Preparing kids for life: The answers are in our hands!
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...
Wadi: The ‘stuff of dreams’ so rarely appreciated
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...
Oman Botanic Expedition: Exploring the flora of Musandam
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...
Education Today: Turning Mirrors into Windows
Utopia describes an environment where everything is perfect, or, as Sir Thomas More wrote during the 15th century, the pursuit of that state of idealism we all seek. It was seen as the perfect world,...
Changing attitudes to tourism essential...
Tourism is, I have no doubt, the avenue of ‘salvation’ in many respects, for the Sultanate that appears to have navigated its way through the troubled waters of sub sixty dollar per barrel, global...
Backstage at Cirque du Soleil: The secrets of their success
The show is amazing, the colour, the music, the costumes, the spectacle, the entire performance, of Cirque du Soleil’s current show in Muscat, ‘Bazaar,’ is a festival, a celebration of family...
Cirque du Soleil: Where the Excitement Never Ends
Take a truckload of youthful exuberance, a ton of talent, endless beauty, limitless colour, boundless energy, a dash of magic, a pinch of passion, and some extraordinary vision, innovation, and...
The curious case of the dog wagging the tail
There’s no doubt about it, is there? It is a funny old world that we live in, so full of contradictions and implausibility’s that you couldn’t make it up! Probably top of the list is the Brexit...
Carving different pathways
For two students in particular, last week’s University of Nizwa graduation ceremony was particularly poignant. Reem al Thuhli, from Hay Al Turath, and Buthaina al Yahyaee, from Bahla, even...
Bait al Hadith: A home beyond measure
Issa Nasser Said Al Saqri gestured with pride at the grand old house standing tall in the Harat Al Saybani area of Birkat Al Mouz, where many of the houses are around 400 years old. The Bait Al...
Compassion and empathy help the healing...
I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud to be a New Zealander than during this last week, and I can put that down to one person, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has continued to...
Symphonie de Parfum
The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Qurum really does embrace its new face, its ‘nouveau visage,’ with pride, and so it should! General Manager for Crowne Plaza Muscat, Herve Corvest, (photo on right) can...
‘Le Soiree,’ cocktail party at French Embassy
The French Ambassador to Oman, HE Renaud Salins hosted a Cocktail Party for invited dignitaries from the Governmental, Business, Financial, Entrepreneurial, Education and Diplomatic sectors, at his...
The end of the innocence as Christchurch mourns
Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand again mourns, for the quintessential Garden City of Christchurch, which was just beginning to find its character again after the earthquakes of...
Your food is that of dreams. Well, mine anyway!
Did you know there is no single word in the French language for healthy? ‘En bonne santé’ doesn’t quite cut the mustard does it, in terms of reinforcing healthy eating? But who really cares...
BONJOUR, FRENCH WEEK
It was an ebullient French Ambassador to Oman who announced the program for the French Week, 2019 in Muscat yesterday. With the backing of an energetic and enthusiastic event management team, led by...
Poetry: The clear expression of mixed feelings...
Teaching literature, I’ve always felt that poetry was a bit like the red-headed child, a bit of an outsider in the literary family, which is somewhat strange because I genuinely love listening to...
Only the brave become teachers
Maya Al Mughairi is an enthusiastic, progressive young teacher in the Sharqiya region, who still recalls her earliest days in school with fondness, and being entranced by the ‘Bulldozer’...
Life is short: Look, learn, listen, love and regret little
Today, I’ll break the rule of many years, and go ‘personal,’ in this week’s column. Oman lost a valuable asset last week with the passing of Steven Orr, a much loved, admired and respected,...
If only our ancestors could see us now
What would some of our forefathers think if they could step into today’s world, or how we would see tomorrow’s world given the opportunity? It’s an interesting question, and within its many...