Shaking Hands With UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon . . .

Some readers may recall from previous posts the illustrious name "Deva Hupaylo." Here's the person:

Okay, it's only a photo of the person, but it's the best I can do at the moment. Deva is a long-time friend from my Ozark youth who has turned into a world traveler like me. Currently, she lives in The Hague, where she works as the Head of the Industry Verification Branch at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons:

Organisation

for the

Prohibition

of

Chemical Weapons

As one might expect, such a post brings her into that higher sphere of the powers that be, "the archons of this age," with whom she rubs shoulders and shakes hands. Speaking of which, Deva recently had the opportunity to shake hands with this man:

Ban Ki-moon
Wikipedia

Lots of Koreans have shaken the hand of Ban Ki-moon, of course, so some of my local readers might be shrugging a 'so-what' shrug, but this sort of handshake is less common for us folks from the Ozarks. Anyway, the happy event took place at the OPCW during the Third Review Conference and can be glimpsed in this video link at just past 3:00 minutes, specifically at 3:05, when Deva steps forward as the first in line and extends her hand to an approaching Ban Ki-moon, with whom she has the following exchange of words:

"Hello! I'm Deva Hupaylo, Head of the Industry Verification Branch here at the OPCW."

"Ban Ki-moon. Pleased to meet you."

Or so she claims to me in an email yesterday reporting the "she-said-he-said." But I can lip-read, so I know that they actually discussed the finer points of modern Japanese architecture and the political situation in Kiribati, and that he also asked if she would advise him on the best tropical surfing beaches so that he could perfect his goofy foot aerial. I'm not entirely certain what a "goofy foot aerial" is, but if you watch his lips carefully, you can see that he says precisely that.

There might be some skepticism among my readers that Deva and Ban Ki-moon managed to discuss all these things in the five seconds of their interaction, but people at that level of power learn to speak very concisely.

You'll just have to believe me . . .