Japanese Gardens

[Chacal]

Well, I suppose every silver lining has a dark cloud... I have to agree that it does sound frightfully boring. But I'm sure that looking back on it, you'll think it was worth it in the end with the 10 days of fun.

off-topic discussion Show Spoiler

Actually it's not boring at all, it's rather exciting but exhausting. Your typical day is about 15 hours of intense discussions and negociations. Even having lunch or a beer with another participant is part of it. Actually the more intense negociations take place in hallways and reataurants. You stagger back to your hotel at midnight and have to be up and sharp at 6 in immaculate suit and tie that don't look as if they travelled halfway around the world in a small suitcase.

It is also dangerous, because you're representing your country. So if I tell a guy from China over lunch "Say, this looks like a great idea", it will go down on paper as "Canada approves China's project". This also means making a fool of yourself is out of the question. Last meeting in Switzerland a woman from [a big western country] had too much to drink at an official dinner and did some silly things. Next day she was put on a plane home and we never heard from her again. And of course you must always be cautious about giving out information: all of the delegates work in information security and about half work for some, er, blurry part of their government. They're here to work with you, but they keep their ears open.

The good part is all those people are brilliant and fun to be with. You develop friendships all over the world.

[Jennifer_P]

Wow, that sounds both very interesting and very stressful. Here I was imagining engineers arguing in front of a whiteboard about the finer points of code commenting etiquette. So does the Canadian government give you a car that turns into a submarine when you attend these things?