Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia

MIRANDA(STRAWBERRY YUMMY)

Ok I have never seen or heard of vimto, but I guess it’s because I always drank miranda’s. Those things were so addictive, but for me now it’s coke! I also can’t believe that no one has even metioned the scharma’s that we ate all the time. OMG! were they so good are what? Going to khobar and eating one of those was the best.

Rick B.

Rec Hall memories

I remember sneaking into the rec hall and playing zaxon many times.  (coff, for free.) 

 

Remember the dances?  Ahh.. still think of Udhailiyah when I hear Journey (Open Arms) being played. 

James

Class of 1985 & 1986 & 1992 uploaded

See the class of 1985 year book photos here.

See the class of 1986 year book photos here.

See the class of 1992 year book photos here.

Also uploaded pictures that Rick sent, see here.

Thanks Rick for 85 & 86 and the other photos!

James

8 more photos available

Rick uploaded some pictures today, see them here.

prayer intermission

Scott’s Dad helped install satelite tv and internet access in Udhailiyah.  Pretty cool, considering we only had one channel in 83-84.  And…  5x a day we got to look at this image.

Mr. Young and that projector

I know this is very childish.  Cmon, I was young ok?  Mr. Young would endlessly write out math problems with that overhead projector.  (you know, the clear plastic with usually a green pen?) On one such occasion while he had his back turned writing… Scott Olsen sat innocently next to me, completely unaware of what would happen to him in just the next few minutes.  The time was right.  I could not hold it any longer!!  I let out, probably of all my entire life, the loudest FART EVER!   (Yes, even i was aghast at the utter shock wave it sent through the room!)  I immediately turned to Scott and LOUDLY said…  “Ahhhh!!  Scott!!”.  Of course the entire room was in an uproar.  Class disruption? 10.0 on the rictor!  Scott began to deny profusely that he didn’t do it… (all the while laughing himself, because it was funny) … but it was too late. Mr. Young marched Scott out of the room (like a scape goat) and scolded him in the hallway!  I must admit, Scott was pretty cool about it.  He never turned me in.  =)  Was anyone else in that class?  — James

  

skoal in school

I remember Donnie Lasser sharing his “skoal” with me in 8th grade just after lunch.  I thought I could be “like” Donnie and not be required to “spit”.   I almost threw up in Mr Reily’s social studies class!
 
Talk about a fit of non stop HICCUPS!  bleeh!!  — James

top 10 in google

We are already listed #5 & #18 out of 674 for the key word search: udhailiyah

Nice and fast! 

I’ve also registered: uthmaniyah.com

It is a redirect to this site.

I also added the Google Maps link on the links section. 

 James

swimming pool

We used to jump off the swimming pool roof into the deep end.  That was a blast!

James

The arrow that went up and then…

I can’t remember who I was with…  I think it was Mark and Scott and probably Robert too.  I just remember that we had a bow and arrow out in the jebels and one of us shot that arrow straight up in the sky…   it went up and disappeared.  AHH!  We started running in all directions screaming….  never did find that arrow.  If we had, one of us probably wouldn’t be here today!  — James

motorcycle ride

I remember learning how to ride a motorcycle.  Robert Scott’s bike.  This was out behind the jebel that is behind 747.  I started off ok… but I hit a dip and it bounced me to the back of the mud guard (racked me!) and I was trying to “hang on” and as I was trying to pull myself back on to the seat (because each time I hit another bump, it racked me again!) … guess what?  I’m THROTTLING it even harder…  ahhhh!!  Yeah, it finally fell over with me on it.   I never muched liked motorcycles from that point on. 

James

Need pictures!

If you have pictures either current photos or old photos…

send an email to:  photos(at)udhailiyah(dot)com 

An auto responder will let you know how to use the photo upload feature.

skateboarding

Behind 747, what was that jebel called?

Well, behind that jebel was a really long steep down hill road that was just too dang scary to ride your skateboard down standing up on.  Your “trucks” would start getting really “wobbily” and you just knew you were about to crash and burn.  Besides, if you hit one pebble in the road you were going to do a face plant.  OW!!

Chuck Matthews

Ok Ok… he wasn’t cool.  But heck, he taught me how to play “strategy games”.   I played “blitzkrieg” red and blue and “D-Day”.   Chuck was probably considered a “geek”.  I bet your rich now huh Chucky?  That will teach us! 
 

Security chase!

Wasn’t it stupid?  But, cmon… wasn’t it fun?   I don’t know about other Aramco kids in other parts of the country, but I know in Udhailiyah it was a lot of fun.  I often wonder if the only reason we didn’t get caught was because it provided “fun” for the security late at night.  Mr. Adams, your comments? 

Scott got caught!

In this room… right window as  you look at it…

Scott Olsen got busted by my Mom.  LOL!   I was so tired… I slept through it all…   Scott decided he was “sneaking out” that evening…   he tapped on the window loud and long enough.. but I was not going to wake up.  My Mom opened the front door and said… “What the hell are you doing!??”.   Scott ran away.. ha ha…  then I got woke up by Mom…  (not so much fun).

 This is Scott:

helicopter rides

In 1978, 4th grade, I could go down to the “airport” in Udhailiyah and get a “free” helicopter ride.  We would walk down and ask them for a ride and the pilots would say … “lets go”!   I remember the “Hammer head”.   The pilot would fly up up up up… then flatten out at the top and go ‘weightless’ for about 5 seconds or more.  I do believe in the US they train astronauts on the “vomit comit”.  This was it.  By the time I came back to Udhailiyah in 1983, all such activities had ceased.

sadieki? who knows how to spell it?

Robert, It’s ok to confess. 

Everyone should just know we siphoned off your Dad’s stash and replaced it with “clean, clear water”.     Sorry, Mr. Scott, it’s true.  Robert led us to the stash.  We were young and you were THE DAD. We would go up into the jebels and start a fire with some, and drink the rest.  I think I remember some of that… dang that stuff was STRONG!!

snaping off the sprinkler heads!

There was this big feild right in the middle of Udhailiyah… past the tennis courts..

late at night when “sneaking out” we used to “snap off the sprinkler heads”.   Yikes!  Water would shoot up 15 feet in the air!  For some strange reason, it seemed like a lot of fun back then.  eh?     I really don’t know who fixed that stuff.  In my old age, I apologize…  however, looking back, it was a lot of fun.  hehe…

Oh, I haven’t a clue who that person is in the picture.  But it shows the area from a distance in front of 747.

linked on aramco-brats.com

We are now linked on the Aramco Brats page as of last night.  

You can see the link here.

Thanks Dawn!  (Dawn is a graduate from 92?) 

I also put up a “Contact Us” page at the top this morning.  If you would like me to setup a forwarder for your email address @udhailiyah.com, let me know.

I added an auto responder for people to get the password for the photo upload. 
Send an email to: photos(at)udhailiyah(dot)com

I also put up a guest book archive.  The brat-land.com guestbook for udhailiyah hasn’t worked since 2003.  I copied the entries so as not to lose them if ever that site should go away.  I did remove the email addresses.  (they don’t work anyway)   Read the old archive here.

James