To Live by the Sea

While teaching students over the years, one of the questions I posed for sundry ice breakers and/or prewriting activities was something along the lines of "What do you hope to have done or accomplished or have as part of your life in ten years, twenty years, or fifty years?" Since I usually brainstormed and discussed my own responses with students as they generated their thoughts and ideas, one yearning that began appearing on my list while still teaching in Germany was "to live by the sea." In 2005 I transferred to mainland Japan, where for five years I lived in Ashina, a one time fishing village now mostly gentrified. My house, about a three-minute walk from the sea, boasted an upstairs room where I could glimpse the ocean through one window if I stood at a certain angle. Nowadays I live about five miles from the sea, but for two years of my life, I dwelt in an apartment situated just across the street from an ocean.

When I transferred from Seoul to the island of Okinawa and began looking for an abode, the apartment I ultimately chose did not make an appearance in the beginning rounds of perusal for available living quarters, and I actually looked at few other places after I originally saw it. But that first view from the interior entryway of the apartment remained etched on my mind's eye.

So I signed a lease for the top corner (ninth floor) apartment in a building across the street from an ocean and commenced a two-year stint observing that sea daily, scrutinizing the dazzling array of light and color ever enhanced by its mood. And my time with the sea always before me continued to deepen my reverence for its beauty, power, and majesty. I lived just outside of Ishikawa, located on Okinawa's east coast. Ishikawa features the Pacific Ocean at its shoreline and attends the unveiling of the sunrise...although sunsets could often bounce tint and tone into the cast of the eastern skies as well. Over two years' time, I generated quite an expansive catalogue of ocean photographs, the majority shot from my balcony. (And, by the way, sky--the light--seems to hold an integral role in illuminating an ocean.) Here are some of my favorites:

These two photos exhibit the dregs of a typhoon:

And, if a teacher must bring work home, a balcony overlooking the sea somehow alleviates the intensity of grading drudgery:

A run by the sea has always kicked up the endorphin release for me. In Ashina, Japan, I ran through the fishing village regularly with the sea always visible. When I've traveled, some of my favorite memories include morning runs by the sea in Ireland, Thailand, Baja California, and Greece. In Okinawa, though, my regular runs always unfurled alongside the sea...because I lived by the sea. I just crossed the street in front of my apartment building, traversed a brief stretch of grassy vegetation growing in sand, and then there was my path. I walked this path, too, but mostly I ran.

Landmarks along my running path:

And this fishing shack:

For two years, I truly lived by the sea. And now I have memories and photographs and also a collection of wayward floats I scavenged from the sea and coastline. I found them all while on a walk or a run except for one: I espied it from my balcony, and, because it was a desired color, I immediately scampered over to retrieve it. At the end of my Okinawa sojourn, I left several floats behind--black ones were particularly plentiful. These days my float collection resides on my back lanai. It makes me smile...always.