Sol 1: Where am I?

I've woken to find myself in a strange place.

I suppose after the crash, it makes sense to assume I'm on Mars. When I think of my general trajectory and the things I knew before I woke here, Mars is the only place that makes sense. It's windy and cold here. The ground is a hue of orangish-red. But...no...That can't be right because there's a building here. A building that I've never been aware of in my years of training and studying with NASA. Displayed on the building, is strange alien-like scrawl that I can't seem to make out.

I'm going to approach the building. After all, my only possessions are my space suit and it looks like my oxygen supply is starting to run low. Great. And god knows how far away I am from Mare Erythraeum. (Mare Erythraeum, simply put, would be considered home to us Astronauts who happen to travel or in my case crash land on Mars.) I am acutely aware of how dangerous it is to enter strange buildings on un-Earthly planets but suffocating isn't exactly my cup of tea, either. Strange building, here I come!

Upon entering this strange building, I see what appears to be a cubic pod. There are friendly pictures covering the walls and it's possible that there's a picture with cats, maybe? Do aliens know what cats are? Above the cats is the same scrawl depicted on the building.

...And what? What is this? AHHH. A figure materializes in front of me. The figure gestures and I'm not sure if I should be terrified or happy to no longer be in the frigid temperatures of Mars. The figure identifies itself as SHarLi by pointing to a strange object hanging from her neck. SHarLi must be able to sense my discomfort. In doing so, she holds her hands up in a stop motion (as if to say, "wait") and reaches up to an odd dial on the right side of her neck. I am alarmed by this. What is this dial for? Am I about to be immersed in an air of POISONOUS GAS?!

No. No, I am not. Evidently, the dial on these creatures' necks changes their language. These are highly intelligent beings. When SHarLi adjusts the dial on her neck, she immediately speaks perfect English. When I tell SHarLi of my predicament here on Mars, she immediately informs me that I am in a safe space, that I am welcome, and that yes, I am allowed to observe her and the other beings here in this environment. She wants me to take what I learn with me in hopes that other Earthlings will be aware of this wonderful, sophisticated place. When I ask SHarLi what exactly this sophisticated place is, she responds with, "THe SCrAWl CENter."

One of the first things I am able to observe is SHarLi helping another being with features very similar to SHarLi's. This being's name is MADisON. MADisON has come to SHarLi with concerns for a bit of scrawl she's working on. SHarLi kindly reminds MADisON to twist her dial to the American English dialect. MADisON nods and twists. MADisON's scrawl is a whopping 27 pages long and she needs to condense it. SHarLi has numerous tools and tactics she uses to help MADisON achieve this. A few of the tactics are the following:

• SHarLi quickly jots down the ideas that MADisON has for her scrawl so that SHarLi can adequately follow along. 
• SHarLi points out that when she needs to condense her own scrawl, she takes down the main notes from memory only. The idea here is that whatever she remembers is probably more pertinent than whatever is left out. 
• In the discussion between SHarLi and MADisON, SHarLi states something that I think will stick with me for the remainder of my time here. She states that, "the safer a being feels, the more likely they are to challenge their beliefs and biases." If ever I find myself communicating with one of these beings the way SHarLi is, I would want them to feel safe and validated.
• Later on, SHarLi has MADisON attempt to discover what she believes to be the "heart" of her scrawl so that MADisON can work around that accordingly.
• Finally, SHarLi uses the notes she took at the beginning of the meeting to help MADisON create an outline of the things she most wishes to keep from the original scrawl.
• MADisON is able to use this information to create what looks like an outline for the tasks ahead of her.

After this meeting it is clear to me that this is a place of communication. This is a place where beings can come for constructive criticism and validation. This is a place where beings want and deserve to be heard and SHarLi did her best to make sure that's what occurred here for myself and MADisON. Ideally, if I ever found myself in a position similar to SHarLi's, I would remember the lengths SHarLi took to make MADisON and I feel safe and respected.