My memories of Dhahran often resemble wispy snippets of dreams, lacking linear structure or coherent narrative. Just random gauzy images, glimpses of fleeting emotion, stories with half-finished sentences despite having been retold ad infinitum over the dining table throughout my childhood, and unconscious embellishments slapped on as afterthoughts from my id.
For many Aramcons, servants personified “the good life” in Dhahran. These ever-present helpers performed all the onerous domestic chores everyone abhors, and prepared food and served guests at Aramco communities’ endless, labor-intensive parties.
The cavernous theater in Dhahran was the incubator of my lifelong love of what were once called motion pictures. The movies.
First thing in the morning, I checked in at our admin offices and turned in my passport for safekeeping. The day prior, I had just returned from my first R&R. Now, back at the office...
“Let’s go to Kuwait.” ... “What do you mean?” I asked. ... “We’ll drive to Kuwait on Thursday.” In Steve’s mind, Thursday afternoon would be optimal, as it was the beginning of the weekend, and Fridays were our only full day off...
I went to Stanford University for two years and then quit to enlist in the Army Air Corp. After being discharged from the Air Corp in December 1945, I started working for Standard Oil in California, but after a year with Standard Oil I got as far as I could go without a degree. So, I went back to Stanford from February 1947 to June 1948.
Coming straight out of university from California at age 22, my move to Saudi Arabia and life in a typical Abqaiq contractors camp was initially a challenge. Located across the road from the well-appointed Aramco community...
As soon as old Man Wallace returned in the latter part of 1949, I got a new assignment working with the Petroleum Engineers. My job was to check out wellhead pressures on all the wells in the Dammam Field, which was about 40 at that time.
In 1932, a 37-year-old engineer employed by the Standard Oil Company of California (Socal) made a habit of climbing the highest point on the island of Bahrain, about 20 miles across the Persian Gulf from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In the years that followed her arrival in Ain Dar in the autumn of 1948, Hamsah and Mohammed lived according to an annual rhythm, summering in Ain Dar village and moving to grazing areas with the herds for the rest of the year.
This is a brief history of two women, mother and daughter, and their fateful journey to Al Hasa in 1948. As told by a devoted descendant, this chronicle of their lives...
To this day, Bathan’s name is well-known, and his reputation as a water well digger is legendary throughout the Bedouin migration routes and grazing areas of Saudi Arabia. People depended on his wells to survive.
Naushad Shah was just four years old when he left Saudi Arabia with his family in 1978 upon the death of his father, Aramcon Yousaf Shah. However, tales of his dad’s fearsome batting on company cricket fields...
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...
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...
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 ...
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.
AramcoExpats readers might recall my short piece published in May 2018 that described a random encounter with a lone, enigmatic Bedouin deep in the Saudi desert in 1979. Here is an excerpt from that story:
Filmed by Peter Benjamin, this film shows the familiar landmarks of Dhahran beginning with the Gateway to Safety. The Mail Center is seen at 0:33, the commissary at 0:48, followed by the Ad Building and the Dining Hall. At 1:11 the scene cuts to the Swimming Pool and the returning students lounging in the sun.
Filmed by Aramco Brat and Aramcon Doug Webb at the ancient Sufi school in Aleppo, Syria during a visit in the mid-80s, this video is a crowd-pleaser. The dervishes dance to a drum accompaniment that is centuries old.