Oman-Inspired Name-Letter-Art!

  This wonderful “Brown” family farewell gift (beautifully framed) was presented to me by my good friend, Geoff!  Thanks, buddy!  This gift shall take a place of honor in our home in the Philippines. 🙂

If you want to order your own family name plate in Omani-Inspired letters, check out the order page from my friend’s blog here.  It’s quite easy: you just order from his website and the picture will be printed and framed for you!  This would make a perfect farewell gift, for yourself or for anyone you know leaving Oman.

 

“Wameed” -17th Photography Week at Photo Society SQU (20-24 April 2014)

  Once a year, the Photo Society Club of SQU holds a one-week photography exhibition on their campus.  I was invited by an Omani friend who knows how much I love photography. I’m glad I went as the photographs were gorgeous.  Let me share some of my favorites here with you in this post.  The exhibition is taking place at the main Conference Hall on SQU campus with photos located on the ground floor and the 1st floor.  This one is titled “Window of Simplicity” and was taken by A’Shima Nasser Al-Ghdmai, a student of the College of Arts and Social Sciences.  “Fisher” by Mohammed Bin Salim Al-Nahdi  This interesting piece is titled “Full of Hope” and was submitted by Lujaina Bint Qais Al Balushi.  “Sunset” by Mohammed Bin Salim Al Nahdi (Interesting that 2 of my favorite pics are from the same gentleman!)  “Radiance Morning” by Ahmed Bin Maqbool Al Maimani  One of several wonderful macro shots submitted by Talib Abdullah Al-Busaidi from the College of Engineering. This one is titled “Cordiality“.   “Above the Sky” by Munther Mohammed Al Waili from the College of Engineering  “Lkhwer Sands” by Ammar Yahya Al-Mashaikhi from the College of Economics and Political Sciences  Wow! I’d love to know the story behind this photograph!  It’s appropriately titled “The Explosion” and was taken by Yousf Rashid Al-Naabi from the College of Engineering.  This photo, “Hidden Things” is expected to win 1st prize which would put 40o OR in the winner’s pocket. (2nd prize -200 OR, 3rd prize -100 OR)  The photographer is Alla Thani Al-Bahri from the College of Engineering.  It’s hard not to appreciate this one when you consider the talent and planning behind such a shot. The promoters of the Wameed Exhibition used this photo for some of their promotional posters which tells you it’s up there as one of the top pics to beat.  “The Mountain Girl” by Balqees Khalfan Al Rashdi from the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences  “Sardine Season” by Anas Mohammed Al Dheeb from the College of Economics and Political Sciences  “Grip” by Uhoud Salim Al-Hadhrami from the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences  Mr. Abdullah Al Harthi, the ex-president of the Photo Society, who was very helpful showing guests like me around! 🙂  Every guest had the option of voting for their favorite picture.  It was a hard choice but I finally voted for sunset.  Guests to the Wameed Exhibtion have the option of getting their photo taken for only 500 baizas.  Yours truly with one of my old students, Sulaiman.  I think we’re going for the “gangsta’ look” here, haha! 😉  We only had to wait 2 minutes to get the photo printed!  Today (the 24th) is the last day of the exhibition.  Sultan Qaboos University has some truly talented photographers on campus! It was a pleasure to see such fine photography.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to subscribe to SQUPhoto on youtube.  Here are 2 of their videos I enjoyed:

SQU Timelapse Electric Muscat

Artwork on Display at QCC

 If you love art and happen to be somewhere in the Qurum area, you might want to stop in Qurum City Centre to check out some fantastic artwork currently on display on the ground floor.                                       Riyam Park in Muttrah                           I really love this piece! Unfortunately the artist or artists weren’t around to answer questions about prices when I was there at noon today.                                        Does that read “Jasim & Suliyam”? Hard to make out the artist’s (or artists’) name on the bottom of each painting.  Anyone have any info on whose artwork is on display there?                                   Camel Kiss! A masterpiece! 😉

Just one more thing I love about Oman: you never know what you’re going to see next.  Tip: always have a camera with you when traveling around Oman!

Free Audiopharmacy Performances at MGM (Tonight) & the Hyatt (Tomorrow)

The Embassy of the United States of America in association with Muscat Grand Mall and Grand Hyatt Muscat presents Audiopharmacy.  Like the poster above reads, they will be playing tonight at MGM (near the main entrance) from 7 to 9pm.

They will also be playing at Grand Hyatt Muscat tomorrow night from 5 to 7pm:If you’re curious how they sound, here’s a “San Francisco Skateboard Rap” called “Shake the Bay Bridge” : Here they are performing “Mama”: Finally, here’s an interesting track called “Ruined Lands“:They certainly sound like they’re worth checking out!

Thanks to Megan for this community service announcement and thanks as well to the US Embassy Muscat for organizing such wonderful events for the public!

Speak Life

New video by TobyMac posted on Youtube Feb 12th, 2014. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”. (Proverbs 18:21)  “In every encounter, we either give life or we drain it; there is no neutral exchange.” (Brennan Manning)