A lost art

I recently procured a map of Aden. What?? A MAP!? Of ADEN!?! As in Aden, YEMEN?! This is an extremely rare kind of a thing, let me tell you. Maps of Aden simply do not exist, hence this little gem. There is a big, outdated, arial map that a few shops have on their walls but that’s about it. Even google earth hasn’t bothered to come to this neck of the words. In the ten-minute break during class (which I sometimes stretch to 15, hah! Take that!) an intern called me out of the office to meet with a student. It was my former and beloved student Rawa. Her husband, an architect/engineer is mapping Aden and she wanted me to have a copy of the first addition. I gasped out loud, and stamped my foot in excitement- at first everyone thought I was upset about something but when I fist-pumped in jubilation everyone’s concerns were assuaged.
Side note:
I think people love me here because I’ve inherited my mother’s delightful propensity to wildly overreact when I’m excited or alarmed. Example: on a camping trip with my mother, father, and friend Sara. We are slowly driving through a campground in companionable silence-
Mom: (gives out an incredibly loud gasp) “OH MY GOD!”
Sara: (voice raised in alarm) “WHAT’S WRONG?! ARE YOU OKAY!?!”
Taryn: (appropriately concerned) “What is it? A BEAR?!!!?”
Mom: Look at that great pile of firewood! We can make a campfire with that later!”

That was all. Inciting the whole family into frenzied panic. Because of firewood.

But I digress…
So this map lays out Aden; Khormaksar (where I work), Muallah (where I live), Crater (where my family is), Sheikh Ulthman (where I box) and Tawahid. I raced into the office and showed as many people as I could- people were remarkable unfazed. In class I spread the map on the floor and made all my students hover around and find their houses and various landmarks.
This is spectacular. This is cartography in action! Cartography is a lost art! I took personality/career tests online so I could find some semblance of direction in my life and all of them said “journalist” or “explorer” well… just about everything has been discovered already, I was born far too late in human history to be an intrepid explorer voyaging out toward terra incognita, but this! Cartography! This I can do. And because of archaeology I know how to survey. It’s a first addition map so it’s riddled with errors but I want to offer my services as “English Linguistic Editor” to the project. CARTOGRAPHY. How cool is that?