Dear Friends and Family
Yep, it has been a full year that I have been employed here in the Middle East by Saudi Aramco. There haven't been any major celebrations in the office or anything, but I thought I would mention it in my blog. Other than going to the office, I thought I would share some of the photos (that you haven't seen yet) through the year.
As you know, I have a townhouse on the 'Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp'. Inside of camp it is a lot like small town USA. Except there are people from many other nations throughout the Middle East, South East Asia, Europe and of course the good old USA. We have a couple grocery stores, small restaurants, work out gyms (with pool) and my favorite place -- the golf course. We have one of the three grass courses in Saudi Arabia located on camp, and yes I get to play it a lot!
Of course, any time we want to go off camp we can. For those of you concerned with security, it takes two gates to get off of camp. Each gate has armed security and there is a concrete wall / barbed fence that goes all around camp. On camp is fairly well protected, off camp it is most dangerous for the bad driving habits here. As an example, I am not the slowest driver in the world, but I've been passed by cars on the right and left side at the same time of a one lane entrance ramp to a highway. Anyway, the local town is called Khobar and looks a lot like you really are in the Middle East:
The other big news in our family is Lauren going to Joffrey in NYC next year. (I probably mentioned, but we do like to brag about her!) Jane and Lauren have been very busy over the past month or so getting ready for this big deal -- setting up an apartment in the Pittsburgh area for Jane (she will go back and forth between The Woodlands, Pittsburgh - where our family is, and NYC). Special thanks to my brother Dan for helping out. Anyway, we went to NYC on one of my repat trips back to the States to visit the Joffrey. We also visited the building shown below. IF ANYONE CAN EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THIS PLACE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Take care and keep in touch!
Yep, it has been a full year that I have been employed here in the Middle East by Saudi Aramco. There haven't been any major celebrations in the office or anything, but I thought I would mention it in my blog. Other than going to the office, I thought I would share some of the photos (that you haven't seen yet) through the year.
As you know, I have a townhouse on the 'Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp'. Inside of camp it is a lot like small town USA. Except there are people from many other nations throughout the Middle East, South East Asia, Europe and of course the good old USA. We have a couple grocery stores, small restaurants, work out gyms (with pool) and my favorite place -- the golf course. We have one of the three grass courses in Saudi Arabia located on camp, and yes I get to play it a lot!
Of course, any time we want to go off camp we can. For those of you concerned with security, it takes two gates to get off of camp. Each gate has armed security and there is a concrete wall / barbed fence that goes all around camp. On camp is fairly well protected, off camp it is most dangerous for the bad driving habits here. As an example, I am not the slowest driver in the world, but I've been passed by cars on the right and left side at the same time of a one lane entrance ramp to a highway. Anyway, the local town is called Khobar and looks a lot like you really are in the Middle East:
As you may be aware, the Middle East is know for gold (of course, in addition to oil). 22 and 24 carat gold is available in anything you want, at the per ounce cost of gold. There are about 15 goldsmiths in Khobar and it is a lot of fun to shop in the little local shops.
Just to compare, I have traveled to Dubai, and it is really a fast growing city. They claim to have 2 million people living there, 1.8 million are expats. It is another man-made oasis in the desert, and has the most high rises I have ever seen. Here is a good example:
The other big news in our family is Lauren going to Joffrey in NYC next year. (I probably mentioned, but we do like to brag about her!) Jane and Lauren have been very busy over the past month or so getting ready for this big deal -- setting up an apartment in the Pittsburgh area for Jane (she will go back and forth between The Woodlands, Pittsburgh - where our family is, and NYC). Special thanks to my brother Dan for helping out. Anyway, we went to NYC on one of my repat trips back to the States to visit the Joffrey. We also visited the building shown below. IF ANYONE CAN EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THIS PLACE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Take care and keep in touch!
