author - oman observer

Ray Petersen - petersen_ray@hotmail.com - We are a sensitive lot, aren’t we? We get upset when trivial things go wrong, simply reacting to our own lack of composure. We get offended at what...

Ray Petersen - petersen_ray@hotmail.com - Gee, that’s a tough question isn’t it? The creator of the Charlie Brown comic strip had Linus ask, “What would you say you want most out of life...

RAY PETERSEN - The Office of the Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman is well known to Omanis, but possibly not so well known to the expatriate community. Maybe we do understand that the office is...

Ray Petersen - petersen_ray@hotmail.com - Times have changed. Oh, how they have changed. Once upon a time when we went on a ‘holiday,’ it was to relax, chill out, do nothing and recharge our...

MUSCAT, June 5 - Ben Ewing, with his confident demeanour and affable manner, could almost have jumped off the pages of a John Grisham novel. I put it to him that the luster of the profession has...

How hot is it? Well, it’s so hot I saw a dog chasing a cat the other day, and they were both walking. Well, bad jokes aside, I’m sure that having the hottest months of summer, and Ramadhan,...

By Ray Petersen — The Holy Month of Ramadhan is upon us, and it’s a different experience, even after eight years in the Sultanate, to observe how some people prepare themselves for the month of...

By Ray Petersen — Many expatriates are currently preparing for the annual summer migration to cooler climates as the intensity of the summer heat bites, just that little bit harder. Some go on...

By Ray Petersen — Digitus minimus manus, otherwise known as the fifth digit, fourth finger, and ‘pinky’, is absolutely useless. It is composed of arteries, veins, nerves, skin, bone muscular and...

By Ray Petersen — I’ll bet my cotton socks you haven’t heard of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who in his modest Victorian era play on the machinations of the ill-reputed Cardinal Richelieu, arch-villain...

By Ray Petersen — Having chosen to work in the Middle East, wherever in the Middle East, for whatever reasons, it behoves the likes of myself, a European cultured expatriate, to come to terms with...

By Ray Petersen — Senator Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, is not well known outside his time, or America, but he is responsible for the brevity and dynamism of Abraham Lincoln’s memorable, if...

By Ray Petersen — It was a somewhat bitter-sweet April Fool’s Day, but no joke, on April 1, when Oman Air announced, “The days of low airfares are over. Over the past couple of years, when oil...

By Ray Petersen — Oman certainly is an international and very cosmopolitan country now, as professionals, academics, domestics and labourers from around the world converge on the Sultanate. Some...

By Ray Petersen — I guess it’s appropriate that today is graduation day at the University of Nizwa, as I’ve been thinking about the enormous academic strides some of my students have made this...

By Ray Petersen — NIZWA: March 22 - The French Ambassador to Oman, Roland Dubertrand visited  the University of Nizwa to create awareness of International Francophonie Week. He was received by the...

By Ray Petersen — NIZWA: March 20 - ‘Les P’tites Ouvreuses’ is French, and translates in English to, ‘The Little Usherettes,’ and this week, a charming French soiree, or evening garden...

By Ray Petersen — NIZWA: March 18 - The Directorate-General of Education in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate has launched an initiative to promote the academic use of the English language among Omani...

By Ray Petersen —  Oman is a land of tolerance and courtesy,” wrote Dr Paul W Harrison, in Volume 5 of ‘Neglected Arabia,’ in 1928. It’s amazing how, in many respects, Oman has stood the...

By Ray Petersen — Airbnb is a global marketing phenomenon. Its story began when, former schoolmates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were short of money to pay their rent, so they inflated an airbed, and...