With my dear's company, he could get transferred to the middle east & it almost happened. The only downfall would be a LARGE drop in pay. Ya see...The pay here in Western Australia for Engineers (Civil, Mining, Electrical etc) is much much much larger than overseas.

When he did his stint in China last year, the contractor looked at his charge out rate & had a freak out moment.

I'd live in the Middle East, just let me know how to dress, live and teach me some intro vocab & i'm there.