Home (sort of)

Today I finally left the hotel and moved into my own flat.   Minimal in an ‘unfinished’ rather than a ‘John Pawson’ way.   There are two rooms, each with attached bathroom, either side of a living-room/hallway with tiny adjoining kitchen.  

Bedroom:

Kitchen/dining/living room:

And spare room for now:

As you can see, my furniture currently consists of  a bed, a fridge, and a cooker; once I get paid, I might splash out on a shelf or two and either chairs or a carpet.   Thick concrete walls mean it’s quite cool even in the daytime (for now, at least).   This being Oman, there are holes in the walls for air conditioners; the landlord covered up the one in my bedroom with a not very aesthetic piece of brown cardboard.

Last night, the landlord took me to investigate internet services.   First stop was Nawras, an ultra-modern place all done up in white, with white iMacs and men in white dishdashas floating around (properly minimal).   The only problem with their offering was that the modem has to be mounted outside, either by their man (at a cost of about 60 pounds), or by someone capable of affixing things to concrete walls.  Next up was the state outfit, OmanTel, where a grizzled-looking old man didn’t seem to know anything about their service, except that it would require extracting a whole series of documents from my employer.   So back to Nawras and got their modem, which seems to be working happily as long as it’s placed in the window.

The neighbourhood is intriguing.   The block of flats is on the north edge of town (nearish the college, but a bit too far to walk), which seems to be expanding rapidly – a new university opened near the college last year.   This morning I’ve seen a foreign couple walking past with their dogs (first pet dogs I’ve seen in Oman), and right now there’s a flocklet of long-haired goats nibbling among the rubble outside my window.

(update)

The landlord just came by again, to explain that he’d forgotten that he’d already promised this flat to someone else, and could I move to the one upstairs (second floor instead of first)?   The upstairs one has a better view and a balcony, so I agreed, and his man is going to come and carry my few sticks of furniture upstairs tonight.   Lucky for him they are so few.