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My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror
480
by Matthew Heines
Matthew Heines
My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror
480
by Matthew Heines
Matthew Heines
eBook
$9.99
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
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Overview
(2005 Revised Edition 2013)
What happens when a wise-cracking American teacher flies to Muscat, Oman to live as the only American in a tiny town on the coast of Arabia-just after September 11, 2001?
The answer is going to surprise you.
In this true story about life in the Sultanate of Oman during the initial years of the War On Terror, the author leaves the United States after the events of September 11th. He takes a job as an English teacher in a small town on the country's sparsely populated and picturesque seacoast.
In My Year in Oman, the first book of his American Experiences in Arabia series, the author uses vivid imagery, humor and detailed descriptions to take the reader from the cramped classrooms of a small college dominated by an anti-American British faculty (who suspect he is a spy), to the sandy white beaches of the Oman coast and the majestic Hajar Mountains.
The author also learns the intricacies and the delights of the Indian culture after he encounters a female professor while attending a conference at a college in the capitol city of Muscat, far away from his remote college town on the coast.
My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror combines the elements of travel, humor, and romance as the author tries to explain the realities of life, education and love in Arabia. It is that mixing of the Arab, British, Indian and American cultures that makes this real life story about a small, wealthy, friendly Middle Eastern country called the Sultanate of Oman so amazing. Because it is based on real life, My Year in Oman will take the reader through the past, present and future of Oman and the Middle East in an interesting and objective way. More than any other true story about the Middle East, My Year in Oman is the most fun and easy way to understand modern Arabia.
"I finished your book yesterday, and I want you to know how much I enjoyed it. You did a great job describing the country, the people, the contrasting cultures, and your relationships..."
Richard
Bellevue, Washington
From the Author
The country is called the Sultanate of Oman because it is ruled by a singular figure in the form of a generous and caring despot named Sultan Qaboos bin Said who, though a small and thin man, carries the most weight in the Arabian world when it comes to enlightened counsel and settling the disagreements of other nations. My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia is in fact the Sultan's story as much as my own, because without the work that he commissioned in modernizing his country on a Biblical scale, I wouldn't have been invited to teach at a university there and I would most likely have much less of a story to tell.
My Year in Oman is about the mixing of cultures, something that has been done for thousands of years on this geographically strategic area of the world where India, Asia, the Persian Gulf and Africa are all relatively easily accessible by ship. My Year in Oman is, in a tongue-in-cheek way, a vehicle to highlight the author's stereotypically American manner of thinking.
I first considered writing My Year in Oman, within the first few days I was in the country, based simply on the events that occur at the beginning of the book. I figured if that much had happened, there had to be much more coming that would be interesting and something people where I lived would never, ever experience, nor, most likely, even comprehend. I started my My Year in Oman, the second year of my contract at the university where I was teaching. I was sure by then I had more than enough to write about. I will let the reader be the judge of that, although the size of the book is an indication there were at least a few events worth noting.
More than anything else though, as I relate in my second book, Another Year in Oman, I knew that I was experiencing what I refer to ingeniously as the "Old Oman" with unpaved roads, small populations and enough infrastructure to keep the Omanis comfortable as long as they had more and more roads, buildings, houses, cars, electricity, water and money.
I wanted people to understand what the Omani culture was really like, but I also wanted people to see the places, to breathe the warm sea air and feel the sweat from the oppressive humid heat and the coolness of the open sea as I undertook solitary snorkeling trips into the Gulf. I wanted to share the Arabian desert at night, the dawn and the height of noon-day. I wanted people to experience my first mornings eating breakfast in a five-star hotel watching the dark blue waves hitting the brown sand beaches of the Gulf of Oman as the temperature intensive sun climbed into the sky.
humor, funny books, romance, travel, Middle East teaching, jobs, culture, Oman, Muscat, Sur, snorkeling, Dubai, EFL, Indian women, Indians in Oman, Indian romance
What happens when a wise-cracking American teacher flies to Muscat, Oman to live as the only American in a tiny town on the coast of Arabia-just after September 11, 2001?
The answer is going to surprise you.
In this true story about life in the Sultanate of Oman during the initial years of the War On Terror, the author leaves the United States after the events of September 11th. He takes a job as an English teacher in a small town on the country's sparsely populated and picturesque seacoast.
In My Year in Oman, the first book of his American Experiences in Arabia series, the author uses vivid imagery, humor and detailed descriptions to take the reader from the cramped classrooms of a small college dominated by an anti-American British faculty (who suspect he is a spy), to the sandy white beaches of the Oman coast and the majestic Hajar Mountains.
The author also learns the intricacies and the delights of the Indian culture after he encounters a female professor while attending a conference at a college in the capitol city of Muscat, far away from his remote college town on the coast.
My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror combines the elements of travel, humor, and romance as the author tries to explain the realities of life, education and love in Arabia. It is that mixing of the Arab, British, Indian and American cultures that makes this real life story about a small, wealthy, friendly Middle Eastern country called the Sultanate of Oman so amazing. Because it is based on real life, My Year in Oman will take the reader through the past, present and future of Oman and the Middle East in an interesting and objective way. More than any other true story about the Middle East, My Year in Oman is the most fun and easy way to understand modern Arabia.
"I finished your book yesterday, and I want you to know how much I enjoyed it. You did a great job describing the country, the people, the contrasting cultures, and your relationships..."
Richard
Bellevue, Washington
From the Author
The country is called the Sultanate of Oman because it is ruled by a singular figure in the form of a generous and caring despot named Sultan Qaboos bin Said who, though a small and thin man, carries the most weight in the Arabian world when it comes to enlightened counsel and settling the disagreements of other nations. My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia is in fact the Sultan's story as much as my own, because without the work that he commissioned in modernizing his country on a Biblical scale, I wouldn't have been invited to teach at a university there and I would most likely have much less of a story to tell.
My Year in Oman is about the mixing of cultures, something that has been done for thousands of years on this geographically strategic area of the world where India, Asia, the Persian Gulf and Africa are all relatively easily accessible by ship. My Year in Oman is, in a tongue-in-cheek way, a vehicle to highlight the author's stereotypically American manner of thinking.
I first considered writing My Year in Oman, within the first few days I was in the country, based simply on the events that occur at the beginning of the book. I figured if that much had happened, there had to be much more coming that would be interesting and something people where I lived would never, ever experience, nor, most likely, even comprehend. I started my My Year in Oman, the second year of my contract at the university where I was teaching. I was sure by then I had more than enough to write about. I will let the reader be the judge of that, although the size of the book is an indication there were at least a few events worth noting.
More than anything else though, as I relate in my second book, Another Year in Oman, I knew that I was experiencing what I refer to ingeniously as the "Old Oman" with unpaved roads, small populations and enough infrastructure to keep the Omanis comfortable as long as they had more and more roads, buildings, houses, cars, electricity, water and money.
I wanted people to understand what the Omani culture was really like, but I also wanted people to see the places, to breathe the warm sea air and feel the sweat from the oppressive humid heat and the coolness of the open sea as I undertook solitary snorkeling trips into the Gulf. I wanted to share the Arabian desert at night, the dawn and the height of noon-day. I wanted people to experience my first mornings eating breakfast in a five-star hotel watching the dark blue waves hitting the brown sand beaches of the Gulf of Oman as the temperature intensive sun climbed into the sky.
humor, funny books, romance, travel, Middle East teaching, jobs, culture, Oman, Muscat, Sur, snorkeling, Dubai, EFL, Indian women, Indians in Oman, Indian romance
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940150380110 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | heinessight |
| Publication date: | 10/18/2014 |
| Series: | American Experiences in Arabia During the War On Terror , #1 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 480 |
| File size: | 17 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
"IF YOU LOVE TO READ, YOU'LL LOVE TO READ MY BOOKS."
Published works: My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror (2005). Another Year in Oman: Between Iraq and a Hard Place (2007). Deceptions of the Ages:"Mormons" Freemasons and Extraterrestrials (2010). Killing Time in Saudi Arabia: An American Experience (2013): Sequim, Washington
Military Service: Paratrooper/Machine gunner 82nd Airborne Division
Education: Washington State University-Bachelor of Arts, History
University of Alaska, Anchorage- Master of Arts-Education
Teaching Experience: Anchorage School District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Palmer-Wasilla, Alaska.) Northshore, Lake Washington, Shoreline School District (Seattle, Washington).Sur University College, Saudi Arabia National Guard English School (VinnellArabia), Sohar Oman, Oman Ministry of Higher Education, King Abdullah Air Defense Academy, Taif, Saudi Arabia (Raytheon).
If you want to know more about me, visit www.heinessight.com or my Matthew Heines YouTube channel.
Published works: My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War On Terror (2005). Another Year in Oman: Between Iraq and a Hard Place (2007). Deceptions of the Ages:"Mormons" Freemasons and Extraterrestrials (2010). Killing Time in Saudi Arabia: An American Experience (2013): Sequim, Washington
Military Service: Paratrooper/Machine gunner 82nd Airborne Division
Education: Washington State University-Bachelor of Arts, History
University of Alaska, Anchorage- Master of Arts-Education
Teaching Experience: Anchorage School District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Palmer-Wasilla, Alaska.) Northshore, Lake Washington, Shoreline School District (Seattle, Washington).Sur University College, Saudi Arabia National Guard English School (VinnellArabia), Sohar Oman, Oman Ministry of Higher Education, King Abdullah Air Defense Academy, Taif, Saudi Arabia (Raytheon).
If you want to know more about me, visit www.heinessight.com or my Matthew Heines YouTube channel.
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