Pushing Limits: Overs, Bowlers, & Wickets

Hey World,

As I've discussed in previous posts, I've really been pushing myself this year to keep on trying new things. So far I've brought myself to become a kickboxer, I ran a 5K after just 9 days; I gave my first public speech and tried riding a hydro-bike. Some of these were huge accomplishments and some of these are hardly notable, but the key thing is that for each of these, I had never done them before.

One thing I think is key to finding happiness over and over again is to introduce yourself to new things, to find joy in new experiences, and to push your limits and widen the realities in which you're faced with day-to-day.

And while I'm in living in Iringa I want to have no shortages of new experiences, therefore when I was asked last weekend if I wanted to go and play cricket for a few hours, I obviously said "yes"!

Scenes from behind the wicket: I was waiting for my turn to go up to bat

It started quite abruptly: I walked down to the cricket field with B (who has played before but has limited understanding/skills) and we were split - one to each team, and immediately I was expected to play outfield.

It was slightly traumatic; some of the cricket guys really wail at the ball! I quickly realized wearing sunglasses was a terrible idea. On the other hand, I was thankful to be wearing sneakers. I was also thankful that I never yelped anytime I got hit with the ball (at least 5 times).

Anyways, the good thing about diving headfirst into a half-competitive, half-just-for-sh*ts-and-giggles game with a bunch of guys is that they:

1) assume that you'll figure out what to do 'naturally'

2) yell when you aren't 'naturally' doing what you should be

3) tell you what you should be doing (ie: the rules of the game)

3) don't hate you when you (still) don't know what you're doing

4) give copious extra chances for 'practice'

So after a couple of hours, I can confidently say that I understand approximately 35% of the game of cricket -- with an extremely minimal understanding of what happens when I (in particular) go up to bat, or when anyone with a bat begins running frantically between the two posts.

However, I can say with 100% confidence that I'll be back to play again next Sunday -- it's such a great opportunity to meet a unique crowd within Iringa town, spend some down time outside and unplugged, and of course, keep learning something new!

What new hobbies/experiences/tasks have you started exploring recently? I've got a couple more in the works [both cooking related] that I'm really excited to share soon!

xoxo,

M