author - oman observer

Ray Petersen - petersen_ray@hotmail.com - Every society, for millennia, has looked upon itself as the one that is right in its beliefs, traditions, societal structure, and behaviours, and why not?...

Most of you, or most of us, don’t laugh enough, and take yourselves, or ourselves, way too seriously. Life challenges us often and without warning, so we should revel in the release that laughter,...

That’s what Susan Sonntag wrote some years ago, and I like it! I’ve been fortunate, during these last ten years, to escape that oppressive, debilitating, heat of the Gulf region during the height...

Charles Darwin once wrote, “It’s not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most open to change.” In this, I am confident that he was many years ahead of...

How incredible is Mother Nature? And how incredible it is that her wonders are laid bare to us every single day, and yet we so often take them for granted. Plants and flowers grow, sometimes in the...

There is a delicious irony, isn’t there, in the absolute fact that whether the global price of oil is going up or going down, the price of petrol continues its inexorable rise? In response maybe, I...

I was absolutely delighted two weeks ago to see my home country, New Zealand, seek to take a new path in terms of its emphasis and priorities in the presentation of the annual government budget. In...

I was never really a Game of Thrones fan in its earliest days, but then my daughter kept shortening our phone calls to her in the UK with, “I’ve gotta go… Thrones is on soon,” or “Hi Dad,...

In 2014, a Ministry of Culture and Heritage initiative saw Nottingham Trent University, from the United Kingdom, conduct research that culminated in a strategic plan for sustainable tourism in Birkat...

It is a certainty that we will worry about our world, about what we will leave for future generations, and how the current generation of the Sultanate sees their faith and their future. Sometimes we...

Impulsive thoughts can be seen as a positive or a negative I guess, and a group of budding teachers and I had a discussion recently concerning reflective and impulsive learners. What? You...

MUSCAT, MAY 15 - Event Global Ambassador Paula Radcliffe laid out a clear challenge for Omanis to get involved in the 2020 Al Mouj Muscat Marathon on January 17 and 18 next year, saying “2020, I’m...

We, the man (or woman) on the street have very little knowledge and understanding of the oil and gas industry that is so important to the Sultanate, but I have been fortunate in recent times to...

As if recently completing her Higher Diploma in Education at the University of Nizwa on top of an earlier BA in English Language and Literature from Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat wasn’t enough...

Literature surrounding and referring to Ramadhan has taken on many characteristics across the centuries, and of course the most enduring is the Holy Quran. Children and families play significant roles...

Ray Petersen - Ramadhan intimidates many of those new to the Sultanate because they don’t know anything about it! They are not scared of Ramadhan like, for example a shark in the water, but are...

  Ray Petersen - Long before embracing the Islamic faith here in Oman, during 2016, Dr Guillaume Thouroude, of the Arabic name ‘Ibrahim,’ had admired many of the basic tenets and practices of...

A student teacher, Thuraya al Abri, wrote for me last week, reflecting on the issue of teaching and parenting adolescents, that, “They grow physically, mentally and emotionally, and parenting at...

  Story by Ray Petersen - Photos by Lena Petersen - We are all guilty of not even seeing a wadi until the rains come. After all, they are nothing but a scar on a desolate wasteland, a place to...

  RAY PETERSEN - A recent 2019 Oman Botanic Expedition ventured into new territory to explore the flowers and plant life of terrains in Northern Oman overlooking the Straits of Hormuz. Team...