Observations

this was an email in response to my dad's question of what it sounds/smells like here

the 7 pm meeting is held 5 nights a week in the Susupe Community Church on Beach Road. Beach runs along the western side of the island from the heart of the tourist district in Garapan, all the way to south tip of the island, where it turns east and leaves the final resorts behind for the reality of the villages and the shops that make up the majority of the island.
the drive has become routine, and some nights it is a trip made on bicycle, although I've realized that the bicycle disallows the all important fellowship that comes from giving others rides.
the sun sets right around this time, and there is a few minutes, most evenings, of perfect climate, wherein the heat source has dipped below the unending expanse of the Philippine Sea, and the breeze is moving just right. it carries with it the smells of restaurants of all different types as they cater to the dwindling tourist market. the road is lined with vehicles as people finish their days before the never-ending inspiration of the sun setting over the ocean. Some gather in groups, guffawing and slapping each others backs. children run along the wide sidewalk that serves as a bike trail and running path between the busy road and the serene ocean. tables and benches are occupied by pairs, sometimes women out on an evening walk. sometimes partners doing the same, or just lying together on their backs, letting the last rays of our sun burn out over them. there are others like me, who stop, solitary, looking out over an ocean, towards a foreign land. i can only assume they are feeling as i am the gentle caress of the wind across my face, audible in the waves rythym against the shore, heard as much as felt, since the eyes have to be shielded from the brilliant star as it dutifully makes its continuous trek from east to west. i think that as it sets here, it hasn't quite yet risen there. you still have a half hour or so before you will see its shining face...soon, as the days lengthen there will come a moment when we will be simultaneously on opposite sides of the coin...as my day ends so shall yours begin. but as the night creeps into saipan, the lights do come on and the trip to wherever I am going continues.