He's got a Wade with words.....

International teaching opens you up to a whole new world of people and thank god it did as I got to meet a good bloke called Wade.

My favourite memory of Wade when I taught with him in the Middle East was that he created one of the best Melbourne Cup calls that I have ever heard. He took the majority of staff and gave them a name that was fitting and outlined each of us in a very funny way.

Wade is married to Sheree and has two daughters. So how did this young family of four make a decision to uproot from Australia and head off to sand dunes of the UAE? Let's ask him all about his experience:

Wade! How goes it?

Well I'll firstly say that I'm still here in the outskirts of Dubai and loving life. My Girls are now growing into ladies and probably have lived a lifestyle totally different to most Australian kids.

What on earth made you uproot and move to another country?

I guess my story starts 9 Years ago when a friend of mine I had actually grown up with in New Zealand (Blair) introduced me to the idea of working in the middle east where he had been the past 2 years.

I had been doing the Ed Queensland state school grind as a PE Teacher for about 15 years and been moved between several schools on the Gold Coast and in the Darling downs. All of these schools were great in there own right but for me I was getting bored with the daily grind and the red tape and daily issues that continually held you back in the government system.

In my last year of teaching in Australia I had even cut down to 3 days a week just for a change and was driving Rubbish Trucks and labouring 2 days a week just for a change in routine. As a family with a mortgage and 2 Young kids I felt like financially we were treading water and without living an extravagant lifestyle we struggled through week to week.

When the opportunity to teach PE here in Dubai came up in really was a no brainier for me and luckily my wife Sheree knew where I was at and was happy to take up a new challenge as well. My Girls were 6 and 7 years old at the time. So although they had there play groups were still too young to have bonding friendships so rightly or wrongly they were in this adventure as well weather they knew it or not.

We packed the house into storage and packed our lives into a suitcase 30kgs each and arrived in Dubai 4 months later to a steamy humid 45 degree heat.

You are a bloke that would make any lemon into lemonade, how did you create a life around you?

Arriving in the UAE at the time we arrived as a large group of teachers these strangers you meet in the airport or in the first few days soon become some of your closet friends and support group. You are all like deers in Headlights trying to find your feet in the Sands of Sharjah and Dubai and find yourself sharing taxis and early experiences. Even routine trips to the grocery shop become mini adventures trying to navigate roads and decipher different brand names etc.

To me these new people/friends where great and I was loving these new surroundings and the change of pace. To me the issue was the school, lacked a little bit of atmosphere as it had turned over a lot of staff and students in the world WFC in 2008 and left it's mark on the UAE in the previous 2 years.

For me growing up around football clubs and team sports. Making your own fun was easy. With the help of some others we created a range of social events from drinks nights, Quiz Nights, Fire Pit nights, Desert Dune bashing, Camping and as you mentioned earlier Melbourne Cup Race call soon became popular.

I would like to think that the social scene we created made life easier for everyone and even kept people here longer that they might have normally.

With two young children, how have you managed to travel so extensively?

Helen.....this is the reason why we come here. The UAE is central to the world and travelling is the norm here. This became apparent to me last month when I was sitting with my daughters watching a travel channel on TV. An advertisement popped up that flicked through several of the worlds famous landmarks and destinations.

My daughters now 13 and 15 sat watching with me. The Taj Mahel, India flashed up:

"BEEN THERE!" Yelled Kirra then

Graet Wall of China and Terracotta Warriors

"BEEN THERE!" and it continued ...

Great Barrier Reef, Everest and Himalayas, Sri Lanka and the landmarks of Europe America, Mexico, Asia Pyramids of Giza , Jordan and Dead Sea, Africa.

(What I wouldn't have given to be 13 and 14 to be able to say that!)

Afterwards we got out the atlas and discovered that by age 13 and 14 they had now been to over 30 different countries and generally quite in depth. Kirra and Ruma are now both advanced skiers and snowboarder and at age of 14 Kirra has just qualified as an advanced diver.

This to me justifies all my decisions to move here. I don't think they will quite understand the lifestyle and childhood they have had until they start travelling for themselves. To me these life experiences are worth more than anyone can learn in a classroom.

When we travel I try not to hide anything from them and show them both the highlights of different places and the nasty truths. A good example would be Athens after we climbed to the Acropolis we found ourselves in the wrong side of town on the way home. Surrounded by drug dealers and prostitutes this then became a learning experience that I hope they remember for life. If and when these things become accessible in later life they remember what they witnessed and make good decisions with what they know. As a parent you can' only give your kids the tools then they decide for themselves.

A big thank you to Wade for sharing his story, it's not just singles who do it and his story demonstrates that it can have such a positive impact on all that go 'expating'.

Cheers,

HB