams of wearing his white coat right from first grade. Over the years, his inventions failed over and over again, but he kept going.

His mother was the only one who believed him, besides his own self.

His father, on the other hand, wanted Flint to work with him, in running the sardines shop they owned. The town, in the movie, relied on sardines as a food resource alone. Funny glimpses of salmon usage were portrayed at the beginning that even babies were fed on it.

On a public event of opening Baby Brent’s little area, Flint decides to use the town’s power supply. And that’s when it all starts….Suddenly, the machine Flint invented (somehow) sticks somewhere over the clouds and start releasing large amounts of Burgers. (Literally!)

People went crazy and Flint was then engrossed with the media’s attention as this was what he always dreamed of. He then gets requests to deliver this or that type of food three times a day and it was like heaven for the kiddos. (Doughnuts and ice creams! Yummy!)


But then things take a new course when the demand rises, causing the machine to release an even bigger amount of food that corrupted the little town.

Flint, his friend Sam and Brent set together with the aim of removing off the machine once and for all...they set out high and flew over to the machine that was covered with a thick layer of large food.


The movie, which I had fun watching with my friends at class was ridiculously cute and hilarious. Hence the amount of photos I used on this post. I'd give it a 9/10.

Before sitting for this movie, help yourself with pasta or something seriously edible and delicious so that you won't get all sorts of cravings like I did (And in my case, I had to go and search for Dunkin Donuts in 3 different Selects after watching the movie, but I couldn't find any)

Speaking of cravings, I've been craving Canada Dry which used to be and still is my favourite drink but since Babu ran out of it, I am now addicted to 7 Up (Sugar Free)...What's your favourite summer drink?