It’s almost time for you to set sail on the 2022 Hafla Reunion Cruise. In 33 DAYS, you will come aboard the beautiful Celebrity Summit sailing from Miami on October 31, 2022. If you have not done so already, please set up an account with Celebrity Cruises.
At the end of August an unlikely bunch of 1980’s Aramco teachers, who taught in Dhahran, descended upon the MGM Park, Las Vegas, for a reunion that resembled old home week. Although some of us had not seen each other for nearly 40 years, we picked up right where we left off. Thank you, Aramco and Facebook.
We leave Ras Tanura with our neighbors and friends yelling ‘goodbye and ma’a salama’. We say farewell to great friends of many years and drive out through the gates for the last time. It is very sad departing a place we have come to really like over the years and a place that has been good to us and for us.
On tour in the desert, the early morning is one of my favorite times. The sun is slowly rising, the desert air is crisp and morning dew is visible on the desert flowers. Nothing is more welcoming than the aroma of ful medames cooking on the stove, awaiting hungry guests to emerge from their tents after a good night’s sleep.
On Saturday 3rd September, three years in the planning and a year later than intended due to the Covid pandemic, 90 former members, friends and supporters of the then Dhahran Rugby Union Football Club (DRUFC) came from the four countries of the United Kingdom and four continents (Asia, America, Europe and Australia) to wine, dine, reminisce and be entertained at Not the May Ball 3, held at the Novotel London West hotel.
The journey begins on a bright sunny December morning, but then it is always bright and sunny in Saudi Arabia. Noinin and Ian Conlin are suddenly very nervous, unsure of what they are getting into and how it will all end. Maybe it would have been a lot simpler, easier, cheaper, and much safer...
In the multicultural soup we swam, situations would frequently come up where we had to fill in the blanks or make up a story to make sense of the circumstances. Often the story did not match reality. Here is an example of an incident that could happen anywhere in the world...
I have always loved hats. They are the pièce de résistance that puts an elegant finishing touch to an outfit. Let’s face it, certain special occasions, such as a day at the races or a big wedding, just require a good hat if one is to be truly stylish. My interest in all manner of head coverings is such that I even took a two-day class a decade ago with a hat designer!
As promised by the Saudi Aramco website, everything in the community was literally two minutes away. Yes, we had a substantial home, access to small parks within walking distance and the Commissary providing food for the average family. Our house even came with a gardener who adopted us on first sight.
The countdown to setting sail on October 31 is on and here’s a tip to make our cruise experience more fun. Aboard the Celebrity Summit, it’s likely our cabin doors will all look alike. Trying to find the correct cabin can be a challenge requiring reading glasses and perhaps a note tucked in your pocket reminding you of the number.
Please help the committee by encouraging your family and friends to join the Hafla Reunion Cruise. We are down to the wire and have five staterooms left. Call your best friends to join the party, and give them Roland's telephone number, (305) 248-4649. The more, the merrier!
One logistical aspect of life that the Aramco ExPat and the ExPat community at large is more than familiar with, for better or for worse—well mostly worse—is all the strenuous processes that come with moving. Packing up everything you have and moving across the country...
Our cruise date is approaching quickly, and we will have a HAFLA Reunion Blast! Please remember that your final payment is due on August 8th. Please call Roland at (305) 248-4649. The good news is that starting this week, you no longer have to have a Covid test within 48 hours of boarding. To board, you will need your Covid vaccination card.
I hate knives! In the cinema, whenever there is a scene with knives being flashed around, I get squeamish and must look away. I have no idea why I hate knives, but I find them truly scary. This makes it difficult to explain why I have a collection of jambiyas, the large, curved daggers of Arabia.
On June 15-21, 2022, a group of 28 Aramco retirees and friends embarked on a week-long whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. The trip was organized through Grand Canyon Whitewater out of Flagstaff, AZ, and it included 7 days and 6 nights on the beautiful Colorado River in northern Arizona.
When my grandparents Mary Garvin and William A. (Bill) Eddy were living in Jidda, Saudi Arabia (1943-1947), they acquired several wooden chests decorated with brass sheeting and studs. Produced in India for hundreds of years, these containers were popular with Arab traders around the Indian Ocean and as far east as China.
While the visits back to Dhahran during my school breaks were temporary, the joy of comfort foods I enjoyed at the local spots in Dhahran was permanent — never could I forget the taste of my favorite Chicken Tikka Masala from Olive Garden-Tandoori House, and I still, to this day, seek that same taste whenever I order the dish at different restaurants.
Golf was the love of many Americans and it was no surprise to find that in Dhahran as well as some of the other larger Aramco communities, this sport had been catered for in some rudimentary fashion since the early days. Over the decades, the standard of the courses had gradually improved and areas of hitherto barren sand had undergone a remarkable degree of landscaping…… they were however still sand.
Back in 2017, we ran a series of articles featuring decorative hardhats that some Aramcons have been fortunate to count among their possessions. Recently, we received additional photographs from someone who obtained the hardhat in a storage auction purchase.
One of the many benefits of working for Aramco in the diving sense at least, was that we could freely use company aircraft to fly across the country to the Red Sea coast at Yanbu which, similar to the town of Jubail on the Gulf coast, had been transformed from a quiet fishing village into an industrial city with a deepwater port.