Hi! I wouldn't say you're stupid. I struggle with writing, and English is my second language, so I probably made some things a little confusing. Sorry about that...
About the left/right thing. I'm not entirely sure if I'm understanding your question correctly... I just had a math lecture, so my brain isn't braining properly right now.
But if I understand you correctly, the player has a variable called "way", which stores the direction they're facing. When you press Left or Right, that value changes. So, it's relative to the player's current direction.
Again, I'm not entirely sure if I answered the right question.
Also, thank you! I've actually never played any Zelda game, but I've heard they're great. And thanks for the suggestions! They sound really neat.