kidseclipse: Essays and photos We would like to share a couple of the wonderful essays we have received from kids on the Path of Totality: "I am 9 years old and I am malaysian and living in Istanbul,Turkey. Today I went out to find the special glasses but they were either soldout or didn't have them. Just as I saw people coming out of a pharmacy with the special glasses I rushed in buying one. As soon as I came out the last solar eclipse of the millenium had started. I watched as the dramatic scene started.As soon as it was getting darker the sun was making funny shapes and the ground had funny wavy shadows and Turkey was one of the lucky countries which had no clouds in the sky. So I had a fantastic view through my special glass. But I wasn't that lucky because we didn't get the full eclipse but I saw the moon covering diffrent parts of the sun.It was the most best experience I ever had." - Wildan Mustafa; Istanbul, TURKEY "To watch, as the sky becomes engulfed by a seemingly larger entity, to stand in awe of a beautifully scientific moment, and take one more bite of my plum, reminding me that I am still real.This moment is so real, and the erieness of it creeps up from below my toes, I feel it within my skin and see it through this device created to protect my sight, my senses are now alive with magic... the power of the sun , the moon and science all rolled into one, and I just swallow it whole." - Becca Ciecko age 14, U.S.A
"We thought the light of the eclipse of the sun would blind us. However, my father told us we must not be afraid of science. My parents made some means, which we leaned to make from the TV, newspaper and Internet for looking at the eclipse. On Wednesday, we set out to go to near Isphahan .On the way we saw a salt lake near Qom, a great number of small whirlwinds and mirages on the road. We arrived at Shazand, a small village on the total eclipse path, off Arak. At about 3:35 our time, we saw the beginning of the eclipse. We watched it with a mirror that reflected light of the sun on a piece of white paper. As it became darker, it became cool around us, the birds went to sleep in the trees and the crickets began to sing. During the eclipse, my father had asked us to look at our sharp shadows, the stars, the twilight in the horizon, the automatic lights in a far distant town. When we did not see the sun on the paper we looked up and saw the moon is in front of the sun. It was the most beautiful scene that I have ever seen. A minute later, the sky began to light again and we set about going back home." - Mojdeh, 8 years old; IRAN