The UAE is a country overrun by expatriates — 85 percent of a population of 7 million. But only a small fraction of them are Yanks. Probably fewer than 50,000.

So, even though I spend most of my days in a room with native English speakers … they are speaking with accents I sometimes find hard to puzzle out, and about topics (cricket, Bollywood, rugby, The Queen) in which I am not well-versed.

Usually, I don’t think about this because … well, that’s how it is. That’s life, at the moment. Speaking English, but …

On the rare occasion when I find myself in a North American bubble … it’s an “aaaah” sensation somewhat analagous to slipping into a cultural warm bath.

I had one of those experiences today.

I am doing a story on the UAE Falcons, the country’s only American football team. And being the only American football team in the UAE is a frustrating existence, as you can readily grasp, because you have no opponent to play against. They’re working on that.

These guys meet three times per week to practice at a small lighted field at an elementary school in Dubai, and they have full-contact practices. Mostly because they have no one else to hit.

Anyway, being there as practice began … was like being transported to the US of A. Or at least Toronto.

(Canadians are honorary Americans, over here, and I think the Canucks often feel the same about Yanks. We can overlook our differences in prouncing “oot and aboot” — out and about — because we have far more in common, culturally, with each other than we do with the Brits and Irish and Aussies and South Africans.)

The UAE Falcons have players from several countries, who all have their own semi-strange stories about how they became interested in the game, but the vibe around the team is definitely North American.

North American accents. Football terms. American terms and slang. “What’s the line on the Super Bowl?” “Hey, T-Mac, what’s up!” A couple of big Texans with big Texas drawls. “Y’all feelin’ better?”

As practice began, I could have been in, oh, Arizona or the Southern California desert. It was familiar.

Have you ever taken a long vacation in a country where you don’t speak the language well (or at all)? And when you get back on the American or United or Delta plane and realize you don’t have to do any more translating? Your mind relaxes. You can feel your brain going off high-alert.

This was like that.

I actually was there to interview an Emirati royal about why he is playing American football. How does that happen?

But even the Emirati guy spoke flawless American-accented English. From going to the American University of Sharjah, he suggested, as well as from watching a lot of American-made TV.

I ended up staying there for all two hours of practice, watching guys in football uniforms run into each other and compliment each other in American English … and it was fun, and reminded me of how few of “us” there are over here., even when “us” includes guys from Manitoba.