I had a breakthrough today. It had nothing to do with language, culture, or my work. It was about cardinal directions.
When we arrived in Sarajevo, we were told not to worry about cardinal directions or even street names--directions are given using buildings and other distinctives like large advertisements. No problem, I can learn to navigate that way. But I grew up on the prairie where land is marked out in an orderly grid mile after mile, each intersection its own compass rose. That compass is buried deep in my understanding of the world--in most places I know east and west better than left and right--so even if I live in a place of mountains and winding streets, I still want to know where the sun will come up and how to find Polaris.
The problem is that I intuitively assigned cardinal directions 180° off from what they ought to be; the direction that feels so very north is actually south. The stubbornness of my sense of direction that is usually a blessing became a curse--it doesn't matter how often I look at a map or track the sun across the sky, in two and a half months I have been unable to shake this sense that Mt. Trebević looms to our north. (I couldn't be more wrong.)
The sun sets early here, so as I walked home this evening I caught glimpses through the trees of stars, making me wish for a back yard, an accessible roof, or a comfortable park bench from which to stargaze. The city itself is shifting into the season of smog, courtesy of all of the wood- and coal-burning furnaces, so stargazing in the city won't be great anyhow. Maybe up on Trebević the stars are clearer, the way they were when I was living in Tucson and we camped a few nights up on Mt. Lemmon...
And there it was. I don't know why I didn't realized it earlier: I had subconsciously conflated the map of Tucson with the map of Sarajevo. Not only does this work remarkably well, it may help explain that unshakable 180° disorientation.
Tucson--you didn't know you were that deep in my subconscious, did you? Yeah, neither did I.
Check it out:
White arrow: North
Red dot: Old Town/Baščaršija / Old Town/4th Ave
Orange arrow: toward Mt. Trebević / Mt. Lemmon
Yellow dot: my Sarajevo neighborhood / my Tucson neighborhood
Green arrow: toward Mt. Igman / the Rincons
Blue line: the Miljacka River / the Santa Cruz River (bonus points for both being dubious holders of the title "river," depending on one's definition and expectations)
When we arrived in Sarajevo, we were told not to worry about cardinal directions or even street names--directions are given using buildings and other distinctives like large advertisements. No problem, I can learn to navigate that way. But I grew up on the prairie where land is marked out in an orderly grid mile after mile, each intersection its own compass rose. That compass is buried deep in my understanding of the world--in most places I know east and west better than left and right--so even if I live in a place of mountains and winding streets, I still want to know where the sun will come up and how to find Polaris.
The problem is that I intuitively assigned cardinal directions 180° off from what they ought to be; the direction that feels so very north is actually south. The stubbornness of my sense of direction that is usually a blessing became a curse--it doesn't matter how often I look at a map or track the sun across the sky, in two and a half months I have been unable to shake this sense that Mt. Trebević looms to our north. (I couldn't be more wrong.)
The sun sets early here, so as I walked home this evening I caught glimpses through the trees of stars, making me wish for a back yard, an accessible roof, or a comfortable park bench from which to stargaze. The city itself is shifting into the season of smog, courtesy of all of the wood- and coal-burning furnaces, so stargazing in the city won't be great anyhow. Maybe up on Trebević the stars are clearer, the way they were when I was living in Tucson and we camped a few nights up on Mt. Lemmon...
And there it was. I don't know why I didn't realized it earlier: I had subconsciously conflated the map of Tucson with the map of Sarajevo. Not only does this work remarkably well, it may help explain that unshakable 180° disorientation.
Tucson--you didn't know you were that deep in my subconscious, did you? Yeah, neither did I.
Check it out:
White arrow: North
Red dot: Old Town/Baščaršija / Old Town/4th Ave
Orange arrow: toward Mt. Trebević / Mt. Lemmon
Yellow dot: my Sarajevo neighborhood / my Tucson neighborhood
Green arrow: toward Mt. Igman / the Rincons
Blue line: the Miljacka River / the Santa Cruz River (bonus points for both being dubious holders of the title "river," depending on one's definition and expectations)
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