One of the ways I most quickly acclimatize to a new place is getting familiar with the roads. Until I can get from one important place to another confidently, I feel adrift, images in my head whirling around as I try (and fail) to get my bearings while someone else is driving. It doesn't help that I have a very poor understanding North, South, East, and West. Coming of age in Hawaii where the major directions are "toward the ocean" and "toward the mountains" has always hurt me when it comes to orienting myself on a compass. Fortunately, I have a fabulous ability to orient myself to landmarks. If I drive to a place once, I can get back there again, following landmarks.
But Qatar is challenging my skillz, yo! The constant construction here means that routes change without notice. The lawless driving means that new "roads" appear daily as some lemming-like urge suddenly causes people to drive across empty lots and fields and create their own paths, which may or may not conflict with already established traffic patterns. Even electronic maps can't keep up with the new developments in official roads, let alone account for construction blockages and sheer driver bullheadedness. Plus, road names here are virtually meaningless anyway. You would think the fact that everyone gives directions via landmarks would work for me, but here it just results in people never bothering to find out the names of major roads so you find yourself saying things like I did the other day when I was trying to give directions to someone who was coming to pick up some empty boxes we had: "You know the flyover on X road after the expressway? So you go through the roundabout under the flyover, then straight through the next roundabout, then you pass Y compound on your right, then at the next roundabout with the two petrol stations you flip a U turn and then take your second right and look for the mosque on your left and then you will see our compound where the road dead-ends." Unfortunately, this is as good as it gets, since only one of these roundabouts even has an unofficial name, the road you turn on to get to my place isn't named at all, and our compound doesn't show up on any maps yet. Sheesh!
So I am persevering, and I am winning the battle, slowly, with the help of GPS and my landmarks. Sometimes, ever more frequently, without the help of GPS, which brings me inordinate satisfaction. The other day, we were trying to get to the wholesale vegetable market from a new direction. The lovely voice of Google Maps told me to get on the expressway to shorten our trip, but when I took the suggested route, I discovered that the expressway entrance recommended had been closed without any indication signs or suggested detours. I knew more or less where we were and how to get back to another major road so I started making my way back there. Meanwhile, the voice kept trying to route me back to the expressway, again and again telling me to turn the way I didn't want to go, but I didn't have time to turn it off, so I ignored it.
All the sudden, J asked "Has that lady ever BEEN to the vegetable market?? Cause she really doesn't know where she is going, does she?" After laughing for quite a while, we had a fun discussion about maps and electronic information and computer algorithms and artificial intelligence as I tried to explain that the voice didn't really belong to a person but to a computer (because that's the kind of thing we always discuss in the car, no joke!) as we made our way back to a route that Google Maps recognized and the voice started to be helpful again. At the end of our chat and our journey, J said indignantly "I think we need to help them correct their maps so that she doesn't tell people the wrong way to go!" Ever since that day, whenever we use Google Maps, which is thankfully less and less each week, he is quick to ask if she is sending us the right way or not. Usually, I now know enough to be able to scan ahead and make sure we aren't about to go on a wild goose chase through areas I know are full of construction, but I know J still believes she can't be trusted!
But Qatar is challenging my skillz, yo! The constant construction here means that routes change without notice. The lawless driving means that new "roads" appear daily as some lemming-like urge suddenly causes people to drive across empty lots and fields and create their own paths, which may or may not conflict with already established traffic patterns. Even electronic maps can't keep up with the new developments in official roads, let alone account for construction blockages and sheer driver bullheadedness. Plus, road names here are virtually meaningless anyway. You would think the fact that everyone gives directions via landmarks would work for me, but here it just results in people never bothering to find out the names of major roads so you find yourself saying things like I did the other day when I was trying to give directions to someone who was coming to pick up some empty boxes we had: "You know the flyover on X road after the expressway? So you go through the roundabout under the flyover, then straight through the next roundabout, then you pass Y compound on your right, then at the next roundabout with the two petrol stations you flip a U turn and then take your second right and look for the mosque on your left and then you will see our compound where the road dead-ends." Unfortunately, this is as good as it gets, since only one of these roundabouts even has an unofficial name, the road you turn on to get to my place isn't named at all, and our compound doesn't show up on any maps yet. Sheesh!
So I am persevering, and I am winning the battle, slowly, with the help of GPS and my landmarks. Sometimes, ever more frequently, without the help of GPS, which brings me inordinate satisfaction. The other day, we were trying to get to the wholesale vegetable market from a new direction. The lovely voice of Google Maps told me to get on the expressway to shorten our trip, but when I took the suggested route, I discovered that the expressway entrance recommended had been closed without any indication signs or suggested detours. I knew more or less where we were and how to get back to another major road so I started making my way back there. Meanwhile, the voice kept trying to route me back to the expressway, again and again telling me to turn the way I didn't want to go, but I didn't have time to turn it off, so I ignored it.
All the sudden, J asked "Has that lady ever BEEN to the vegetable market?? Cause she really doesn't know where she is going, does she?" After laughing for quite a while, we had a fun discussion about maps and electronic information and computer algorithms and artificial intelligence as I tried to explain that the voice didn't really belong to a person but to a computer (because that's the kind of thing we always discuss in the car, no joke!) as we made our way back to a route that Google Maps recognized and the voice started to be helpful again. At the end of our chat and our journey, J said indignantly "I think we need to help them correct their maps so that she doesn't tell people the wrong way to go!" Ever since that day, whenever we use Google Maps, which is thankfully less and less each week, he is quick to ask if she is sending us the right way or not. Usually, I now know enough to be able to scan ahead and make sure we aren't about to go on a wild goose chase through areas I know are full of construction, but I know J still believes she can't be trusted!
It's good that he is learning at a young age a healthy skepticism of all GPS direction apps.
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