typhoon

20 July 2007 Typhoon affected area.

While making my last international bank transfer in Ulsan, a pleasant and informative Korean bank attendant asked me very calmly if I knew about the impending typhoon to hit on Sunday night or Monday morning. I did not know about this as was a little surprised. I wonder how many foreigners were spending the night at a beach oblivious to what might ensue. Alright, so at first I was thinking sweet : lets go swimming and have some fun and obnoxiously large waves. As I got back to my good friend Devin's apartment to crash after a long night of Korean language immersion, we met some like minded Korean men.

They were on their way to go surfing at Jinha beach. I was excited about their adventured, grabbed a photo and due to Lee's high level of English, we swapped phone numbers and he offered me a chance to go surfing with him. Sweet. If this actually happens, I will name my first son Dorothy. In my experience, this custom of a lose promise is 97% habit, and 3% of the time is realized. Some reasons why being excited about the typhoon may be foolish:

click on these links:
BBC news link September 2 2002
BBC news link August 19 2004
Aljazeera news link September 17 2007
esa Earth Observation July 20 2007
Reuters video report

I'll be alright with my MEC Triple-ply Gortex shell, no worries!?