FROM MY LIFE
Map Reading Memories
Can you navigate your way in nature with a map and compass?
One thing I have started in my bullet journal is something I call ‘Past Purge’. The idea for this came when I realized I can’t ask my parents anything anymore because they have both passed. In the “Past Purge” sections, I’m jotting down memories as they come to me, so one day my kids can read it.
Of course, I’m also writing about my memories.
Today, I want to share memories of something I was actually quite good in: map reading.
First map reading experience
I was fourteen when school selected me and 29 other girls to go on a survival trip to the Namib Desert in Namibia (back then it was still South West Africa). On that trip, we learned basic survival skills we could use in nature, under which map reading and how to use a compass.
Towards the end of that week-long survival trip, the teachers dropped us off on the coastal road, with a map, a compass, and a limited supply of food and water.
Oh, and the coordinates of where we had to go.
Before we started walking, we used the map and the compass to determine the direction we had to walk, and then we started walking.
Learning more about map reading
In South Africa, back when I grew up, you went to high school when you advanced to Standard 6, and then, in Standard 8, you had to choose the 6 subjects and started getting ready for your end exam (Matric) in Standard 10. Afrikaans and English were compulsory subjects, and besides those I chose German, Geography, Maths and History.
Geography was my best subject when in Standard 8, but I failed it in my Matric exams, as I wrote those two papers a week and a half after the birth of my daughter.
I turned out to receive A’s for Geography for all of Standard 8. They had split the subject into theoretical and practical sessions. In the theoretical ones, we learned about sediments and the weather, space and the world. All of this interest me so much that I went from wanting to be an archaeologist to a meteorologist to an astronomer.
I did well in all of those, but where I always received full marks was the practical part. Map reading. Understanding the legends on the map. Knowing the terrain shown on the map. Finding coordinates. Reading a compass.
One day, the teacher — after I was yet again the only one who had a perfect score — said he thought it would be better if he sat down and I would give the lessons. I declined, as I was far too shy, but my heart burst with pride when he said that!
My basic training in the army
When I did my basic training in the South African Army, we once more had dual lessons — those in the classrooms, and those in the field.
During the six weeks of intensive training, they dedicated one of those weeks to outdoor training. We went to Bela-Bela (back then it was Warmbad/Warm Baths) where we lived in tents, our toilets were stinky holes in the ground and we bathed in the stream running alongside the camp. We had guard duty at night, and during the days we had to march or run to different places, or had to simulate war situations. They even had us walking through a deep pool of water, holding our backpacks over our heads to keep it dry.
I loved every minute!
On one of those days they drove around in circles, and then dropped us in some rough terrain, with the coordinates of our camp in hand, a compass and a map.
We were in a group of eight, and this was the only day we trained with the men. The moment they dropped us, one man — the only sergeant in the group (I was a corporal then) — took charge. I watched as he determined the direction we had to walk, using the map and the compass, and I saw him making mistakes.
Someone told him that, and he shut them up, so I kept my lips sealed.
He held onto the map and the compass as we set off to walk, and refused to let go of it, determined he was right. Once more, people said we were not going where we should, but he wouldn’t listen.
The further we walked, the angrier I got.
Now, I have always preferred not to be in the spotlight, and back then, I was no different. All I wanted was to get through the basic training.
But, part of my nature always was (and still is) that I have a lot of patience, until I don’t. That day, my patience ran out. I know he outranked me, but that was the last thing I thought of when I scolded him and told him to just give me the damn map and compass, because he didn’t know what he was doing.
I used the map and looked at the surrounding mountains to determine where we were and then re-calculated where we had to go.
We made it back to the camp, and I thought the thing would come back to bite me, since I sort of reprimanded someone senior in rank, but it never did. I guess he was afraid of me revealing the reason for ‘disrespecting’ his rank.
Sense of direction
I always had a good sense of direction. When I drive somewhere using navigation once, the next time I can drive there without. When we are in an unknown city, walking from one place or the other, I can always find my way back.
My mom never could, and neither can my daughter. They always relied on me for that. I always had to laugh when we were out shopping. The three of us walked into a store, and then, when we came out again, my mom and daughter turned in the direction we came from, instead of where we were heading.
And my mom… when I lived in another city, she always — and I mean always — got lost when she came to visit. She always took the same wrong turn! We used to tease her with it, as she could get lost even when using navigation!
Oh, the memories…!
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