We made our own beer, wine, bourbon and even a pretty decent cognac.
There was a butcher shop in the neighborhood where we could ask for "white steak" and get beautiful thick pork chops.
Funny story I heard about the booze, which may even be true. The Saudi govt. figured out why the infidels bought so much yeast in grocery stores. So the govt. decreed that henceforth, yeast would only be sold in small packs suitable for cooking and sales would be monitored.
Then they took tons of yeast out into the desert and buried it. But the infidels knew where it was buried, and just went out and dug it up. So now it was not only available, but free!
Religious nutcases - they never came onto the foreign living compounds. So we only had to put up with the Religious Police and their bullshit when we went out in town. And they usually didn't mess with Americans much. Too many of us worked on projects tied directly to the govt., which in that country means the royal family. They would occasionally harass us a little, but in general screwing with us could cause them a lot more trouble than it was worth.
I should also note that I worked in Jeddah, right on the Red Sea. I don't think I would have taken a job in Riyadh.
Once I went roaming around Jeddah looking for a house formerly occupied by T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia!). Finally found it, but I had to slog thru some mud flats, and the place was being used as a municipal bus park. The house itself looked on the verge of collapse. Lawrence is not a hero to the al-Saud gang. As far as they're concerned, he backed the wrong tribe.
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