10 May, 2006 (Wednesday) Huntington Beach

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Summary: Lazy day. Borrowed from a floating net connection and read email.

Spent the afternoon in the sun at Laguna Beach, just past Newport. Mid-nap I was roused by a whole lot of screaming and kids running out of the water. Further groggy examination revealed a pair of fins dipping in and out of the waves. Sharks? No, with three of them and no blood in the water it looked like dolphins. Back to sleep. (Picture: Laguna beach)


Huntington Nightlife
The nightlife in the hostel is pretty laid back. Tonight the Belgians broke out a $10 1.125L bottle of tequila and insisted we do shots with lime and salt. A few of those later...

Mi and Kim are Belgian, well by birth at any rate. Their parentage is half-Vietnamese, which is reflected in slim build and olive complexion. Mi came over originally to visit an uncle, unfortunately the uncle was a bit too restrictive, favouring the old country, so Mi found her way to the hostel. Her brother Kim came over soon after for moral support. They seem nice, if a bit scattered at times. I was astounded to find out a few days later that they're both in their mid-30s! (Picture: Newport pier)

Annemiek (aka Annie, AKA AJ) is from Holland. She's 25 and traveling alone. AJ's in the US for a month while she goes about data gathering for her Masters Thesis in Business, majoring in business administration and strategic issues. Why Huntington Beach? The story goes that AJ spent a month in Mexico last year where she learned to surf. Going back to Holland she was surfed obsessed, daring 3 degree surf (with cowl, boots and gloves) on her long board when the waves were good - which apparently happens once every few months in Holland. Anyway, in support of this obsession she chose her thesis topic to be about the effect the surfing industry has on the environment, through a case study of Quiksilver and it's environmental efforts. She's lined up interviews with various Quiksilver management (hoping for a job post-Thesis? Apparently). To support this she's interviewing surfer's about their own experiences.

To me it's kind of a strange topic for a thesis, Master's or otherwise. I can understand the angle from a corporate triple bottom line perspective (going beyond pure profits to provide broader stakeholder returns - including back to the community and environment), but rather than the purely environmental spin I think I'd take a more corporate responsibility and environmental concerns slant. Perhaps contrast that up against legislative pressures and examples of extreme environmental impacts. Then again, my understanding could have been hindered by translation difficulties.

Daniel is from Germany, he's studying something at one of the local universities here and is the resident chess / risk champion. Daniel is well over 6 foot and spends a lot of his spare time surfing and laughing.

Jamie is 18 from Greater Britainia. He's been exploring the US for a while, currently working out his last few weeks at the Hostel as his funds are low. He hides his youthful cheeks behind a downy goatee, which obviously seems to work given Mi's interest in him.

Susanna is traveling with her tot, Stevie. Belgian, she's taking a break from her IT job and making use of Mo's affinity with small children. I'd had a good chat with Susanna the previous night, about world view and all that stuff. After a few tequila shots she was hitting on my pretty badly. Help!