Abstractions and practicalities

I was lecturing about the hybridisation of electron orbitals, a rather abstract and technical concept, and the young woman - just 18 - was confused, asking, "but what is an orbital?" Shortly after I had tried to explain, and while she remained somewhat puzzled but was clearly drawing closer to understanding, she pulled her vibrating phone from her pocket, examined it, and said "sorry, I have to go to calf a cow." I did not quite pick up what she had said though, and did not understand, so I asked her to repeat. "To calf a cow," she repeated, adding, "my granny is alone on the farm and a cow has started calving and she doesn't know what to do." As she got up and rushed away I told her that I was impressed, which I was. Then I went back to talking about the hybridisation of electron orbitals around atomic nuclei. I hope to see a photo of the calf tomorrow, and will show her some images depicting electron orbitals in return.