Okay, so I realize that it is normal to feel lost and confused when you move to new place, but I didn’t expect it to be quite like this. I’ve always been a bit “directionally challenged” but in recent years I’ve done all right in the Portland Metro Area. I thought, wrongly, that some of these new skills might transfer when I moved to Tennessee. Wrong. Very Wrong. Here’s why: I rely on several helpers when navigating or righting myself when I get off track.
The first helper is my sense of specifically where the ocean is. The ocean is here, the mountains are here, and the river is there, so that means, I’m _____. Easy. These things don’t exist in my new world. I’m sure I will find new markers, but I don’t know what they are and I am convinced that they won’t feel natural because they won’t be the ocean.
The second helper I use is Google Maps. I have it on my phone and use it for everything. Here it isn’t that helpful since all of the roads have 3 or 4 names and half the time at least one of them has not been added to Google. This means that I actually have to know how to read a map, which I don’t. Turn Right on HWY 11/US 25W. Okay, there is no 11/25 or anything resembling a number, but there is a Clinton Hwy. Oh, that’s right, they are the same thing?!?!? Also, I know Google Maps to be smart and resourceful. It always tells me the fastest route unless I ask it to do something else. No so in Tennessee! I don’t understand. My sense of adventure is fading.
Te reality is that I haven’t actually gotten lost yet. I just keep getting confused and turned around. I always know where I am and am just pissed because I hate the way the signs and maps are here. However, I haven’t actually gotten lost. I guess that’s how it is when you are doing something new, something that is hard. You know where you are going, you know you can get there, but you feel confused for a long time.
