One of the concerns/questions that has been raised involves the kind of commitment I have to Saudi Aramco as a condition of employment.
I do not have a minimum stay in Dhahran—contractual or otherwise—as a condition of employment. The only requirement is a 30-day notice should I choose to quit. Other than that, we can come back any time we want and they will cover the expense of the return trip.
Jen and I both knew that at some point we would be moving away. However, I think we have shocked even ourselves this time. On Monday (Sept. 22nd), I interviewed, was offered and accepted a job in Saudi Arabia. The company is an oil company called Saudi Aramco. We are planning on a December(ish) start date–anywhere from Thanksgiving to Christmas. This is actually something we have been researching and fasting and praying about for a couple of months.
In July some of our friends, Heather and Todd, who live and work in Dhahran now were back in the States visiting and stopped to visit us. They “planted the seed” then and it is now bearing fruit. The job should be a great career move for me and I will be able to continue working on my dissertation from there.
Clearly, it is not all about me. The entire family is very excited for the adventure. We will be living in the city of Dhahran. It is a city of about 12,000—6000 Americans and 6000 from other countries around the world. It is an English-speaking westernized “camp”.
For those who are wondering about Muslim clothing, Jen does NOT have to wear the abaya but, in some ways it helps to not stand out. She also do NOT have to wear a hijab and most expatriates don’t. Also, the clothing restrictions that she does have only apply when leaving the compound. They do not apply while in the compound. Outside of the camp Jen just has to wear a longer shirt that comes about mid-thigh and goes past her elbows. One of the biggest limitations is that Jen cannot drive outside of the camp. But from the sounds of it, doing that is pretty risky anyway—there are some pretty crazy drivers!
We will not be living in tents. We will probably move into a 3-bedroom, 2 ½ bath, 1-car garage, two-story house. It will be about 2,000-2,200 sq ft.
Within the camp there are lots of activities for the family including: tennis, swimming (year round), soccer, baseball, horseback riding, racquetball, bowling, a movie theater, biking, scouts, and lots of other activities that arise as the people who live there create their own groups according to their skills and hobbies. Travel generally is top on the list of activities that people are involved in.
There are actually about 85 LDS people and they have their own ward. They meet in the school and have fully functioning auxiliaries.
Schools are challenging with a low student/teacher ratio. Trips to other countries are available as part of the curriculum. As you do some reading on the Internet and look at the links on the right, you will probably read about boarding school. Fortunately, in the last few years they have started a high school at the American Consulate which is about 10 minutes outside of camp.
We are all excited about this opportunity. The boys are really looking forward to it. We know there will be hard times and hard things to overcome. But we will have each other, the Lord, and lots of emails and phone calls to family!
As much as I hate to say it, things are never for sure until, as they say, the fat lady sings. We will continue to keep you informed as things progress and we will let you know when the fat lady sings. We just needed to let everyone know what is up.
I have provided a few links that should help you find Dhahran. But, if you have Google Earth you use these coordinates to find Dhahran:
Here are a few pictures that I got from our friends. I have uploaded them to Flickr. I will upload more as I get them.