Life on an Island

During the first Family Day long weekend, we watched The Children Who Chased Lost Voices from Deep Below or Journey to Agartha 追逐繁星的孩子. The kids started running away whenever Iroku revealed themselves. Iroku is the creature made of remains of passive thoughts from human who lived in the underworld of Agartha. To me it is so beautifully made -- the rich texture of the underworld city (inspired by the Tibetan and other cultures) and natural landscape and the stars.


The intensity of Asuna and Mr. Morisaki's desire to reunite with their lost loved ones is moving -- the never-ending question of the distance between human minds, the loss, and the gap of life and death that human beings have to face living in this world.

I also really like the mountain town in which Asuna lives -- makes me nostalgic for the days when factories and pollution didn't take over.

The kids are a bit perplexed. The younger one keeps wondering about what is what, esp. the loss Mr. Morisaki had to face. But it was to be expected that if you ask for something that is not supposed to be and doesn't belong to you, you pay a price. That's why Asuna, the best of all of us, had to learn to say goodbye, is it? Going on a journey to reconcile with the past and loss in this film is special for the world underneath us.

The 6-yr-old said he was scared when people died, like the first boy. The 8-yr-old doesn't like it because it's bloody with beautiful pictures, not her kind of movie. She likes peaceful movies.

Every time when we take walks by the seashore, watching the tides washing ashore, I always think about the poem in that previous post, the opening poem of the Tales of the Three Nations:

Rolling long river of Yangtzu vanishes into the east
Its tides washing away all heroes
All the right, wrong, success and failure all vanish in a blink of an eye
The green mountains remains
How many times have the red sun set?


....
However many things happening in the past and present
all but tales in chats

In that case, is there still any obsession thing we should hold on to? This song keeps ringing in my ears during my every seashore walk.

Then we saw the salmon run.

It is something we know that salmons do, for a long long time from books. Seeing it live, though, is completely different. All these salmons have been tracing back their roots since the summer in the ocean to make it this far in the mountain rivers. We witnessed first-hand their struggles to go upstream, many places where they've had to flip, being washed back in the rush current, and continued on their journey. A few already died and, according to the park service, in one month the whole valley will stink of all their bodies. Another visitor commented that these still look relatively healthy, since they have not reached their end. But some of the salmons have lost lots of skin, and it is really amazing how they keep go on without any hesitation. Once they lay eggs, they meet their end and die.

With the end so near, they keep going on. It amazed me and left me in awe.

So other than leaving behind offsprings, is there some meaning in their long and strenuous journey, amazing as it is? As part of a complete cycle in an ecosystem, they dutifully performed their roles, however hard it is. Is it because human beings deviates from such paths that we think so much and believe that we have/explore some other reasons for being here?

I wondered and wondered when we watched these salmons continue upstream. And then of course I wonder if I simple think too much about it.

It's been a month since starting the new job and 1.5 months since moving to the island.

It does not cease to amaze me that 5-minute walk takes us to the ocean side -- there are trails along the cliff over the ocean front, rocky edge of the cliff, and small patches mixed or rocky and sandy beach. Really enjoy the most amazing view of tides and sunset that is never the same every day. The colonial style buildings are so intricately ornate.

20 years ago I was visiting the island for half a day and decided that this is where, and now this is indeed where my family would like to settle. Love the alpine trees against the sky.

Watching the tides ebb and flow reminded me of the opening poem to the classic The Tales of the Three Nations:




"All the right, wrong, success, and failure all disappear upon the turning of head."

Watching the tides ebb and flow, the sun rises and sets, it just keeps reminding me to open up and broaden my mind, since nothing lasts forever and we can only do our best on a daily basis.

Fortunately at work both people I trust to take advice from keep reminding me not to overextend myself or take away time from family.

As settling into the position, I'm learning about new challenges, while feeling a different level of command and sense of responsibility for the larger communities.

The new chapter begins.

It has been an amazing journey during the past half an year. After the highly stressful year of job search for both me and hubby, we both started interviewing in May, knowing that we had to move by the end of July. After some trips, I started the intensive exams, which eventually led to my job in this beautiful tourist city on the Pacific northwest coast, where I always wanted to be.

As best friend was saying, it's not just what the job can do, but also what nice, diverse, and constructive environment we can provide our kids with by moving to such a place.

There are many things about this move. These days as we wait for our belongings to come with the mover, we have to do all the lovely things necessary for relocating into a new country and place. Whenever we are free, there are so many places to walk around here in this popular tourist town. It feels like the town was taken over by tourist every each of the street during daytime till late at night during the summer. I've never lived in a popular tourist location that it is all new to me. Kids rather enjoy all the seaside entertainment and even bought a painting on site, where the artist offered soon-to-be-kindergartener special price.

Living in downtown area makes it more noisy. But we enjoy the convenience of easy access to grocery store, harbour, oceanfront, downtown shops, and of course work. Hopefully hubby will find a job soon after kids start school, and hope that kids will get into the school behind my work place, and that all goes well.

New life!