Green Flash

Monday evening, I drove down to Yomitan to meet up with a Couchsurfing friend who I had the honor of meeting for only 10 minutes some months ago. We've been keeping in touch through email and she invited me down for an evening of snorkeling on her dad's boat, dinner afterwards, all with the company of a cool Brazilian couple who I hosted a few nights before.


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We boated up the coast from the port to Cape Zanpa. It was on the way that I saw the green flash.

It took me almost two hours to get from Higashi to Yomitan, so the sun was pretty close to setting when we left the port. But that was perfect.

As the sun was getting close to the horizon, my friend asked me, "Have you ever seen a green flash?" No, never. Is it real?

And I soon found out. As the sun touched and melted into the horizon, it only took about a minute or two for the sun to get close to completely setting. Luckily, we had a very clear day with so few clouds in the sky, none of them obstructing the horizon. As the last part of the sun started to dip out of view, it happened.

A Green Flash.

It was amazing. It was brighter than what I would have imagined it to be. It was also very clear and very distinguishable. Something I had only seen in a movie I had finally seen with my own two eyes. And it was beautiful.

So I recommend that you, if you get the chance, watch a sunset on the water on a clear day. Chances are good that you'll see what I saw, a brilliant green flash, a crystal of sunlight, lasting just a moment, before disappearing. You won't be disappointed.

We also went snorkeling after sunset, which didn't allow us to see much in terms of fish or coral, but did give us a great view of bio-luminescence. Simply by moving your limbs in the water, the living organisms react to the motion of your hands and feet and illuminate briefly, swirling in dark water with dim green flashes. I had one little organism swirling in front of my mask for a few seconds - what a sight.

Back to School

While students in the US are heading back to a new school year, students in Japan are returning from their summer break as well. But instead of starting a new year, they are simply starting their second term.

As it relates to me, coming back to school after the longish summer break (at my schools, it's just over a month) is refreshing. The kids are energetic, they've had a summer of putting off homework, having fun with friends, sometimes traveling to see relatives and whatnot. And during that first week or so of school, English classes seem to go really well. There's a residual energy that seems to carry over. For some reason, the image of a solar powered battery comes to mind - my kids are like solar powered batteries. And summer is the optimum recharge period.

Same for me. I didn't go anywhere "special" this year, rather spent my time in Okinawa doing things I really enjoyed. I participated in Higashi's eisa dancing for the second year in a row. I visited my friend Dave on Zamami, met some new JETs, and got to enjoy a great festival. And I got into a nice workout rhythm.

One thing I noticed recently was how fast time at school was passing. This past week seemed like a blur. Before I knew it, the week was over. I don't mind time passing quickly (it's often preferable to time dragging along). I just hope that I don't let too much of it go by without pausing to notice the good stuff. While it may seem like I've been in Okinawa for a long time (3 years already), and that I've got the potential to be here for a little while more (2 years), I bet whenever the end of my JET tenure comes around, I'm going to look back and think, "Was it really five years?"

So here's to making the best of my time here, with the kids, and with all the people I meet along the way.

Powerfull

The power stuttered on and off today a couple of times this evening, before eventually coming back on tonight at around 8:15pm.

The power outage in my part of the village lasted 2 days, 5 hours, and 30 minutes. Everything in the freezer melted or thawed, and a few items in my refrigerator have been added to the compost pile.

Despite having full access to all the lights and appliances I own, I am actually preferring to sit here with a candle burning (for atmosphere) and a very small light on overhead, just enough to keep me from tripping over something on the floor.

Tomorrow's school will have power now, as well. I'm just not sure if they've got the water up and running yet.

Powerless

Yesterday was the first real typhoon I've ever experienced. Things started getting pretty intense somewhere in the late afternoon. Power was stuttering on and off a few times, before finally giving up around 2:44pm (the time the clocks showed when I went to school this morning).

Yesterday, I took a nap when it started getting dark, after an early dinner (had to make use of the electricity early), woke up around 7:30, lit some candles, and practiced a little music in the dim light. Before lighting the candles, though, I was struck by the absolute darkness that enveloped my house and the surrounding neighborhood. Usually, the streetlights are on and the neighbors homes leak light of their own. But last night was just pitch. It was a cool feeling, one that reminded me of the week I spent kayaking in Palau with my buddy Dave. And it was actually really nice to fall asleep around 10pm without any distractions to keep me awake.

This morning, showing up at school, things were all over the place, mostly trees and the branches that had been ripped off of them. We had a ceremony to open school for the second term, then we went straight into cleanup. School had it a little worse than my apartment - the water wasn't working. Not only a health risk, but also just unpleasant, students were picked up at 11:30 and that was it. I came to the village office, which while only 1.5km from my house, has full electric output. Clearly, a tree somewhere between here and home took out the power lines.

I'm heading home in a minute to get ready for tonight's karate practice (in Nago, which didn't lost much power either, or at least not for very long). I'm intrigued to see if they got the power back up at home. If not, then I'm going to have to accept a fridge of spoiled foods - mainly milk and maybe a few meat items in the freezer. I just hope they haven't started stinking.

And to give you an idea of where I was in all of this, the passing storm yesterday, here's a picture for you (pulled from Dave's site). See that little orange spot in the big red spot? That's about to touch down in my neighborhood.