Taking risks

One of the things I love about spending time in the Middle East is the opportunity to try things outside of my own usual sphere, whether a new food or a new experience.  So on Friday, I jumped on the opportunity to try Extreme Frisbee.  One of my nephews played the sport in college and loved it and he encouraged me to take the inevitable risk involved when trying something wholly new.  My campus hosted a hat tournament in which newbies were welcome.  Extreme frisbee's kind of like soccer meets basketball meets tossing around a frisbee and involves a ton of running.  Two days later, I'm still sore.

Really interesting group of people play "extreme" (see, I know some lingo!) in the UAE.  Mostly expats (80% of the people here are expats so it stands to reason...) from the U.S., or expats from India or elsewhere who went to University in the U.S. and got hooked on the game.  I met a ton of high school teachers from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and even Bahrain and Oman (they flew to UAE for the tournament) who work at private schools--international baccalaureate academies, British secondary schools, and the like.  A few came because the job market is lousy for English and social studies teachers in the U.S., some for the money and perks, some for the challenge and fun of teaching abroad.  A lot of these teaching gigs pay very well (tax-free!) and include one or two flights back home each year, sometimes housing too.

Anyhow, I didn't make too much of a fool of myself on the field and got some great exercise.  Met some interesting people and tried something I definitely would not have tried in the U.S. too.