Conversations with friends can be infinitely varied—filled with tangential remarks, thoughtful asides, and random non-sequiturs and often producing surprising results. Starting from Point A over here, they’ve been known to jump quickly to Point B over there, and thence move on...
Separate from its tempestuous politics, the U.K. has been getting a lot of positive attention of late for other, more upbeat reasons. Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past month, you’re likely already aware that the 2018 FIFA World Cup is underway in Russia.
Story-telling comes in many forms, written and oral, prose and poetry, fact and fiction. There are fables like “The Tortoise and the Hare” and folktales like “The Pied Piper.” There are ghost stories like “Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad” and fairy tales like “Cinderella.”
Saudi Arabia is a special place. The Kingdom owes a major component of its unique identity to the distinctive geological history of the region—on land and sea. The Arabian Peninsula sits squarely between two fabled bodies of water with long and colorful histories: the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea.
Baby boomers in the U.S. will remember this. Beginning in 1956 on CBS, a popular panel game show called “To Tell The Truth” ran for 12 years on American television. The show featured four panelists who were tasked with trying to figure out which of three guests...
Ali and Elizabeth Badawi are proud to announce the marriage of their daughter, Amira (DH 1991) to Brian Voorhees. The couple live and work in Washington, DC.
Think about it, fellow Aramco ExPats. How many times, after someone learns you once lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, have you found yourself in the position of having to correct them after they launched into a well-intentioned but misguided commentary on the Kingdom...
This coming Sunday, being the third Sunday in June, will be celebrated as Father’s Day in 60 countries around the world. Last year, AXP marked Father’s Day 2017 by highlighting 11 songs written about fathers, starting with Paul Peterson’s mushy-but-heartfelt 1964 hit, “My Dad”...
Tuesday, September 18, is tour day and the Austin Hafla 2018 committee is offering two choices. The Austin Duck Adventures is an overview tour of downtown Austin. The LBJ Presidential Library and Texas State Capital tour offers an in-depth visit to two of Austin’s most important landmarks.
Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) announced that it will organize 400 events across 23 cities on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, which is set for the end of the week.
Often when I sit down at my computer to write about one subject or another for AXP, I venture into the realm of my personal history to inflict upon readers memories from my past I believe they might find interesting. Such was the case last week with the article on shawarmas...
Over 38 years ago, back in 1980, a fantastic group of Aramcons were hired and many of them resided in the old Abqaiq Aramco Construction Camp (ACC) which was located just outside the Abqaiq Main Camp boundary. In those days, Aramco Management decided that these types of camps should be divided by nationality and each section had different dining halls so that foods could be prepared to suit their native tastes.
Back in April 2011, stuck in a monumental traffic jam on Interstate 5 just north of Seattle, I switched on the radio and hit the Seek button, hoping to find a station with an up-to-date traffic report. “Maybe they’ll recommend a way around this mess,”
According to the 21 May 1958 issue of the Arabian Sun and Flare—published exactly 60 years ago this week!—if you were living in Dhahran at the time and wanted to visit Half Moon Bay 14 or so miles (23 kilometers) to the south by taxi, a one-way ride there would have cost you 12 SAR ...
The Razorfish Swim University, founded by Zubair Mohammed Iftekhar, successfully concluded the year 2018 with the Razorfish Swim Meet at Sujatha Public School, Hyderabad. Zubair is the son of Aramco annuitant Dr. Mohammed Ifteqaruddin.
How often have you heard someone say, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” If that’s true—and we here at AXP believe it so—then the stories told by Aramco annuitant Bert Seal, Badge Number 17347, with his camera while serving as a photographer with the Public Relations Department...
At a recent black tie ceremony held in Atlanta, Georgia on April 21st and sponsored by the College of Engineering of Georgia Tech, Dr. Zakiya Ayo-Zahra Seymour was inducted into their prestigious Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. This celebrated scholar and Aramco Brat began her academic career at Abqaiq Elementary School in 1985.
Hanging on the wall to the left of the desk in my study is a framed etching, “Chelsea,” by renowned American-born expat artist James A. McNeill Whistler. It dates from 1879 and depicts a long-since-removed wooden bridge stretching across the River Thames at Chelsea in London...
Perhaps the most fascinating site in the area is Dumah al-Jandal, an ancient city protected by the Ministry of Antiquities. This town was mentioned in the Old Testament in Genesis 25 and Isaiah 21.
A few weeks back I was shopping for groceries when I heard the man behind the seafood counter say to the customer standing next to me, “It’s a real doozy!” He was referring to a monstrous king salmon large enough to feed an army arrayed in a bed of ice in a nearby cooler.