Since I last wrote, I've left Korea, had some good last times with my friends there, had some minor panic attacks on the plane home, spent a good 3 weeks at home in Phoenix with my friends and family, felt pangs of envy at what I've been missing as I walked down the aisles of Sam's Club and BevMo, and then got back on the plane for a long series of flights to Saipan, where I'm teaching middle school kids about the finer points of our language.
So far, what stands out most in my mind about Saipan is how often in the short 5 or 6 weeks that I've been here how many perfect days and moments there have been. One of the first was when my friend Nate and I had gone spearfishing late on a Sunday afternoon. It had been rainy all day, but by the time we got in the water the sun was shining through the clouds. We swam out past the reef and not too long after we got to where we would be fishing, Nate called me over and pointed out a sea turtle cruising through the water right below us. I dove down to try to get close, but it was gone as fast as it came. We kept fishing, diving down and waiting on the bottom for the fish to get close enough to spear, which is good fun! But since coming here, I've learned that I get pretty sea sick, even in fairly calm waters. On these fishing outings, I'll spend an honest 45 minutes fishing, and then the rest of the trip alternating between diving and yakking on the surface. On one such 'break,' I had taken my mask and snorkel off, treading water at the surface when I looked at the scene around me. Very few times in my life have I seen something as beautiful. I was floating alone on the surface in a bay of perfect blue water, white sand beaches and the jungle rising up behind it on my right, open ocean at my left, watching the sun go down at the far end of the beach surrounded by towering thunderheads painted yellow and orange. That, my friends, is a sight to behold.
Another one of these perfect days, and a more recent experience, was yesterday. Will and Rachel, other teachers on the island, and I went out in Will's boat to Tinian, another island just a few miles away from Saipan. It was a perfect day for it, just a few clouds in the sky, and calm seas. Tinian is about what you'd expect from a tropical island, except most of the island is surrounded by 10 ft cliffs. The water though, bluer than you could imagine in the deep parts, and as it starts to get shallower towards the beaches on the south side, the deep azure turns into turquoise; just fantastic. The kind of sight that makes you happy to be alive when you see it. All morning we trolled through such waters for Wahoo while we sailed around the island, following pods of dolphins, stopping around lunch to scuba dive (they dived, I took a swim and then napped on the boat) and swam ashore to sit on the sandy beaches on the south side of the island. After lunch we swam back to the boat and cruised to the very southern tip of Tinian where the dolphins were jumping in and out of the six-foot waves. It took us the rest of the day to sail back to Saipan, trolling most of the way, stopping to fish for Tuna, and getting drenched in a quick rainstorm, but by the time we got back to shore and cleaned the boat up, there was a perfect sunset to watch while we ate on the beach. I was so tired after all that I was asleep by 8:30.
I don't write to brag, only to tell you that I am blessed to be able to have seen such things.
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