Sometimes learning a new language is demoralizing. It's hard work. It's confusing. It feels impossible to remember and use all of the grammar and vocabulary.

Then in class today in our chapter on <em>Directions</em> I saw this:

[caption id="attachment_2435" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Directions "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01607.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2435" title="Directions " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01607.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

I was board. How many times can you say to the right, to the left and straight ahead? So I flipped ahead to see what was next.  It was the above photo.

Um. Really? I just about lost it. In the middle of class. I had to read the English instructions twice. Then I looked at the pictures again and thought, is this for real? It can't be real. But, it was. We matched up the directions North, South, East and West with the faces on the suns.

If you didn't take a good look at the faces you should now. <!--more-->

You'll notice that one looks like Santa.  That's kind of funny but then the other three are just appalling.  There's the Chinese sun with slanty eyes and buck teeth, the Indian Sun with a feather in his headband and the African sun with big lips and a nose ring.  Oh and it should be noted that this sun doesn't even get straight rays of sunlight coming off of it instead this sun gets curly hair.

I just couldn't believe it. Aren't there enough hurtful racist stereotypes floating around in the world without this exercise in my Bulgarian textbook? Also, lets talk about who wrote the instructions in English: Which picture which direction fits? I hate being too English-teachery but this should really say: which picture fits which direction?

And so I arrived at the following conclusion: completing an exercise like this as a nearly thirty year-old is totally demoralizing. It made me think: how can this be the best way to study the language? what's the point? why are these pictures so obviously racist? why am I doing this?

Luckily, I just looked ahead and the next chapter is on<em> Shopping</em>.  I can handle that.