Tromso

First three weeks was a training seminar at a town called Tromso. It was a wonderful experience for two reasons. First, we were 25 of us of 9 different nationalities. The age limit for this exchange programme is 30 and hence all of us were of the same age group. It did not take us too long to connect with each other. It was a great learning experience for all of us. Besides the regular training sessions we learnt a lot simply by mixing around with people from different cultures, from countries with different levels of development, people from different socio-economic backgrounds etc. The second reason was the town of Tromso. It is the northernmost town of Europe. It falls in the arctic circle hence 24 hours sunlight! It was rather unusual. We used to party in the pubs till about 3am and come out only to be greeted by the sun shining over the horizon. The pretty town of the prosperous Norway is much developed and is far from any Indian city as far as infrastructure and public facilities are concerned. The fact that I am in a first world developed country is visible everywhere. Norway enjoys the highest living standards in the world. It was a summer for the local people but for me it was worst than winter! I mean even the snow on the mountains had not melted yet. The thermal wear was must before setting out of the hotel but the town had come alive to enjoy the warm (!) summer. Hence there were a lot of activities at the town centre till late night everyday. Tromso is situated on an island in the North Sea and beyond the sea are snow capped mountains. It is scenic! It was a wonderful stay. Salmon and the Caviar the exotic and expensive food varieties were a part of each buffet! The best salmon and caviar comes from Norway.

Last night we went to a local pub. it was happening. Tromso is like Pune full of international students hence is not as stiff as Oslo. its kind of youthful. outside temperature was like 6 degrees but everything here is heated so inside we could remove our overcoats.

8 June 2006

Blues

hehe

the WC herrer means gents toilet and WC damer means ladies toilet. But i related herrer to her and thought damer is for us. The whole of yesterday i visited ladies toilet outside the conference hall. i Norwegian colleague caught me today and brought this to my notice.....now that i think...the whole of yesterday i kept wondering that the toilets here do not have urinals and i had to use the WC to pee. Now i know why :)

at one of the breaks i saw water jars at the coffee counter with orange slices in it and i shouted ...who dropped oranges in water? the Norwegians laughed because its a custom here to do so. it gives water a mild orange flavour.

6 June 2006

I arrived safe at Oslo. It was a hassel free travel. Mumbai-Pune is more tiring and hectic than Mumbai Oslo. Really. And the whole country is like a fridge so am fresh as a flower despite flying through continents!!

Just a few fun remarks about this place:

· I have to get used to look on left first before crossing the road.
· One is not supposed to cross the road unless its a Green for the pedestrians. And in absence of a signal if you are on zebra crossing cars actually stop for you...phew.
· Have not heard a single blow of a horn during my drive of about 50 Kms from the airport to the city.
· The entire city is like one big five star hotel.
· An Indian restaurant right opposite my office.
· Indian embassy is in the next building
· It's summer so a lot of bikers on the roads. lot of people sitting in open air cafes in the sun (looks stupid to me hehe)
· There is a rule that the headlights have to be on even in the day time. How weird!
· I just saw one Indian lady and a sardar at the Oslo airport

2 June 2006