author - oman observer

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...