The Eclipse
I wrote this a few hours after the solar eclipse of July 22, 2009.
For weeks I’ve been avoiding the sun. It has always been a clear day everyday. Not enough clouds float in the air to filter the sun’s wrath. My skin pigments can only absorb so much. I’ve been contemplating on hiding under the limited shade of an umbrella whenever I come to the lab in the morning, usually around 10 AM, or go out for lunch. But I don’t want to create a scene. It seems that in this part of the world they only use umbrella when it rains. They say August is when the outside turns into a furnace. So, I’ll decide later if I use the umbrella or not.
Today, July 22, 2009, it is different. I left my apartment at 9:40 AM this morning. At 9:55 AM I was already inside the campus. It was overcast, I noticed. It seemed that the rays falling from the sun were so gentle that it would be okay to walk in the open. Along the way, I passed three separate groups of students under the cool shades of the assembly of old fig trees. They were all looking at the sky through some black films, I don’t know what kind, each one of their hands held in the air above them. They were talking in Chinese, of course. Eclipse, I supposed. Then I looked up. Then I looked down at once. My eyes hurt. I continued walking. With my eyes already alerted to the brick-paved way to the lab, I could still see the partially obscured sun right in front of me. It wouldn’t go away for several seconds, maybe more than a minute. At the entrance to the engineering building where the lab and my office are, I passed two students who were observing the solar eclipse through a compact disk. They looked serious.
Once I reached my office, I typed “solar eclipse June 22, 2009” on the Google search. Pushing the enter key, led me to several sites, mostly online news features, which highlight this particular astronomical event. I didn’t know there will be a total solar eclipse that will briefly bring total darkness to some places in Asia, including some specific areas in China, India, Myanmar, and some islands in the Pacific. I recalled the last season of Heroes.
So, I looked for an empty compact disk and I found one. I rushed to the rooftop of the fifth floor. There, I joined four graduate students as audience of the astronomical show through a compact disk. For more than a minute I saw it – the one of the wonders of nature. I’m glad I witnessed it happening before my eyes although in my point of view the sun was only partially obscured by the moon like anywhere else in Taiwan. The event took place in more than 6 minutes, which will be the longest this century. No, I didn’t stay until the event finished. I had to rush to the lab for our 10 o’clock meeting. I was late.
When the meeting was over, our research group had a lunch together. That would be the third farewell treat for the members of the group who graduated last month. On the way to the restaurant, we had to walk. It would be a 15-minute walk under the wrath of the sun. I started to perspire. My eyes hurt. My head almost spun due to the heat. Or, maybe because of hunger; I didn’t eat breakfast. We walked to the restaurant as a group like a procession of devotees led by the leader of the group, our professor, who walked under an umbrella, which obscured the sun.
{July 22, 2009}
Today, July 22, 2009, it is different. I left my apartment at 9:40 AM this morning. At 9:55 AM I was already inside the campus. It was overcast, I noticed. It seemed that the rays falling from the sun were so gentle that it would be okay to walk in the open. Along the way, I passed three separate groups of students under the cool shades of the assembly of old fig trees. They were all looking at the sky through some black films, I don’t know what kind, each one of their hands held in the air above them. They were talking in Chinese, of course. Eclipse, I supposed. Then I looked up. Then I looked down at once. My eyes hurt. I continued walking. With my eyes already alerted to the brick-paved way to the lab, I could still see the partially obscured sun right in front of me. It wouldn’t go away for several seconds, maybe more than a minute. At the entrance to the engineering building where the lab and my office are, I passed two students who were observing the solar eclipse through a compact disk. They looked serious.
Once I reached my office, I typed “solar eclipse June 22, 2009” on the Google search. Pushing the enter key, led me to several sites, mostly online news features, which highlight this particular astronomical event. I didn’t know there will be a total solar eclipse that will briefly bring total darkness to some places in Asia, including some specific areas in China, India, Myanmar, and some islands in the Pacific. I recalled the last season of Heroes.
So, I looked for an empty compact disk and I found one. I rushed to the rooftop of the fifth floor. There, I joined four graduate students as audience of the astronomical show through a compact disk. For more than a minute I saw it – the one of the wonders of nature. I’m glad I witnessed it happening before my eyes although in my point of view the sun was only partially obscured by the moon like anywhere else in Taiwan. The event took place in more than 6 minutes, which will be the longest this century. No, I didn’t stay until the event finished. I had to rush to the lab for our 10 o’clock meeting. I was late.
When the meeting was over, our research group had a lunch together. That would be the third farewell treat for the members of the group who graduated last month. On the way to the restaurant, we had to walk. It would be a 15-minute walk under the wrath of the sun. I started to perspire. My eyes hurt. My head almost spun due to the heat. Or, maybe because of hunger; I didn’t eat breakfast. We walked to the restaurant as a group like a procession of devotees led by the leader of the group, our professor, who walked under an umbrella, which obscured the sun.
{July 22, 2009}
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