Re: Pay Rates relative to Cost of Living in a Town

[Buck and Tilly Buchanan <writer -at- NTWS -dot- NET>]

George

I'm leaving your message essentially intact for other readers.

In many years of overseas work, several contracts in Saudi Arabia, I
found living there a joy. No crime problems. lots to see and do out in
the desert, including archaeology from stone age to ottoman.

Tilly frequently rode busses there and accepted their ruling that she
was not allowed to drive with aplomb. She operated a computer school in
the home, however.

A person with a dependency on booze or sex should stay away from Saudi
Arabia.

> But also keep in mind that
> Saudi Arabia is the most reactionary of the Arab states and is very much
> a closed society in terms of limiting its contact with us decadent
> Westerners.  Additionally, under both Islamic law and royal decree
> (Saudi Arabia is a kingdom, as King Fahd will be happy to tell you
> directly), it's also the driest and unenlightened place on the planet in
> terms of prohibition and erotica.  That's why a great many firms doing
> business in-kingdom *require* their employees, both contract and staff,
> to go out-of-kingdom if they want to have a drink or, to put it
> politely, to enjoy the intimate company of unmarried women in a bar.


> During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, some of our women troops caused a
> real social ruckus in places like Dhahran.  The most memorable was when
> female MPs wearing loaded 45s on their hips -- standard fare in a combat
> zone -- started getting hassled by the locals for (a) driving jeeps and
> Hummers by themselves; (b) failing to have their faces covered with
> chadors (veils); and (c) walking around with loaded guns *and* with
> using them to defend themselves against chauvinistic Arab males!  The
> Islamic fundamentalists, to put it mildly, had a *major* problem with
> that.
>
> Fair warning for working in the Middle East:  know the local customs
> before you go and ask yourself "Is this trip *really* necessary?"  If it
> is and you want to go, have a good time. :D
>

--


Buck and Tilly Buchanan
Publishers, The Alvord Gazette
P O Box 9
Alvord, TX 76225
(940) 427-2112      FAX:  (940) 427-3801
mailto:writer -at- ntws -dot- net