trondheim

Well, the traveling is over for a while, so it's back to the same old blog entries. That means you can stop reading again...

At any rate, I'm in Trondheim right now for a workshop for newcomers to my research facility. It's corny and kind of a waste of time. The people are interesting, though: genius scientists and engineers who have lived and studied all over the world. They (I'm sure) and I are both wondering what I'm doing among them.

One of the people is a Finn who has been living in Canada the past six years. He brought his wife and two kids (a 3-year-old and 6-year-old) here with him in January, and the wife and kids hate it. The wife is unable to work, because she has to take care of the kids, who would otherwise be in school, during the day. So, I guess coming here with family/loved ones has pros and cons, just like coming alone. Freedom and independence vs. increased social isolation.

I think Tronheimians gasp as a form of verbal cue. The speaker this morning, instead of giving a normal "mm hmm" or something to indicate that she was listening as a member of the group spoke, gasped. A short intake of breath, almost like she was getting ready to say something. My guess had been that she'd trained herself in people skills, and she originally starting gasping in response to comments to indicate sudden enlightment achieved as a result of what had just been said -- thus giving the speaker cause to feel good about him- or herself. Over time, though, she may have starting gasping in response to simple sentence fragments that warranted at most a nod or mm-hm. Either that, or she has asthma.

Both theories were ruined, though, when the other session speaker, a Frenchman living here in Trondheim, displayed the same behavior. He didn't do it nearly as often, but it was more disconcerting coming from him, either because he was a guy or because he was French.

I thought he might have developed the habit from working for a long time with the original speaker. However, this afternoon, the CEO of the cmpany gave a short talk, and SHE did it, too. Not much -- about as often as Frenchie -- but it was there.

The only conclusion I can make is that it's a Trondheim thing.

The only other thing to note here is that near the computers that the hotel has set up for guests, there's a freezer containing all kinds of ice cream treats. I have idea whether it's free for guests to pillage or not, but it's sitting RIGHT THERE, so I don't know what other message to take away.