AramcoWorld Reading Selections - April 29, 2020
Noss-noss. That’s how Hassan Hajjaj has been described. It’s an Arabic term that literally translates as “half-half.”
Journey to the Hejaz: Wahba Crater and Beyond - Part II
We got up at 8:00 A.M. It was still windy, but the sky was clear. While climbing on the lava, Ron saw a long, skinny, brown snake. A herd of goats and sheep came through the camp and everyone took pictures of them. The Zbitowskys followed them...
Recognize Anyone from this 1973 Aramco Magazine Cover Photo?
UK resident Mel Trotter supplied this image of a 1973 Aramco magazine cover that includes him, and we're hoping to identify others that are also in the photograph. Of the magazine cover, Mel explains, "it cheered me up when I looked at it the other day."
Twins, 91, Riding Out Quarantine Together with Daily Pep Rallies
For two weeks now, Jackie Voskamp and Joyce Kriesmer have barely left the apartment they share at the Vi at La Jolla Village senior complex. The 91-year-old identical twins are in a high-risk age group for COVID-19, so they have been in self-imposed lockdown.
AramcoWorld - Teaching from home? Teaching at home? We can help!
Our free Classroom Guides are complete lesson plans you can adapt to home or online teaching. Today on Earth Day, we are taking a closer look at how conservationists in Lebanon are solving problems in order to save their country’s iconic cedar trees, Cedrus libani.
Taif’s Culinary Rose
It is a long, curvy drive up the Saudi Arabian mountain to Alhada and then Taif, enough to make anyone motion sick. Yet many of life’s most beautiful things are found at the top of a climb. So it is with one of the world’s most expensive commodities–rose water and the rose oil that distills along with it.
Drew Irving Shares Fond Memories of His Time in Saudi Arabia
Drew Irving worked for the Fluor Corporation SERVORG group that provided Engineers and Construction Specialist directly to Aramco project engineers to be "their eyes and ears" on all the projects going on at that time throughout the Eastern Province.
President and CEO’s Message on the Advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan
This year, the Holy Month of Ramadan will be unlike any other in our lifetimes, but it provides an opportunity to count our blessings and offer gratitude of the selfless sacrifice of co-workers and others all around us.
Journey to the Hejaz: Wahba Crater and Beyond - Part I
The object of this trip was to visit the Wahba Crater and the Mahad ad Dahab Gold Mine. Our returning-student children, Pam and Steven, were with Wally and I. We traveled with Ron, Celeste, Britanny, and Holly Zbitowsky...
Camping with Camels: My Introduction to the Kingdom - Part I
This year marks the 31st anniversary of my first setting foot in Saudi Arabia. Back then, it was still a sleepy, laid back place with little in the way of entertainment or amenities. So, as expats , we made our own entertainment and...
Reconnecting with Wallace Colly
Camping trips are among the most treasured family memories and many an Aramcon family ventured beyond the gates of Aramco camps to experience the great outdoors. In December 2000, Wallace Colly and his family, along with another 'Udhailiyah family, made a memorable camping trip to the Hijaz region.
Aramco Supporting Communities at Home and Abroad
In the worldwide fight to slow the spread of COVID-19, Saudi Aramco is doing its part to ensure the world has access to the energy it needs while also protecting the health and safety of its people wherever they work and live.
AramcoWorld Brings Lessons of the Globe to Schoolchildren Stuck at Home
In Austin, Texas, at Garza Independent High School, doors are shut and classrooms are empty. On the school’s website, a letter that principal Linda Webb wrote in reaction to the COVID-19 shutdown says, “All Garza students are expected to log on to Garza Online and continue their academic coursework remotely.”
AramcoWorld Reading Selections - April 15, 2020
Zayed al-Tamimi of Iraq competes before the panel of judges at the inaugural Gahwa Championships in December in Abu Dhabi.
Tales of the Bedouin - Part IV: Quriyan’s First Job and the Lure of the Desert
My Saudi friend, Quriyan Mohammed Al-Hajri, and I keep in touch every few days by video call. He is at his farm in Junayah, near Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, and I am in California. In these days of the COVID-19 crisis, both of us are ...
Saudi Arabia: 1949 - 1951 (Part I)
Our flight plan from New York included many stops for refueling; first in Newfoundland, then to Lisbon, Portugal for an overnight to let the flight crew get some rest, onto Rome, Italy, Beirut, Lebanon and finally Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The overnight in Portugal was fun.
Aramco Welcomes Mark Weinberger to its Board of Directors
Aramco today announced that Mark Weinberger has been appointed as an independent member to its Board of Directors, to replace Andrew Gould.
Kindness in the Time of Coronavirus
Closed schools. Shut down restaurants and businesses. Curfews and quarantine. Times are stressful, and every one of us is dealing with unexpected change in our lives, as well as a heightened level of uncertainty.
CEO Pays Digital Visit to Students Around the World
Saudi Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser made a virtual visit to the U.K, Europe, U.S., and Australia to check on the well-being of some of the company’s sponsored students studying in these countries.
Reminiscences of Arabia: Rug Fever and a Life Lesson from an Unlikely Source
The year was 1983, and I had just returned from a developmental assignment in Udhailiyah working for Southern Area Producing in maintenance. My good friend, Brian Dunloy, had become a collector of oriental carpets...