My name is Robert and I am a Business Development Analyst with Saudi Aramco. I am from Parkersberg, West Virginia, and I’ve been in Saudi Arabia for six and a half years.

What’s fascinating about the role I play is merging what Saudi Aramco does and our joint venture partner and creating a new organization that takes the best of both companies.

What’s interesting for me is my background being in petrochemicals before, to be part of this joint venture from the very beginning and to see it grow over the next five years, and to be part of that is a challenging role itself but definitely rewarding experience, and I’m glad to be part of it.

The kids transitioned very well from their school in West Virginia to the Saudi Aramco schools. Teachers are excellent, they know exactly what to look for to make sure they don’t miss a beat.

My kids involved with Boy Scouts, and as you can imagine, their camping trips are much different than what they had in the United States. Here they get to go out in the desert, they go to Asir, which is in the southern part of the country — it’s actually mountainous. The wildlife is amazing there; kids love the baboons that come out while they’re camping.

Life is about making decisions, and we made our decision six and a half years ago and we’ve never looked back.