Tarout Island is located approximately 40 km from Dhahran, off the coast of Qatif in the Eastern Province. It is the second largest island in the Arabian Gulf, second only to Bahrain, and one of the oldest sites inhabited by humans in the region.
One Friday morning in the blue-tinted bedroom of our Dhahran duplex we awakened very early. We planned a picnic, not to Half-Moon Bay where everyone went, but to an artesian pool, a small lake north of Qatif, a seacoast town.
After 40 years in the corporate communication and events industry, it is time to retire and enjoy family, friends and continued travels!
AramcoWorld, Saudi Aramco's flagship publication, is widely recognized as a leading source of nonpolitical coverage of the history, geography, arts and cultures of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, with an emphasis on the interweavings of the plural cultures of East and West, past and present.
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.
The family celebrated the wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Ata Ur Rehman. The small gathering, as tradition, dined out in a sophisticated manner with the only guest being Engr. Iqbal Ahmed Khan, the father of Dr. Kiran Ata Ur Rehman and Vice President of Saudi Aramco Ex-Employees Association (SAEEA).
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.
Looking out at the white sands and glistening waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Arailym Mergenova remembers as a child peering westward from Aktau, Kazakhstan, to the Caspian Sea disappearing over the horizon.
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.)
We are happy to confirm that Not the May Ball 3 will be held on September 3, 2022 at the Novotel Hotel London West in Hammersmith, London. This Event continues the tradition of the Dhahran Rugby Union Football Club (DRUFC) May Ball, one of the highlights of the Dhahran and AEA annual social calendar.
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.
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) celebrates Saudi Founding Day (Tuesday, Feb. 22) through Feb. 26 by taking visitors on a journey to the Kingdom’s beginnings when three centuries ago its foundations were laid in the hills of Najd with the pillars of a state that thrives to this day.
Saudi Arabian Oil Company (“Aramco”) and an international investor consortium, led by affiliates of BlackRock and Hassana, announced today the successful closing of the lease and leaseback deal previously announced on December 6, 2021. The consortium has acquired 49% stake in Aramco Gas Pipelines Company, a subsidiary of Aramco, for $15.5 billion. The consortium comprises leading institutional investors including, amongst others, Keppel Infrastructure Trust, Silk Road Fund, and China Merchants Capital.
Amidst two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCR testing, isolation, face-mask-wearing and social distancing have now become the new way of traveling in 2022. Just like that, we went on our first backpacking trip this year to Turkey for 10 days. Our life's goal is to witness, experience and explore the world, in which case this was the first of our “Adventures of Samia and Taha” that we would like to share.
“The Garden of Africa” (detail) is both the title of this etching, shown in full below, and the name of the cemetery in Zarzis, Tunisia, where the gate, below, requires visitors to stoop in a gesture of respect for the deceased within.
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.