Pulling onto hard-packed sand we moved far enough away from the road to avoid any nocturnal traffic collisions and parked in the shelter of some rocky outcrops. Camp beds were erected and a small gas stove was lit to prepare an evening delicacy of baked beans and beef sausages.
In this photo essay, Mark Lowey recounts his travels to Syria with his wife and another Aramco couple in April 2011, which inadvertently coincided with the beginnings of the civil uprising in Syria. In Parts 1 and 2, the party of four toured Syria’s capital, Damascus, and the ancient Roman city of Palmyra.
I lived on the construction camp for three months before space was eventually found for me on the main camp. I was advised I would initially be moving into temporary housing until a more permanent residence became available.
My memory of Dhahran includes various emblems that marked my time there. One of these emblems is the Saadeddin Pastry shop/stop inside the Dhahran Commissary. When I first moved to Dhahran I was amazed by the colorful squares of chocolate wrapped in baby pink or turquoise blue covers placed symmetrically around a large gold plate.
Dhahran North Office Complex was a collection of twenty large, temporary office buildings located about half a mile from the residential camp. They certainly weren’t as swish as the more glamorous steel and glass offices on the main camp complex, but at least I didn’t have far to commute.
Weekend trips to the desert often involved searching for arrowheads and other primitive stone tools. Finding areas where these were plentiful was never easy because we could go out one weekend and chance upon a promising site, with lots of arrowheads just lying there on top of the sand...
Aramco came into existence some years before there was a fully functioning Saudi government and had therefore developed its own extensive laws and procedures which, by the time I arrived, ran in tandem to those which had later been created by the government. Indeed many laws subsequently enacted by the government were lifted straight from various company manuals.
The following paragraph is a short summary of my public art project, Healing Illustrations supported by Methodist Hospital through their Healing Arts program. Healing Illustrations Series is a visual arts project for social benefit.
In celebration of Global Bird Weekend and World Migratory Bird Day, on Saturday, October 9th, birdwatchers in Saudi Arabia took part in this year’s October Big Day. During the event, the global birding community tried to record the highest number of bird species possible in a single day.
In this photo essay, Mark Lowey recounts his travels to Syria with his wife and another Aramco couple in April 2011, which inadvertently coincided with the beginnings of the civil uprising in Syria. In Part 1, the party of four enjoyed an exciting, if somewhat stressful, four days in Syria’s capital, Damascus.
What does it mean to be an Aramcon? How exactly is our identity both similar and different from all those that are bound by the Aramcon story? These are some questions that I’m thinking about lately.
The Aramco Retiree Golf Group held their second 2021 event in Pine Mountain, Georgia at Callaway Resort & Gardens September 14-18, 2021. It was a fun filled 5-days of activities including 3 rounds of golf at Callaway Resort Lake View and Mountain View golf courses. The evenings included an “Ice Breaker” Tuesday night at the Cason’s Tap Room onsite...
A small group gathered on September 10th at the Grove in west Austin, TX to visit with Ali Baluchi and his lovely wife Amira. In attendance were Ali, Amira, Harlene Morrow, Karen Morrow, David Jessich, Judy Walker, Bill Walker, Chris Owen, and long-time friends of Ali who live in Georgetown, Jay and Donna Casper.
This year at the 18th Biennial reunion, Bridget Halpin and Liz Germani created a new BrAt Lifetime Achievement Award, “The Dammam Well #7 Award.” Going forward at each reunion, the ABI will present this award to a BrAt that has gone above and beyond to the Aramco Brat organization.
I would guess that not many of us think fondly about bats, those mouse-like creatures that fly around in the night sky. I know they are timid, useful creatures that eat tons of insects and all that, but they send shivers down my spine. They somehow remind me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” filmed in Bodega Bay...
In this photo essay, Mark Lowey recounts his travels to Syria with his wife and another Aramco couple in April 2011, which inadvertently coincided with the beginnings of the civil uprising in Syria. The last day of their stay in Damascus included an unlikely encounter with the not-so-secret police, Bashar Al Assad’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
On May 29, 2004, two attacks happened on oil installations and one on Oasis, a residential compound in the heart of Al Khobar. The Oasis had a restaurant that we frequented and a skating rink where our friends’ kids learned ice hockey.
"We launched a global architectural competition, inviting some of the world’s best-known architects to come up with designs for the Center. We ultimately chose the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta...
David Thomas happened upon a unique flea market find - a sword with the name Dr. T. C. Alexander inscribed on the blade and an accompanying document that speaks to the sword's great significance. It begins, "I present to my friend, Dr. T. C. Alexander, a memorial gift in recognition of his remarkable services and continuous kindness to the Saudi patients in the Dhahran Arab Hospital. This gift is the sword of my father, Abdul Aziz ibn Madhi..."
Basketry is a time-honored tradition with relevance to societies around the world. From Asia to the Middle East, from Africa to the Americas, basketry is part of everyday life. From carrying food to storage, these traditional vessels are primarily woven by women, less so by men.