Prior to arriving in Arabia I had a conversation with a friend already in Kingdom about the possibility of us getting a pet. We understood it might take a few months before our large shipment from the US arrived with our personal belongings.
No one knows for certain when the use of children's Ramadan lanterns began, but it is a very old Egyptian tradition. Indeed, lanterns and lamps of various kinds, of many hues and degrees of brightness, and even both real and imaginary, have always been special to Egypt.
I took the 'then' photo of Al Khobar in 1955 while working as a PR photographer for Aramco. The 'now' photo is of my grandson, Sam Field, taken in 2020.
I find it refreshing that photography is becoming an accepted part of modern Saudi society. The first “Jeddah Photo 2022” exhibition at Athr Gallery (organized by the Saudi Art Council and supported by the Ministry of Culture’s Museums Commission) will showcase a variety of images by Saudi and international photographers, including experimental work and contemporary photos.
Having just graduated from a small Ohio university in 1951, three sorority sisters embarked on a memorable trans-Atlantic journey that would shape their lives. In this photo essay, Mark Lowey shares the experiences and photos from a family photo album that has collected dust for more than half a century. The photos, taken by Mark’s mother, Suzanne “Susie” Olin (later Lowey), reveal memories from a bygone post-WWII era.
Dear Friends of Laurene, I have some exciting news. Starting June 1, 2022, the number of scholarships available will increase from five to seven! My only request is for you to help me find qualified candidates for these scholarships and encourage them to apply.
Just down the road outside Dhahran’s Main Gate in the 1950s and 60s was an area called Saudi Camp. In one of the shops was an old, blind Saudi cobbler who made sandals from camel hide and tire treads. He would trace your foot on a piece of cardboard and tell you to come back the next day to pick up your custom-made sandals.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Carina Rourke Burns, an American published author and expatriate who spent seven years of her life growing up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before relocating to Paris in 1975.
Batten down the hatches! It was always a happy yet tense time for Aramco when the high school and college dependents returned for Christmas and summer vacations. The company worked hard to keep them entertained (Tri-D dances, dhow trips, etc.)
As Dr. Seuss might say, “Oh the places we’ll go!” Just see what awaits us on our 2022 Hafla cruise. . . Our cruise experience is much more than that photo op as we eagerly embark on the Celebrity Summit. We begin and end our Hafla in ‘The Magic City, as Miami is nicknamed, and then two exciting Caribbean destinations await our arrival.
Not quite 4,000 days before the Cairo crash, I could be found in Glenshaw, a suburb outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the day after Christmas, 1955. My father had joined giant Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company) thirteen months before, and we would soon be with him in KSA, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Back in 2015, the Dhahran Cricket Association (DCA) explored another out-of-kingdom destination on a 5-day tour of Morocco. See photos from the excursion enjoyed by 60 DCA members and family recounted here by Farooq Khan.
I was delighted recently to be invited by the Zay Initiative to discuss traditional Middle Eastern jewellery as part of their 2022 Speaker Series. The Zay is a UK registered non-profit organization devoted to the Art of Arab dress.
One of my husband’s first shopping experiences was in downtown Al Rahima, a small town near the Ras Tanura compound. He was looking for an electrical appliance and found that he had to walk around a rather large crowd of Saudis who were watching a TV set in the window of the store.
One of the objectives of the increasingly outward-looking nation of Saudi Arabia, set out in the ambitious Vision 2030 document and its plan to create a more diverse and sustainable economy, is to open up the Kingdom to visitors as a destination for heritage tourism.
While the world did slow down in 2021, the interesting tales and photos from Aramco ExPats didn't. View this collection of community favorites from 2021.
Petroleum Engineering Specialist Farooq A. Khan, who retired from Aramco in January 2021, recalls a remarkable trip to Sri Lanka he enjoyed as president of the Dhahran Cricket Association (DCA) in 2018. The following report captures the memorable time that was had by 69 DCA members and their families who journeyed on a beautiful 5-day excursion.
Breakfast is the meal that often commences our day. While doctors emphasize the importance of breakfast for maintaining our physical health and more recently also emotional health, I also believe that breakfast is the first fraction of our day that can be used as a hallmark to build traditions upon.
Our son, Kristofer LeRibeus, was recently involved in a catastrophic car accident in Oman which has left him a quadriplegic. Our family is coordinating his urgent evacuation to the USA for medical care and we need your support. We launched a GoFundMe site to raise funds to get Kristofer home for the treatment he needs. ~Myron Scoggins and Rhonda LeRibeus-Scoggins
If you lived in Dhahran in the early 2000s, you may have encountered the musical group Get Reel performing a blend of Irish, country and bluegrass songs at various venues around Dhahran and Bahrain. Annette Collins, one of the group's founding members and a native of Ireland now returned to the Emerald Isle, has continued to pursue her love of music and Irish dance. She is currently offering a unique opportunity to learn Irish dance online.